In New Orleans, world renowned tenor Placido Domingo, Gospel singer Yolanda Adams; violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, and a slate of famed local musicians will take the stage next month for a week of performances to re-open the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts, which has been closed since it was damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The events will mark the culmination of a $27 million effort to restore and improve the theater and outdoor gathering space, the bulk of it financed with local tax dollars.
The grand Louis Armstrong Park venue will re-open Jan. 8, 2009 a "New Orleans all-star review" featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins, Irma Thomas, Marva Wright, Jeremy Davenport, Ingrid Lucia, Freddy Omar and others.
The festivities will continue Jan. 10th with a performance featuring the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Orleans Ballet Association. On Jan. 13, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Allen Toussaint will perform Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, along with blues renditions.
Armstrong Park sits on high ground at the border of the French Quarter and the Treme neighborhood. The Mahalia Jackson Theater seats 2,200 people. The basement of the theater took on more than 14 feet of water, which damaged the motor control center, orchestra lifts, heating and air conditioning controls, sewerage ejector pumps and other structural components. The roof, curtains, doors, stage, picture window and other fixtures also were ruined.
Reconstruction of the theater, including upgrades, has cost about $22 million so far. (Source: TheTimes-Picayune/www.nola.com)