Mobile Saenger announces return to full-capacity shows in June
Updated 11:53 AM;
Today 11:53 AM
Audience members stand during an Allman Betts Band show at the Mobile Saenger Theatre on Feb. 4, 2021.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com
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The folks at the Mobile Saenger Theatre say the venue will return to full capacity live shows in June, and the excitement is hard to miss.
According to a news release from the venue, recently updated COVID-19 guidance from Gov. Kay Ivey and the Centers for Disease Control clears the way for a “return to live” starting June 1.
“So, what does that mean?” continued the announcement. “Well, for us, it means many wonderful things that we’ll be sharing with you soon, but for now, we want to share the most significant news – we are eagerly and joyfully preparing to welcome our patrons back to the Saenger for FULL CAPACITY shows!
COVID-19 cost Mobile’s Saenger nearly $1 million, says grant request
Updated Apr 16, 2021;
Posted Apr 16, 2021
Fans gather outside the Saenger Theatre as they wait to see Trombone Shorty perform in Mobile, Ala., on Wednesday Dec. 16, 2015. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com)
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A low-key Mobile City Council action this week shows the price tag the city puts on COVID-related losses at the city-owned Mobile Saenger Theatre: Just under $1 million.
That in turn shows what an asset the historic theater can be when it’s able to live up to its potential. Context provided by the operator shows that the venue had gross ticket sales of more than $2 million in the fiscal year before COVID hit.
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65 years later, Gordon Parks photos hit home in Mobile
Updated Feb 02, 2021;
Posted Feb 02, 2021
A sign that once marked the Colored Entrance to the Mobile Saenger Theatre sits amid a display of Gordon Parks photographs at the Mobile Museum of Art. The sign figures prominently in one of the images from 1956.Lawrence Specker | LSpecker@AL.com
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The worn wood of a rural classroom. The lush greens of a row crop and trees surrounding a quartet of people walking through a field. The fringe of twilight gloom around a walk-up ice-cream stand. The play of brightness and dark amid the clouds as sunlight blazes off a tin roof. The skin tones.
Concerts in Mobile in 2021? ‘It can be done safely’
Updated Jan 28, 2021;
Posted Jan 28, 2021
Fans gather outside the Saenger Theatre as they wait to see Trombone Shorty perform in Mobile, Ala., in 2015. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com)
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Another postponement. Another cancellation. Another suspension. These recent developments at three of Mobile’s biggest music venues weren’t exactly positive, but they do give some insight into the seething behind-the-scenes activity that will, eventually, bring back large-scale entertainment events.
Maybe it’s early to call it a consensus, but an expectation seems to be emerging: The good old days of going out to catch a nationally known act with an energetic full house of 1,000 to 10,000 fellow fans probably won’t return before summer. It likely will be fall before the phrase “back to normal” can be deployed without irony, and possibly spring 2022 before top-tier arena concerts are back on the menu.