Although the staff at Wesbanco Arena has been welcoming a limited number of hockey fans to Nailers games for a few months, the Capitol Theatre along Main Street in downtown Wheeling has remained dark for an entire year.
No symphony. No Linsly Extravaganza. No Jerry Seinfeld. No anything.
“And it’s been a sad year for everyone connected to the theatre,” said Frank O’Brien, executive director of the Wheeling Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. “Any time a theatre goes dark for this long, it’s a bad thing for the community. That’s why it was so important for us to the buy the Capitol back in 2009 and get it open again.”
So, what’s it going to take to once again host the Broadway show, the country concerts, and the community events?
“I would have to say that, before we reopen the Capitol Theatre, we’ll have to achieve what they call ‘herd immunity,’ thanks to the vaccines,” O’Brien said. “I believe that because it’s very important that people feel safe when they do decide to do something, especially an inside event. Until we can get to that point, it’s going to be very difficult to reopen the theatre.
“With the current guidelines, we would have to space the people in attendance, and that would have a big impact on the amount of money that can be made by a promoter renting the theatre for an event,” he said. “We have a little fewer than 2,460 seats in the venue, so right now it’s not something that a promoter is looking to do because of the limitations.”
The Original Stage
The very first show took place inside the Capitol Theatre on Thanksgiving Day 1928, but it was shuttered in 2007 once inspectors from the Wheeling Fire Department determined the lack of interior fire suppression made the venue unsafe.
The owner at the time, the former Clear Channel Corp., opted to close it instead of renovating, and the Capitol remained dark for two years before a group of community leaders negotiated the venue’s purchase for $615,000 in April 2009.
The CVB would pay the debt service with tax dollars collected from the hotels and motels in Ohio County, and a celebration was held in 2019 for the burning of the note.
“That was a terrific evening,” O’Brien said. “It was a victory for this community; that’s for sure.
“That’s one of several reasons why it’s been a tough year; that’s for sure, and I know people are craving things like live entertainment because it’s something we haven’t had since last March,” he said. “The theatre is a place for the concerts and the shows, but it’s also a place where a lot of people have worked who haven’t been able to earn that income. That’s why, if I had that magic wand, I’d wave it around, reopen the Capitol Theatre, and everyone would feel comfortable coming to an event, but we’re just not there yet.”
It is all about the statistics connected to Covid-19, and the fact 21 states have seen significant increase in the amount of positive cases; federal officials with the Center of Disease Control and Prevention have sounded alarms in an effort to encourage citizens to continue following guidelines and taking precautions.
“Each state has its own guidelines, and in West Virginia we are moving ahead because you can have outdoor fairs and festivals again beginning May 1, and live entertainment has restarted at local venues, so we’re getting there. At least it feels that way,” O’Brien said. “The key for those events is the social distancing that is still required, and that’s going to be difficult at some of the festivals that take place on the waterfront in downtown Wheeling.
“But as far as indoor events inside the Capitol Theatre, there are some things that we will have to figure out so we can offer a very safe environment,” he added. “I just hope that everyone follows the guidelines when we do because that will determine if we move forward with more shows. This virus is a fact of life now, and we’re all going to have to do what we have to do if we want any kind of normalcy to return.”
