If you go
Rialto Theatre Marquee Lighting Ceremony
What:
Speech by Mayor Bob Walkup and music by balladeer Salvador Duran and the Brazilian percussion ensemble Batucxe
When:
7 p.m. Friday
Where:
Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., Downtown
Cost:
Free and open to the public
Information:
740-1000
Upcoming shows:
Leo Kottke, Wednesday; John Hiatt, July 18; Marc Cohn and Suzanne Vega, Aug. 2. The Rialto staff is planning an 85th birthday celebration in September.
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Rialto history
The Rialto Theatre opened in the 1920s playing silent films and later presented talkies, vaudeville shows and live performances and music. The name - as for all Rialto theaters in many cities around the world - comes from the bridge in Venice (Italy, not California) that is surrounded by shops and creates an entertainment-focused plaza.
After the big movies stopped coming to the theater, the space was used as a furniture warehouse, a Spanish-language movie house and a pornography house. A boiler explosion in January 1984 caused major damage.
Paul Bear and Jeb Schoonover took the reins, started renovation work by 1995, repaired the boiler explosion damage and opened the theater as a concert venue until 2004.
The Rialto has been closed since June 2004. The Tucson City Council purchased the theater for around $1.5 million in September 2004 and then leased it to the Congress Street Historic Theatres Foundation, a nonprofit organization headed by former editor and publisher of the Tucson Weekly Douglas Biggers.
