It's More than Just a Movie at Portsmouth's Commodore Theatre...
...It's an experience. A fun one, at that. Last weekend when I was in Virginia, I spent an evening with some friends at the Commodore Theatre in historic Olde Towne Portsmouth watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. And whenever I was able to tear my eyes away from Johnny Depp, I spent some time admiring my surroundings.
The Art deco style motion picture theater, which originally opened it's doors in 1945, became the restoration project of Fred Schoenfeld in 1987 after being closed for twelve years. Fred, who I had the pleasure to speak with before the movie 
started, told us he wanted to restore the theater back to the way it was in 1945. He did, however, reduce the seating capacity from 1,000 seats to 318 on the balcony, and 190 on the main floor, which he designed as a dining area.
And that's what makes the Commodore experience so much fun -- being able to dine while you're watching a movie. Phones on the tables allow movie-watchers to place their orders for a variety of great-tasting meals, including "Previews" such as Fried Cheese Sticks or a Spinach and Artichoke Skin Dipper, "Feature Presentations" such as Fish & Chips, Breaded Fantail Shrimp, pizza or sandwiches, and "Great Endings", which include Hot Apple-Caramel Deep Dish Pie and Gourmet Florida Keylime Pie, among others. Beer, wine and soft drinks are available, too.
Meals must be ordered before the movie begins; deserts and drinks can be ordered before or during the first half-hour of the show. And once you're involved in the movie you barely notice the wait staff -- at least not when Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom are onscreen. Clad in black, the waiters quietly deliver your dinner. And the cushy seats move around easily so you can always get a good view of the film.
Fred designed the theater's state-of-the-art sound system with the help of George Lucas' THX group at LucasFilm in Marin County, California. The theater shows 35 MM film exclusively in Dolby Digital sound, with 9 large JBL speakers mounted behind the screen and 22 surround speakers placed throughout the auditorium. The theater's 20 by 40 foot side murals, behind which 6 of the speakers are located, were completely redone with the original scenes.
Some other interesting changes Fred made: the kitchen occupies the old manager's office and men's smoking lounge and the ladies' smoking lounge was restored with new wall coverings, a chandelier and comfortable furniture. The theater curtains are designed with the "old time" presentation of having both a house curtain as well as a screen curtain. One more plus? Other than previews of coming attractions, there are no commercials shown prior to the film.
Another cool thing is that the balcony patrons and main floor patrons are not visible to each other allowing each to view the screen without distractions -- I had to climb up to the balcony to see what it looks like.
So if you plan to be in or near Olde Towne Portsmouth, you should definitely see a movie at the Commodore. Next up is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, starting Wednesday, July 11th, 2007. Get there early!
[Note: For more information, call 757-393-6962.]
Bottom two photos courtesy of the Commodore Theatre.
