51 minutes ago, Htsguy said:

I was wondering.  Can anybody think of a city outside of New York with so many theater marquees clustered so close together?  Remember the Hanna is right across the street from the Euclid marquees.   Maybe some district in LA, although they would probably be mostly movie marquees.

 

I looked at the wikipedia page to try and find your answer but couldn't. However I did find these fun little nuggets: 

 

"Playhouse Square is a theater district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States.[2] It is the largest performing arts center in the US outside of New York City (only Lincoln Center is larger)."

 

"Playhouse Square welcomes more than 1 million guests to 1,000+ performances and events each year. Its KeyBank Broadway Series season ticket holder base (more than 45,000) is the largest in the country, making Cleveland one of fewer than 10 markets that can support a three-week run of a touring Broadway show."

 

 

Regarding Allen marquee may not being complete yet, playhousesquare.org (from March 2023) shows this illustration of the Allen marquee which more closely resembles what has been constructed to date.

 

 

 

The Allen marquee illustration below (from October 2022) appears to be an earlier version which has more detail which I would prefer.

so the front is gonna light up like a bunch of sun rays? That'll look awesome at night. I like that they simplified them a bit from the Oct drawings but also added more lights and everything to the front. Major Times Square vibes

Do the colors change? Also I wonder why they didn't make them all light up. A pleasant addition though.

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7 hours ago, MyPhoneDead said:

Do the colors change? Also I wonder why they didn't make them all light up. A pleasant addition though.

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The proposal I recall reading last year is that a portion of LED lights on each marquee had capabilities of creating different colors. 

13 hours ago, dwolfi01 said:

 

I looked at the wikipedia page to try and find your answer but couldn't. However I did find these fun little nuggets: 

 

"Playhouse Square is a theater district in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States.[2] It is the largest performing arts center in the US outside of New York City (only Lincoln Center is larger)."

 

"Playhouse Square welcomes more than 1 million guests to 1,000+ performances and events each year. Its KeyBank Broadway Series season ticket holder base (more than 45,000) is the largest in the country, making Cleveland one of fewer than 10 markets that can support a three-week run of a touring Broadway show."

 

 

 

 

good find — and yeah thats what i always heard and thought. and its true.

 

however, and not really to get into a versus thread, but it kinda depends on how you want to tally up local theater.

 

for example, houston would want in on all that:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_Theater_District

 

 

denver too:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Performing_Arts_Complex

I kind of like the consistency across the marquees (other critiques aside), and it occurs to me that part of the idea may have been to match the pre-existing playhouse square signage. Overall, minor issues aside, these are an improvement. 

 

 

Not exactly what I would have picked but overall it’s another upgrade to Euclid Ave. Wasn’t that long ago it was filled with vacancy signs on dirty buildings and off putting smells. Easy to forget what a mess it was. Still needs more vibrancy - and some landscaping - but the collective upgrades are stunning. Would love to see a thorough list of the investments since day 2000. 

Maybe the marquee color is intended to blend with that of the chandelier supports and the metallic welcome archways.

I think they're going to look pretty cool.  Remember that there's also some new lighting forthcoming, which will extend down to Playhouse Square from Public Square.  That should add a brightening, festive dynamic.

Just the "feel of things" traveling up Euclid Avenue is much more vibrant than it was, say even 10 years ago, especially with the addition of 3 significant  residential towers - Beacon, City Club and Lumen. 

 

The new marquees, I'd imagine, will be particularly effective at night.  We can debate just how aesthetically pleasing they are to some on the forum - but overall, I find it hard to think that visitors to the area - be they from Northeast Ohio, or from further away -  (some internationally) -won't leave feeling that Cleveland has "come a long way".   We need more in terms of pedestrians and activity at street level - but that is a dynamic many cities are dealing with post-pandemic. 

Thought we could use a shot with all four marquees on Euclid:

 

Close up of the Allen marquee in case anyone’s curious:

Edited July 25, 20231 yr by sonisharri

So far my rankings from best to least favorite.

1. Connor Palace

2. Allen Theatre

3. KeyBank State

4. Mimi Ohio

 

 

4 hours ago, dave2017 said:

So far my rankings from best to least favorite.

1. Connor Palace

2. Allen Theatre

3. KeyBank State

4. Mimi Ohio

 

 

 

Same but I’d probably put State above Allen. I get that that couldn’t make “Mimi” any smaller on the Ohio marquee, but maybe they could’ve used a gold font or something 😉

LOL, or left MIMI and CONNOR off the marquees

 

1 hour ago, urb-a-saurus said:

LOL, or left MIMI and CONNOR off the marquees

I wonder if those donors requested their names to appear on the marquee?  KeyBank does not appear on State marquee.

On Playhouse Square's social media channels, they are stating a big announcement will happen on Monday,July 31.  The tease shows the marquees so I assume it has something to do with them

Looks like it's made out of cheap plastic. Hope it looks better at night.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvNJ6UyI233/?igshid=MmU2YjMzNjRlOQ==

Drove by them today for the first time. In person l think the biggest drawback is the color. That's what l saw first. A cheap gold color. Then the lettering. Reminded me of a knockoff theater logo at what used to be the local cineplex. Like they got some corporate deal if they bought several at once. 

 

I give up now. Had my say and then some. Hope they kickass at night. 

23 hours ago, Whipjacka said:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvNJ6UyI233/?igshid=MmU2YjMzNjRlOQ==

Does anyone have insight into if this is development related or program related?

My guess is that is has to do with the marquees.  Maybe a finish date or a planned event similar to the chandelier lighting

18 hours ago, tj111 said:

Does anyone have insight into if this is development related or program related?

 

I've not heard of anything other than what I reported at the end of May...

 

https://neo-trans.blog/2023/05/31/playhouse-square-announces-new-projects/

A little teaser from Playhouse Square’s Instagram regarding the July 31 announcement 

^ now that is the way to use them, very cool. 

 

we have the st george theater in staten by us and it flashes all the shows with some ads in between, but its just older lo-res.

 

i do stop and look at it to get reminders of what is upcoming, so afaik it works as intended.

https://fox8.com/news/special-event-to-help-celebrate-playhouse-squares-newest-upgrades/

12 minutes ago, LibertyBlvd said:

https://fox8.com/news/special-event-to-help-celebrate-playhouse-squares-newest-upgrades/

Okay these will definitely look fantastic at night, love the purple!! And even Allen pops nicely with the light. But Sept 28?!!! Holy moses that's still a ways away.

16 minutes ago, GREGinPARMA said:

But Sept 28?!!! Holy moses that's still a ways away.

Well, it does need to be dark at a reasonable hour to show them to full effect. 

Here’s the PHS announcement 

 

https://www.playhousesquare.org/news/detail/playhouse-square-to-illuminate-its-next-era-at-marquee-moments-presented-by-fleet-response-a-free-community-event-on-september-28

 

 

Playhouse Square also is adding new video signage at the corner of E. 13th Street and Euclid Avenue and on the north side of its campus near the Playhouse Square parking garage.

Here are the undersides of the marquees and what their relationship/design is based upon

 

Now that part looks great! Love the colors.

The Lumen garage electronic signage may be part of the future surprise planned for September 28th. The screenshot below is from the lighting design firm's website (barnyczgroup.com) showing a sample of the garage signage and it looks great. This firm has done an amazing job with Playhouse Square lighting. A link to the Lumen garage lighting project on barnyczgroup.com is below.

 

www.barnyczgroup.com/project-eleven

 

Edited August 1, 20231 yr by Sapientone
typo on website address

They've had the projector box/room up since the Lumen was built and this color/projection was part of the original designs - not sure if it's ever been on before this?

 

Its on every night.  Its just not very bright.  Hopefully they turn up the intesity!

Careful...some people aren't a fan of city lights. Not me though. Everything is a trade-off in life. I prefer my cities lit up and my countryside dark. The sprawl in between? I wish it would just go away. 

I'm fine with light displays like this but what I'm not fine if it's plastering ads all over the place. Like not looking forward to the Bobby George giant electronic billboard on Harry Buffalo on E4th. We get enough ads in our faces all over the internet and TV, when I'm walking about the city I'd prefer to be able to get away from that. I love how Cleveland does not have too many ads all over compared to other cities I've been in. 

1 hour ago, dwolfi01 said:

I'm fine with light displays like this but what I'm not fine if it's plastering ads all over the place. Like not looking forward to the Bobby George giant electronic billboard on Harry Buffalo on E4th. We get enough ads in our faces all over the internet and TV, when I'm walking about the city I'd prefer to be able to get away from that. I love how Cleveland does not have too many ads all over compared to other cities I've been in. 

While to some extent I agree, I'm not a fan of bright lights everywhere, but if the bright signs are concentrated in a particular area like Playhouse Square it actually makes for a brighter, higher energy place to be at night.  Everything has its place -- let's not electronic-billboard the entire downtown!

I wonder if Playhouse Square could have. the street lampposts removed between the marquees.  Either that or have them shortened to match the street lamp posts with the shortened versions along the avenue.  They just seem to block much of the marquees and are they necessary with the light that the marquees will be providing?

Does anybody know if these art installations have a meaning or story behind them?

To avoid confusion, I'm referring to the four lit up blue in the foreground. 

 

 

http://www.mankadesignstudio.com/#/chorusline/

 

CHORUSLINE

Chorusline Luminaries

The sculptural array is cast after the image of a Broadway chorus line. The lighting ties in with the vertical marquees and lights on the Playhouse Square buildings adding more movement and color to the spectacle of the Theater District. 

Completed: 2009

 

Stephen Manka designed.  He is a Cleveland based artist

Since 2009 that thing has probably worked for a handful of weeks... they used to always be working on it fixing it when it would go out but I haven't seen it lit up in a longggg time. Another poorly maintained light piece in the city 

Marquee lights on at the State Theater. Hard to believe in the daytime, with how gold they are, that they can change colors so much at night with the lights. The photo doesn't do it justice, it looks very good.

Here’s a shot of my own, exposed down a bit to show the marquee screens

 

(Note the illuminated “State” sign)

I wish the Keith Building could have architectural lighting added to it. Something similar as The Hanna Building is lit

https://www.instagram.com/p/CvfEUT9AYLo/

 

The Hanna marquee has begun installation.   It is unfortunate that The Great Lakes TheaterCompany's logo is identical to The Great Lakes Brewing Company's

Edited August 4, 20231 yr by dave2017

Looks like Great Lakes Brew Co font.

I heard that the chandelier is also receiving an update.  The lighting will be upgraded and it will "twinkle"at certain times. The effect is described similarly on The Eiffel Tower

1 hour ago, dave2017 said:

I heard that the chandelier is also receiving an update.  The lighting will be upgraded and it will "twinkle"at certain times. The effect is described similarly on The Eiffel Tower

 

Good idea.  The Eiffel Tower twinkles for five minutes before the hour from 7 to 10 at night.  The frugal French turn it off after that and figure people can find some other way to amuse themselves after 10.

On 8/3/2023 at 8:56 PM, dave2017 said:

I wish the Keith Building could have architectural lighting added to it. Something similar as The Hanna Building is lit

Someone talk to K&D

That was the plan originally around the time when the chandelier was put in and for some reason they decided not to do it. 

 

Also the old fashion PLAYHOUSE SQUARE sign atop the Cowell and Hubbard building has a ton of bulbs out... I hope they fix that?