Mahalia
Jackson Theater History
The Mahalia Jackson Theater
Mahalia Jackson
Louis Armstrong Park
The Mahalia Jackson Theater
The
Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts began
its life as the New Orleans Theater of the Performing
Arts in January 1973. New Orleans-born Norman Treigle,
a bass-baritone and international Opera star, inaugurated
the Theatre with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s
Messa di Requiem, which he performed with the New Orleans
Symphony.
Under the title "The Accommodations are Among the
Finest to Be Found" a theater brochure states that
following the performance, 'the raves were for the stunning
new Theatre as well as for the Symphony's usual fine performance.
Everyone attending opening night agreed that the spectacular
new facility was a fitting replacement for the old French
Opera House which burned to the ground December 14, 1919."
On December 1, 1993, amidst decades of world class theatre,
opera, dance and musical performances, the City Council voted
to rename the Theatre the Mahalia Jackson Theater of the
Performing Arts in honor of the famed and beloved New Orleans
gospel singer. Though ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
this New Orleans landmark in Armstrong Park is once again
a cultural center of our unique city.
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Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans in 1911, where
she was raised by her aunt from the age of four until
Mahalia moved to Chicago in 1927. Growing up, Mahalia entertained
her family with hymns and gospel tunes, her voice naturally
booming. Aunt Mahalia “Duke” Paul did
not allow secular music in her house, but Mahalia’s
cousin would smuggle in rhythm & blues records by Bessie
Smith, Ma Rainy, and others that the two teenagers listened
to in secret and which influenced Mahalia’s appreciation
for soulful music. She had begun supplementing her
income as a teenager, working as a laundress, hotel maid,
and baby sitter before finally recording the 1947 success, “Move
Up a Little Higher.”
During the next decade, Mahalia packed houses in Europe,
hosted her own Sunday evening radio show for CBS, and,
in 1956, propelled gospel music into America’s
mainstream with her performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1961, Mahalia
sang at John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ball. She was a supporter of
the Civil Rights Movement, singing to a crowd of 250,000 at the March on Washington
at the bequest of her friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963. She sang
again for Dr. King at his funeral in 1968, after which she disappeared from most
public political activities.
When Mahalia died of a heart attack in 1972, both New Orleans and Chicago paid
tribute. Thousands of fans filed past her casket first in the Windy City
and then again down in New Orleans. Throughout her career, Mahalia stayed
true to the genre of gospel music, noting, “When you sing gospel you have
a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong.” She was a mentor to
Aretha Franklin, a benefactress of the Mahalia Jackson Scholarship Foundation,
and winner of the inaugural Grammy award in the category of Gospel Music or Other
Religious Recording. The Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts,
located inside the Louis Armstrong Park, reopens in January 2009.
www.biography.com: “Mahalia Jackson
Biography (1911-1972)
www.brainyquote.com “Mahalia Jackson Quotes”
www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/jack-mah.htm: “Women
in History – Mahalia Jackson”
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Louis Armstrong Park
Louis Armstrong Park is a 32-acre greenspace that
contains both the Municipal Auditorium and the Mahalia
Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts. Located
just across from the French Quarter on N. Rampart St,
the park is named for New Orleans’s “favorite
son” and is now recognized as the New Orleans Jazz
NationalHistorical Park. Since the 1800s, the area
has played a significant role in CrescentCity history. Congo
Square, a flat of inlaid stone located at the southern
corner of the park, is famous for the gatherings of African
Americans, enslaved and free, that occurred there on Sundays,
the only day of the week when they could sing and dance
candidly. The making of music at the Square played
a marked role in the development of jazz. Today,
local voodoo practitioners still consider it to be a spiritual
site and can be found meeting there for rituals.
After 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Louis Armstrong
Park was left largely in disrepair until the spring of
2008 when a few hundred volunteers with the national organization
Tourism Cares made an effort to restore the area, including
the 12-foot statue of New Orleans’ jazz legend Louis
Armstrong standing near the park entrance’s famed
lighted archway.
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