It's been more than 30 years since the Elitch Theatre completed a season inside their historic venue, tucked away south of 38th Avenue. After decades descending into disrepair - and a 2018 storm that tore a hole in its roof - the building's operators could finally invite audiences inside. They ended their first year back in action with a bang: Rocky Horror Picture Show, with all the camp and fixings.
We showed up with our photo booth to document the outfits guests brought to the sold-out show on Friday, Oct. 27. Now, we present you a mix of cosplay and history, as only the Elitch Theatre can deliver.
The theater was built over a century ago.
It was part of the original Elitch Gardens, the theme park that now sits by the South Platte River, which was built in the early 1890s.
Greg Rowley, president of the board that presides over the theater, said the performance space hosted theater every summer until 1987. In its heyday, it was home to a summer troupe where huge stars from Hollywood's golden era got their start, people like Cecil B. DeMille, Grace Kelly and Antoinette Perry - who'd later have an award, the Tonys, named after her.
Though Rowley said some sporadic performances did find their way inside after the space closed, the building began to decay after Elitch cleared out of Denver's northside. He said there were a handful of earnest attempts to rehab the space, including one by Perry Mason star Raymond Burr, but none quite finished the job.
"There were a lot of fits and starts," he told us. "Then, when the park moved downtown in '94, they had multiple people wanting to redevelop. And all of them said, 'No, we're going to tear the theater down. There's no use for that.'"
But the city stepped up, Rowley said, and saved the building in an effort led by former City Council member Dennis Gallagher.
Still, it'd take years and millions of dollars to bring the structure back to life. Rowley said the heavy lift was well worth it.
"It's been a lot of effort, but I believe - well, our tagline is it's Denver's oldest cultural venue," he told us. "We have this wooden building that has stood for 132 years. And so I just feel like, at this point, it was meant to be here. It's meant to be fundamental to Denver."
Longtime fans have been waiting for its return. New fans may have just met their new favorite place.
Mary Anthony worked at Elitch Gardens when she was a teenager, and she said the memories flooded back when she stepped inside the building last week, dressed in a tiny rainbow hat and shades for Rocky Horror. She came with her sister, Laurie Crumrine, who also worked with her at the park.
"I was 13, she was 14, and she started out as a sweeper," Anthony recalled. "I got her over by the log ride with me."
They remembered the park often hosted a "north Denver crowd," and was a centerpiece of the neighborhood when they were young. So they've been following the buildings' renovations closely. They hadn't actually seen Rocky Horror before - their pal, Becky Sue Church, brought them along. So, to them, this visit was all about supporting the structure's rebirth.
"That's why we're here, 100 percent," she said. "We are so ecstatic to be here tonight, to reminisce."
Rowley said people like Anthony have been supportive for years, but he and his board have been trying to expand their audience base. Putting on the cult movie last week, they thought, might be just the ticket to attract some new stakeholders to their cause. Before showtime, as people filtered in front of our backdrop, it seemed like the gambit could work.
"I didn't know it was down the street from me," Yaz Patterson told us, but she found out quickly.
Dom L., who joined her to the show, said he was glad the cost of a ticket was going somewhere useful.
"Bringing culture like this is the best way to keep theaters going," he said.
Lindsay Spinabelli, who showed up with a crowd of friends dressed in party hats, had a similar reaction.
“This is a place that we walk by all the time,” she said, “So it’s interesting to see it open with an event that we’re interested in.”
Ditto for Chloe Lennox: “I never really realized it was here until tonight,” she said. “It’s kind of this hidden gem.”
Rowley, too, was dressed up for the occasion. But it wasn’t the aliens, Meatloaf or the campy, steamy scenes that really lit his fire that night. Instead, it was all of these new people finding their way into the space and the possibility that the theater was finding its way into their hearts. It’s hard not to be smitten by the place.
“When I’m meeting some funder, or someone who wants to know more about it, I always try to get them to meet me here rather than doing Zoom. Because when you get in here, and you just feel the spirit and the energy of this building, I think it pulls people in for sure,” he told us. “It’s really fun to see people get in here and fall in love.”
