The facility at 31 N. Lansdowne Ave. closed in 1987 after an electrical fire. The doors first opened to the theater in 1927 with the showing of the silent film, \u201cKnockout Riley.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cReopening the Lansdowne Theater preserves a beloved cultural landmark while creating a vibrant gathering place to enjoy live performances for future generations to come,\u201d Matt Schultz, executive director of the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corp., said. \u201cThis project represents years of dedication by our community, partners and supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Bob](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DTD-L-GALA-0417-04.jpg\")
Bob Jara, president of the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corp, spoke at the Saturday gala. (COURTESY OF THE HISTORIC LANSDOWNE THEATER CORPORATION)<\/p>\n
And, they were all celebrated Saturday at the gala, where sports radio host Glen Macnow served as the emcee and Schultz shared remarks along with U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5, of Swarthmore; state Rep. Gina Curry, D-164, of Upper Darby; Delaware County Council Chair Richard Womack; Lansdowne Mayor Magda Byrne and Bob Jara, president of the Historic Lansdowne Theater Corp.<\/p>\n
Schultz spoke about the two and a half-hour event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had over 600 people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was great. It was fun \u2026 Though we charged people, this was really a thank you to all of the donors.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the event was done as part of their particular kickoff for Delco Gives Day, the community fundraising campaign for hundreds of nonprofits.<\/p>\n
Schultz said the night started with remarks and was followed by the Minas performance.<\/p>\n
![\"Minas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DTD-L-GALA-0417-02-e1776371516450.jpg\")
Minas provided some Brazilian jazz entertainment during the Lansdowne Theater gala Saturday. (COURTESY OF THE HISTORIC LANSDOWNE THEATER CORPORATION)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about how we really needed everyone\u2019s effort whether the donors, the elected officials, the trades people,\u201d he said, noting that the night felt like \u201ca huge sigh of relief.\u201d<\/p>\n
With people coming as far as Florida and San Francisco some were astonished by how the theater looked.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people had not been in the building yet,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cA lot of people were pleasantly surprised \u2026 People came with their own memories of the building when they were kids or teenagers and I think they were really surprised at how it turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n
He explained that financial support is still needed as the corporation remains responsible for the building\u2019s upkeep, not BRE Presents, which is the promoter and leases the facility to bring world-class entertainment in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to make sure that the building never falls into disrepair,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cWe\u2019re the landlord, not the tenant. We\u2019re raising money on the side to make sure the building stays in good condition.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s particularly special to see people coming to the theater and patronizing the restaurants and businesses on the avenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really nice to go down there and see people going into the theater and going into the restaurants,\u201d Schultz said.<\/p>\n
Then, there are the musical acts like Lyle Lovett, Graham Nash, Jeffrey Osborne and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re coming to our little town to perform,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cWho would\u2019ve thought?\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Inside](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DTD-L-THEATER-0810-07-2.jpg\")
Inside the Lansdowne Theater. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY \u2013 DAILY TIMES)<\/p>\n
Byrne shared her experience of the night on Facebook.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast night at the Lansdowne Theater opening gala was really something special,\u201d she said. \u201cThe theater was packed, and you could just feel the love and pride this community has for this place. It\u2019s hard to put into words, but it meant a lot to be in that room together.<\/p>\n
\u201cHuge congratulations to Save the Lansdowne Theater on an incredible job,\u201d Byrne noted. \u201cThis has been years in the making, and it truly showed. Thank you to everyone who stuck with this project and helped bring it across the finish line, including Delaware County Council, Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon, Rep. Gina H. Curry, Senator Tim Kearney, and of course Lansdowne Borough.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said it was a great night to be a part of Lansdowne.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always an honor to represent this community,\u201d Byrne said, \u201cbut last night felt especially meaningful. I\u2019m really looking forward to all the new memories we\u2019ll make together in our beautiful Lansdowne Theater.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lansdowne Theater was celebrated over the weekend at a gala attended by hundreds, including elected officials and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[212,27402,182,139,28,69,71,70,210],"class_list":{"0":"post-168483","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-delaware-county","9":"tag-lansdowne","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","15":"tag-philadelphia-news","16":"tag-top-stories-dtd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}