Latest phase of interior renovation work at Landmark Theatre now complete

SYRACUSE — The work to restore the 97-year-old auditorium inside the Landmark Theatre is now complete with the latest Broadway in Syracuse season underway, starting with “Hamilton” from Sept. 9-21. The renovation work focused on the restoration of the proscenium (the arch that goes over the stage), the area between the proscenium and the balcony rail, and then the balcony and the ceiling, Mike Intaglietta, executive director of the Landmark Theatre, told CNYBJ in an Aug. 21 phone interview. “That area is lit naturally just by about one chandelier … so we’re going to be working on getting some lighting in there so that people can see all the work that we did because it is pretty spectacular,” he added. The work on the project started after the completion of the run of “Beetlejuice” back in the spring. John Tiedemann, Inc. of North Arlington, New Jersey is the contractor that worked on the Landmark’s auditorium renovations. The same firm handled work on both the Marriott Syracuse Downtown (the former Hotel Syracuse) and the interior of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Syracuse, per the Tiedemann website. Jamie Williams from Holmes King Kallquist & Associates, Architects handled the design work on the project. “The only thing that we have left to do is to reset the theatre, putting chairs back,” Intaglietta said in the interview. This phase of the restoration project cost about $1.5 million, Intaglietta told CNYBJ. This group of projects at the Landmark Theatre is board approved through a facility-improvement plan, he noted. The work started back in 2021 and included the replacement of the auditorium seating and marquee. “We still need to address the areas under the balcony, so the orchestra level, as well as the very, very rear of the balcony … doesn’t require a huge mobilization of scaffolds,” he said. In describing the work completed in the past few months, Intaglietta explained that crews cleaned the plaster, so they could identify the original colors of the theatre, which had been long covered up in tobacco residue. They also repaired the plaster where necessary. “And this repair work requires making molds of existing work and then recasting the plaster work and then painting it all to match. In order to do that, we actually did a full repaint of the entire theatre,” he added. Crews also took some steps to ensure that some areas that are frequently damaged had a little bit of extra protection, especially in the proscenium arch. Intaglietta — who leads the nonprofit called Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre, which owns and operates the theatre — says the organization takes its responsibility to maintain, restore, and improve the theatre “very seriously.” “This is the community’s theatre, and we’re just the stewards of it. We hope that everyone’s able to come down and see all the work that we’re doing and appreciate all the effort that has gone into both building and keeping the theatre active. It’s a wondrous, one-of-a-kind-place, and we want the community to be proud of it,” he said.