Tulsa Theater, Historic theater in downtown Tulsa, United States.
Tulsa Theater is a live performance venue in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, housed in a building from the early 1900s with Western Classical Revival architecture. The hall has several seating levels and a deep stage built to accommodate concerts, comedy shows, and a range of other productions.
The building opened in 1914 as a civic auditorium and was at that time the largest performance hall in the region. In the 1930s, a noted architect redesigned the interior in an Art Deco style, replacing the original classical look entirely.
Locals call the building "The Old Lady on Brady," a nickname kept from its years on Brady Street. Opera was central to its early cultural role: Mary Garden sang Bizet's Carmen here in October 1916 and returned in 1918 for Massenet's Thaïs. A local legend holds that the ghost of Enrico Caruso, who performed here in 1920, haunts the hall.
The theater stands at 105 West Reconciliation Way, at the corner of North Boulder Avenue, a few blocks northwest of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. The auditorium holds 4,200 seats, 1,300 of them in the balcony, so allow time to find your level. The stage slopes 13 feet from back to front.
Although the building is known today as a theater, it originally also served as a convention center and gathering place for the city's residents. This dual role explains the unusually large spaces and wide stage that would not have been needed for a purely theatrical use.
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