Construction Delay Means 1 More Show

Old habits die hard.

Last spring, the Glendale Music Theatre was told that it could no longer perform at Glendale Community College, its longtime home. The college’s auditorium was being converted into a considerably smaller stage and badly needed classrooms.

But construction was delayed, so the 42-year-old GMT is now staging a fall production of the Broadway musical “42nd Street.” And theater officials aren’t quite ready to give up on their familiar surroundings.

“It’s such a wonderful auditorium,” said Jack Keidatz, GMT’s associate producer. “We’re still hoping that they’re going to postpone construction again.”

College officials left little hope of that. William Taylor, the college’s coordinator of business services, said renovation of the 1,050-seat theater was put off because architectural drawings had not yet arrived from state architects.

“Construction will start the first of the year,” Taylor said.

According to plans, the theater will be converted to eight classrooms and a 400-seat theater. GMT officials said last spring that a 400-seat venue would not provide enough revenue to support the troupe.

But Keidatz said this week that the theater company may end up sticking around. An effort to move to the 2,200-seat ornate Alex movie theater in downtown Glendale has not succeeded. The troupe has also looked into performing at the Starlight Bowl and various high schools.

“At this point, we don’t know that’s going to happen,” Keidatz said. “Maybe we’ll use the new theater” at the college.

For now, “42 Street” is drawing near sellout crowds, Keidatz said. The play stars Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes of the NBC daytime soap “Days of Our Lives,” and runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 14.