By Ben Fulton, The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake County and Ballet West have trumpeted the imminent renovation of Capitol Theatre and construction of the new Jessie Eccles Quinney Center for Dance ever since announcing those plans in October 2010.
Now, 32 months after that announcement, the county and its partner dance company held an open house on Wednesday at Salt Lake City’s downtown Capitol Theatre to showcase those plans once more.
Once the curtain closes on the upcoming touring Broadway musical "Jersey Boys," playing June 4-16 at the theater, construction and renovation will commence June 28.
For Salt Lake City’s fans of ballet, opera and other assorted performing arts, that means more comfortable seating with better sightlines, a raised stage and updated heating and air conditioning. With the new Center for Dance adjoining the theater’s west wall, it also means a lobby extended into the foyer, new flooring, ticket and concession stands and, most important for intermission, 30 new toilets. The new construction and renovation overhaul give Ballet West an even bigger imprint on a facility it’s long called home, but with even more cohesion, given extra room that lets the dance company house its academy on site, rather than dispersed throughout the Salt Lake Valley.