Dixon Theatre’s 100th event canceled

DIXON — Dixon Theatre canceled its 100th anniversary event on Tuesday.

A notice was placed on the front door of the theater.

In an email, theater Executive Director Timothy Boles said it was for “reasons beyond our control.”

As billed, the 100th anniversary performance on Tuesday was to feature pianist Judy Carmichael as part of a jazz quartet performing selections from the 1920s.

Carmichael’s promotional website showed she was scheduled to perform Tuesday at the Palladium in St. Petersburg, Florida. She was to appear with guitarist Nate Najar.

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Boles said ticket holders were offered an opportunity to attend a small private event with Carmichael or have their tickets fully refunded.

Boles did not specify what the private event was.

But Carmichael’s own website listed a recital that was planned for Wednesday evening at Boles’ home.

Boles said the theater plans to have other special events to commemorate the 100th anniversary throughout the remainder of the year. He said the theater would release those details in due course.

Carmichael is host of National Public Radio’s “Jazz Inspired,” in which she interviews jazz performers and celebrities who are enthusiastic about musical form.

She condcucted the first of three tapings of the radio show at the Dixon Theatre on Friday, March 11. This week’s show will feature mandolin player Don Stiernberg and the March 25 show has drummer Bob Rummage as guest. The “Jazz Inspired” tapings are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets run $10 to $50 and are available at dixontheatre.com.

Carmichael will also have a book signing 11 a.m. Saturday at Books on First in Dixon.

The Dixon Theatre was opened in 1922 by Leonard G. Rorer. It had replaced the Rorer’s Dixon Opera House, which had burned down in 1920. The theater cost $200,000 to build and was designed by William J. McApine, who had also been the architect for the Lee County Courthouse. The Rorer family owned it for nearly 30 years. It closed for about a year in 1984.

Dixon Theater Renovation and the Lee County Civic Center Authority operated the theater as a performing arts center for the next 35 years. Today it is owned by the Historic Dixon Theatre Group and a board appointed by the mayor and the city council.