Madison Theatre

02 / The story of this place

Make time for these

The 1,806-seat Madison opened on March 7, 1917, with Mary Pickford in Poor Little Rich Girl, the first of John Kunsky's palaces on what became known as Kunsky Circle around Grand Circus Park. C. Howard Crane gave it an understated Neoclassical design and a Hillgreen-Lane organ described as the largest theatre instrument outside New York at the time. It was the first theatre in Michigan to show a full-length talking picture: The Jazz Singer opened here on December 25, 1927, and ran for three months. It later screened Detroit's first 3-D film, Bwana Devil, in 1952, and a nearly two-year run of The Sound of Music from 1965. After years of horror films and rock concerts it closed in 1984 with The Dead Zone. A Michigan Opera Theatre restoration plan fell through, and the auditorium was demolished in 2001.

• Michigan's first full-length talkie played here
• Detroit's first 3-D film, 1952
• Nearly two years of The Sound of Music

Plan your visit

The Madison's auditorium on Witherell Street was demolished in 2001. For a show around Grand Circus Park today, see the working theatres in our guide.