The Webster Theater is a music venue in the south end of

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

. The Webster Underground is an attached smaller venue, which usually acts as a second stage during concerts on the main stage.

History

The Webster opened on November 19, 1937 as a

movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

by the Shulman family. Hartford's mayor, councilmen, and

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

state Senators were in attendance for opening night.Movie Theater Is Back In Mainstream - New York Times
/ref> In the 1930s and 1940s, the theater hosted a weekly "dish night," a common practice for theaters of the time, where patrons would receive free dishes to entice them to the theater. The theater was successful until the advent of the television kept more people in their homes, while the

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brought more people out to the suburbs. After falling attendance, in 1974 the Shulmans leased the theater to Starship Enterprises who promised to show family films while introducing live music into the theater. They redecorated the main lobby and had sprawling moonscapes painted on the ceilings. However, the family film plan failed to bring sufficient funds to the theater, and new management turned the Webster into a showcase for adult films. In the fall of 1986 Mr. Shulman saw a chance to revive the theater. Along with the owner of the Warner Theater in Torrington, Shulman invested about $50,000 to restore carpeting, paint, and install a 17' by 34' screen which was, at the time, the largest in the state. The theater featured movies on the second release, and admission was $2 for adults and $.99 for children and

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Modern day

In the 2000s, CBS and ClearChannel offered to buy the Webster, but neither was successful. In 1996

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and

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, both virtually unknown artists at the time, opened for well known 311 at the Webster.The Fairfield Mirror - A look at local venues: The Webster Theater
/ref> Today, the theater is primarily a music venue seven days a week, featuring

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al acts on the Mainstage and mostly local and

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talent on the Underground stage. The venue mainly features hard rock, metal, and hardcore bands these days. In the late 1990s and early to mid 2000s in addition to many hard rock/metal bands (Megadeth, Slipknot, Fear Factory, Deftones, Static-X, Machine Head), the venue welcomed many bands from the "jamband" and improvisational rock scene. Max Creek, Leftover Salmon, Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, The Slip, Keller Williams, Tim Reynolds, Strangefolk, Chris Robinson's (of Black Crowes fame) band New Earth Mud, Percy Hill, Disco Biscuits, The New Deal, Deep Banana Blackout, Maceo Parker, Vince Welnick (of The Grateful Dead), Robby Krieger (of The Doors) and The Word (feat. John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood, Robert Randolph and all three members of The North Mississippi All-Stars) to name a few acts that played in that era. The Webster has begun to take an approach towards the underground rap scene, recently hosting artists like Rich Amiri, Xaviersobased, and Nettspend.

References

{{coord, 41.7448, -72.6829, display=title Music venues in Connecticut Buildings and structures completed in 1937 Buildings and structures in Hartford, Connecticut Cinemas and movie theaters in Connecticut Former cinemas in the United States