On Sunday night I once again had a chance to attend a concert in the Overture Center's Capitol Theater (pictured at left), which used to be the old Oscar Mayer Theatre of the Madison Civic Center.

And once again, I found myself cursing the preservationists for what they did to Overture.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright could probably act as my stand-in when it comes to vocally critiquing what effect the preservationists had on the Overture Center. 

Which is to ruin a major section of what could have been an otherwise even more outstanding design for a world-class performing arts venue. (My other gripes are the steep, even vertiginous, slope of the top balcony in Overture Hall, which groups have trouble selling tickets for, and the crammed, claustrophobic Continental seating with few aisles.)

I still think the whole block should have been dynamited and the architect Cesar Pelli (or one of the other many celebrated architects who were willing to work with an uncompromised site) should have been handed an entire square block of the city to work with as he designed not only Overture Hall and Promenade Hall, the various art galleries and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, but also a spanking new 1,000-seat theater.

My guess is the whole building would have been different.

As it turned out, it was like handing a canvas to a great painter and saying, "Now you can only use three-quarters of this for your original work. The rest belongs to the painter before you."

There's no denying that the expensive redesign and refurbishing of the historic structure, which has drawn its share of audiences and public praise, are about as good as you can ask for. (See picture at below right).

From what I myself have heard, the acoustics are much better.

And the richly colored detailing, from the wall motifs to the draperies, are striking. 

The seats are also more comfortable, although the ushers herded us general admission ticket-holders in like cattle Sunday night, saying that, with Continental seating, it's hard to walk in and out of the rows when people are seated.

Gee, that in itself sounds like a pretty good argument for a totally new and different, and more useful, redesign to me.

And then there was the breeze, not from the ocean but from the ventilating system. It blew hard on the head and cold and uncomfortable, making the "new" Capitol Theater seem much like the old big, cavernous, drafty one.

The performance itself - by the UW Choral Union, UW Symphony Orchestra and soloists of Ralph Vaughan Williams '"Five Variants on 'Dives and Lazarus'" and especially the hour-long "A Sea Symhony" - was just fine, outstanding even. It proved a fitting tribute to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer's death.

Under UW conductor Beverly Taylor, the sound was appropriately big to match Walt Whitman's moving poetry about the ocean. And you know how windy both Walt and the ocean can get.

The various sections of the chorus and orchestra were well differentiated, although when the orchestra tended to overpower the singers (which was almost always) I doubt it was the fault of the hall.

And it was nice that the 160 members of the chorus had comfortable chairs to sit on, not just risers to stand on.

But overall, I personally didn't find the Capitol Theater, which is expensive to rent, to be a big improvement on Mills Hall, where the UW Choral Union normally performs twice, not once.

In fact, the sight lines, at least for me, were much worse. From where I sat in the balcony, I could NOT even see the two excellent soloists, UW baritone Paul Rowe and imported guest soprano Janet Brown, and the front section of the orchestra.

True, I've heard the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra perform in the same space and been more satisfied. A smaller group seems better in the space.

But the Capitol Theatre still disappoints me and seems a major design failure of the Overture Center, along perhaps with the wall-of-glass lobby that looks great but costs a mint to heat in the Wisconsin winter, driving up the rental and maintenance fees.

Was the history contained in the old hall really so important to preserve?

Couldn't they have taken the facade and tower and other things and moved them elsewhere, like the Wisconsin Historical Museum, for display?

Anyway, let Art Talk know what you think.

Do you like or dislike the Capitol Theater?

Is it good for performers?

Is it good for patrons?

What specifically about it do you like or dislike?

And what did you think of the performance by the UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra?

Should they return to the Capitol Theater again? Or go back to Mills Hall until the new UW School of Music concert halls are built? 

Let Art Talk know. The more replies, the merrier.