Toronto noted the centenary of the Royal Alexandra Theatre this past weekend.
One of the many great things about the Royal Alex is that it is still the Royal Alex.
We went to a show this summer at another magnificent old Toronto theatre, its vast spaces and exuberent decorations all meticulously restored a couple of decades ago. The only jarring thing about that theatrical palace is its name: the Canon Theatre. That's a corporate logo recently imposed by a deal worked out by the owners, Clear Channel (who last year brought the union-busting Blue Man Group to their other theatre, the "Panasonic.")
Before Clear Channel, the "Canon" had been the Pantages, which was the name it had when it was new in the 1920s. The Pantages family's theatrical business started in the Yukon, so the name preserved a history not only of the building, but of Canadian theatrical history too.
True the Pantages spent many years chopped up into screening rooms under the name of the Imperial Six movie theatre, but as a live theatre venue, Torontonians knew it as the Pantages.
These days, cultural institutions, universities, and public builings sell the naming rights to almost everything. Today the largest movie theatre in downtown Toronto is actually called Scotiabank. It's another credit to the Mirvishes that the Alex is still the Royal Alex. The Mirvish organization puts on shows in the Canon, but they don't own the building or the naming rights.
