What's in a name?

I’ve written about the Kennedy Center twice in this newsletter, and while I usually impart a sense of the importance of what happens at a national theater, with this week’s news story I have what might be a controversial opinion.

Let it go.

So it might get renamed after the First Lady. I just can’t bring myself to wring my hands over that right now. Changes to personnel? Sure. Changes to content? Definitely. But a renaming that doesn’t seem to carry any substantive granting of authority seems benign.

It’s also worth noting that we do have a National Theater. It’s been able to kind of fly under the radar lately, but it does exist and isn’t part of The Kennedy Center. It’s the second oldest working theater in the country, and every US president since Andrew Jackson has attended something there. It’s had unofficial names like Drury on the Potomac and The President’s Playhouse.

I’ll admit that researching this compilation put me into “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all” territory with theaters.

New names for theaters often don’t stick anyway - whether official or unofficial. Just look at the Paris Opera. It’s been renamed repeatedly:

• Académie Royale de Musique (under the king)

• Théâtre de la République et des Arts (revolution)

• Académie Impériale de Musique (under Napoleon)

• Académie Nationale de Musique

• Opéra Garnier (after the architect, under the Third Republic)

• Palais Garnier

Supposedly under Napoleon a journalist quipped that “If we changed the name every time we changed the government, we’d spend more on signs than sopranos.” That sure didn’t stop them.

Covent Garden also has a long history that’s included:

• Theatre Royal

• Royal Italian Opera

• Royal Opera House

But after a fire in the 19th century, New Covent Garden Theater stuck.

The Bowery Theater in New York is another example.

• New York Theatre

• Thalia Theatre

• The People’s Theatre

• Fay Templeton Theatre

But audiences just called it The Bowery until it closed in 1929. Even the Bolshoi, whose tale I have already told, nearly had its name changed. Note that “Bolshoi” just means Big. It’s quite literally The Big Theater. I can’t imagine wanting to change that (and I’m a little surprised that’s not a potential name for the Kennedy Center). In the early Soviet era a new name was discussed - The Proletarian People’s Theater.

After much negotiation the Bolshoi name was eventually kept. One Soviet minister argued that “We can’t have Tchaikovsky in a theater named after class struggle. It’s too confusing.” Plus, you have to imagine people would have continued just calling it the Bolshoi. It was a well-established brand.

I’m not saying names shouldn’t be undertaken with care. La Fenice in Venice was accidentally prophetic. The name translates to The Phoenix, and like the mythological bird, it has burned down twice. Once in 1836, and again in 1996. But it has risen from the ashes again. Reopened in 2003, the mayor at the time said it was “back and more stubborn than ever.”

And Booth’s Theater had its brand a bit spoiled by association. It was named after the great Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth. Who was also the brother of another actor: John Wilkes Booth.

Understandably, they had some trouble with their name after April of 1865, but they still stuck with it. One newspaper mocked them with a satirical ad:

“Help Edwin escape infamy: Name his theater anything but Booth’s. Winner gets two tickets and a nervous glance.”

Edwin Booth as Hamlet

Despite the fact that Edwin Booth actually once saved Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert from being crushed by a train, he couldn’t overcome his last name. Booth’s Theater closed in 1883.

And consider the many cities that tried to have a Tivoli Theater in the early 20th century. Naming it after the Roman pleasure gardens - what could go wrong? Well, in no fewer than five cities, the Tivoli Theaters all caught fire, and several burned down.

Whether for metaphysical or literal reasons, the name of a theater or opera house isn’t nothing, but it certainly isn’t everything. As trite as it sounds, it’s what happens inside that counts.

And now we’ll see how easily a name can be changed later on.

Just in case.

-Colleen