Burton Cummings Theatre

Description:
The Burton Cummings Theatre for the Performing Arts (known in previous incarnations as the Walker Theatre and the Odeon Cinema) is a 1646-seat theatre designed by Howard Stone C. Stone and built expressly for quality live entertainment in 1907 by C.P. and Harriet Walker. The theatre was built for the then astronomical price of $330,000.00 (ten times the cost of an equivalent wood structure) and was officially opened on February 18th, 1907 with the New England Opera Company’s production of Madame Butterfly, starring Florence Easton. Opening night saw a veritable who’s-who of Canadian society in attendance. Speeches were delivered from Lt. Governor Daniel MacMillan, Premier Rodman Roblin and Mayor James Ashdown.

From opening in 1907 until World War One, the Walker Theatre ran with scarcely a “dark” night and was the center of cultural activity in Winnipeg. Impresario Corliss Powers Walker’s “Bread Basket Circuit” (consisting of theatres in the northern mid-west United States and Winnipeg) had sufficient purchasing power to secure the highest level touring productions of opera, theatre, music, ballet and vaudeville from New York and London. The Walker season ran for twelve months of the year.

The theatre served as a grand live theatre until 1933, when, with crippling competition from the film industry and the effect of the Great Depression at its height, the Walker Theatre closed, only to be seized by the City of Winnipeg for back taxes owing, in 1936.

In 1944, after a drawn out and much debated process, the theatre was sold for $35,000.00 to Henry Morton, the owner of the Garrick Cinema. On November 3, 1945, the Walker was re-opened as the Odeon Cinema, and for generations until its close in 1990, was fondly remembered as the premiere single-screen cinema in downtown Winnipeg. The Odeon period resulted in the most severe heritage deprivation of the original theatre, however, with the suspension of a false ceiling, which closed off the second “Gods” balcony, supported by hundreds of wires busted through the original plaster ceiling.

In 1990, the former Odeon Cinema was purchased for $700,000.00 by the “Walker Theatre Performing Arts Group Inc.” – a volunteer, not-for-profit Board of Directors that sought to restore the building and provide performing arts programs. The theatre re-opened (for the second time) as the Walker Theatre on March 1, 1991 after partial restoration had been completed.

Since re-opening, the theatre has won recognition as one of the most outstanding live performance theatres in Canada, and has been designated a Grade One Heritage Building and both a Provincial and National Historic site. A 1994 plaque inscription reads:

“The Walker is an excellent example of an early Canadian theatre designed for serious dramas, operas and musicals. Opened in 1907, it was run by C.P. Walker, whose New York connections brought in international stars and a dazzling array of productions. Nationally important political rallies held here including meetings of the women’s suffrage and labour movements. Designed by Howard C. Stone, the Walker was notable in its day for such features as fireproofing, the arched ceiling resembling the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, and the inexpensive ‘Gods’ section of seating.”

In August, 2002, the Walker Theatre was re-named The Burton Cummings Theatre for the Performing Arts, in recognition of one of Winnipeg’s most outstanding singer/songwriter/entertainers, who has distinguished himself on the world’s stage and continues to make his home in Winnipeg.