The Cabot, which opened in December 1920, was built by The Ware Brothers and is one of only 250 historic vaudeville/movie palaces remaining in the U.S.
The Cabot Theatre is a North Shore treasure, a legacy of the visionary showmanship of the Ware Brothers. Opened in December 1920 as a dream palace of vaudeville and silent movies, it was once hailed as “the most impressive auditorium of its size east of New York.” This Ware Theater shared a disInguished architectural pedigree, designed by the architects of Boston’s Athenaeum and Olympia Theater and Dorchester’s Strand Theater. For its first 40 years, it served as a center of community life for downtown Beverly.
The venue was purchased in 1960 by movie chain giant E.M. Loews, who renamed it the Cabot Cinema. A unique and remarkable transformaIon began in 1976 when it was purchased by Le Grand David and his own Spectacular Magic Company. For 37 years, The Cabot hosted a long-running magic show that entertained local audiences, made seven White House appearances and won recogniIon in the Guinness Book of Records and the magazines of TIME, Smithsonian and Na/onal Geographic World.
No ordinary building, The Cabot is a rare survivor. Only 250 similar movie palaces sIll exist out of an esImated 20,000 theaters built in the 1920s. But its future came into doubt when the Magic Company wound down and they placed the theater up for sale.
The newly formed Cabot Performing Arts Center is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organizaIon whose mission is to enrich the cultural life of the north shore community with a full and diverse calendar of quality live music, film and other performing arts. The theatre has been undergoing renovaIons and will install new seaIng and much more in early 2016.
Experiencing a concert at the Cabot is both a visual and acousIcal delight. A listening room, the 95-year-old movie palace now offers warm and nuanced sound throughout the house, even in the highest seats in the balcony. The non-LED digital lighIng systems and unobstructed sight lines provide an inImate and memorable concert experience, for both arIst and audience.
