Here’s a few pieces from my collection of Powers Grand Opera House/Theatre playbills. In the future I plan to have full page digital PDFs to thumb through… Enjoy…
Promo for Powers Opera House Science Lectures
1884 – Promo ad for Powers Opera House science lectures from; Scientific Gleanings playbill
The Wife Playbill Christmas Presentation December 24–25, 1889
1889 – December 24–25 – The Wife by David Belasco and Henry C. DeMille @ Powers Grand Opera House. The playbill is printed on baby blue satin fabric with red brown ink. Advertisement for Chase Brothers Piano Company which had recently relocated to Grand Rapids in 1884.
1892-93 Season Playbill
1892–93 Season playbill design. Reopening after the June 1892 fire destroyed the theatre interior.
Mme. Helena Modjeska as Rosalind 1893
On 19 January 1893 Polish Shakespearean actress Mme. Helena Modjeska, Countess de Bozenta performed Rosalind in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It.
23 Jun 1904 Playbill
1904 – June 23 – David Belasco’s Great Play The Wife @ New Powers Theatre
Puccini’s Grand Opera Madame Butterfly
1908 – 6 April – Henry Savage’s English Grand Opera Company to perform Puccini’s grand opera Madame Butterfly at Powers’ Theatre.
The suicide scene, with non-Japanese doll. Elizabeth Wolff and Corinne Malvern in the production of an English-language Madame Butterfly by Henry Savage's English Grand Opera Company, at the Garden Theatre in New York City, 1907.
Elizabeth Wolff as Cho-Cho-San and Corinne Malvern as Trouble performed at Powers’ Theatre Monday 6 April 1908 in the production of an English-language Madame Butterfly by Henry Savage’s English Grand Opera Company.
Anna Pavlowa Playbill 6 January 1915
1915 – January 6 – Anna Pavlowa; Prima Ballerina (1885 – 1931) at Powers Theatre.
Playbill for Silent Film; “Birth of a Nation” by D.W. Griffith
1916 – Sunday 23 April – Silent Film; Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith at Powers Theatre.
