Regent Theatre
Colloquially known as “Arlington’s Family Resort,” the 450-seat Regent Theater opened in 1916 as a vaudeville venue and started showing films in the early 1920s. For the first several years, the screenings were accompanied by local musicians playing in an orchestra pit, but the theatre added what was then a state-of-the art sound system in the late ‘20s, when “talkies” were becoming popular. For the next 70-plus years, it was among the premier independent movie theatres in the Boston area, regularly presenting non-mainstream, art-house and foreign-language films that major chains avoided.
The venue added live music to its offerings in 2001 after Gary Adelson, Leland Stein and Richard Stavros took ownership in August that year. A month later, in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, they hosted a benefit performance at the Regent headlined by blues-rock guitar wizard Joe Bonamassa, whose debut disc had reached #9 in the Billboard Blues Albums chart the previous year. Since then, dozens of acclaimed artists and bands have graced the Regent’s stage, establishing it as one of New England’s most popular and prestigious small venues.
Notable appearances
Among those who have appeared are John Mayall, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, Mission of Burma, Vanilla Fudge, The Zombies, The Yardbirds, Neil Innes, Jesse Colin Young, Jonathan Edwards, Odetta, The Remains, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Bonnie Bramlett, NRBQ, John Hammond, Ronnie Earl, Rebecca Parris, Roy Buchanan, They Might Be Giants, Michelle Shocked, DJ Fontana (Elvis Presley’s longtime drummer), Jon Butcher, Mountain, New England, Dr. John and Mike Smith of The Dave Clark 5.
The late Brad Delp, known worldwide as lead vocalist for Boston, led his group Beatlejuice in numerous performances at the Regent, which they considered to be their home base. The Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra – a group of 18 singers and seven musicians who perform songs by The Beatles, David Bowie, The Who and Queen along with ones from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” – has had a residency at the theatre since 2004, Big Brother & The Holding Company played at the Regent as part of their 50th anniversary tour in 2017 and stand-up comics including Steven Wright, Paula Poundstone and Lenny Clarke have also appeared.
Film premieres, Sound/video production, Legacy dance troupe
The Regent has presented a number of music-related films over the past 20-odd years, including premieres of I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco (2002), Dresden Dolls in Paradise (2005), Tom Rush: No Regrets (2013, at which the legendary singer-songwriter made a surprise appearance) and Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015), a documentary about Janis Joplin. What was once an eight-lane bowling alley beneath the theater now houses a sound studio, a green-screen stage for video production, a classroom for music lessons and a rehearsal space for the Regent’s resident troupe, Legacy Dance Company.
In March 2020, the Regent hosted the 20th anniversary performance of “On a Winter’s Night” featuring an all-star assortment of folk artists including Cheryl Wheeler, Christine Lavin, Cliff Eberhardt, Patty Larkin and John Gorka. Fate intervened shortly afterward, however, when all businesses in Massachusetts were shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Regent weathered the nearly two years of shutdowns, however, and has continued in its mission as an intimate venue and highly valued asset within the local community.
(by John Cappello)
