Refurbished Memminger 'like a good dream'

Blanche C. Seifstein of James Island remembers using Memminger Auditorium for proms, graduations and dance recitals when it still was a relatively new building.

Carolee Rosen Fox of West Ashley remembers nervously reciting lines to "O Captain! My Captain!" as a young woman and playing basketball on the stage on other days.

They joined several other classmates last week for a special preview tour of the newly refurbished auditorium, the only building that survives from Memminger's era as an all-girls school, an era that ended in the 1950s with its conversion and reconstruction as an elementary school.

Because the auditorium has been rehabilitated with several modern twists, such as a sloping courtyard, new restrooms and circulation paths, Spoleto

Festival officials were unsure of how Memminger's alumnae would react.

"I thought if there was any group that might find fault with what has become a very contemporary building within a 60-year-old shell, that might be the group," said Spoleto Festival General Director Nigel Redden.

"It's very different in there now, but they couldn't be more enthusiastic. They said, 'You've done a wonderful thing,' which was very gratifying."

The wider public will get its first view of the auditorium during a special kick-off performance of the opera "Amistad" tonight, then with dozens of other performances there over the festival's 17-day run.

Until recently, Memminger essentially has stood empty, except for a few pigeons that roosted inside. Seifstein is among many who have longed to see Memminger renovated.

"The acoustics are great. It's a great old building," she said. "Projects like that do not happen overnight. It takes a long time. I'm so glad to see what they've done."

Fox said she had largely forgotten about the auditorium because it had been neglected for so many years, but she likes its new sophisticated transformation.

"It was like when one is in a dream. You're told that that's Memminger, and there are vestiges of it being that auditorium, but it's not that auditorium. It's changed," she said. "It's exactly like a dream, but a good dream."

IF YOU GO

Memminger Auditorium will reopen officially tonight. The event begins at 6 p.m. with a dinner at the Riviera Theatre on King Street, followed by the opening-night performance of "Amistad" at Memminger at 8 p.m. A champagne and dessert reception will take place after the opera. Tickets for the entire evening are $350, or $150 for the opera and reception.

Reach Robert Behre at rbehre@postandcourier.com or 937-5771.