The St. George Theatre: Family restores venue to former glory

It was the late 1940s, and the St. George Theatre was thriving on Staten Island’s North Shore.

Families were spending their weekends “going to the show” (the phrase “going to the movies” didn’t exist yet), to see films like “Gung Ho” and “The Fighting Sullivans.”

Native Islander Camillo DiClerico, now 74 years old, has specific and fond memories of his days as a New Brighton youngster, enjoying the theatre with his family or friends.

“The St. George had matinees where the kids had to sit in special sections, and the theater had a monitor to keep us in line. We were never allowed to go into the balcony,” he recalls.

“At Easter-time, the St. George would give school kids free showings of a silent movie version of ‘King of Kings,’ which was about the life of Jesus Christ. Try watching that every year in a silent movie with subtitles,” DiClerico says with a chuckle.

These days, the big screen is gone, but the stage regularly comes alive with live entertainment by legendary musicians such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Tony Bennett, and Bret Michaels, just to name a few. There are children’s performances, school and community outreach programs, pageants and dance recitals. And this year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered his State of the City address from center stage.

The St. George Theatre is thriving once again, as it did more than 80 years ago.

Looking back

The St. George Theatre originally opened in 1929 as a movie and vaudeville theatre. It was a grand venue, by all accounts — rivaling many Manhattan theaters — with its velvet seats, huge spiraling staircases and specially-constructed balcony area.

It was sold in 1938 to the Fabian Theater chain, which took over and ran it as a movie house — as DiClerico remembers — until 1972. In the 1970s, the theatre fell into disrepair, and various owners tried hard to revive it. There was a roller rink, a nightclub, and an antique showroom. There was even an attempt in the mid-1990s to turn it into a performing arts center. But that venture, too, was abandoned.

Bringing back ‘a white elephant’

In 2004, a Staten Island family stepped in and the transformation began.

Rosemary Cappozalo, the owner of “Mrs. Rosemary’s,” a legendary New Dorp dance studio, had been renting out the theatre for recitals during the 1960s and ’70s. Because the St. George became more rundown with each passing year, she decided to look elsewhere to stage her shows.

When Cappozalo was approached by its owner with the possibility of taking it over, she knew she had no choice. She decided it was time to save the theatre once and for all, so, along with her daughters, Doreen Cugno and Luanne Sorrentino, she created a non-profit organization called St. George Theatre Restoration, Inc., which now owns and operates the venue.

A life-long patron of the arts, Cappozalo donated her life savings of more than $1 million to help with the restoration.

The re-building was an uphill battle, to say the least, says Sorrentino, the theatre’s chief financial officer and director of operations.

The St. George had been padlocked for years, and restoring this diamond in the rough was an arduous task.

“It was a white elephant,” says Sorrentino. “Everybody told us not to do it. Lawyer friends, accountants, people in the business. We turned a deaf ear. We knew that if someone was going to do it, it was going to be us.”

The women had their work cut out for them. The red velvet seats had been ripped apart; the stage curtain was torn; and the stage itself had chunks of it missing. There was no electricity, no plumbing, no stage lighting or sound system, and no heat or air-conditioning.

“The roof had to be repaired,” says Sorrentino. “It was raining in the theatre. The only ones finding comfort in the theatre were the raccoons and the birds.”

They rolled up their sleeves and got to work installing toilets, sinks, sheetrock and carpeting, while dealing with bigger projects like missing stairs and orchestra seats, as well the installation of a $30,000 skylight over the stage.

The restoration project itself was fraught with delays and set-backs. There were building codes to adhere to, and safety regulations were top priority. But Sorrentino, her mother, and her sister were determined to make it work. Twelve weeks after they closed on the St. George, the theater was open for business. As daunting as it was, Sorrentino says they never thought about giving up.

“We just kept thinking, ‘How can we make this better? What do we need to do next?’ ” she says.

Continuing to evolve

While business began to boom, the renovations continued. Back in 2008, new lighting and sound systems came, with the help of a $3 million grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, and then-City Councilman Michael McMahon. With additional grant money and fund-raising efforts, the theatre will soon be purchasing a new rigging system for the stage, handrails for the balconies, and new doors. A new marquee is currently on order.

Cugno and Sorrentino continue to book shows that draw crowds of all ages, but Sorrentino says it’s the work they do behind the scenes that brings them the most satisfaction. Since 2004, they have hosted the “Night of Theatre” program, which opens the theatre to senior citizen groups and community service organizations, allowing them to enjoy the performances for free.

In addition, their Summer Outreach Program offers free dance and theatre training — along with a free, healthful lunch — to economically disadvantaged children, ages 9 to 18 years old. It had begun with Cappozalo while the theatre was first being renovated.

“We’d be down there scrubbing floors, painting, and all the kids in the neighborhood used to come and ask us, ‘What are you doing?’ And my mother would talk to them and have them help her do things like take out the garbage, little errands,” says Sorrentino. “They were looking for things to do, and a little pat on the back. They’d spend hours with us! And my mother said right away, ‘We have to think of something for these kids to do, to get them off the street.’ ”

The outreach program was born. And Sorrentino says it has brought hope and change to thousands of kids’ lives over the years.

“We teach them all about dance, theatre, theatre etiquette, lighting and sound, public speaking, and poetry,” says Sorrentino. “The Staten Island Foundation has even funded a literacy component now. It’s my favorite. I love it.”

A living legacy

In June of 2009, Cappozalo passed away, after a 10-month battle with cancer.

Sorrentino describes her mother as a woman of vision, passion and grace — someone who gave much more than she ever took. Cappozalo began teaching dance back in 1959 to earn money for her young family, and the business grew steadily over the years. Now, with 1,500 students a week, Mrs. Rosemary’s Dance Studio has become one of the largest dance instruction schools on the East Coast.

Her daughters are following in her footsteps. But make no mistake — the workload of running the school (still in its original location on New Dorp Plaza) and the theatre is tremendous. Sorrentino says she’s become adept at managing her time properly.

“I’ll be on a break at dancing school, but I’ll be in the back, on my phone, checking e-mails, looking at applications for the theatre, whatever it takes,” she says. “But it doesn’t feel like work. It’s who we are; it’s our lives.

“We’re not the type to sit at home, put our feet up and watch Oprah,” she says with a laugh, knowing her mother would be proud.

And she admits, there’s no giving up now.

“This is not our theatre,” says Cappozalo. “It’s Staten Island’s theatre. It’s been saved for generations to come.”

St. George Theatre [35 Hyatt St. in St. George, (718) 442-2900]. For more information, visit www.stgeorgetheatre.com.

Monica Brown is a cable television news anchor who lives on Staten Island with her two children. She can be reached at [email protected].