YEARS OFMEMBER FDICWe’ve been giving sensible, prudent advice since 1868. And we’ll never stop working to make you a big fan of everything we do.See how at frostbank.com/expectmore or call us at (800) 51-FROST.COMMON SENSETAKES CENTERSTAGE HERE.© 2019 Knorr Marketing SFF-1297 8/19StarfineFurniture.com3727 BroadwayGalveston, TX 77550(409) 762-7821Mon - Fri: 10AM - 7PMSaturday: 10AM - 6PMSunday: Noon - 5PM3503 Gulf FreewayDickinson, TX 77539(281) 678-8295Mon - Sat: 10AM - 8PMSunday: Noon - 6PMUNIQUE Looks. EXCEPTIONAL Values!Kim & Jody Stein-Family Owned4th Generation "Come see us!"“I have lived for art, I have lived for love.” -- Floria Tosca from “Tosca” by PucciniComfortable, stylish furniture will grace your home with both art and love.YOUR STYLE. YOUR SATISFACTION.GuaranteedCUSTOM BUILT FOR YOU.With most of the furniture you’ll see in our stores, whether traditional or contemporary in design, you will be able to choose the exact size, shape and color of your furniture so that it is as unique as you. The best part is that it will be built just for you and your family.contents6 SETTING THE STAGE At 125, The Grand is still doing what it was built to do12 THE SHOW MUST GO ON The Grand’s early investors stepped up to save struggling theater14 ‘PART OF THE HEALING’ Resiliency marks The Grand’s character20 PLAYING A DIFFERENT TUNE Silenced Steinway still telling stories about The Grand24 BEHIND THE CURTAIN Backstage magic makes for seamless vision onstageON THE COVERGalveston musician Keven Anthony on the stage of The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston.PHOTO BY JENNIFER REYNOLDS/THE DAILY NEWS28 LIFE OF PYE Fourth-generation stage manager continues a family tradition32 ‘A SENSE OF FAMILY’ Long-tenured employees keep The Grand running smoothly34 CHANGING OF THE GUARD Grand to see new board president before 125th36 SUPPORTING THE ARTS Patrons, foundations help to keep The Grand alive38 DINNER AND A SHOW The Grand is an economic anchor downtown4 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYHelping Texans Build Texas®www.texasf irst.bankPROUDLY SPONSORED BYto The Grand onof Magical Entertainment for Texans!to The Grand onof Magical Entertainment for Texans!125 Year125 YearCongratulationCongratulation6 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYSETTING THE STAGEAT 125, THE GRAND IS STILL DOING WHAT IT WAS BUILT TO DOBY KERI HEATH | THE DAILY NEWS THE DAILY NEWS 7ALLEN SHEFFIELDDesigned by New Orleans architect Frank Cox, The Grand 1894 Opera House features a 70-foot stage — the largest in Texas at the time it was built — with rounded walls for enhanced acoustics. The 1,000-seat theater includes three levels with two curving balconies and 12 boxes inside a Romanesque Revival-style building in downtown Galveston.8 THE GRAND: 125TH ANNIVERSARYThe Grand 1894 Opera House has stood for more than a century through storms both meteorological and financial, has opened its doors to Galveston’s upper crust, its working class and even a few roadshow horses; the theater has weathered tectonic shifts in what people call entertainment, served as forum for community debate, dis-cussion and artistic expression and helped reinvigorate the city’s historic downtown.ROSENBERG LIBRARYPosters are displayed outside The Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston in 1906. THE DAILY NEWS 9The Grand, which is celebrat-ing its 125th anniversary this year, has stood the test of time and its connection to the past is part of what makes it so import-ant to Galveston, Executive Di-rector Maureen Patton said.“It’s the same story that all the historic theaters share,” Patton said. “You have a history of the people who played here. You have a relationship between the audience and the stage that is intimate.”The Grand is perhaps best known today for its unlikely ability to draw marquee enter-tainers, people and groups of international fame, to a 1,000-seat venue in a town of less than 50,000 people. Performers have included Lyle Lovett, Willie Nel-son, Itzhak Perlman, Liza Min-nelli, The Oak Ridge Boys and Carol Burnett to name just few.The Grand is the only sur-viving theater in the Greenwall Circuit, a collection of theaters along the Gulf Coast owned by Henry Greenwall.Although its has become the main pillar of Galveston’s arts and cultural scene, The Grand wasn’t the first opera house on the island, Patton said.“There were four or five the-aters that preceded us,” Patton said. “They would mainly be in a building and then they would fail and someone else would take over the building.”By the end of the Civil War, when brothers Henry and Mor-ris Greenwall moved to town, JENNIFER REYNOLDS | THE DAILY NEWSOrnate box seating on all three levels provide stage-side seating at The Grand.Next >