Folk legend Judy Collins to welcome back restored Bellefontaine theater
Singer and songwriter Judy Collins turned 80 this year and shows no signs of slowing down.
She tours vigorously, releases an album of songs every year and is working on another book to add to the 10 she has already written.
“I’m working on a coffeetable book, which is very exciting for me,” she said in a phone interview from her home in New York.
“It involves writing about the songs that I’ve written but also some of the songs I’ve recorded. And a bit of memoir. And some new poetry that will fit into the profile of the songs that I’m writing about. So it’s fun!”
On Friday, Collins will be performing in Bellefontaine at a theater just a few years older than she is, one that is experiencing a new lease on life.
The Holland Theatre opened in 1931 as a movie theater. It has been closed for major renovations since January, and Collins will be the first artist to appear in the restored space.
Collins was chosen for a number of reasons.
“She’s iconic. She’s a Who: Judy Collins
Where: Holland Theatre, 127 E. Columbus Ave., Bellefontaine
Contact: 937-592-9002, thehollandtheatre.org
Showtime: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Admission: $35 to $60
living legend. Not only does her music relate to an older generation, but it speaks to a younger one,” said Chris Westhoff, managing director of the theater.
“The timeline of her life is an interesting parallel to the timeline of the Holland Theatre. They’ve both had their share of ups and downs, and they’ve both been a constant in the lives of their communities, whether you’re talking about Logan County or the world.”
The downs of the Holland include a period in the 1970s when the auditorium was divided into five movie theaters. Through the years, the plaster and paint that transform the theater into a replica of a Dutch city had degraded, but it since has been painstakingly restored. The windmills are turning, the tulips are in the window boxes, and the night sky is ready to be projected onto the ceiling.
On a more practical level, visitors also will enjoy more comfortable seating.
“Through the multiplexing and over the years, the original seats from 1931 had been taken out and put back in and reconfigured, but they were still the original seats,” Westhoff said.
So the theater started a “Take a Seat” campaign in which individuals, families or businesses could sponsor a seat. By the time Collins performs, 574 new seats will have been installed.
For the concert, Collins will be singing some of her most familiar songs, but she also will be breaking out new material.
“We try never to do the same show twice,” she said. “We don’t want to bore everyone out of their brains. So my musical director and I, we might repeat ‘Both Sides Now’ or ‘Send in the Clowns,’ but we shape the show around newer things and things that are unexpected. It’s like creating a new menu. You don’t always want to have the same old meat and potatoes.”
Among those songs will be some from an album to be released in November, “Winter Stories.”
“I’m doing it with a Norwegian artist, Jonas Fjeld, and with a bluegrass group, Chatham County Line. It includes some of my songs and some of theirs, done with a spectacular fiddle player and mandolin player and guitarist,” she said.
Collins knows immediately which songs are meant for her.
“Sometimes, I hear a song, and I know I have to sing it,” she said. “It may take a while, but, eventually, I will.”
She also knows which ones aren’t for her.
“If I don’t love a song, I don’t ever want to hear it again. Ever, ever, ever, Mommy, never! I really have emotional, violent responses to songs that I don’t like — particularly if they’re sung by somebody that I really adore, who falls into the habit of picking one of their own songs which I think is really awful.
“These are people who have written some wonderful songs. But if they miss it, and they think it’s great, it makes me very mad.”