Star Plaza To Close After All

After the famed Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Ind., first announced it was being demolished then announced in November a dramatic reprieve, it appears the venue is going away after all. 

– Star Plaza Theatre

The 3,400-seat theatre is set for demolition at the end of the year after a farewell performance by The Oak Ridge Boys, which opened the venue in 1979 and has played there each of the 37 years of its existence.

Meanwhile, theatre CEO Charlie Blum reportedly left the venue in February; Blum could not be reached at press time.

White Lodging originally planned to raze the building last year. A nearby Radisson Hotel built in 1969 is already almost completely demolished, according to the Chicago Tribune. White Lodging has not indicated what it will put on the lot.

The catalog of performers who did play the room is enormous: Sammy Davis Jr., Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Bette Midler, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Reba, Jay Leno, and Kenny Chesney just to name a few. Liberace played there for an entire month. Red Skelton collapsed on its stage but returned to complete the last two minutes of his routine. Tim McGraw was joined onstage with a surprise duet by someone named Star Plaza Theatre.

The Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza was the brainchild of Dean White, the father of White Lodging founder Bruce White.  Bruce was the CEO of the company that managed and booked the theatre, Star Productions, until Blum succeeded him in 1989.