A quite a-muse-ing theatre

Recently, we spent the afternoon at the MUSE Theatre in downtown Perry, a truly amazing place that brought back a flood of memories. Let me tell you about it.

We were there for my granddaughter, Adele’s, spring music recital performance. She, along with a bunch of her cohorts are taking lessons from her coach, Justin Carr as well as the other teachers in the Performa Team which is part of the Hession Entertainment Group. If you or someone in your circle of life is interested in music lessons of any sort from Rock to Opera, voice to instrumental, they seem to be a one-stop shop: www.performamusiclessons.com.

We were fearful of missing Adele’s solo as we got held up in “Heavy” downtown Perry traffic; actually, we got caught in a rather long funeral procession. But we made it with a minute or two to spare!

Our breath was taken away as we walked through the doors of the renovated MUSE for the first time since moving back to our Perry roots. As I’ve mentioned several times in this column, we moved to Perry from Detroit in 1971. We were greeted by a billboard on the East End of what is now Sam Nunn Boulevard for the Ebony Hotel to service non-white patrons back in the sad days of segragation, long before Sam Nunn began his campaign for the US Senate. Those thoughts were triggered again as I did the research for this column only to find out that the balcony for the original MUSE was also for non-white patrons. Thankfully we have come a long way  toward putting those days behind us!  The Bryants have done a stunning job of renovating the MUSE without destroying its original character. It is truly a treasure for downtown Perry and all of Middle Georgia for that matter. You can take an online stroll by going to https://www.themusetheatrega.com/.

But that flash of memory was only part of the picture. Another was the virtually unknown vision and efforts of my son, William.  He and his wife, Crystal wanted to renovate the MUSE around 2012. He was distraught at the obvious track the theatre was on towards being demolished. So he proceeded to setup a 501c charity to do what has now been done by the Bryant’s. William’s vision was slightly different though. He wanted to make it a true retro movie theater where old time classic movies could be shown. I distinctly remember the night he and I went to an old theater on Hilton Head Island and loaded an old carbon arc projector into my van and brought it to the MUSE; that bugger was really heavy! While that vision didn’t pan out, a larger one has, and now Perry has a one of a kind venue for all sorts of events from music and theater to wedding receptions and more.

Next time you have a free afternoon why not take a stroll through downtown Perry and stop to see the “New” old MUSE Theatre either before or after you have lunch at one of the very inviting restaurants there?

Thanks for reading All About Seniors… see you next week!

PS: it was a great recital and yes, Adele did a marvelous job, even if I am her grandfather. So did her cohorts. Thank you to the Hession Group and especially to Adele’s coach Justin Carr!

Bill Milby is a Director of Visiting Angels® of Central Georgia, a non-medical, living assistance service for seniors. If you have questions or comments about this column you can reach him at william.mercylink@gmail.com or search for us at  https://www.facebook.com/VisitingAngelsofCentralGA