Historic Elitch Theatre

Elitch Theatre was founded in 1891 located at the original Elitch site in NW Denver. It was the first summer stock theater company in the U.S. Stars the graced the Elitch stage included Fredrich March, Grace Kelly, Edward G. Robinson...and more! Elitch Theatre is an 1891 Shingle Style theatre located at the original Elitch Gardens site in northwest Denver, Colorado. It was the first summer stock theater company in the U.S. created and developed by John and Mary Elitch. Sarah Bernhardt came to Denver in 1906 after the San Francisco earthquake destroyed the theatre where she had been scheduled to perform. At Elitch's she played "Camille" at the matinees and "LaSorcier" at night. Douglas Fairbanks was hired into the same company. With the purchase of Elitch Gardens by John Mulvihill in 1916, Mary Elitch stepped down from control of the theater, but among her purchase conditions was a stipulation that two lower boxes would always be reserved in her name. Mulvihill oversaw the theatre until his death in 1930 and was succeeded by his son-in-law Arnold Gurtler. Stars that graced the Elitch Gardens Theatre's stage include Fredrich March, Grace Kelly, Edward G. Robinson, Debbie Reyonolds, Cloris Leachman, and many others. In 1953, the Elitch Theatre was used for two days to film scenes for The Glenn Miller Story. It stopped operating as a traditional resident summer-stock company in 1963, switching to single, star-packaged shows out of New York under a special Actors Equity contract. Broadway stars would be very happy to create a show featuring themselves during the summer hiatus, and perhaps bring their family along for the fun of it. A show would play for one or two weeks, before moving on. Denver and Elitch Gardens became the Western-most stop on the summer circuit. The theatre's last season was 1987, and it closed in 1991.