Ryman Auditorium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Ryman Auditorium is a 2,362-seat live performance venue located at 116 Fifth Avenue North in Nashville, Tennessee, and is best-known as the one-time home of the Grand Ole Opry.
The auditorium was first opened as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892. It was built by Thomas Ryman (1843–1904), a riverboat captain and Nashville businessman. After his death, the Tabernacle was renamed Ryman Auditorium in his honor.
It was used for Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from 1943 to 1974, when the Opry built a larger venue just outside Nashville. The Ryman then sat mostly vacant until 1994 when it was restored and reopened as a performance venue and museum.
Many of the greats of country music have performed at the Ryman over the years, including Roy Acuff, Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, Patsy Cline, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Marty Robbins, Ernest Tubb, Dottie West, Hank Williams, and Tammy Wynette.
Besides country, the venue also features alternative, bluegrass, blues, classical, gospel, jazz, pop, and rock, as well as musical theatre.
Among the countless other artists who have performed on the Ryman stage are Tallulah Bankhead, Ethel Barrymore, Sarah Bernhardt, Victor Borge, Fanny Brice, James Brown, The Byrds, Enrico Caruso, Carol Channing, Charlie Chaplin, Neil Diamond, W.C. Fields, Betty Grable, Helen Hayes, Katharine Hepburn, Bob Hope, and Anna Pavlova.
Ryman Auditorium has been featured in several movies, including Robert Altman's Nashville (1975) starring David Arkin, Barbara Baxley, Ned Beatty, and Karen Black; Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones; and Sweet Dreams (1985) starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris.
In 2001, the Ryman Auditorium was designated National Historic Landmark No. 71000819 and included in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Ryman Auditorium was named Pollstar Magazine's National Theatre of the Year for both 2003 and 2004, beating out such venues as New York's Radio City Music Hall and Hollywood's Universal Amphitheater.
See also
- Academy of Country Music
- Country Music Association
- Country Music Hall of Fame
- List of country music performers
External links
References
- Eiland, William. Nashville's Mother Church: The History of the Ryman Auditorium. Nashville, 1992.
- Graham, Eleanor, ed. Nashville, A Short History and Selected Buildings. Hist. Comm. of Metro-Nashville-Davidson Co., 1974.
- Hagan, Chet. Grand Ole Opry. New York, 1989.
- Henderson, Jerry. "A History of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, 1892-1920." (Ph. D. Diss., Louisiana State University) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1962.
