The Music Hall (Portsmouth)

In 1878, a group of Seacoast residents, including a banker, a railroad executive, a lawyer, a housewife, and a clergyman—all members of the prominent Peirce family—joined together to rebuild Portsmouth's only venue for entertainment, which had burned to the ground the year before.

Following the fire on Christmas Eve of 1876, the Peirces knew what we still hold to be true: “a community is known to some extent by the character and place of its amusements,” a sentiment echoed on the opening night in a speech by Sen. W.H.Y.

The famed D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (Gilbert and Sullivan) performed The Pirates of Penzance within weeks of its US premiere, and countless Shakespearean actors known around the world graced The Music Hall stage, including Margaret Mather, Thomas W. Keene and John Drew.

Broadway was well represented, with performances of Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz and No, No, Nanette among many other shows that came to the theater within the first weeks of leaving “The Great White Way” in New York City.

Between the world wars, The Music Hall remained the home of community events and high school graduations, but fewer traveling shows were presented.

Though relegated to showing some of the less popular film titles, The Civic remained a favored venue for the Portsmouth community until it was sold to a holding company in the early 1980s when it was considered “too old” to be of any use to Loew.

Thanks to the generosity, hard work, and foresight of a group of concerned residents known as The Friends of The Music Hall, who followed in the footsteps of the Peirce Family of more than a century before, the theater emerged as a non-profit center for the performing arts.

Now the only remaining venue of its kind in Portsmouth, The Music Hall operates as it did in 1878, bringing the region world-class entertainment, both live and on film, and providing a meeting place for members of the community.

In recent years the theater has welcomed such stars as Wynton Marsalis, Alan Alda, Patti LuPone, Idina Menzel, John Updike and Crosby & Nash.

Available to members and the general public alike, these social clubs enthuse and inspire film buffs, bookworms, opera fans, and local influencers.