CIRCLE STAR THEATER
The Bay Area theater that put Sinatra and Cheech & Chong on a rotating stage.
A performing arts venue where its name is based on it being a theatre in the round, featuring a rotating circular stage with none of its 3,743 seats further than 50 feet from the stage.
Numerous musicians, actors, and comedians are among those who appeared at the Circle Star, San Carlos. Unlike similar venues across the United States, the Circle Star Theatre stage had the ability to rotate in either direction without limit, thanks to the slip ring and brush system that supplied electrical power and lighting signals to it.
Its original concept when it opened in the early 1960s was a dinner theatre similar to the Hyatt House Theatre in nearby Burlingame. In 1971, the theatre was purchased by Marquee Entertainment, run by Don-Jo Medlevine of the famed Chicago nightclub Chez Paree. Marquee Entertainment booked Las Vegas acts such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, and Liberace, among many others. In the mid-1970s the theatre was kept solvent by booking Motown acts to increase its diversity.
It was closed in 1993.
The building caught fire on April 18, 1997, damaging much of the backstage area, though by this time plans had already been made for its demolition. The theatre was ultimately demolished to make way for the Circle Star Center, a complex containing two four-story office buildings and a small hotel.
Numerous musicians, actors, and comedians are among those who appeared at the Circle Star, San Carlos.
Author: Bob Emerson
