CITY OF NEWBURGH – A more-than-15-year effort to restore the City of Newburgh’s historic Ritz Theater and again fill it with performers and audiences has taken a major step forward in the past two years.

Last year, the state awarded owner Safe Harbors of the Hudson $500,000 for roof replacement and repair at the theater, which was a launching pad for the comedy team of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and a proving ground for other up-and-coming singers, actors and comedians who later became famous.

This month, Safe Harbors received another $500,000 grant.

It will fund the removal of two alterations made when the theater was converted into a four-screen movie house: a wall of cinder block that fills the proscenium, closing off the stage; and a second floor added for upstairs seating and movie screens.

The stage will also undergo repairs, Safe Harbors Executive Director Lisa Silverstone said.

“The vision is a multi-use, multi-venue community performing arts space,” she said.

“We want to make sure that it’s flexible, that we can accommodate a lot of different things – live music, dance, movies, theater in the round, conferences (and) classroom space.”

Music and films once thrived at the Ritz, which began as Cohen’s Opera House in 1913 and gave way to the East-West Theater Co. before Eugene Levy bought and renovated the venue in 1933, renaming it the Ritz.

Levy booked acts like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Prima, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Red Skelton.

On Nov. 3, 1940, Frank Sinatra performed on the Ritz’s stage. Ten days after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Ball made her stage debut, performing with Arnaz.

“What I think is really cool is that we’re saving this theater that so many people have a tremendous amount of affection for in our community, and a tremendous amount of nostalgia and pride,” Silverstone said.

“But we’re making it something for today.”

Safe Harbors is in the process of selecting a contractor to repair the roof over the stage area and replace the roof over the theater house.

Work is expected to begin in the spring and be finished by the end of summer, Silverstone said.

There is no firm timeline yet for removing the cinder blocks and the second floor.

Safe Harbors bought the theater in 2002, three years after its last run as a movie theater.

The old lobby was renovated from 2004 to 2006 and is now used for performances, exhibits and community events.

Other than the lobby renovation, work at the theater has mainly consisted of prep work, such as demolition and removing asbestos and old seating.

The grants represent a new stage in the Ritz’s resurrection.

“We’ve done things to prep, but most of those have been taking things away,” Silverstone said.

"This is the first step in the other direction, where we’re building things back on.”

lsparks@th-record.com