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Mt. Sinai, NY, December 16,
2006—This website is dedicated on the 35th anniversary of
John Scher’s Capitol Theatre (Passaic, NJ) to all the
people who helped transform a half-hearted relic of the 1920s
into what Billboard Magazine eventually described as “the
No. 1 concert hall in the nation under 6,000 seats.”
If the theatre had defects such as its
miniscule stage, the lack of a fly loft, and dressing rooms
unfit for anyone other than mad dogs and Englishmen, it also
had great qualities that included an unobstructed view of the
stage from every seat, and a peerless acoustical environment
due to 2-inches of painted acoustical padding on all the
interior walls—and no balconies to interfere with the
sound waves. Most importantly, the Capitol Theatre carried on a
great tradition established by Bill Graham at the Fillmore East:
the best bands, the best crews, and the best place to enjoy a
great show.
Kudos to All
I am grateful to co-founders John Scher and Al Hayward
for having the chutzpah to buy that old relic
and turn it into the longest running rock’n’roll
theatre in the world; to Amy Polan for holding a tremendous
house of cards and a wild bunch of kids together long enough to
reach the tipping point of success; to Chris Gale, Mo Morrison,
Al DeZon, and Frankie Stedtler for professionalizing the
production as we grew all the way from those first frightening
days at the Capitol to Englishtown and beyond; to Arthur
Berman, Jack Parow and Rick Stuart for keeping the back door,
the front door and everything else safely under control; to the
gentlemen of Local 59 who taught me that the impossible is
possible with mutual respect and trust; to my All-Star follow
spot crew for covering everybody’s ass on cue and in the
most flattering color; to Thom Drewke for much needed technical
direction all around (but most especially for my wonderful
lighting bridge); to John Goodfellow (“Spot 1”) for
having the courage to direct video for the Capitol’s
first-ever live video projection; to Len Dell’Amico,
Veronica, Celeste, Joe, Mitch and everyone else who evolved
together into the best live performance video production crew
on the planet; to Cy Kocis, James, Randy and ALL the many
wonderful people on the hospitality crew for their relentlessly
exuberant kindness to everyone; to Bob Wolfe for his boundless
energy and good will; to Hood, without whom the tickets would
remain untaken with such style; to A.J., who kept his smile on
that long trek from the Fillmore box office to the Capitol; to
Bruce Moran for making the program program possible; to Brenig
Bowen for his priceless English smirk; to Charlie Lang for his
enthusiastic support and a mountain of memorabilia for this
website, and to everyone else who helped to make the Capitol
Theatre the great success that it truly became.
The one thing that we all share is our
memory of a brief moment in time that we call the Capitol
Theatre, and our place in its history. Without us all, without
every last one of us who gave our hearts and souls to the idea
of the Capitol, it could never have been. Thank you all.
—Moyssi
Resident Stage Lighting Director,
Capitol Theatre 1971-1986
Concert Program Cover Illustrator,
1975-1984
