Meridian Hall (Toronto)

Meridian Hall, originally opened as O'Keefe Centre for the Performing Arts on October 1, 1960, is a performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario, also known as Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts (1996–2007), and as the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts (2007–2019). It was re-branded as Meridian Hall on September 15, 2019. Located at 1 Front Street East, the facility was constructed for the City of Toronto municipal government, paid for by the O'Keefe Brewery, and houses the largest soft-seat theatre in Canada. It is currently managed by TO Live, an arm's-length agency and registered charity created by the city.

Over its history, the Centre, due to its size and acoustics, has catered primarily to large-scale spectacles, being the home of the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada until 2006. It has hosted touring productions of the Kirov Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera, numerous Broadway musicals, music concerts and legitimate theatre.

In 2008, the City of Toronto designated the theatre a heritage building. That year, it also underwent renovations to restore features such as the marquee canopy and York Wilson's lobby mural, The Seven Lively Arts. Restoration of the wood, brass and marble was undertaken, along with audience seating, flooring upgrades, new washrooms and reconfigured lobby spaces. Following two years of renovations and restoration work, the building reopened on October 1, 2010, fifty years to the date of the first opening night performance.

The Centre was built on land formerly occupied by a series of commercial buildings, including the Canadian Consolidated Rubber Company, and previously it was the site of the Great Western Railway Terminal (later the Toronto Wholesale Fruit Market). The site was purchased by the City of Toronto. The site, being on the south side of Front Street, was originally a water lot of Toronto Harbour prior to infilling for railways and warehouses. During construction, wooden piles from old wharves were removed, and the basement floor built in a waterproof trench.

The idea for a performing arts centre that could serve the needs of an increasingly dynamic city predates the building's opening by almost 20 years. In the mid-1940s, Nathan Phillips issued a challenge to Toronto industrialists to underwrite the cost of a multipurpose centre for theatre, music and dance. Response to Phillips' challenge was not immediate. E. P. Taylor, the racehorse-loving head of Canadian Breweries, which owned O'Keefe Brewing, offered in early 1955 to build a performing arts centre that would not only serve the needs of local institutions but increase the diversity of entertainment options available in Toronto. Toronto City Council immediately accepted the proposal in principle, but not until 1958 was the project finally approved to be built. Among others, United Church spokesmen opposed the idea that money from the sale of beer would be used for community development. Taylor assigned one of his key executives, Hugh Walker, to oversee building what was to be known, during its first 36 years, as the O'Keefe Centre. The Centre became known affectionately as "the barn that beer built."

The original concept was to build a multi-building complex like the Rockefeller Center in New York City with buildings on both sides of Front Street. An office building on the north side of Front Street would defray the cost of the auditorium. The complex was reduced to fit the allotted budget. Other features dropped were a small theatre for legitimate theatre and exhibition space. Ultimately, it was decided that the Centre would have one multi-purpose auditorium. Clearing of the site began in 1957 and construction of the building began in 1958 with a goal to finish in the fall of 1959. Construction was delayed due to a general strike and postponed to the fall of 1960 to coincide with theatre season.

The O'Keefe Centre opened on October 1, 1960, with a red-carpet gala. The first production was Alexander H. Cohen's production of the pre-Broadway premiere of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot, starring Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet. Laurence Olivier brought his production of Becket in April 1961.

The first season was concluded by performances by New York's Metropolitan Opera ("The Met") for productions of von Flotow's Martha starring Victoria de los Ángeles and Puccini's Turandot starring Birgit Nilsson in May 1961. The Met would return in future seasons with such well-known performers as Plácido Domingo and Renata Scotto. The first season saw the O'Keefe set six box-office world records for its subscription series of productions.