In 1889-90, Boise’s grand opera house drew praise, and top-notch performers and plays

From the time it opened in January 1889, Peter Sonna’s Opera House attracted a wide variety of traveling entertainment.

In September 1889 the Statesman reported: “The McGinley Specialty Company performed to a fairly good house Thursday evening at Sonna’s Opera House. The show deserved a larger patronage as both Bob and Eva McGinley are inimitable in their monologues. Bob McGinley’s violin playing was by far the best that has been heard in Boise in many years.”

An ad in the Statesman on Nov. 6, 1889, read: “Sonna’s Opera House, James A. Pinney, Manager. Two nights only, Monday and Tuesday, Nov 11th and 12th LEW JOHNSON’S Refined Colored Minstrels. Nothing Like Them. The Greatest Ever Here. 20 Renowned Artists 20, including the world famed Baby Black Boy Quartette. Introducing Negro Melodies and Genuine Plantation Specialties. Wait, watch, don’t fail to see the Grand Street Parade in Brilliant Uniform, headed by the World’s Greatest Drum Major H. Smith. Popular prices, Reserved seats now on sale at J.A. Pinney & Co.’s.”

Pinney, who would be elected mayor of Boise five times, was the owner of a Main Street bookstore and a lifelong lover of the theater.

On Nov. 30, 1889: “Handsome posters are on exhibition announcing that ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ will be presented at Sonna’s Opera House on Saturday evening of next week. The play is a good one, abounding in startling scenes that never fail to please.”

On Jan. 4, 1890: “Boise has not yet seen Charlotte Thompson, but it will not do to miss the rare opportunity of seeing one of the most talented actresses of the age, which will be presented on the evenings of Monday and Tuesday of next week in Sonna’s Opera House.” Of the great actress’ portrayal of Jane Eyre, the Statesman called it “a veritable triumph of the dramatic art.” Thompson was so popular that she was held over to star in “East Lynne” and “Hearts Astray.”

On March 9, 1890, the Statesman called Daniel E. Bandmann’s portrayal of Hamlet “one of the great creations of the Dramatic World.” German-born Bandmann starred in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” when the New York Tragic Company performed in Boise for the benefit of the city’s fire department. Bandmann played Shylock. “Reserved Seats at Pinney’s, admission $1.00, 75 cents, 50 cents.”

When it was announced that Bandmann would play “Othello” for the benefit of the grade school library, the Idaho Statesman thought “it is presumed that nearly all the children and many of their parents will be present to witness this most exciting tragedy.”

On March 12, 1890: “The opera house was well patronized last evening and so it will be today. This will make six successive week days of amusements, upon the worst of which the patronage was fair. When it is considered that at this season of the year amusements are less liable to be patronized than any other, that miners and others who winter here are liable to come out poor in the spring, it will readily be conceded that our people are fond of amusements.”

The Statesman was impressed in May that year that in the traveling melodrama “Waifs of New York,” the show included “a realistic locomotive collision and fire, all on that small stage.”