Skip to main content
The Mt. Tabor Theater is closed this week as financial disputes between the building's ownership and the club's management intensify, sources say. The club's current management could not be reached for comment, nor could
building owner Philip Ragaway, who also owns the Bossanova Ballroom. One
source close to the situation, who asked to remain unnamed citing ongoing legal
proceedings, was
confident that the Tabor would re-open under temporary new management in
a week or so (after court proceedings had finalized) to carry out the
bulk of its remaining show schedule. Tonight's Philly's Phunkestra show
has been moved to Slabtown and the Keegan Smith and the Fam show
scheduled for June 20 will move to Bossanova Ballroom, the source
said.
Local booker/promoter Anthony Sanchez, who has been working with the venue, says the current closure is the result of months of dispute coming to a head. "They've had their doors chained shut three or four times the last few months by Phil [Ragaway]," says Sanchez, who also claims to be owed about $800 for recent publicity and promotion work he's done for the venue.
This is the latest in a long string of legal and financial woes at the nearly 100-year-old theater. A fight between previous mother and daughter lessees made WW's headlines in 2007, and ownership swaps have resulted in sporadic closings, rumors of closings and re-brandings over the course of the past few years. This latest dispute is surprising if only because the club's calendar has been relatively strong as of late, and because current lessee Dave Peroff had reportedly been attending neighborhood association meetings and racking up goodwill from his neighbors. The Mount Tabor Neighborhood Association recently wrote about Peroff "transforming what had
been a murky dive on upper Hawthorne
into a gathering place for the
entire community." Now the theater's future is murky once again.
WWeek 2015