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WHAT BEGAN AS a quick $150,000 roof repair turned out to be a four-year, $4-million renovation.
What was a close, dark concrete performance space now has brand-new stage equipment and a light-filled entrance and lobby, and the 476 vintage seats, originally from an old Loews theater in Brooklyn, have been beautifully refurbished.
Even the rusting remains of the adjacent New York State Pavilion, with its metal-rimmed disks jutting into the air over Flushing Meadows Corona Park, got three coats of exterior paint and is being eyed as a full-scale performing arts hub.
OK Queens, the Queens Theater in the Park is finally back.
This weekend, the refurbished theater, which embodies the borough's hopes for a continued flowering of the arts, stages its grand opening with a gala benefit Saturday night and free family performances Sunday at 1 and 2:30 p.m.
This fall season includes a new musical, "Johnny Mercer: Too Marvelous for Words," the "Tango and Folklore Argentino" show from Sunnyside's Thalia Spanish Theater, children's programs, movies and other programs the theater is co-producing with area arts organizations.
But the theater's first full season will be launched in the spring. At that time the theater's director, Jeffrey Rosenstock, wants to revive the "subway circuit" tradition of the 1930s and 1940s, luring Manhattan's theater companies to consider Queens Theater in the Park as a place to mount previews or works after their Manhattan runs.
Companies including the Atlantic Theater Company, Manhattan Class Company and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company are considering the site for spring presentations. In addition, the theater has commissioned two works: "Camvyssis' Wrath," a performance piece by Kipos Dance, with Glen Velez and Trio, and, for young people, "Challenge Her," conceived and directed by Kathleen Gaffney, which explores non-traditional career choices women have made throughout history. Discussions are also under way with the Dance Theater of Harlem for a series of performances.