The curtain will rise again at the Adelaide Festival Centre when it reopens tonight after seven months of redevelopments with a light show and the music of Star Wars composer John Williams.
It is part of a weekend program titled, Welcome Back to the Festival Theatre, featuring live bands on an outdoor stage, pop-up bars and stage performances inside.
Boasting two overhauled entrances, refurbished dressing rooms and better access to its performing arts collection, works on the centre are part of a $993 million Festival Plaza upgrade that remains ongoing.
Chief executive Douglas Gautier said the seven-month closure had been difficult, but there was no other option.
"The [exterior] shell needed a coat of paint. They needed fixing up," he said.
"It was looking a bit tired, but it's been done with a great deal of love and respect by the architects and the builders and everyone involved."
Mr Gautier said the building's exterior, popularly known as white shells, would be lit up for the next seven weeks.
He said the display would surpass anything seen even at the likes of Sydney Opera House.
"It's just wonderful because you've got to remember that this is the first capital city arts centre in our country," Mr Gautier told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Upgrades makes venue brighter
Mr Gautier said photos of artists who had performed at the venue over a span of 50 years had been put on display in the centre's foyer for an exhibition titled Bravo Festival Theatre.
"You've got Leonard Bernstein, Tim Minchin, Whoopi Goldberg. You name it, they're there and have performed in this wonderful theatre," he said.
They join other pieces from the centre's Works of Art and Performing Arts Collections, which are being exhibited in the centre's newly expanded galleries free for people to visit.
"It's always been a wonderful foyer, and now it has all this light from the King William Road entrance and the ceremonial entrance," Mr Gautier said.
"It just really brings it out so well.
The first stage of the centre's back of house upgrades has also been completed, including an upgrade to its orchestra assembly room, stage door and production offices, with a second stage of upgrades in planning.
Originally announced by the former Labor government in 2015, the Festival Plaza revitalisation was expected to be finished in 2019.
It is now due to open ahead of the Adelaide Festival that begins on March 4 — with the Adelaide Fringe Festival to open in one week's time.
Premier Steven Marshall said the weekend's entertainment was just a "snapshot" of what was to come when the revitalised Festival Plaza would be officially launched to become "a world-class leisure and entertainment destination for visitors in the heart of the Adelaide Riverbank".
Sold out events reveal city's appetite
The opening weekend celebrations will be headlined Friday and Saturday night with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra performances of the music of John Williams, who composed for film franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Jurassic Park and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
The weekend also features The Stones' Sticky Fingers concert, which is The Rolling Stones music as performed by the likes of Tex Perkins and Tim Rogers, and the centre's Students Got Talent program, with both events sold out.
"The appetite's there," Mr Gautier said.
The centre is operating under COVID-19 restrictions, requiring proof of double-vaccination from its patrons or a valid medical exemption.
