For years, Hugo Immediato and his two brothers personified entertainment in Wilmington, Del. Their acrobatic group was called "Three Little Bakers" and they began as a vaudeville sensation performing before packed houses at the old Queen Theater, the 1917 building in the middle of Market Street here that dates to the 1880s and has been vacant for more than a half century.

After Vaudeville, Immediato and his brothers went on to host local dinner theater, bringing smiles and laughter to generations of Wilmingtonians. The Queen, meanwhile, didn't make it much past Vaudeville. The theater, built at a cost of $250,000 with unobstructed views of the screen and stage and the nation's only slabs of Alaskan marble as its lobby walls, was shuttered by April of 1959. The last show was a movie called "House on Haunted Hill." The large medallion that adorns the ceiling above the main stage has since given way to the elements, with several large holes revealing outside light. When it rained, people used to say "the Queen's crying."

Only last year, Immediato, now 89, had the chance to return to the old Queen. He slowly walked up the steps to the stage, surrounded by decaying brick and dusted-over artifacts of a bygone era, and turned to look up at the balcony, where the fans used to cheer for more, all 2,000 of them. The old man couldn't help but get choked up.

Crying time is almost over. Hal Real and a whole cast of collaborators have saved the Queen, and the old theater just might be the thing that pushes Wilmington over the top. On April 1, the Queen becomes the 45,000 square-foot World Cafe Live at the Queen, seven years after Real's original World Cafe Live opened in Philadelphia's University City and changed the way the neighborhood - and region - thinks about its entertainment venues.

"I think over the next few years, people will think that Wilmington is not only a center for commerce, but also a place to live and a destination for entertainment," says Rob Buccini of the Buccini/Pollin Group, Real's development partner in WCL at the Queen.

"We do think the vibe will change."

The new vibe, courtesy of a $25 million makeover spearheaded by the Light Up the Queen Foundation's fundraising campaign, commences on April Fool's Day, possibly an homage to the many starts and stops in revitalization attempts over the years - the building had three owners in the last 10 years who couldn't figure out how to revive the space. A 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony leads into a WXPN Free at noon concert featuring blues guitarist Sonny Landreth. An invite-only gala celebration for partners and donors follows in the evening. The next day is a Peanut Butter & Jams children's concert with African roots and fusion sensation Kinobe (half-price tickets are available), followed evening by the first "grown-up" show featuring rising star Ingrid Michaelson (sold out!).

Sounds a lot like the original World Cafe Life, doesn't it?

"In six years, 550 shows a year, we've learned a thing or two," says Real, who acknowledged that the expansion of World Cafe Live signals the strength of the brand established in Philly, and the lessons learned.

Real actually was close to pursuing similar projects in Hartford, Conn., and Louisville, Ky. Fortunately for Wilmington, it's the Queen that bears the marks of the Real Entertainment Group's footprint: WXPN has 1,000 square feet of space at the Queen and can do a live broadcast from just about any part of the building (the station has a studio in the balcony). Like Philly's Upstairs Live space, 80 percent of the acts will be local/regional and the rest national, with an average ticket price of $10. Downstairs Live will primarily feature established and emerging national artists with an average ticket price of $25.

Because of the Queen's age and condition, that's about where the similarities end. A hard-hat tour led by Real - who is decidedly more excited and in awe of the construction than overwhelmed by it - reveals all. He's on a first-name basis with many of the construction workers, and he knows what most of the scribbled markings mean and where many of the bare pipes lead to. The exterior walls, the stage house and it surrounds, and the front of the original balcony, are the only significant infrastructure that remains. Demolition took nine months and was every bit as challenging as one would imagine. The only other survivors in the Queen are curiosities - touches of artistic sentiment that should go a long way: a series of murals up along the top walls of the balcony, the original pipes from the pipe organ, the raw, bare stagehouse walls, and up high, that medallion, which has been recreated by a local plaster artisan.

The acoustic walls assemblies consist of multiple layers of drywall with dense insulation in between. Rooms are connected by 2,500 pound soundproof doors. No ticketholder will be more than 90 feet from the artist, and with a capacity just shy of 1,000, the mainstage holds about half of the original space but is more in line with the authentic artist-audience connection World Cafe Live promotes. It's the same kind of connection Real hopes the venue will build with the rest of the community. The Queen's section of Market Street (between Fifth and Sixth Streets) ideally will be an entertainment-centric connector of the wildly successful redeveloped riverfront - where Buccini/Pollin has done much work, including a soon-to-open IMAX movie theater - with the Dupont Theater and portions of the financial district up the hill on Market. It will be also be the beacon for LOMA, already committing to host non-concert events to promote the many creatives and entrepreneurs who are remaking the city. The venue will employ 90 full- and part-timers, many of which will come from the Delaware School of Art and Design next door.

"We've got great neighbors," says Real.

Real has a 14-year lease at the Queen and option for up to 19 years, with a goal of starting strong (at least 300 ticketed shows, a couple hundred parties and special events and 100,000 annual visitors) and building to the level established in Philly. For Real, the dirty work is almost over and he can clearly hear the sounds of a new drumbeat inside the Queen.

"It's hard work revitalizing a city," says Real. "This is all about music and fun."

JOE PETRUCCI is managing editor of Flying Kite. Send feedback here.

------

PHOTOS:
Nine months of demolition left a lot of beautification on the agenda

Hal Real from his makeshift office a few steps off of Market Street in Wilmington

Real showing the Queen in it's original condition

Original murals revealed during the initial demolition will add to the Queen's restored beauty

The old medallion on the ceiling was restored by a local plaster artisan

Real is ready for the opening-night party

All Photographs by MICHAEL PERSCIO