Orlando Memory

Topic: Orlando Municipal Auditorium

Topic Type: Place

The Orlando Municipal Auditorium was the center for the performing arts in Orlando.

The Orlando Municipal Auditorium, now the Bob Carr Center for the Performing Arts, was the center for cultural events and the performing arts in the Orlando area for decades featuring performances sponsored by the Orlando Opera Guild, Florida Symphony, plays, concerts, and ballets.  My most memorable experience at the Muni took place in the winter of 1972.

           At 2 p.m. on January 30, 1972, the Opera Gala Guild and Florida Symphony presented Verdi’s opera "Rigoletto" at the Orlando Municipal Auditorium. My future in laws, Klaus and Dorothea Peters invited me to attend the opera with them and my future husband, Oliver Peters.     

          Oliver and I were either the youngest in attendence or my outfit was the wildest, because the Sentinel Star reporter stopped us as we entered and asked if the photographer could take our photo. We agreed, and the colorful hot pants outfit (all the rage in the early 1970s) I purchased for New Year’s Eve 1971 was captured for posterity. Unfortunately, the photographer took the shot kneeling down to my right, making my right hand look gigantic!