Is Oneonta Theater The Critical Mass We’ve Hoped For?

Tom Cormier isn’t the only entrepreneur in downtown Oneonta.
The Twelve Tribes have rebranded their Common Ground restaurant as the Yellow Deli and are refining plans for the former Ford dealership at Chestnut and Market.
Latte Lounge’s David Zummo will soon be opening a high-end steakhouse in the former Sego Cafe building.  Michele Pondolfino has the thriving Green Toad Bookstore.  The Scanlons have Sport Tech figured out.
Jim Baldo and the Fiesta.  Wolf Wilde and his jewelry.  The Karma Spa and Leilani’s next door.  The Georgakopouloses enterprises – the Athens, Mama Nina’s, Capresso.  We could go on and on.
But Tom Cormier’s Oneonta Theater is the one private undertaking that can actually become an anchor, an institution – like a thriving Foothills Performing Arts & Civic Center or a renovated and fully occupied Bresee’s – that can be transformative.
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Critical mass is the smallest amount of radioactive material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction.  In Oneonta’s case, you wonder what the final tiny nudge will be that results in critical mass; i.e., sustained development and prosperity of the city’s center.
One morning, we’ll wake up and we’ll be there.
It doesn’t sound like Cormier and his impresario partner, Jon Weiss, need much hand-holding.  Booking John Sebastian, Roger McGuinn and John Mayall for the upcoming season may well guarantee packed houses.
The Ricky Revival – where sons Matthew and Gunnar celebrate their dad, ‘50s teen idol Ricky Nelson – is likewise intriguing.  So is the Fab Faux, led by Will Lee, bassist for “Late Show with David Letterman,” not a cover band for the Beatles, but one that seeks to recreate the experience of a live Beatles concert.
These are opportunities for the Oneonta Theater, but for everyone else as well.
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Recently, an article featured Marc Kingsley, proprietor of The Inn at Cooperstown, and the win-win partnerships he is putting together there.
His “Ultimate Baseball Hall of Fame Getaway,” for instance, features insider tours of the Hall of Fame archives, conducted by one of the high priests, and featuring the actually handling – with rubber gloves, of course – of some of the sacred objects in the collection.
It happens on a Friday.  Thursday night, the 34 guests stay at The Inn, (and Friday, and maybe through the weekend.)  Friday evening, the 34 dine at Nicoletta’s Italian Cafe, hosted by one of the Hall’s experts.
Kingsley wins.  The Hall wins.  Nicoletta’s wins.  The participants win.  Local merchants win. Everybody wins.
What a concept for the Oneonta Theater and everybody else in the neighborhood.  Why shouldn’t Foothills Performing Arts & Civic Center partner with Cormier?  Mayall on a Friday, someone at Foothills on a Saturday?  Sebastian on a Saturday, someone at Foothills on Friday.
Get the Clarion in the act.  Get the many downtown restaurants to participate.  Is there a Southside Mall tie-in?  Win-win.
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Thomas R. Cormier, Oneonta’s new friend, was designated Hometown Oneonta’s 2010 Citizen of the Year because of his guts and drive in pursuing a novel idea.
But he also received the recognition because he is doing something that could benefit everyone.  As with all visionaries, it isn’t all about him, but about everybody.
Next year’s headline?  “Tom Cormier and the Oneonta = Critical Mass.”  And why not?