Grasso's Magic Theater fills an ‘entertainment void' in Philly

A CENTURY AGO, Philadelphia was home to a number of entertainment venues that were far different — architecturally, geographically and, most of all, artistically — from such grand halls as the Academy of Music, the long-demolished Arch Street Theater and North Broad Street's Metropolitan Opera House. These cozy ("cramped" is probably a better word) performance spaces were generally located in working-class neighborhoods and catered primarily to burgeoning immigrant populations who, for just pennies, could avail themselves of lowbrow acts featuring dancing girls, mind-readers and magicians.