By Michael Perna Jr.
Contributing Writer
FRAMINGHAM – A trip down “Memory Lane” for people who lived in Massachusetts during the 1970s and 1980s would almost certainly include going to (or at least hearing about) the Chateau de Ville.
The Chateau de Ville, when its first location opened in Framingham in 1971, was billed as a musical and dinner theater – a growing trend at the time that quickly spread throughout the United States. The Framingham venue is remembered today as having set “the gold standard” for being the most “elegant and elaborate” of approximately fifty similar operations that came to exist across the country.
Founded by Medford native
The founder of the Chateau de Ville was Mario Ciroli, the son of Italian immigrants, who had grown up in Medford. Ciroli had started out in business at an early age, opening what was called Ciro’s Studio in Dorchester. He went on to open a popular function facility in Stoneham called the Montvale Plaza. Montvale Plaza hosted weddings, dances, proms, and a number of musical acts.
In 1971, he opened what would become the first of five Chateau de Villes, with three being in Massachusetts and one each in Rhode Island and Connecticut. The chain had a thirteen-year existence, from 1971 to 1984.
For the first half of their existence, the Chateau de Villes featured musicals, using advertisements stating, “See Live Las Vegas & Broadway Shows for Less than the Cost of a Movie!” During the second half, pop and jazz music was more popular.
Famous musical acts
The list of performers that appeared at the Chateau de Ville theaters was both iconic and amazing. Musical acts included The Beach Boys, Donna Summer, Harry Chapin, The Commodores, Johnny Cash, Wayne Newton, The Village People, Whitney Houston, and Laura Branigan. In addition, many of the most famous comedians appeared there, with the list including Rodney Dangerfield, Mickey Rooney, Phyllis Diller, Don Rickles, Johnny Carson, David Brenner, and Joey Bishop.
On opening night of the Framingham location on July 13, 1971, the Broadway play “Under the Yum Yum Tree,” featuring Tab Hunter was presented in the venue’s 675-seat Regency Room. The event was reported int The Boston Globe as follows:
“The opening of the Chateau de Ville Dinner Theatre in Framingham on Tuesday night was something out of the Hollywood premiere mold, without the klieg lights. It was a black-tie event and the ladies were attired in everything from evening gowns to “hot pants” suits.” The story then explained that the Chateau “contains a grand setting for the theatre, and the chandeliers in the Regency Room are strung with enough crystal to keep the entire Swiss watch industry in operation for a couple of years.”
Additional locations
The Chateau’s location in Framingham was ideally situated to allow easy access to patrons from both the Boston and Worcester areas, being almost exactly the same distance from both cities.
The venture proved to be an enormous success – within a few months, new locations were opened in both Saugus and Randolph and one in Warwick, Rhode Island. A fifth location was opened in East Windsor, Connecticut in 1974.
The list of famous performers that appeared at the Chateau de Ville goes on and on: Tom Jones, The Spinners, Liza Minelli, The Temptations, Englebert Humperdink, Neil Sedaka, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wayne Newton, Johnny Cash, The Village People and Sha Na Na all appeared there.
Changing tastes
Although the Chateau de Villes were immensely popular in the 1970s, the times, as the old saying goes, “were a’changing” – by the early 1980s, changing tastes in entertainment, along with increasing property values resulted in all five locations closing down. The original location, on Route 9 in Framingham, was converted to retail use, and is currently occupied by the Cabot House Furniture & Design store.
The Chateau de Ville – once the “place to go” is now nothing more than a fading, yet still exciting memory to many people in Massachusetts and beyond.
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