The Sterling Opera House on Elizabeth Street.
DERBY – A television show featuring a segment on the historic Sterling Opera House is scheduled to air on Discovery Plus 10 p.m. Friday, May 17.
The show is “Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America.” The episode description is as follows:
“An old mining town in Wyoming provides sanctuary for Amelia Earhart, a hotel in the Deep South becomes a historical crossroads, and a forgotten Connecticut theater hides secrets beneath the surface.”
That last sentence is in reference to Sterling Opera House, the 125-year-old Elizabeth Street landmark.
A production crew from “Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America” arrived in Derby from London in September 2023 to film the episode. They interviewed Derby’s Jack Walsh, a lifelong city resident with tons of local knowledge, and Kellie Santiago, the executive director of the Derby Historical Society.
In an interview with The Valley Indy on May 10, Walsh said he wasn’t precisely sure on the show’s angle, but thought it might focus on an old Derby rumor that the building, which was also used as the police department, once housed members of the “Black Hand” in its jail cells.
The “Black Hand” was a Mafia-like group of criminals who extorted Italian immigrants. A 1907 article from The Evening Sentinel claimed “possible Black Hand activity in Ansonia,” where an Italian immigrant received a threatening letter demanding money.
“The man was so badly frightened he went back to Italy,” the paper claimed.
The Sterling Opera House is also known for alleged paranormal activity.
In the past decade artist Rich DiCarlo, the former head of the Derby Cultural Arts Council, marketed the opera house as haunted, and managed in 2011 to arrange for the SYFY network’s “Ghost Hunters” to film an episode there.
Walsh said his interview in September happened on a sweltering hot day. He talked to the production crew about the building’s rich history, filming on both the Derby Green and inside the historic building, which is closed to the public.
“I’m anticipating the episode as much as anyone,” Wash said. “If it helps bring publicity to the effort to eventually restore the Sterling Opera House, that will be fantastic.”
Discovery Plus is a subscription service, and is also part of the rebranded “Max” (formerly HBO Max) channel.
Former Derby Alderman Brian Coppolo is the co-chair of the Sterling Opera House Committee, a group of volunteers working to restore the Sterling Opera House and see it return to its original glory as a performing arts center.
He said he spoke to the production team from “Mysteries of the Abandoned: Hidden America” and that they seemed respectful toward the building’s history in Derby.
The interior of the Sterling Opera House in a photo by Anthony Mullin.
Coppolo said he thinks the episode will focus on the fact that Sterling is a building that is easy to miss, but has a backstory that stands out.
According to the City of Derby website, the opera house was named after Charles Sterling, owner of the Sterling Piano Company, which was based in Derby.
It opened on April 2, 1889 and was an “entertainment mecca” until 1945. Famous performers included Bing Crosby, Harry Houdini and Lionel Barrymore.
It was the first property in Connecticut to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
From about 1945 until 1965 it housed Derby City Hall, along with the police department. It has sat vacant since 1965.
Sterling Opera House Committee
There have been several efforts over the years to restore the building. The latest is the Sterling Opera House Committee, and its members say they have the right mix of people to make it happen.
“We are ready to go. We got 100 grand from the state thanks to (state Rep.) Mary Welander. We’ve got a possible architect lined up. We want to start fundraising,” said Gino DiGiovanni, Jr., a former Derby Alderman on the committee.
Officials said that money is under the watch of the Center Stage Theatre in Shelton because it had to be allotted to a nonprofit.
Former Mayor Rich Dziekan created the committee in 2023 after resident Dana Florenza Serna gathered a group looking to bring the building back to life.
Derby has received grants over the past 20 years – especially when Tony Staffieri was mayor in the mid-2000s – to restore and secure the exterior of the opera house, but the interior remains untouched and is in need of a multi-million dollar renovation.
Rough estimates put the price tag between $11 and $15 million.
Since officially launching in 2023, the committee has been working to set up a plan to restore the opera house as a performing venue.
They teamed with David Condon of DNS Associates, a fundraising company in West Haven that works with the Boys and Girls Club of America.
Condon, 77, and a member of the Boys and Girls Club Hall of Fame, grew up in Derby. He said he sees the renovation of the Sterling Opera House as a last passion project before he retires. He wants his company to act as project coordinator to line up a capital campaign to fundraise for the restoration of the opera house into a performing space.
Condon gave a presentation to the “Property and Development Committee,” a subcommittee of the Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen in February. It is embedded below. The Power Point documents are also available on the Derby website.
Condon said a nonprofit must be formed in order to collect donations to go toward the opera house, and that grant applications should be submitted to groups such as The Valley Community Foundation. State and local grants should be chased as well, he said, along with a professionally-run fundraising campaign.
Condon said he was willing to donate his time at no charge until the project was ready to start a formal fundraising campaign. He estimated that would take about two years.
Members of the Sterling Opera House appeared in front of the subcommittee again on April 25, in a meeting that was somewhat testy.
The committee wrote an ordinance that looked to set themselves apart from the city so they could establish a nonprofit, control access to the building, and start fundraising.
However, Derby Corporation Counsel Richard Buturla told the opera house committee the ordinance as written was flawed because it essentially meant the committee would usurp the rights of the property owner, in this case city government. He said the committee can’t become a nonprofit and collect money, because the committee is part of city government.
There is some political awkwardness involved in the Sterling saga – DiGiovanni is the head of the Derby Republican Party and just ran against DiMartino, a Democrat, for mayor in November 2023.
DiGiovanni told The Valley Indy the committee members were annoyed because they felt like they were in a holding pattern, but were relieved to hear Mayor Joseph DiMartino and Derby City/Town Clerk Marc Garofalo express their support for the restoration project at the meeting.
Click the play button below to watch the meeting.
“I just want to say on the record that I am for this project,” Mayor DiMartino said at the meeting. “I am backing this project. I am for it.”
In an interview May 10, Coppolo said the April 25 meeting was a good exercise in transparency because it ended with everyone knowing where they stood.
DiGiovanni agreed.
“I think, in talking over the last week or so, we’re all on the same page,” DiGiovanni said.
“Yes it has been a very challenging effort for us, having to work through many obstacles over the past year and half. It seems that we have the full support of the Mayor, some of the Aldermen and the community,” Florenza Serna said in an email. “We have the right team of people with the expertise in fundraising, restoring and building across the United States to get this done. We are hopeful and eager to get the project started.”
The next steps for the Sterling Opera House committee include forming a separate nonprofit so it can get itself up to embark on a capital campaign for the building.
