The much of the proscenium arch was covered up during the remodel in the late 1940s. It had a separate entrance, ticket booth and balcony for its non-white patrons. Like many theaters at the time, the Sorg was segregated. The Sorg reopened in late 2017 with a performance called “Celebrate the Sorg” and featured the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra. A full restoration of the building is estimated to cost between $9M and $11M. Since then they’ve made a number of improvements to the building, including removing the partition between the upper balcony and the rest of the auditorium, replacing the seats with ones donated from the Cincinnati Music Hall, repairing the public restrooms and re-hanging the house curtains. SORG was able to purchase the theater in August 2012 for $32,000. In 2012, the Sorg Opera Revitalization Group (SORG) formed to buy and reopen the building. They were successful, and ran the theater until 2010, when a water main break forced the opera house to close again. Soon after, the Friends of the Sorg was formed to reopen it as a live performance venue. The Sorg remained a movie theater until it closed in the late 1970s.
The original walls of the lobby were covered up during the remodel in the 1940s. The Sorg closed again for a remodel in the late 1940s and a false ceiling was added, separating the upper balcony from the the rest of the theater to improve the sound. It reopened in Septemwith films and stage shows. In April 1935, the Gordon Theatre Company took a long term lease on the theater and began repairs. On January 17, 1935, a fire caused $10,000 (or $185,298 when adjusted for inflation) of damage to the backstage area of the theater, which caused it to close for several months. The orchestra and mezzanine levels have been restored, but the upper balcony and ceiling remain in a state of disrepair. The live shows were discontinued in the late 1920s, and in the summer of 1929 a sound system was installed, turning the Sorg into a full time movie theater. Many now famous vaudeville performers played at the opera house, including Marie Dressler, Will Rogers, Al Jolson, Bob Hope and Sophie Tucker.
In 1901, the Sorg began showing early forms of motion pictures, such as photo plays, and vaudeville performances before the operas. Opening day included a performance of the opera “The Little Tycoon,” composed by Willard Spenser and a speech by then Ohio Governor James E. Sorg hired Samuel Hannaford, who designed the Cincinnati Music Hall, to design the 1,200-seat opera house. Sorg, Middletown’s first multi-millionaire, had the opera house built as a gift to the city of Middletown. The Sorg Opera House in Middletown, OH originally opened on September 12, 1891.
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