The Madison Theatre’s grand reopening

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- An Albany favorite that shuttered earlier this year is now getting a major upgrade. Thursday night Albany’s landmark Madison Theatre celebrated its rebirth with a grand reopening ceremony.

Sometimes a building is more than brick and mortar to a community, just ask Owusu Anane, one of the new owners of the Madison Theatre. “We are so excited. We wanted this place to not just be about coming to watch a movie; we want it to be experience.”

He gave the community a tour of all the great new spaces within the theater. He also gave NEWS10 reporter James De La Fuente a quick sneak peak of the expected blockbuster, "Wicked." The tour covered all of the four-screen theater.

“We utilize all aspects of this wonderful building. One of the screening rooms, we're going to use it as an event space where there's a birthday anniversary, any type of celebration. We're going to have live bands, karaoke concerts in that space,” said Anane.

And there’s more. Owusu showed off the newly designed spaces, “Here it's going to be considered the game room. We're going to have Connect Four and we're going to have a pool table.”

Also, a new feature, ordering by QR code. “You can order food, order drinks, and a server will bring your order right to you,” explained Anane.

That food is provided onsite by the TN Restaurant & Café. It is one of the new additions to the theater. They offer full-service and a VIP section.  “Koshari is an Egyptian plate. And we also have burgers, sandwiches for the breakfast and even dinner,” said owner Tasani.

The head chef, “Q” and his family enjoying some of that VIP time.  “[I had the] Mozzarella sticks. The cheese was good,” said Isa Muhammed.

“Scratch mozzarella sticks. [They are made from] scratch,” explained “Q”.

“It was disappointing to see it close, and definitely exciting when I rolled by this morning to take my son to school and seeing on the marquee that it was going to be opening back,” said Jamel Muhammed.

The theater opens Friday with the showing of Wicked. Saturday's showings are already sold out.