The Byrd Theatre screens the 1925 ‘Phantom of the Opera’ with a live Wurlitzer score on Oct. 25

The Byrd Theatre will show the 1925 silent film The Phantom of the Opera on Sunday, Oct. 25, with the score played live on the theater’s own Wurlitzer organ. The event, An Evening with The Mighty Wurlitzer, is a benefit for the upkeep of the organ, which has been part of the Carytown theater since it opened in 1928.

A VIP reception starts at 4 p.m., and the film begins at 5 p.m. General admission tickets are $30. VIP tickets, which include the reception, are $60.

A guest at the console

Ken Double, staff organist at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, will perform the live score for the film, which stars Lon Chaney. Bob, the Byrd’s resident organist, will welcome Double to the console and return to his regular seat for the theater’s ongoing programming after the event.

“This isn’t a theme night. It’s the Byrd as it was designed to be experienced,” said Reagan Leatherman, director of development for the Byrd Theatre Foundation. “The organ has been part of this building since 1928, and it needs our support to keep playing. We wanted an event that made the case for that in the most direct way possible: by putting the organ back to work, in front of an audience, doing exactly what it was built for.”

Why this film fits the building

The Byrd opened on Dec. 24, 1928, three years after Phantom first hit theaters and right as the film industry was shifting from silent pictures to sound. Movie palaces of that era used organs like the Byrd’s to accompany films live, and the theater has kept both the room and the instrument largely as they were.

The Byrd is listed on the state and national historic registers and serves more than 100,000 visitors a year through screenings, festivals, community events and tours. The Byrd Theatre Foundation, a nonprofit formed in 2001, owns the building.

Tickets and details are at byrdtheatre.org.