V I S U A L 
S T A T E M E N T :

Andrew Rogers, a staff organist at 
the Michigan Theater, first became in-
terested in the organ at a chapel at one 
of his spiritual retreats before coming to 
the Michigan Theater. 
 “I started to enjoy some of the sounds 
of the organ but then I got interested in 
wanting to learn how to play,” Rogers said. 
“Music was always in the background. I 
worked for a travel agency and I had (a) 
church job and music got squeezed in 
between everything else. I quit the travel 
agency so I could do more programs … 
So now it was my opportunity to make 
a living out of music rather than just a 
hobby. I was able to come down here and 
start playing before films and occasion-
ally travel doing silent films.”
 During these silent films accompani-
ments, Rogers acts a live score — choos-
ing how to incorporate his music into 
the film and acting almost as a director.
 “For instance, in Hitchcock’s ‘The 
Lodger’, there’s a girl in the film and 
you’re not sure if she’s safe around the 
lodger or not, so I can really choose mu-
sically, when I will let the audience know 
she’s safe,” Rogers said. “Every time I 
do a film (it’s) a little different because 
the way I incorporate the melodies will 
change each time.” 
 While Rogers does spend his time ac-
companying silent films, his job at the 
Michigan Theater gives him the rare op-
portunity to play on one of 40 organs in 
the country that are still in their original 
home. 
 “Other (organs) have fallen into disuse, 
(been) removed, split up for parts to go 
into other organs or moved into differ-
ent locations like schools or churches,” 
Rogers said. “It’s really the interest and 
foresight of the theater that have kept it 
up. So whatever I say about the organ or 
my role here it’s really the theater that 
backs the organ and keeps it running.” 

M o r e t h a n 

M ov i e s a t 

t h e M i c h i g a n 

T h e a te r 

BY 
ASHA LEWIS

Wednesday, January 23, 2019 // The Statement
8B

