Peter Edelmann is Transforming an Essex Mall Into a Town Center and Vermont 'Experience'

Published February 1, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. | Updated February 2, 2023 at 10:22 a.m.

Saturday night was all right for the 400-plus music fans in the Double E Performance Center in Essex listening to the band Get Together play the music of Elton John and Queen. While front person Josh Panda belted out a powerhouse version of “Rocket Man,” images of stars and galaxies drifted behind him on a 60-foot-wide movie screen.

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During the slower tunes, the crowd of people mostly in their forties, fifties and older stayed in their cushy stadium seats — that is, until pianist Tyler Mast launched into a raucous rendition of “Crocodile Rock.” As Mast pounded the keys of the theater’s Steinway grand piano, audience members rose to their feet, many dancing in the aisles with cocktails in hand.

Theater owner Peter Edelmann, 70, danced energetically by the stage, his frizzy, salt-and-pepper ponytail bobbing to the music.

“You think people needed this?” he asked, surveying the crowd with a smile. “I feel like a kid in a candy store.”