The Grand Opera House, a performing arts center of Mercer University, is Central Georgia’s sole presenter of professional theatre, presenting the Grand’s Broadway Series of national touring musicals plus concerts, comedy, dance, variety and arts educational program. Constructed as the Academy of Music in 1884, the Grand is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Over the years, the theatre, which holds 1,018 seats today, has hosted Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers Band, Macon native Jason Aldean and even magician Harry Houdini, whose trap door remains operational on the stage today.