Over the last century it presented silent films, rock concerts, Sicilian puppet shows and even a legendary theatrical disaster from Orson Welles. But for the past two decades in the Stony Creek section of Branford, the little theater — last named the Stony Creek Puppet House — has been a boarded-up shell.

That is until a group of theater lovers eight years ago set out to bring the theater back to life. After community meetings, permit approvals and a years-long fundraising campaign that attracted $5 million, the newly named, nonprofit Legacy Theatre will open April 23 at 7 p.m. for a socially distant, one-quarter capacity concert by Broadway performer Telly Leung. “I’m hoping the in-person show becomes a glimmer of hope that says we’ll all be back in the theater soon,” says Leung, who has starred in the title role in Broadway’s Aladdin, as well as in In Transit, Pacific Overtures, Godspell and Allegiance. In his evening of popular and Broadway songs, Leung will be accompanied on stage by pianist Gary Adler.

The journey to completion was slow going at first, led by Keely Baisden Knudsen, an actress, director, choreographer and professor, and Stephanie Stiefel Williams, an actress and former attorney.

The Thimble Islands Road location first saw a non-denominational church in 1866. After a fire, the property was sold in 1914 when the new structure became a movie house, then a community theater (the Parish Players), then a summer theater, a parachute factory during World War II, then a home to Materna-Line (“the pantie and girdle that’s a stretch ahead”) until 1960. For the remainder of the 20th century it was a puppet museum that presented puppet shows.

After purchasing the building and its adjacent artist cottage for $400,000 in 2013, the team set out to ease concerns from residents of the quiet neighborhood about what they would be presenting — and what kind of audiences the theater would attract. Reassurance was given there would be no rock concerts or dubious rentals. Concerns about parking were remedied with …

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