Hollywood Pantages Theatre

The Hollywood Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre, is located at Hollywood and Vine in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, it was the last theater built by the vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages. The palatial Art Deco theater opened on June 4, 1930, as part of the Pantages Theatre Circuit.

History

The Pantages Theatre Circuit was part of vaudeville, and the new Hollywood theater programmed first-run movies alternating through the day with vaudeville acts for its first two years. But like other theaters during the Great Depression, it was forced to economize and thereafter operated primarily as a movie theater, though live entertainment was presented occasionally.

Alexander Pantages sold the Hollywood landmark in 1932 to Fox West Coast Theaters. In 1949, Howard Hughes acquired the Hollywood Pantages for his RKO Theatre Circuit and moved his personal offices to the building's second floor. From 1949 through 1959, the theater hosted the American motion picture industry's annual Academy Award Ceremonies. It continued to be a major venue for roadshow movies into the 1970s. From 1965, it was operated by Pacific Theatres. The Hollywood Pantages closed as a movie theater in January 1977, and re-opened the following month with Bubbling Brown Sugar, the first of the many stage productions that have since become its regular fare.

In 1978, the Pantages Theatre was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and in 1984, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was added to the National Register of Historic Places, with Pantages Theater listed as a contributing property in the district.

Now operated by an arm of the Nederlander Organization, the Hollywood Pantages is one of Los Angeles' leading venues for live theater (the five highest-grossing weeks in L.A.'s theatrical history were all shows at the Hollywood Pantages). The theater has recently presented large-scale Broadway musicals such as Disney's The Lion King, which ran at the theatre for over two years, and hosted the long-running Los Angeles production of the Broadway musical Wicked.

Situated on a prime location, the area's building and a rejuvenation boom has spread to Bob Hope Square with the addition of a new W Hotel and retail stores, tied closely to the Hollywood/Vine station. The theater underwent a $10-million restoration and upgrade in 2000. The original plans for the Hollywood Pantages were for a 12-story building: two floors dedicated to theater and ten floors of office space. Completion of the ten upper floors was halted due to the 1929 stock market crash during construction. In December 2007, plans were revealed to complete the original design and additional stories, but it was never realized.

The theater has also occasionally hosted popular music concerts, including those of the bands Dream Theater, Prince, Foo Fighters and Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits). Talking Heads' 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense was shot there. In April 1990, Alice Cooper played Pantages in front of a sold-out audience. In 1997, 4 years before her English crossover, Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira performed her first show in the United States at the Hollywood Pantages. In 2006, Mexican pop-group RBD recorded their CD/DVD Live in Hollywood at the Hollywood Pantages.

The Hollywood Pantages Theatre is also a popular location for the filming of movies, TV shows, and music videos. Concert scenes in the 1980 film The Jazz Singer, in Michael Jackson's 1995 video "You Are Not Alone" as well as the classic Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense (filmed 1983, released 1984) are just three examples out of many. Rickie Lee Jones's 1979 self-titled debut album includes a reference to the Pantages in her song "Chuck E.'s In Love".

Past productions

Productions at the Pantages (presented by Broadway in L.A. since 1996), have included:

2018

• Aladdin
• Love Never Dies
• Stomp
• School of Rock
• On Your Feet!
• Waitress
• A Bronx Tale
• Wicked

2019

• Hello, Dolly!
• Cats
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Fiddler on the Roof
• Les Miserables
• Miss Saigon
• Anastasia
• Summer: The Donna Summer Musical

2020

• Frozen

2021

• Hamilton

2022

• Moulin Rouge
• Jagged Little Pill
• Cats
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Book of Mormon
• Jesus Christ Superstar

2023

• Mean Girls
• The Lion King
• Six
• Tina: The Tina Turner Musical
• Beetlejuice
• Les Miserables
• Aladdin
• Mamma Mia!
• Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical
• MJ the Musical

2024

• Message in a Bottle
• The Wiz
• Chicago
• Come From Away
• Girl from the North Country
• Mrs. Doubtfire
• Peter Pan
• Company
• Hamilton
• Kimberly Akimbo
• Back to the Future: The Musical
• Wicked

2025

• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
• A Beautiful Noise
• Some Like It Hot
• Shucked

See also

• Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood

References

External links

• Official website