Theater Review: 'Billy Elliot the Musical' at the Pantages Theatre

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In this era of easily accessed online opinions, it's hard to settle into a theater seat with any confidence. There are those voices in our heads and on our smartphones: “Some critics called the score unmemorable and the stagecraft over the top. What if I don’t enjoy myself?”

Careworn, highly informed theatergoer: If you go to see “Billy Elliot the Musical,” which has arrived at last in Los Angeles, at the Pantages Theatre, you will enjoy yourself.

It’s true that among the raves “Billy” has provoked some complaints in London, then on Broadway, and then across the U.S.: about Elton John’s score (“It’s a mediocre score, and that’s putting in kindly,” a man beside me sniffed), about Lee Hall’s arty book and Peter Darling’s adventurous choreography; about the thick, growly Northern England accent, in which hunger is pronounced “hooon-gah” and ballet “bally.”

But if 10 Tony Awards, including best musical of 2009, don’t assuage your fears, then let me, because I went through a lot of anxiety for nothing. This irresistible show is an expertly crafted, well-oiled pleasure machine designed to make you feel exactly the way you want to feel at a musical: awed, tearful, warm of heart, slightly sheepish about loving it so much and grateful that everybody around you is cheering just as hard.

'The Book of Mormon' casts Gavin Creel for national tour

 

Gavin Creel, the Tony-nominated actor who starred in the 2009 Broadway revival of "Hair," will trade in his love beads for the Holy Scripture when he joins the national tour of "The Book of Mormon," which kicks off this August in Denver.

The tour's second stop will be at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, for a 12-week engagement starting Sept. 5.

Creel is set to play Elder Price, the bright-eyed Mormon missionary of ambiguous sexuality. The role is played on Broadway by Andrew Rannells. No other casting for the tour has been announced.

"The Book of Mormon" follows elders Price and Cunningham as they travel to a remote African village for their mission. The musical was created by "South Park's" Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with Robert Lopez of "Avenue Q." Parker directed the show with Casey Nicholaw, who is also the choreographer.

The musical has been a hit on Broadway since opening last year. It won nine Tony Awards, including the award for best new musical.

Creel received Tony nominations for "Hair" in 2009 and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" in 2002.

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-- David Ng

Photo: Gavin Creel. Credit: Seth Wenig / Associated Press

Pantages new season: 'Mormon,' 'Catch Me If You Can,' 'Sister Act'

 

The new season at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood will feature several prominent Broadway titles, including the previously announced "The Book of Mormon." The 2012-13 season, which was unveiled Tuesday, will also include touring versions of "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," "Sister Act" and "Catch Me If You Can."

"The Book of Mormon" -- the Tony-winning musical from the creators of "South Park" -- will make its local premiere (Sept. 5 to Nov. 25) as part of a national tour. The engagement was first reported in December.

Three recent musicals based on popular movies will be part of the season -- "Catch Me If You Can," (March 12 to 24, 2013), adapted from the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie of the same name; "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," (May 28 – June 16, 2013) based on the 1994 Australian movie; and "Sister Act" (July 9 – 28, 2013), adapted from the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg movie.

An early version of "Sister Act" was staged at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2006 before undergoing revisions for London and Broadway.

William Shatner bringing solo show to Pantages for one night

William Shatner will be shifting into warp drive this year when he takes his solo Broadway show on the road for a national tour that will begin in Los Angeles. The "Star Trek" actor -- and Priceline spokesman -- will bring his comic show "Shatner's World: We Just Live in It" to the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood for a one-night engagement set for March 10,  his publicist said on Tuesday.

"Shatner's World" is scheduled to officially open in New York at the Music Box Theatre on Feb. 16, running through March 4. The show is a comic autobiography in which Shatner talks about his career, including his start as a Shakespearean stage actor.

The Pantages performance will be the first leg of a national tour that will include one-night engagements in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver and more.

Shatner, 80, has appeared in a number of TV series including "Star Trek," "T.J. Hooker" and more recently the ABC series "The Practice" and "Boston Legal." He has been a recurring guest on Comedy Central Roasts as well.

The actor regularly appeared in commercials for Priceline until his character, known as the Negotiator, was recently killed off in a fiery bus explosion.

RELATED:

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'Shrek the Musical' -- the ogre in a new shade of green

-- David Ng

Photo: William Shatner at last year's Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

'Book of Mormon' coming to L.A. in September 2012

"The Book of Mormon" -- the hit Broadway musical from the creators of "South Park" -- will make its Los Angeles debut in September at the Pantages Theatre. The 12-week engagement, which is part of a national tour, is scheduled to run Sept. 5-Nov. 25.

The national tour of "The Book of Mormon" will kick off in Denver on Aug. 14. The L.A. engagement will be the second stop on the tour and will be the first production of the Pantages' 2012-13 season. The Tony-winning show is currently playing to packed houses at New York's Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where it debuted earlier this year.

"South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker co-wrote the musical with Robert Lopez ("Avenue Q"). Parker directed the show with Casey Nicholaw, who also serves as choreographer.

In a release sent Wednesday, Stone and Parker said: "We moved to Los Angeles twenty years ago to try and make it as filmmakers. ... The last thing we expected is that one day we would be bringing our Broadway musical here. It's crazy and great."

"The Book of Mormon" tells the story of two mismatched Mormon missionaries who are sent to a remote African village. The ribald comedy features songs and jokes that poke fun of various religions as well as hot-button subjects such as AIDS and female circumcision.

No cast has been announced for the touring production. The Broadway cast features Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Rory O'Malley and Nikki M. James.

Last week, "The Book of Mormon" earned a Grammy nomination for its original Broadway cast recording.

RELATED:

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-- David Ng

Photo: A scene from the Broadway production of "The Book of Mormon." Credit: Joan Marcus

 

Theater review: Twyla Tharp's 'Come Fly Away' at the Pantages

If Beyoncé isn't already at the Pantages taking notes, she should be. No choreographer alive knows more about getting pop songs on their feet than Twyla Tharp -- and just about everything she knows is on view in “Come Fly Away,” the full-evening salute to the vocals of Frank Sinatra that opened Tuesday for a two-week run.

In various forms, under various titles, this show has been around since 2009. The Pantages version is a half-hour shorter than the 2010 Broadway edition, with seven songs, a dancer, an onstage vocalist and an intermission jettisoned for the tour. At a lean 80 minutes, it charts the formation and rivalries of four couples in a nightclub that sports a sensational live band upstage.

PHOTOS: 'Come Fly Away' at the Pantages

Under the supervision of Dave Pierce, that band artfully supplements and often dominates the classic arrangements and orchestrations of Sinatra's recordings. What's more, Peter McBoyle's sound design makes Sinatra's voice seem a living entity -- as if he's offstage, mike in hand. 

Cirque du Soleil's 'Iris' sets new pricing high for L.A.

Cirque du Soleil is famed for operating at unusual heights, and “Iris,” its new production at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, is doing just that: the $253 tickets in the center section of the first five rows are the most expensive ever announced for an L.A. theatrical production.

There are some complexities to consider here: in addition to your seat, you get a "VIP" package that includes parking, a souvenir book and laminate, and a beverage.

Also, the "Iris" tickets won't be the most expensive ever sold through an L.A. box office.

The Pantages Theatre's general manager, Martin Wiviott, noted that as "Beauty and the Beast" was ending its limited run in March, a few seats went for $300. That's because the Pantages, like the Ahmanson Theatre, uses "dynamic" pricing, in which costs can fluctuate depending on demand for tickets. On the last weekend of "Beauty," inventory was negligable and demand intense, Wiviott said, and some customers anted up $300 for seats that others had bought for as little as $78 early in the run.

For "Iris," no such fluctuations are planned. Cirque officials are hoping it will become a must-see attraction for locals and tourists and last a decade at the 2,500-seat Kodak.

Read the full story on ticket pricing for Cirque du Soliel's "Iris."

The $253 price doesn't kick in until Sept. 28, when previews end and regular performances begin. For now, $203 gets you front and center. Well, to be exact: $203 plus the $9 fee that applies to tickets sold online or by phone, as opposed to $5 at the box office.  For you low-rollers, "Iris" is in reach for $33 now, and $43 starting Sept. 28, not counting fees.

Before "Iris," $250 appears to have been the highest price an L.A. theater had charged from the outset of a show's run. That was the cost of the 12 front row seats to "Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants" when it ran in the Geffen Playhouse's 98-seat Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater in 2008. Those seats came with extras as well, including a book autographed by the star and a souvenir deck of playing cards.

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You paid how much for that ticket?

-- Mike Boehm

Photos: Scene from a June sneak preview of Cirque du Soleil's 'Iris' at the Kodak Theatre. Credit: Arkasha Stevenson/Los Angeles Times.

 

'Shrek the Musical' -- the ogre in a new shade of green

 

Shrek, that grouchy green ogre, became a star after he left his swamp and saw the world in DreamWorks Animation's hit 2001 movie. Now, he's singing his way into town in the first national tour of "Shrek the Musical," the stage version of the Oscar-winning film based on the William Steig picture book.

The fractured fairy tale, which has a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori, begins performances at the Pantages Theatre on Tuesday.

"Shrek" opened on Broadway in December 2008 to mixed reviews and ran for 13 months. The musical's creators have seen the yearlong tour--which ends in L.A.-- as a chance to polish "the best stuff" and "get under the hood and rethink some things," says Bill Damaschke, chief creative officer of DreamWorks Animation.

"Once you work on a show for a while, the path is clearer," says Jason Moore, who directed the Broadway production and--with Rob Ashford--is co-directing both the national tour and the London production, which opened in June. "I think the tour has found a much nicer balance between theatricality and delivering what we hoped to from the movie."

For more about "Shrek" on stage read this article in Sunday's Arts & Books.

 

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Photo: Eric Petersen (Shrek), Alan Mingo Jr. (Donkey), Haven Burton (Princess Fiona). Credit: DreamWorks Theatricals

 

'Billy Elliot,' 'Memphis,' 'La Cage' coming to Pantages Theatre in 2011-12

Broadway/LA said that its upcoming 2011-12 season at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood will feature a total of nine productions, including touring versions of the Tony-winning shows "Billy Elliot," "Memphis," "La Cage aux Folles" and "Million Dollar Quartet" as well as the return of "Wicked."

"Come Fly Away" (Oct. 19 to 30), Twyla Tharp's musical-dance production set to the vocals of Frank Sinatra, will open the new season. The musical has seen productions on Broadway, Atlanta and is now playing in Las Vegas. "Wicked" (Nov. 30 to Jan. 22), which first ran at the Pantages in 2005 and later in 2007, is returning for a two-month run.

"Billy Elliot: the Musical" (April 12, 2012 to June 2, 2012) will make its Los Angeles premiere. The show, which is based on the 2000 movie about a boy ballet dancer, won the Tony Award for best musical in 2009. Elton John wrote the music, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall.

Also making its L.A. premiere is the critically panned "The Addams Family" (June 5, 2012 to June 17, 2012). The musical, based on the characters created by Charles Addams, features an original story by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa.

Theater review: 'Rock of Ages' at the Pantages Theatre

The aphorism that “comedy is tragedy plus time” may hold no truer than in the case of the hair-band scare of the late 1980s. Though it’s hard to imagine now, it was a scary thing, back then, wondering if Warrant, Winger, Whitesnake and all the other ascendant two-syllable poof-heads at the time might ultimately take over rock ’n’ roll with their utterly unironic combination of mascara and machismo. Then came the great Nirvana raid of the early ’90s, and suddenly hipsters emerged from their safe houses, not only abiding but singing along with the power ballads of the vanquished oppressors. Sure, we can laugh about it now.

Here to elbow you into comic submission is “Rock of Ages,” the nostalgia-baiting Broadway musical, which settled Tuesday into the Pantages Theatre, just a few miles from its Sunset Strip setting. The show doesn’t have enough of a point of view to care whether you laugh out of superiority or wistfulness; it just aims to be Dr. Feelgood. Proximity to real locations doesn’t do anything for this gleefully sub-lowbrow show, which could hardly care less about getting the details of 1980s Sunset Boulevard right.

You will chortle, and you will sing along, and you will hate yourself in the morning — which may be the only way in which the show really faithfully re-creates the heyday of the infamous Rainbow Bar & Grill.