Introducing Our 2017-2018 Season

This past Tuesday, bright and early in the perfectly lively 6AM hour, we announced the six amazing shows headed to our Pantages Theatre for the 2017-2018 season. Now that you’ve had time to let the big reveal sink in, get even more information about them below.

Aladdin 

• There are currently five different productions of ALADDIN playing all around the world not including this tour: Broadway, the West End in London, Australia, Germany, and Japan.
• The current actor who plays “Aladdin” on Broadway will be playing “Aladdin” in the touring company, Adam Jacobs.
• 337 costumes—based on 136 individual designs—were created for the show. Aladdin has a quick change in the show where he goes from street rat to prince.
• James Monroe Iglehart, the 2014 Tony Award® winner for his performance as Genie in ALADDIN, is about to begin performances in the Broadway production of HAMILTON. ALADDIN opens at the Pantages Theatre less than two weeks after HAMILTON closes.
• Whoopi Goldberg recently sent Iglehart off during a performance of ALADDIN and went behind the scenes of the show.
• Howard Ashman (lyrics) and Alan Menken (music) wrote the soundtrack in the original film. This show features many of the songs from the film plus songs that were cut before the film written by Ashman and Menken.
• Los Angeles is the national tour’s first stop before it heads off to Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, and other cities.
• Official show merchandise can be found at the Aladdin Musical’s Broadway store
• The Broadway cast performed “Friend Like Me” on Good Morning America

Love Never Dies

• The original cast of LOVE NEVER DIES starred Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo who played Christine and Phantom in the 25th anniversary edition of Phantom.
• LOVE NEVER DIES was filmed at its Melbourne production and was released on DVD in 2012.
• Andrew Lloyd Webber started working on the sequel in 1990 but was delayed several times in completing it until 2011. “Around 1990 I had the idea of continuing the story of Phantom and Christine and setting it in New York at the turn of the last century. I had a thrilling discussion over dinner with the late Maria Bjornson, who created the brilliant design of the original Phantom. She was very excited about a New World location.”
• Andrew Lloyd Webber was inspired to place the Phantom at Coney Island after watching a documentary about Coney Island featuring the wonders of that extraordinary world.
• The show has also had productions on the West End (2010-2011), Copenhagen (2012-2013), Vienna (2013), Japan (2014), and Germany (from 2015). However, this tour is based on the Australian production which debuted in 2012 to glowing critical reception.
• Along with Phantom and Christine, the show also features Madame Giry, Meg, and Raoul.
• LOVE NEVER DIES features circus performers as well as intricate sets and costumes.
• Phantom runs a combination freak show and vaudeville house in Coney Island.

School of Rock

• SCHOOL OF ROCK opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway over a year ago on December 6, 2015.
• This show was the first Andrew Lloyd Webber show to premiere on Broadway before debuting at the West End in thirty years.
• It was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Julian Fellowes), Best Original Score (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Slater), and Best Actor in a Musical (Alex Brightman). The cast also performed.
• Before SCHOOL OF ROCK’s Broadway debut, staged concerts were held at the Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan in June 2015, featuring songs from the show.
• All of the songs in the movie are in the musical as well as fourteen new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
• Andrew Lloyd Webber first revealed that he had purchased the stage rights to School of Rock in a 2013 interview.
•  The SCHOOL OF ROCK cast album was released in December 2015 and features three bonus tracks plus a song that was cut from production during previews, “Give Up Your Dreams.”

The Color Purple

• This revival of the THE COLOR PURPLE most recently played at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. It’s opening night was December 10, 2015 and its final Broadway performance was on January 8, 2017.
• THE COLOR PURPLE also won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical at the 70th Annual Tony Awards in 2016.
• The revival cast album is nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album and could possible be announced the winner come GRAMMY night this Sunday, February 12, on CBS.
• Among the producers of the revival is Oprah Winfrey as well as Scott Sanders and Roy Furman.
• The Color Purple has played in Los Angeles before at the Ahmanson Theatre in a touring production from December 13, 2007 through March 9, 2008.
• This touring production, however, is based on the recent Broadway revival which is stripped down and extremely focused on the characters under the direction of John Doyle.
• The original Broadway production ran from 2005 to 2008, earning eleven Tony Award nominations in 2006.

On Your Feet

• ON YOUR FEET is currently playing at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway.
• This show is a “jukebox musical” containing several of Gloria Estefan’s greatest hits and on original song written specifically for the show.
• Both Gloria and Emilio Estefan have been extremely involved in producing the show and bringing it to life, even performing with the cast at the 70th Annual Tony Awards.
• Gloria and Emilio Estefan were approached by Jimmy Nederlander circa 1990 about doing a Latin-based show for Broadway. Circa 2005, they began crafting an offer for a musical show in Vegas that was eventually pitched to the Nederlanders who loved it and eventually ON YOUR FEET! made it to Broadway.
• The ON YOUR FEET cast album was recorded live in March 2016, and was produced by Gloria and Emilio Estefan. Check it out here.
• David Rooney, in his review of the Broadway production for The Hollywood Reporter, wrote, “Just try keeping the grin off your face when two massive human chains—of cast and audience members—flood the aisles of the Marquis Theatre…”
• If you’ve ever wanted to conga line through the Pantages Theatre, this is the show for you!

Waitress

• WAITRESS first began performances at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, on August 2, 2015 starring Jessie Mueller with Keala Settle and Jeanna de Waal.
• The musical is based on the 2007 film of the same name which starred Kerri Russell under the direction of screenwriter and director, Adrienne Shelly.
• Diane Paulus, the director of WAITRESS, has also directed many shows which have been at the Pantages Theatre in recent years such as Pippin and Finding Neverland.
• At the 2016 Tony Awards, both Jessie Mueller and Sara Bareilles performed “She Used to be Mine.”
• The WAITRESS cast recording is nominated for a 2017 Grammy Award to be held this Sunday, February 12, on CBS.
• The musical features a special relationship to pie that has led the Broadway production to have a pie consultant. Stacy Donnelly is the official pie consultant who makes about 40 pies a week for the actors and actresses to use as props. She also cooks the pies in a lobby oven which allows the theatre to smell like pie, further transporting the audience into the show.
• WAITRESS was nominated for 4 Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Original Score (Sara Bareilles), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jessie Mueller), and Best Actor in a Featured Role (Christopher Fitzgerald).

 

   

 

 

Nicole has been an intern in themarketing department at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre since late-November, 2016. She studies communication with a minor in music industry at the University of Southern California. She was super excited to write this blog post and can't wait for all of these amazing shows to hit the Pantages stage.