About the Dolby Theatre
DOLBY THEATRE FUN FACTS
- Opened on November 9, 2001 (formerly the Kodak Theatre).
- Designed by American architect and designer David Rockwell.
- Home of the annual Academy Awards ceremonies since 2002, the Dolby Theatre also hosts a wide range of artists and events including American Ballet Theatre, America’s Got Talent, the ESPY Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards.
- A towering archway on Hollywood Boulevard leads to the theatre entrance. Through the archway is Awards Walk, which features plaques for each Best Picture Oscar® winner and a sweeping red mosaic tile staircase.
- Twenty-six spectacular prints of famous Oscar® winners including Grace Kelly, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando on shimmering “silver screen” panels are displayed in the lobby.
- Lobby design elements were inspired by Michelangelo’s Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome.
- A silver-leafed oval “tiara,” emulating Busby Berkeley’s aerial shots of dancers, is suspended above the audience to support and disguise an immense lighting grid.
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About the Dolby Theatre
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Dolby Theatre® will serve as an ongoing showcase for the latest innovations in Dolby entertainment technology, including Dolby® Atmos™, a breakthrough audio technology that delivers the most natural, life-like sensory experience. Dolby Theatre also features Dolby 3D, a state-of-the-art imaging solution that provides audiences with a superior 3D experience. Dolby will continue to update the 180,000-square-foot, 3,400-seat Dolby Theatre with cutting edge technologies, ensuring that Dolby Theatre sets the stage for entertainment technology as host of the world's biggest movie premieres, events, and performances, for years to come.
One of the world’s premier entertainment venues, Dolby Theatre has hosted a range of prestigious artists and events including IRIS by Cirque du Soleil, Alicia Keys, Celine Dion, Prince, Elvis Costello, Barry Manilow, Stevie Wonder, Harry Connick, Jr., Melissa Etheridge, Dixie Chicks, Tyler Perry, American Ballet Theatre and various touring Broadway productions.
Notable television and awards events at Dolby Theatre have included the American Idol finals, AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards to Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and George Lucas, Daytime Emmy Awards, ESPY Awards and BET Awards.
For the theatergoer, Dolby Theatre experience begins on Hollywood Boulevard, where a towering portal, designed by Rockwell, serves as the grand entrance to the theatre, which is set back from the street. A two-story Awards Walk, featuring backlit glass plaques for each Best Picture Oscar® winner on a series of limestone portals, leads up a sweeping staircase with red mosaic tile to the main entrance.
The five-level theatre lobby is centered by a grand spiral staircase with cherrywood balustrades, topped by an oval, uplit silvery dome. Certain lobby design elements were inspired by Michelangelo’s Campodiglio in Rome and Busby Berkeley’s choreography. Twenty-six spectacular images of famous Oscar® winners including Grace Kelly, Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Halle Berry and Julia Roberts are permanently displayed on four lobby levels as photographic transparencies on clear plexiglass hung in front of shimmering beaded “silver screen” panels.
The audience chamber is highlighted by a silver-leafed “tiara”, a striking, looping oval structure that both supports and disguises an immense ceiling grid for lighting. Reflective ribs from the tiara extend down between the theatre’s box seats, creating a continuous flow from wall to ceiling. The chamber was designed to draw attention to the action on the stage, as well as to achieve the maximum intimacy between audience and performers. It is appointed with sumptuous details that give the space warmth including cherrywood finishes and deep plum upholstery, as well as a shimmering glow provided by curtains of two shades of iridescent fabric and a fine bronze mesh that stretches to the top of the proscenium, which measures some 64 feet wide by 35 feet high. The main stage area is one of the largest in the nation, at 120 feet wide and 75 feet deep.
Wolfgang Puck Catering and Events, owned by celebrated chef Wolfgang Puck, is the exclusive provider of food and beverage services for Dolby Theatre, including front of house, backstage and special private events that can be held in the theatre lobbies and the Dolby Lounge.
Guided theatre tours are offered seven days a week, with rare production and performance schedule exceptions, from 10:30am to 4pm, departing every 30 minutes. The walking tour offers visitors architectural and historical highlights of the world-renowned venue, as well as a glimpse of the ultra glamorous side of Dolby Theatre on Hollywood’s biggest night – the Oscars®.
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Press Release | CIM Group and Hollywood Pantages to Bring Broadway to Dolby Theatre
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CLICK HERE for Press Release | August 15, 2018
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What People are Saying about the Dolby Theatre