West Coast Theater

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 4:21pm

Hi

I am playing on going to Los Angeles and San Francisco mid December after New York. I am aware of the Pantages and Ahmanson Theatres in Los Angeles and the Orpheum, Curran and Golden Gate Theatres in San Francisco as they are the main ones.

What other theatres are there? even if it is a little ride outside these cities. Also any good websites please?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 4:30pm

I've seen a number of excellent productions in Los Angeles on trips over the years. The Ahmanson and Pantages house mostly touring productions. There are a number of smaller theatres that do excellent, locally produced work. I usually use this website to glean what's playing and what might be worth my time.

https://www.theatreinla.com/nowplayingrs.php

Updated On: 10/16/17 at 04:30 PM

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 5:05pm

Take a look at Ray of Light, the Geary, and New Conservatory Theatres in SF.

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 5:11pm

Also the San Francisco Playhouse does great productions in a nice little theater, convenient to downtown Union Square. They'll be doing "A Christmas Story"  Also, the Curran will be presenting the limited tour of "Bright Star" with Carmen Cusack until Dec 17.


 

Updated On: 10/17/17 at 05:11 PM

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 5:23pm

And if you're in town on Sunday (especially during the holiday season), I can recommend the famous "It's a Drag" brunch at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel hosted by Donna Sachet. It's a class act, a decent brunch buffet, and a lot of fun. It's a novel pre-matinee event.

I think I got discount tix on goldstar when we did it last year.
 

Updated On: 10/16/17 at 05:23 PM

[jmuep]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 5:35pm

It might be worth considering driving down to San Diego to either La Jolla Playhouse or the Old Globe Theater. For my money, that's consistently where I've gone to see strong, new original work versus any place in Los Angeles.  The Geffen Playhouse is probably the largest theater outside the Pantages and those run by Center Theater Group (Ahmanson, Mark Taper Forum & Kirk Douglas) and I find its productions to be consistently more miss than hit. 

[nealb1]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 5:43pm

In all my years of going to San Francisco and seeing theatre, I've never heard of the "famous" It's A Drag brunch. 

[Alessio2]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 6:25pm

I second LaJolla Playhouse, they do excellent work. And starting next month they are presenting SUMMER which is the musical based on the life of disco queen Donna Summer, which I have tickets for.  Be aware that getting to San Diego can take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours depending on traffic.  I highly recommend taking the Amtrak down which is a really beautiful ride along the pacific stopping in many quaint beach towns.  And most importantly, there is a bar on the train:)

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 7:46pm

nealb1 said: "In all my years of going to San Francisco and seeing theatre, I've never heard of the "famous" It's A Drag brunch."

Sorry, "Sunday's a Drag brunch," I guess ya' just haven't been traveling with the right sort of people.
http://www.starlightroomsf.com/sunday-a-s-a-drag/the-show.htm

 

Updated On: 10/16/17 at 07:46 PM

[tjjster]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 8:31pm

I think it depends on what you want to see. There is a lot of theatre in LA but sometimes its just wading through all the smaller houses to find the gems. As anywhere, quality can vary greatly from production to production. 

https://www.lastagetix.com/ is a great resource in addition to the theatre in la website mentioned above.

 

Some reliable venues:

CTG (Ahmanson/Taper/Kirk Douglas) is an awesome company but think the Ahmanson and the Taper are mostly dark in December. Spamilton is playing at the Douglas.

South Coast Rep (3 stages one of which will be taken up by their yearly Christmas Carol)

Wallis Annenberg Ctr for the Performing Arts

Antaeus Theatre Company

A Noise Within

Pasadena Playhouse

[bear88]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 9:19pm

In the San Francisco area...

You probably won't have arrived yet, but Small Mouth Sounds, the touring version of the off-Broadway play, runs at the Strand Theater through Dec. 10.

Also at ACT, A Christmas Carol is at the Geary from Dec. 1 to 24.

The Berkeley Rep will have a revival of Lillian Hellman's play, Watch on the Rhine, from Nov.30 through Jan. 14.

The Bright Star  tour was mentioned, but it's running through Dec. 17 at the Curran.

And there's always Aladdin, on tour at the Orpheum. 

There are other theaters in the area. Some are dark in mid-December. I'm not sure about others, aside from the productions mentioned above.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 10/16/17 at 10:44pm

Ray of Light is dark which is too bad. Every production I've seen is great; I still think about their CARRIE from a few seasons back and wonder how did this awesome show flop? (Yeah, I know, the revival was heavily revamped from the original.) I can still feel the rush of wind when the gigantic gym wall backdrop crashed to the stage narrowly missing Carrie. That young actress had nerves of steel to so calmly have that fall just behind her. 

Bay Area Musicals is a relative newcomer doing fairly good quality productions. They've got 42nd Street in early December. https://Www.bamsf.org

And for something completely different, I can so highly recommend Golden Girls Live, especially if you are a fan of the old TV show. Each December, a drag troupe acts out two TGG scripts verbatim. I've been many times and laugh so hard I wet myself ... or almost. It really is a riot and cheap tickets, too. The Victoria Theater is at Mission and 16th Streets which, if you're familiar with the city, is a bit sketchy, but there are usually lots of people out and about. BART is a block away to get you to/from downtown or you can Uber or cab it. https://www.goldengirlssf.com

[Sapsorrow]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 4:10am

PatrickDC said: "Ray of Light is dark which is too bad. Every production I've seen is great; I still think about their CARRIE from a few seasons back and wonder how did this awesome show flop? (Yeah, I know, the revival was heavily revamped from the original.) I can still feel the rush of wind when the gigantic gym wall backdrop crashed to the stage narrowly missing Carrie. That young actress had nerves of steel to so calmly have that fall just behind her."

Oh, hey, I was the mother in that production. Happy to hear it's still thought of fondly. (And yeah, that gym wall was TERRIFYING.)

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 1:18pm

Sapsorrow said: "Oh, hey, I was the mother in that production. Happy to hear it's still thought of fondly. (And yeah, that gym wall was TERRIFYING.)"

Glad to have the opportunity to thank you for a GREAT performance. (and that wall drop was a great coup d' theatre) 
We saw the final matinee of ROLT's Reefer Madness last week. I was heartbroken that there were no more than 50 in the audience. And the cast was uniformly excellent with more extensive choreography than I've yet seen before from them. I suspect that their usual financial stresses (hello, Wild Party) caused them to have this abbreviated schedule this year with less publicity.

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 4:39pm

MarkBearSF said: "Sapsorrow said: "Oh, hey, I was the mother in that production. Happy to hear it's still thought of fondly. (And yeah, that gym wall was TERRIFYING.)"

Glad to have the opportunity to thank you for a GREAT performance. (and that wall drop was a great coup d' theatre)
We saw the final matinee of ROLT's Reefer Madness last week. I was heartbroken that there were no more than 50 in the audience. And the cast was uniformly excellent with more extensive choreography than I've yet seen before from them. I suspect that their usual financial stresses (hello, Wild Party) caused them to have this abbreviated schedule this year with less publicity."

 

[PatrickDC]

Posted: 10/17/17 at 4:47pm

MarkBearSF said: "Sapsorrow said: "Oh, hey, I was the mother in that production. Happy to hear it's still thought of fondly. (And yeah, that gym wall was TERRIFYING.)"

Glad to have the opportunity to thank you for a GREAT performance. (and that wall drop was a great coup d' theatre)."

I appreciate the opportunity as well! I always like seeing and hearing you perform around the Bay Area, with 42SMoon and others. I particularly loved you as the Edie’s in GG, another wonderful production. It was a funky little theater space but it worked very well for GG. I look forward to your future performances! 

 

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 2:42pm

Thank you all fro your contributions so far, all appreciated.

Out of manners I thought I divulge what I hope to see, firstly I just miss A Gentleman's Guide................, Driving Miss Daisy and King Charles III, I would love to see these.

So in Los Angeles I hope to see Spamilton, Hamilton and Something Rotten, I understand that Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum is also playing, but I cannot find the theatre?

So San Francisco I am going to fly up for 36 hours and hope to catch Bright Star and Aladdin only.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 3:17pm

This is probably the production of Forum you heard about.

 

https://www.garrymarshalltheatre.org/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-forum/

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 3:37pm

Phantom of London said: "San Francisco I am going to fly up for 36 hours and hope to catch Bright Star and Aladdin only."

Seriously. When at Bright Star at the Curran, do yourself a favor and check out the new bathrooms downstairs. I suspect the men's is flashier than the latest club or restaurant. Carole Shorenstein Hays deserves thanks for such a wonderful refurb. Also - in case you're unaware, the Curran was used for all the theater shots in "All About Eve" and there's a framed photo from the scene where Eve first meets Karen outside the stage door, in the alley where they filmed it. (Not normally accessible to the public)

 

Updated On: 10/18/17 at 03:37 PM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 7:29pm

QueenAlice said: "This is probably the production of Forum you heard about.



https://www.garrymarshalltheatre.org/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-the-forum/"

Thanks

Does this venue have high production values?

 

Also interested in seeing Tyne Daly in Chasing Memories at the Geffen Playhouse, however this finishes the day before I arrive, does the Geffen Playhouse ever extend? I mean it's a bit strange to stop performances 2 weeks before Christmas, when the box office gets warmer.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 7:46pm

Well December 2nd I'm attending a production of White Christmas at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach. It'll be playing for two weekends only

 

muscal.org for more information

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 7:51pm

That's:

http://musical.org/

[BwayLB]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 7:56pm

Sorry about that. Believe me I've seen a couple Musical Theatre West productions. Hairspray, 42nd Street, Oklahoma, A Chorus Line, the Music Man (Davis Gaines as Harold Hill) and Memphis

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 8:50pm

To be honest, while he was alive, I thought the Gary Marshall theater presented pretty terrible stuff. But this year they are under new leadership and they seem to have raised the bar. They have a production of Master Class currently playing which has received rapturous reviews.

I have seen a couple of shows at Musical Theater West, and I thought they were OK. Summer stock level.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 10/18/17 at 8:54pm

I'm not familiar with Summer Stock but I just enjoy the musical overall for what it is. White Christmas will be my first time since Memphis last year.