These 3 Los Angeles-area theaters that plan to tread the boards this month.
On the chilly, post-rainstorm afternoon of Christmas Eve in Hollywood, theatergoers were packed shoulder-to-shoulder into the red velvet seats of the historic Pantages Theatre, gleefully starting to nibble snacks as they awaited the start of “Hamilton.” According to their Instagram confessions, many had received tickets in their prematurely opened Christmas stockings. (And at ticket prices veering past $1,000, that’s quite a stocking stuffer.) And then, shortly before the 2 p.m. curtain, they heard the announcement dreaded by all but firmly expected by those with a bleaker view of our world: The performance was canceled. Breakthrough cases of COVID-19 had showed up among the cast when the actors were tested, sensibly, immediately before showtime. The production quickly notified ticketholders that the production would take a hiatus through Jan.23 and that refunds would be automatically paid — though patrons at the Dec.24 show were, according to their Instagram complaints, still waiting for their refunds to process. But the public is apparently starving for its fix of “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ingenious rap-based recounting of our nation’s early history. So the Pantages production is currently scheduled to reopen Jan.26 and run through March 17. And according to the theater’s website, should any of those shows be canceled, patrons holding tickets will receive an email (hopefully timely), and “payment will be automatically refunded to the original method of payment.” Meanwhile, the Pantages’ sister theater, the Dolby, is planning to mount “The Simon & Garfunkel Story” this weekend, but as of this week was offering seats “for as low as $35.50.” Two other large theaters in the Los Angeles area plan January openings. La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts intends to proceed with its upcoming production of “Million Dollar Quartet” despite the current spike in COVID cases. “We’re owned and operated by a city, and we follow all the protocols exactly,” said BT McNicholl, the theater’s producing artistic director. “We do whatever is official.” Last year, in the theater’s normal course of business, it scheduled this show for mid-January, one of its customary slots for its five-show season.
