Visit Pantages Theatre and ExperienceLA at National Train Day, Saturday May 12

This Saturday, May 12 from 11AM-4PM, join us and our partners at Broadway/L.A. - Pantages Theatre, along with many other vendors, at Union Station in celebration of National Train Day. Stop by our booth to have your photo taken with the Addams Family standee and submit it to enter our ADDAMS FAMILY photo contest.

Win Tickets to see The Addams Family in Los Angeles

Photo credit: Jeremy Daniel

Broadway/L.A. - Pantages Theatre, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and ExperienceLA.com team up to offer Los Angelinos several opportunities to win prizes for the upcoming run of "The Addams Family" at the Pantages Theatre, including an evening of macabrely fun with a family 4-pack of tickets to see “The Addams Family,” and dinner at Bucca di Beppo located at Universal City Walk. "The Addams Family" begins June 5 and runs through June 17 at the Pantages Theatre. Enter our photo contest for your chance to win!

Take our survey and win prizes!

The ExperienceLA user survey has launched! Now through March 19, give us your two cents, and be entered for a chance to win some great prizes.

Each year, we ask for input from our users about your experience using our services, whether it's our events calendar, Metro Trip Planner, giveaways and promotions, Facebook, Twitter, WiFi, etc. Your thoughts are important to us, as they allow us to improve our communication and outreach to keep you better informed of things happening in and around your community. (Take our survey)

Shrek the Musical: An "ogre"-dose of fun

Burping. Farting. Air-guitar. No, this is not a description of my husband's and his buddies' man-cave joys. This is "Shrek the Musical," the theatrical adaptation of DreamWorks' 2001 award-winning CG film, "Shrek."

Win tickets to see "IN THE HEIGHTS"

ExperienceLA wants to send two of our lucky readers to see the L.A. premiere of "In The Heights," at the Pantages Theatre on Thursday, June 24 at 8PM. Broadway's 2008 Best Musical arrives in L.A. on June 22 and runs through July 25, with show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda reprising his lead role as 'Usnavi.' Contest details after the jump.

Chicago Razzle-Dazzles in L.A.

My Thursday night was spent in Hollywood - Red Line from Downtown to Hollywood/Vine and a quick walk across the street to the crowd gathered in front of the Pantages Theatre for Chicago.  Amid the theatre's beautiful architecture, Chicago unfolded with enjoyable - and at many times amazing - scenes seamlessly melting from one into the other.

Must Love Cats - and Dance!

This Tuesday, I went to the opening night of one of the longest running, most anticipated (at least by me!), and very emotionally-charged musicals, CATS. I say emotionally-charged not because the musical has moments of joy, laughter, mystery, sadness and more, but that discussions about the musical always end up with people loving it or hating it, in the same way people love or hate cats (not kittens, of course - everyone loves kittens).


Of course, this is a generalization, and one does not need to love cats in order to enjoy the musical, CATS - but it helps. An interest in dance, especially modern dance, and a fondness for 80s nostalgia (especially leg warmers) also help. When I had first seen CATS in L.A., way back when, I could only remember the amazing makeup, costumes and large, "cat-sized" household objects of the extensive set. Now, I realized how talented and full of energy the cast must be in order to pull off what seemed to be a continuous dance movement. Rarely was there a still moment on stage. If the "cats" weren't dancing or singing, they were pawing, purring and playing like... well, cats!


For those anticipating the return of the magic and mystery, these performances will not disappoint. I've memorized every song from the musical, and still I enjoyed singing along (okay - actually just mouthing the words - I didn't want to ruin it for everyone else!) to my favorite ones. I was also pleasantly surprised by the extensive amount of dancing (not on the soundtrack!) and the little quirks of a live performance. The Rum Tum Tugger's (overly) confident drawl got extra laughs, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteaser's (slightly) skewed duet gave a neat twist to their song of mischief and mayhem,  and Skimbleshanks extra cheeriness (my personal favorite) really hit the spot (I always felt that Skimbleshanks was too uptight on the CD).

The first musical I saw as a young child was CATS, and from then on I was hooked. A variety of music, modern dance, leg warmers and cats all wrapped up with a splash of 80s nostalgia - what's not to love?




-Tiina Vuorenmaa

The Grinch Will Steal Your Heart

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is no doubt a family holiday favorite - from the book, to the cartoon film, to the live-action movie with Jim Carrey.

It also makes the perfect family-friendly holiday musical.

John Larroquette enters as "Old Max" retelling the story of when he was "Young Max" (portrayed by James Royce Edwards) and the Grinch (Stefan Karl) was up to his anti-Whoville holiday scheme. No need to retell the story most already know, but there are great elements that make this musical an enjoyable family experience.

The audience/show barrier is lifted often. Larroquette, Edwards, and Karl's character portrayals directly interact with the audience. Stefan Karl's performance as the Grinch is hilarious here, particularly in numbers where he's being quite the ham to the audience and both Old/Young Max alike warns us not to encourage him.

The stage is a holiday splendor of familiar Who-ville images seemingly lifted from Seuss' books into real life in all that musical stage spectacular. It's the perfect setting to bring the family into the beautiful historic Pantages Theatre.

And of course, the story is as heart-warming as ever - warmly lit by the singing of the Whoville cast, especially Cindy-Lou Who and her heart-changing interactions with the Grinch.

The show evokes the warmth of the holiday season for Human, Grinch, Dog, and Whoville citizens alike.

-ExperienceLA Editor

Usage of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! image and name is authorized. TM & ©1957, 2009 Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P.