The Best Play in L.A. You can sit back and be whisked away into the land of Oz and find out what happened before the house landed on the Wicked Witch. 5STARS in our book.

The Pantages Theatre, formerly known as RKO Pantages Theatre, is located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California in the United States of America. Designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, it was the last theatre built for the impresario Alexander Pantages. The palatial Art Deco theatre opened on June 4th, 1930, as part of the Fox Theatre chain. The Pantages Theatre Circuit had been built on Vaudeville, and the new Hollywood theatre programs of first-run movies alternating through the day with Vaudeville acts for its first two years, but like other theatres during the Great Depression, it was forced to economize and thereafter operated primarily as a movie theatre, though live entertainment was presented occasionally. In 1949, The Pantages came under the ownership of Howard Hughes's RKO Theatre Circuit. From 1950 through 1960, the theatre hosted the American motion picture industry's annual Academy Award Ceremonies. It continued to be a major venue for Road show movies into the 1970s. From 1965, it was operated by Pacific Theatres. The Pantages closed as movie theatre in January, 1977, and re-opened the following month with the first of the many stage productions which have since become its regular fare. Now operated by an arm of the Nederlander Organization, the Pantages is one of Los Angeles' leading homes of legitimate theatre (the five highest-grossing weeks in L.A.'s theatrical history were all shows at the Pantages) and a favorite "location" for TV shows, movies and music videos. The Pantages Theatre shows a diverse range of large scale production musicals such as Disney's Lion King, which ran at the theatre for over two years. Situated on prime location, the areas building and a rejuvenation boom has spread to Bob Hope Square with the addition of a new W Hotel and retail, tied closely to the Hollywood/Vine (LACMTA Station) It has also occasionally hosted rock concerts, for such bands as Dream Theater and Foo Fighters. In 1997, 4 years before her english crossover, Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira performed her first show in the United States at the Pantages.

Place to watch Broadway plays LA Style