Walk of Fame and Pantages Theatre

The city of Los Angeles is often referred to as the "Entertainment Capital of the World". This term is also used for Las Vegas for the reason of the variety of entertainment available there, including luxurious and large casino-hotels. Los Angeles is a older city and official history dates back to the year 1781, though native inhabitants have been living here since much before. Las Vegas was founded in 1905 and is a relatively new city. Los Angeles is the city known for movie production at its Hollywood area. The movie industry in Hollywood is now over a century old and its many famous studios have been cradle of development of the film industry. Universal, Paramount, Walt Disney, MGM, 20th Century Fox, Sony and other major film studios were instruments for the growth of the movie industry and thereby providing entertainment all over the world. 

Growth of movie industry in different parts of the world over the last few decades notwithstanding, Hollywood continues to be a great centre for movie making. Ramoji Film City near Hyderabad, India, is considered as the biggest film making facility in the world nowadays. Mumbai and Chennai have been big film producing centres for several decades. Mumbai's film system, popularly known as Bollywood, produces nearly double the number of movies produced in the USA. The total number of movies produced in India, all languages put together, nears 3000 in most years!

The growth in the movie industry has been possible due to the contributions of many people over the years. Producers, directors, technicians, film stars and assistant production staff have all made their contributions. As in any other industry, contributions of some people stand out among all the innumerable contributors. The world has many ways of recognising major contributors in all walks of life. Hollywood too has its own methods. The annual Academy Awards, popularly known as Oscars, is one of them. 

"Hollywood Walk of Fame" is a well established system of identifying and recognising substantial contributions of individuals to the movie industry. The area around "Hollywood Boulevard" and the adjoining "Vine Street" was chosen as the venue for this honours as people keep visiting these areas daily and it would be a good place to perpetuate the memory of these achievers. Stars are made for the achievers and embedded on the footpath in this area. Tourists coming to Los Angeles find this "Walk of Fame" an important destination to visit. This practice started in the year 1958 and continues for the last 66 years. So far 2,775 stars are placed, including the one of Andre Romell Young, popularly known as Dr Dre, identified in the recording discipline and included last week, on 19th March, 2024.

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Pantages Theatre stands on Hollywood Boulevard. It is a landmark in Hollywood and was the location for the Academy Awards (Oscars) ceremony for some ten years. Alexander Pantages was the creator of many theatres in westren part of USA and Canada. This theatre carries his name as Pantages theatre and is said to be his last theatre. It was made ready and opened on 4th June, 1930. It will be celebrating its centenary year in six years. The theatre ownership has changed many hands over the years. Its uses also have been varied over the years; as a stage show theatre, movie theatre, venue for oscar awards etc. Since 1977 it is used exclusively for stage shows presenting different shows including pop shows and Broadway musicals. 

For getting into the pantages theatre, one has to cross some of the stars embedded on the pathway in Hall of Fame. The grandeur of the theatre has been maintained even with many modifications and changes made to the building over the years. The theatre can accomodate 2,691 viewers for a show. The lobby is marvellous with its zigzags, starbursts, chevrons and exotic figures.  Most of the shows run to full houses. Guests coming to the shows are provided paid parking facilities close to the theatre. The gold and silver coloured decor in multiple geometric patterns is a delightful sight. The live Broadway productions are a big hit with the art loving people of the city as well as tourists. Despite the huge size of the theatre, it is difficult to get tickets for the shows and plays get sold out weeks in advance. A ticket costs anywhere between 150 dollars to 1,000 dollars depending on the show, view of the stage, show time and day of the week.

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New York's Broadway shows are very popular but one cannot always go to New York to see the shows. Broadway has two sets of artistes putting up the shows. One set of artistes stay in New York and produce shows there. Another set of artistes are on tour and perform in over 200 cities of North America. These shows are known for their artistic value and great entertainment as well. Students of music, drama and theatre can learn a lot about stage management, creation of sets, and overall production of plays and sustaining them for years. 

We had an opportunity to watch a show of "To Kill a Mocking Bird" at the Pantages theatre in September last year. One may recall that the film with the same name made in 1962 got an Oscar award for best actor to Gregory Peck. It was a great experience. The experience of a live show is entirely different from that of a movie. 

One of the most popular broadway productions is "Chicago, the Musical". It is being staged since 1975 and yet runs to packed houses wherever it is staged. We had an opportunity to watch this live show last fortnight. It was another wonderful experience!