A friend offered to take me to a show at the Pantages Theatre as a birthday present. A neat gift, eh? I\u2019m not one to take in a show, but if someone else is treating, well, that changes everything.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re aware of the Pantages, probably. It\u2019s been at Hollywood and Vine, one of the world\u2019s most famous intersections, since 1930. The Pantages switched in 1977 from movies to live theater and concerts. Today it\u2019s the most Broadway-style venue in the City of Angels.<\/p>\n
The Pantages is a grand sight, especially if you exit the subway across the street, take the escalator or stairs to street level and emerge with the theater\u2019s Art Deco facade filling your field of vision.<\/p>\n
Often there\u2019s a line down the sidewalk of people hoping for rush tickets to whatever is on the marquee, like \u201cWicked,\u201d \u201cHamilton\u201d or \u201cThe Book of Mormon.\u201d You may have been among them.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been inside only once, for a concert. Bob Dylan was the headliner, with Merle Haggard as support act.\u00a0This was in 2005, the Google gods tell me. I remember the pleasure of being there and a general sense of delight in the ornate architecture.<\/p>\n
But that was 21 years ago.<\/p>\n
For my birthday in March \u2014 I hope you celebrated, and perhaps took a day off \u2014 my friend gave me the Pantages schedule, which included \u201cBeetlejuice,\u201d \u201cMonty Python\u2019s Spamalot\u201d and \u201cLes Miserables.\u201d And \u201cPhantom of the Opera,\u201d which is what I chose.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IDB-L-ALLEN-COL-0809-2.jpg\")
The Pantages Theatre at the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine began as a movie theater and has found renewed popularity in recent years as a home for touring Broadway productions. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin\/SCNG)<\/p>\n
We saw a matinee July 26. (The show closes today, Aug. 9.)\u00a0After an early lunch in Thai Town, we passed through the theater\u2019s glitzy forecourt, had our tickets scanned and entered.<\/p>\n
The Pantages\u2019 main lobby has a high ceiling, chandeliers and wide staircases leading to upper levels and small gathering places. Many women posed on the carpeted stairs for a photo, commemorating their brief presence in a glamorous space.<\/p>\n
In the auditorium, the walls are decorated with zigzag patterns and starbursts, carvings and bric-a-brac, under enormous chandeliers. The lighting and sound equipment somehow fit into the mishmash without looking out of place.<\/p>\n
You may well have seen \u201cPhantom\u201d yourself, possibly multiple times. You might be able to break into one song or another from the show without prompting. Myself, I\u2019ve seen film versions and read the novel but was totally unfamiliar with the music and songs.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the music and songs were quite good. The effects were sometimes remarkable, especially the river underneath the opera house, which appeared real.<\/p>\n
As for the story, neither the Phantom nor the callow boyfriend struck me as proper suitors for Christine. However, that\u2019s really none of my business, is it? I will stay in my lane.<\/p>\n
We exited in a crush of people onto sunny Hollywood Boulevard, where hopefuls were already lining up for rush tickets to the evening performance.<\/p>\n
All this didn\u2019t provide quite enough for a column, it seemed to me. But the experience will be remembered. With any luck, it won\u2019t be another 21 years before I return to the Pantages.<\/p>\n
That was Sunday, July 26. The following Sunday, Aug. 2, I was at an arts event in Pomona \u2014 column to come \u2014 when a friend phoned in mid-afternoon. Her plus-one for the Hollywood Bowl that night had to bow out. Would I want to attend instead?<\/p>\n
The tickets and parking were already paid for, a charcuterie kit and bottle of wine were packed and she would drive. All I had to do was meet at a park-and-ride lot in San Dimas in two hours.<\/p>\n
Feeling as if I were leading a charmed life, I agreed. Who doesn\u2019t want to go to the Hollywood Bowl? Especially if you don\u2019t have to drive or park.<\/p>\n
By 6:45 p.m. we had parked in the stacked lot, walked through the tunnel beneath Highland Avenue and entered the Bowl. The main act would be the singer St. Vincent (real name Annie Clark), who would be backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra<\/a>.<\/p>\n When we took our seats, it was 7 p.m. The sun was still out, people were gradually filing in and the opening act, Anoushka Shankar, a sitar player, was unexpectedly great.<\/p>\n Munching on charcuterie, I thought back to my previous visits to the Bowl. There were a few, but not many.<\/p>\n Dylan, as is often the case with me, was the initial spur to go. In 1999 he co-headlined with Paul Simon. (They gamely tried some duets between their individual sets, including on \u201cThe Sound of Silence.\u201d)<\/p>\n I returned in 2007 for Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow and, in 2010, a triple bill of male-female duos: She and Him, The Bird and the Bee, and The Swell Season, made up of the \u201cOnce\u201d duo, Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1 and Glen Hansard. Hansard died July 29. I remember his big, Bowl-filling voice.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IDB-L-ALLEN-COL-0809-3.jpg\")
The Hollywood Bowl remains a prized concert venue more than a century after its 1922 opening. The headliner on Aug. 2 was the rock singer St. Vincent, who was backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin\/SCNG)<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IDB-L-ALLEN-COL-0809-4.jpg\")
The Hollywood Bowl glows under the night sky on Aug. 2 as St. Vincent, backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, performs an encore. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin\/SCNG)<\/p>\n