Shubert Theatre

Architect Henry George Greene, who designed the ABC Entertainment Center in Century City, a complex that included the Shubert Theatre and several movie theaters, has died. He was 93. Greene died March 13 of natural causes at his home in Scarsdale, N.Y., according to Sandra Engelson, his longtime administrative assistant. Greene's design for the Century City complex, built in 1972 and demolished 30 years later, represented a particular era in entertainment center design.

"Memphis," which took home the Tony for best musical Sunday, is the latest awards juggernaut to emerge from the La Jolla Playhouse, the San Diego County theater company that has had an enviable track record of turning out Tony-winning (and -nominated) hits. A crowd-pleaser about race relations and '50s-era R&B, "Memphis" opened at La Jolla in 2008 in a production directed by Christopher Ashley, the company's artistic director. (The musical was previously co-produced by the North Shore Music Theatre and TheatreWorks in 2003-04.

The ABC Entertainment Center and the Shubert Theatre, since 1972 the home of many of the longest-running theatrical productions in Los Angeles, will be razed as part of plans to construct a striking 15-story office building on the site, officials said Monday. Dallas-based Trammell Crow has been operating the ABC complex and adjacent 44-story Century Plaza towers for more than four years.

Re Christopher Hawthorne's commentary on Century City ["A Landmark of '60s L.A. Attitude," June 1], I watched the development take shape in the mid-1960s. Two things were immediately obvious: The buildings were all boring (except for the Fox Tower, which came later), and area planners were in collusion with valet parking companies to gouge the driving public. Even today, there's almost no place to park in Century City without paying outrageous fees. Given the development's pro-business, anti-people orientation, it's hard to be upset when a specific building is razed or altered.

Look for the American premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's new musical version of "Sunset Boulevard" to take place next October or November at the Shubert Theatre in Century City, following its world premiere in London on June 29--and also following major structural renovations at the Shubert that will alter the look of the balcony.

When "The Phantom of the Opera" opened at the Ahmanson Theatre in 1989, its $8.5-million budget made it the most expensive musical ever to hit town. In 1997 Los Angeles, 8.5 may still be big for an earthquake--but judging from the money spent to produce big musicals in recent years, it takes at least $10 million to even nudge the needle on the Richter scale.

2 & 8pm Theater Make "Ragtime" a post-holiday treat. There's still time to catch the acclaimed, deeply moving musical epic at the Shubert Theatre before it closes March 8. Terrence McNally's adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel, with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, will be opening on Broadway on Jan. 18. * "Ragtime," Shubert Theatre, 2020 Ave. of the Stars, Century City, Wednesday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m.; Wednesday, 1:30 p.m.

Re Christopher Hawthorne's commentary on Century City ["A Landmark of '60s L.A. Attitude," June 1], I watched the development take shape in the mid-1960s. Two things were immediately obvious: The buildings were all boring (except for the Fox Tower, which came later), and area planners were in collusion with valet parking companies to gouge the driving public. Even today, there's almost no place to park in Century City without paying outrageous fees. Given the development's pro-business, anti-people orientation, it's hard to be upset when a specific building is razed or altered.

Call it the blond-on-blond "Riverdance," a new touring edition of the 1995 Irish extravaganza that opened a three-week run at the Shubert Theatre on Tuesday. There's only one redhead among the 49 dancers but golden locks galore--starting with leads Michael Patrick Gallagher of Galway and Tara Barry of Cork. Gallagher exudes no great charisma or authority but, begorrah, what flying feet!

Kingsley Leggs does some of the best stage crying I have ever seen. Leggs plays Coalhouse Walker in "Ragtime," replacing Brian Stokes Mitchell at the Shubert Theatre. In the funeral that ends Act 1 of the epic musical, Leggs gives us a man whose sobbing adds a new layer of understanding to the violence that follows. Leggs makes Coalhouse's tragedy more personal than political.

Architect Henry George Greene, who designed the ABC Entertainment Center in Century City, a complex that included the Shubert Theatre and several movie theaters, has died. He was 93. Greene died March 13 of natural causes at his home in Scarsdale, N.Y., according to Sandra Engelson, his longtime administrative assistant. Greene's design for the Century City complex, built in 1972 and demolished 30 years later, represented a particular era in entertainment center design.

Most of the time, capsules simply can't be found. Some of the time, capsules can be -- but their contents have disintegrated. This time capsule is different, however. Workers carefully demolishing the ABC Entertainment Center and Shubert Theatre in Century City have discovered a hidden box filled with mementos that are completely intact -- and totally mysterious.

City planners Thursday unanimously approved a strikingly designed office complex that would replace Century City's aging ABC Entertainment Center and Shubert Theatre. As part of the $300-million project, developer Trammell Crow Co. of Dallas also plans to build a cultural facility to ease the loss of the 2,200-seat Shubert, which went dark months ago after 30 years of offering such Broadway hits as "Evita" and "Beauty and the Beast."

John Levi likes what he sees in Century City. "I have a view from Beverly Hills to Long Beach," he says. "I have 48 feet of windows and a balcony. I look down on 200-plus varieties of trees and thousands of flowers. The flowers are changed as needed--about 21/2 times a year. "I love it here. I do." Levi lives in Century City, an exclusive Los Angeles enclave of high-rise offices, underground parking and an almost invisible neighborhood of residences. Four thousand people, in fact, live in the half-square-mile area on the southwestern edge of Beverly Hills that was built as Los Angeles' first experiment with mixed-use development.

Gerald Schoenfeld had never been to the theater before going to work for the law firm that handled business for the Shuberts--the quixotic, combative dynasty that controlled much of Broadway's real estate in the 20th century.

Brad Ellis looked out from the stage of the Shubert Theatre at a sea of 2,100 empty seats that soon will be removed in preparation for the theater's demolition, scheduled for November. "To be here tonight," Ellis said, "is like being in the show 'Follies.'" It was Saturday evening, as about 220 guests were arriving for the Shubert's "wrecking ball party," a chance for people who worked at the Century City theater to say farewell to the 30-year-old home of many of L.A.'s longest-running shows.

While watching "Cats," in its third visit to the Shubert Theatre (and its 11th to the L.A. area), the thought occurred that it was Andrew Lloyd Webber who wrote this year's campaign music for the Tory Party--which beat the Labor Party even without Margaret Thatcher. Lloyd Webber's epic musical of "felininity," inspired by T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats," is the apotheosis of the no-holds-barred spectacle style of the Thatcher-Reagan era.

More than 420 people vied to be the first ticket-holders for the U.S. premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard." The crowd lined up before tickets went on sale Sunday at 6 p.m.--sunset--at Century City's Shubert Theatre. The theater reported record-breaking ticket sales by the time the box office had closed at midnight. First in line was Paul Arenson, a 20-year-old UC Irvine student who said he arrived at 8:15 that morning to buy tickets for his mother. By 4 p.m.

Let's heave a sigh for the Shubert Theatre, slated soon for demolition. For two weeks, however, the Shubert is hosting one more for the road--literally. A new production of "The Who's Tommy" is launching its tour here. This is one finale that's less than grand. Those who remember only the Des McAnuff-staged version of "Tommy" from La Jolla, Broadway or its national tour are in for a letdown. The pizazz is kaput. The visual effects in the McAnuff "Tommy" were eye-popping.

The twice-postponed nighttime Emmy Awards found themselves overmatched Sunday by the seventh game of the World Series, delivering the smallest audience for an Emmy ceremony since the then-fledgling Fox network carried the broadcast in 1990. That said, the Emmys held up reasonably well in light of the inordinate competition.