Ahmanson Lands ‘Full Monty’

When the touring production of “The Full Monty” comes to Los Angeles in April, it will play at the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown L.A., not the previously announced Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

The change in venue results from a change in the tour’s producers.

The Broadway show’s original producer, Fox Searchlight, had begun a tour that was headed for the Kodak. But after disappointing box-office returns in Chicago earlier in the fall, Fox pulled the tour for a reconfiguration.

Last month, Fox licensed the tour rights to the New York-based Producing Office, best known for its production of “Rent.”

The new tour will be launched at the Ahmanson on April 24, following a preview period that starts April 16, and will play through June 8.

Kevin McCollum, a partner in the Producing Office, cited “our great success with ‘Rent’ at the Ahmanson” in 1997 and the size of the Ahmanson’s subscription audience--35,000--as key factors in his company’s decision. The Kodak, which opened last month, has no subscription audience.

The Kodak is larger than the Ahmanson, but McCollum said theater size “was not an issue, because both theaters can be expanded and contracted”--although, in fact, the maximum capacity of 2,100 at the Ahmanson is smaller than the 2,200 usually cited as the minimum capacity at the 3,500-seat Kodak.

McCollum said the Ahmanson offered an eight-week block, while initial plans for eight weeks at the Kodak appeared less solid. Ed Murphy, Kodak managing director, said the show could not extend into June because of conflicts with other Kodak programming.

When Fox released its rights to the tour, another factor favoring the Kodak was eliminated--Fox has corporate ties to Anschutz Entertainment Group, which operates the Kodak.

The new tour will be able to move faster between cities than the original Fox tour, McCollum said, but “there won’t be much change in the way it looks. The ability to pack the trucks is the issue.”

The cast and orchestra will remain as large as on the earlier tour and on Broadway, he said.

The mounting of the tour will cost $2 million, he estimated, but it’s unclear whether the Ahmanson booking will be more lucrative for the Producing Office than one at the Kodak. “It depends on how many tickets we sell,” McCollum said. While the Ahmanson subscription audience “will help us get the word out sooner, we’ll still spend a lot on advertising.”

The Kodak’s Murphy said the theater still intends to bring in Broadway programming in addition to awards shows, dance, concerts and children’s shows. No Broadway shows are now booked.

“The Full Monty” opened at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego on June 1, 2000, and moved on to Broadway in October of that year.

Ahmanson artistic director/producer Gordon Davidson had tried to obtain the first touring version of “The Full Monty” and still had an open slot in his season. He had been working on ideas for two non-musical, home-grown plays, with star names, that might have filled that slot But he said he is happy to host “Monty” and will now delay the other ideas.