Kodak Theatre Developing Its Multi-Use Muscles

The home of the Academy Awards will also house American Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” in December and the musical theater production of “The Full Monty” next April.

The Kodak Theatre in the Hollywood and Highland complex, which is under construction, is slated to become the permanent home of the Academy Awards next March.

The theater’s first confirmed booking is a Dec. 14-23 run of the ABT’s “Nutcracker,” as choreographed by ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie. This will mark the New York-based company’s first venture into Los Angeles since 1998. The engagement is underwritten by $250,000 from philanthropists Howard and Roberta Ahmanson.

The touring company of the “The Full Monty” is expected to play eight weeks, April 10-May 26, with previews starting April 6.

Lindsay Law, a co-producer of “The Full Monty,” said he had considered a booking at the Ahmanson Theatre, with its built-in subscription audience. But the Kodak got the nod because “the excitement of being in this brand-new building right after the Oscars adds to the luster of the show”--and also because the Kodak management “made it attractive in terms of generating more income and keeping more of it.” He declined to be more specific.

The Kodak’s seating capacity will range from 2,200 to 3,600, with a capacity of about 2,600 for both “The Nutcracker” and “The Full Monty.” The Ahmanson Theatre seats 1,600 to 2,000.

Law said “The Full Monty’s” corporate owners at Fox also “liked the idea of the Kodak enormously.” Fox is part owner of Staples Center, which is operated by the same organization that runs the Kodak, Anschutz Entertainment Group. However, Law said Fox allowed him and his fellow production team to make the decision about which theater to play.

The theater’s grand opening is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 17, but details are not yet ready to be announced, said Brenda Tinnen, senior vice president of event and guest services for Anschutz, which has the management contract from the project’s real estate developer, TrizecHahn.

Besides Broadway shows and classical arts, a third major component of the programming plans will be family-oriented shows, Tinnen said, and she’s hoping to book a family attraction in the period between the grand opening and “The Nutcracker.” Anschutz spokesman Michael Roth would say only that “a couple of furry costume characters are fighting for the space.”

The schedule also is expected to include a range of concerts, awards shows besides the Oscars, and corporate events held in conjunction with conventions at the adjacent Renaissance Hotel, which is scheduled to open early in 2002.

Anschutz is not simply renting the space to the ABT and “The Full Monty,” Tinnen said. “We will have a financial interest in both of them.” But she would say no more about the details of the deals.