Celebrity Theatre facts for kids
Celebrity Theatre
(once known as "Phoenix Star Theatre") |
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| Address | 440 N 32nd Street Phoenix, Arizona 85008 United States |
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| Owner | Richard Hazelwood - Celebrity Theatre, LLC |
| Type | theater in the round |
| Capacity | 2,650 |
| Opened | 1963 |
Celebrity Theatre is a theater in the round located in Phoenix, Arizona.
Beverly Hills architect Perry Neuschatz designed the 196-foot-diameter building as a multipurpose conference center. He received the 1964 top award from the Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) for his outstanding design. Gary Call was the associate architect. Owners planned to use Celebrity Theatre as a concert venue during the winter. It was further renovated significantly in 1995. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.
The stage is 30 feet in diameter and completely round, exposed to the audience on all sides. An unusual feature of the theater is that the entire stage can turn through four complete revolutions at a speed of up to 0.5 rpm, thus allowing everyone in the audience to see every part of the stage at some points during a performance. None of the 2650 seats in the theater are more than 70 feet from the stage. The theater is equipped with an orchestra pit and can be reconfigured as a proscenium stage if necessary, although this reduces the seating capacity by 25% to 50%, depending on configuration.
The theatre opened on January 13, 1964 with the musical "South Pacific" starring Betsy Palmer. In the years since, the theatre has hosted such stars as George Carlin, Van Halen, Joe Cocker, Carol Channing, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Def Leppard, Vikki Carr, Bill Cosby, The Goose Creek Symphony, Dr. Hook, Duran Duran, Sammy Davis Jr., Sir Tom Jones, Black Sabbath, Sweathog, Smashing Pumpkins, Louis CK, Sam Kinison, Chris Rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd, David Bowie, B.B. King, Pepe Aguilar, Olivia Newton-John, Nat King Cole, Marvin Gaye, The Pretenders, Frankie Valli, Rocio Durcal, Roger Daltrey, Frank Zappa, Engelbert Humperdinck, Hall & Oates, Don Rickles, Phish, Fleetwood Mac, Etta James, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Jack Benny, Wayne Newton, Liberace and My Favorite Murder among many other legendary performers.
Mexican artist Yuridia performed here on September 5, 2009. She returned for her 6 Tour on November 5, 2016.
Notable performances
George Carlin filmed his second HBO special, George Carlin: Again!, here in 1978. It was considered the first stand-up comedy routine done "in the round".
The debut setlist apparition of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" covered by Phish on 3-16-93.
In 2012 Lil' Kim performed as a part of her Return of the Queen Tour to mark her musical comeback.
In February 2013, Louis C.K. filmed his HBO special Oh My God, his fifth full-length comedy special. The round stage was made blue in color, to resemble the way it appeared when George Carlin filmed his 1978 HBO comedy George Carlin: Again!. It is thought that Louis C.K. wanted to pay homage to his comedy idol, George Carlin.
