Celebrity Theatre

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Celebrity Theatre
Phoenix-Phoenix Star Theatre Celebrity Theatre-1963.JPG
Celebrity Theatre
(once known as "Phoenix Star Theatre")
Address 440 N 32nd Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85008
United States
Owner Richard Hazelwood - Celebrity Theatre, LLC
Type theater in the round
Capacity 2,650
Opened 1963
Website
www.celebritytheatre.com

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. 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 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 is 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 13th, 1964 with the musical “South Pacific” starring Betsy Palmer. In the years since, the theatre has hosted such stars as George Carlin, Joe Cocker, Carol Channing, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Def Leppard, Vikki Carr, Bill Cosby, Duran Duran, Sammy Davis Jr., Sir Tom Jones, Black Sabbath, Sweathog, Smashing Pumpkins, Louis CK, 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, Don Rickles, Phish, Fleetwood Mac, Etta James and The Brian Setzer Orchestra among many other legendary performers.

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.[1]

In 2012 Lil Kim performed as apart of her Return of the Queen Tour to mark her musical comeback[2][better source needed]

See also

References

External links

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