About Us:
El Portal Theatre is a historic landmark in the San Fernando Valley located in the heart of North Hollywood just minutes from Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Disney, ABC, CBS-Radford and NBC. The theatre, originally built as a vaudeville house in 1926, sits across from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Art Institute of California - Hollywood, and the new Laemmle 7 Screen Theaters. The art deco marquee is visible to thousands of cars that travel on Lankershim Boulevard daily. In the mid 2000's the long awaited redevelopment of North Hollywood came to fruition with the grand openings of restaurants, upscale shops and a charming, urbanesque environment.
In the past fourteen years many celebrities have graced the stages of El Portal including Jason Alexander, Paul Rodriguez, Fritz Coleman, JoAnne Worley, Joseph Bologna, Renee Taylor, Rip Taylor, Adam Corolla, Ileana Douglas, Debbie Reynolds, Bea Arthur and Billy Goldenberg, Kitty Carlisle Hart's 96th Birthday Tour, Charles Nelson Reilly, Ed Begley, Jr. and his world-premiere musical Cesar and Ruben, Hal Linden, Carol Lawrence, Donna McKechnie, David Faustino, Sally Struthers, Maripat Donovan, Kathleen Chalfant, Carol Channing, a world premiere play with James Denton, and The Manhattan Transfer to name just a few. Hit shows include the ten time Ovation nominated Smokey Joe's Café; Debbie Reynolds in three sold-out visits, the energetic world renowned Groovaloos; A Conversation with Edith Head; Robert Wuhl in Assume the Position; Ray Bradbury's Falling Upward, The Kid From Brooklyn (the Danny Kaye musical), and the longest running show in El Portal history, The Marvelous Wonderettes, which played to sold-out houses for 19 months and continued its success off-Broadway for almost two years. The most exciting holiday production at the El Portal in 2010 was the British Panto "Cinderella"; produced by The Nigel Lythgoe Family followed by "Snow White" and "Cinderella" in 2011. In 2012, the legendary Smokey Robinson premiered his poetry and spoken word piece, "Words" to sold out houses.
