Photos: First Look at LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE at the Wallis Anneberg

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the beloved holiday film's release, a truly outstanding all-star cast has been assembled for For The Record and The Wallis’ co-production of LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE, the multimedia concert celebration with performances scheduled from Wednesday, Nov. 22 - Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Check out a first look at the production below!

Grace Kinstler, American Idol season 19 finalist, has joined the exciting lineup of talented performers alongside: Chris Mann, The Voice season 2 finalist and 2020 musical parody video phenom; Emmy Award nominee for Disney’s High School Musical and frequent Disney soundtrack featured artist, Drew Seeley; recent star of Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Cheyenne Isabel Wells; RIAA Gold® recording artist Rex Smith;  singer/songwriter, musician, producer and engineer Brian McKnight Jr.; and America's Got Talent Season 17 Golden Buzzer winner and star of Showtime’s vampire series Let The Right One In and Netflix’s Selena: The Series, Madison Taylor Baez. 

Rounding out the cast are Broadway veteran Austin Lesch; Broadway veteran Doug Kreeger; recording artist James Byous (Netflix’ Original Series Westside); recording artist/performer Tomasina Abate; Broadway, TV and recording artist Ruby Lewis; recording artist, songwriter, and member of girl group Citizen Queen (with over 30 million music video views), Nina Ann Nelson; actor, singer, voiceover artist Alkaio Thiele; and American Idolseason 4 finalist, Anthony Fedorov. Ensemble members include Darrell Morris Jr., Brayden Gleave, Parissa Koo, and Audrey Cymone.

Over the years, the production has enjoyed immense success during its previous runs starting in 2018, captivating nearly 45,000people with its exceptional staging, state-of-the-art video design, and award-winning production. LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE transports friends and families into a three-dimensional world where the film and live action seamlessly blend, immersing audiences in the heartwarming London setting. Iconic scenes from the movie are displayed on screens that move throughout the set, complemented by an all-star cast of singers and a live orchestra, delivering a reimagined soundtrack featuring beloved songs such as "Christmas is All Around," "Trouble with Love," and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now."

LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE is a co-production from the team behind Los Angeles’ award-winning For The Record Live series and The Wallis. Inspired by the 2003 classic holiday film written and directed by Richard Curtis, LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE, presented by special arrangement with Universal Theatrical Group, transforms the Wallis’ Bram Goldsmith Theater into a giant, immersive cinema for the modern day.

LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE is adapted and directed by Anderson Davis, with musical supervision and arrangements by Jesse Vargas, vocal design by Tony Award nominee AnnMarie Milazzo, music directed and conducted by David Saul Lee, choreography by Sumie Maeda, scenic design by Emmy Award winner Matthew Steinbrenner, lighting design by Michael Berger, sound design by Mike Tracey, costume design by Steve Mazurek, video design by Aaron Rhyne, and casting by Ryan Bernard Tymensky. The production is co-produced by Shane Scheel and The Wallis.

Tickets for LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE are now on sale with prices rangingfrom $69 to $119 for previews November 22 – November 28, and$79 to $139 for all performances November 29 - December 30 (subject to change). To purchase tickets and for more information, please call 310-746-4000 (Tues. – Fri., 9:30 am to 2:30 pm) or visit TheWallis.org/LAL.

 

About Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, located in the heart of Beverly Hills, CA, is a dynamic cultural hub and community resource where local, national, and international artists share their artistry with ever-expanding audiences. Distinguished by its eclectic programming that mirrors the diverse landscape of Los Angeles and its location in the entertainment capital of the world, The Wallis has produced and presented more than 400 theater, dance, music, film, cabaret, comedy, performance arts, and family entertainment programs, boasting nominations for 79 Ovation Awards and nine L.A. Drama Critic's Circle Awards as well as six architectural awards. Since its doors opened in October 2013, The Wallis has been committed to robust and distinctive presentations and education programs curated with both creativity and social impact in mind. Hailed as “au courant” (LaLa Magazine), The Wallis was lauded by Culture Vulture, which proclaimed, “If you love expecting the unexpected in the performing arts, you have to love The Wallis.” Broadway legend Patti LuPone, who was The Wallis’ 2015/2016 Season Artistic Advisor, described the venue as “one of the best in the country, allowing for an unparalleled intimacy between [the artist] and the audience.” A recent patron survey produced audience comments about The Wallis ranging from "amazing, engaging, inspiring!" to "fun. entertaining. educational." The breathtaking 70,000-square-foot facility, celebrating the classic and the modern, was named after philanthropist Wallis Annenberg, whose original $25-million dollar donation was instrumental in transforming the former Beverly Hills post office building into an arts complex. Designed by acclaimed architect Zoltan E. Pali (SPF:architects), the restored building features the original 1934 Beverly Hills Post Office (on the National Register of Historic Places), whose eight towering fresco murals are one of two sets of WPA frescos remaining in the entire California Federal Building system. The Wallis’ lobby, now known as Jim and Eleanor Randall Grand Hall, serves as the theater's dramatic yet welcoming entryway to the contemporary 500-seat, state-of-the-art Bram Goldsmith Theater; the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater; an inviting open-air plaza for family, community and other performances; and GRoW @ The Wallis: A Space for Arts Education, where learning opportunities for all ages and backgrounds abound. Together, these elements embrace the city's history and its future, creating a performing arts destination for L.A.-area visitors and residents alike. Michael Nemeroff is Chairman of The Wallis’ Board of Directors and Robert van Leer is Executive Director and CEO.

 

About For the Record Live

For The Record: a breakthrough, genre-bending form of live entertainment, turning the soundtracks of iconic films into thrilling immersive theatrical experiences. The FTR Live Experience is not your classic movie-based musical, but a new kind of character-driven concert where some of cinema’s most beloved stories and the songs forever linked to those films mix and mash together in inspired and surprising ways.

What began in 2010 in a small bar in East Hollywood and went on to become a “must-see show” in Los Angeles, a hit special event in NYC, Chicago, at SXSW in Austin and the Montreal International Jazz Festival, For The Record has since created BAZ: STAR CROSSED LOVE, “the best spectacular you might ever watch” (Las Vegas Sun) at the Palazzo Theater in Las Vegas, SCORSESE: AMERICAN CRIME REQUIEM at The Wallis, which was nominated for 11 Ovation Awards and won the 2016 Broadway World Award for Best Musical in Los Angeles, THE BRAT PACK, the “overwhelmingly popular” show on the Norwegian Escape voted one of the “best stage shows at sea”, and in the summer of 2023 made their London debut with Tarantino Live at the historic Riverside Studios. 

In 2018, FTR debuted Cinema For The Record, a first-of-its-kind event that combines live orchestra film screenings with immersive musicals to create an altogether new genre of live event. LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE, the first edition of the series, was a box office-record-breaking smash hit at The Wallis with Entertainment Weekly calling it “pitch perfect”, and the LA Times recommending everyone “let this superbly mounted musical wash over you with warmth and joy”.  FTR has also set a new standard for concert celebrations, including NIGHT DIVINE at The Apollo Theater starring Shoshana Bean & Cynthia Erivo and a new docu-concert film directed by Amy Segal, SING YOUR HALLELUJAH.

The FTR Creative Team includes Emmy award-winning designers working in a hybrid genre between first class Broadway shows and the cutting-edge performances seen on The Grammys, the MTV VMAs, and other massive award shows. Because of this, FTR shows defy easy categorization. They have become the premier theater company for reimagining popular culture - movies, albums, and entire catalogs - as theatrical worlds, immersed in rock ‘n’ roll with a story to tell.

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