'Love Actually' Fans Can See Their Favorite Holiday Movie Come to Life This Year
If you’re a fan of the 2003 romantic comedy "Love Actually," you’ll want to head to Los Angeles for the live version with singing, dancing, orchestra, and clips from the film.
A record-breaking hit last year, "Love Actually Live" returns to the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills beginning Nov. 27 and continuing through Dec. 29.
Set in London in the weeks before Christmas, the show employs film clips and live action blended seamlessly on stage just as the stories of love and woe intertwined in the original. Even the film’s costumes are recreated for the show’s actors. Popular songs in the soundtrack, like “Jump,” “Christmas is All Around,” and “Both Sides Now” had the audience on their feet during the 2018 performances.
The cast includes Broadway actors who’ve appeared in shows like Mamma Mia, Wicked, Les Miserables, In the Heights, and Once. Several are returning from the 2018 production, including Carrie Manolakos (Mamma Mia), Doug Kreeger (Les Miserables), and Tomasina Abate (Scorsese: American Crime Requiem) in the roles of Natalie, Harry, and Karen, who were played in the film by Martine McCutcheon, Alan Rickman, and Emma Thompson. The original film also starred Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, and Keira Knightly.
The theater is located in the heart of Beverly Hills and has presented more than 275 dance, theater, opera, classical music, cinema, and family programs since opening in October 2013. The restored building retains as its lobby the original 1933 Beverly Hills Post Office, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. "Love Actually Live" is produced by For the Record Live, an unconventional theatrical series staged in audience immersing venues.
Tickets can be reserved at thewallis.org/love.
