my life...in, around and about the theatre | blogging at you since 2001!

How sad. :(

LOS ANGELES, Aug 27 (Reuters) -- The Shubert, the 1,800-seat Los Angeles theater that was home to such hits as "Cats," Sunset Boulevard" and "Les Miserables," will be razed to make way for a new $280 million office building, the Los Angeles Business Journal reported Monday.

The theater will be torn down as part of the planned demolition of the ABC Entertainment Center in Century City, the paper said. A spokesman for the Shubert Organization, which operated the theater since 1972, was not available to comment.

But in a statement to the Journal, Shubert spokesman Lee Silver said, "The Shubert Organization is saddened and disappointed the ownership of the ABC Entertainment Center has decided to replace the existing complex with a new office building." Under the plan, the theater would cease operations on Sept. 30, 2002.

The theater has been the home for such musicals as "Evita," "Annie" and "City of Angels." The last major production was "Ragtime," which closed in spring of 1998 to go to Broadway.

A year later, the Shubert lost a bid to mount "The Lion King," which is still running at the Pantages in Hollywood.

The Shubert, meanwhile, returned to subscription sales and has hosted "Mamma Mia," "Dame Edna: The Royal Tour," "Saturday Night Fever" and "Kiss Me, Kate," which is currently running."

The complex includes the theater, two five-story office buildings and a limestone plaza and fountains.

Officials for the Trammell Crow Co., which will build the new structure, said brokerage house Bear Sterns & Co. is considering becoming a major tenant of the new building.