The Lion King Wednesday Show at Hollywood Pantages

The touring company of Disney's The Lion King has a Wednesday, December 23, 2026 performance at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. That's the night before Christmas Eve, when a lot of people are off work, relatives have landed, and everyone's looking for one thing that gets the whole group out of the house. Ticketmaster also lists a Tuesday, December 22 show, so there's a second night if the 23rd doesn't work.

If you're building a list of things to do in Los Angeles over the holidays, a Broadway-scale musical in a 1930 movie palace belongs near the top.

The show

Most people know the story from the 1994 animated film. The stage version is its own animal. Julie Taymor directed it and designed the costumes, and she didn't try to hide the actors inside animal suits. You see the performer's face under Mufasa's carved lion mask. Giraffes are dancers on stilts. The gazelles in the opening number are rod puppets someone is clearly working, and it still lands.

The score has the Elton John and Tim Rice songs from the movie, plus South African choral music by Lebo M that opens the show with "Circle of Life." The production opened on Broadway in 1997 and won the Tony for Best Musical. It's still running there.

Why a Wednesday

A midweek show usually means an easier drive down Hollywood Boulevard than a Saturday. December 23 is also far enough from Christmas that nobody has to skip a family dinner for it. For anyone who treats December as a string of LA concerts, this is a good change of pace: a full pit band, a big chorus and a lot of drums.

The venue

The Hollywood Pantages is a 1930 Art Deco theater near Hollywood and Vine. It hosted the Academy Awards through much of the 1950s. The lobby ceiling alone is worth arriving early for. It's a big house, so seats high in the mezzanine are far from the stage. The masks and puppets still read from up there, but the faces don't.

Practical info

• Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2026
• Venue: Hollywood Pantages Theatre
• Tickets: Ticketmaster, linked on this page
• Also listed: Tuesday, December 22, 2026

Curtain time and ticket prices weren't in the listing data we had, so check both on Ticketmaster before you buy. Budget extra time for security and the crowd outside. The Metro B Line stops at Hollywood/Vine, a short walk away, and it beats hunting for a garage spot during holiday week. If live music in Los Angeles usually means a club show for you, bring the kids this time and plan on a lot of questions at intermission about how the giraffes work.

More options are in our concerts section and the Los Angeles listings.