Thursday, August 6, 2026

Altadena Music Theatre Opens “Grease” on a Stage It Built Itself

[Based on Altadena Music Theatre artwork]

Nineteen months after the Eaton Fire destroyed its Farnsworth Park home, the company returns tonight at a temporary outdoor venue at Mountain View Mausoleum

Altadena Music Theatre had to build a stage before it could put on a show. It opens “Grease” on that stage tonight.

The production is the company’s first fully staged musical since the January 2025 Eaton Fire destroyed the Charles S. Farnsworth Park Amphitheatre, where it had performed. Rather than wait for a permanent venue, the nonprofit assembled a temporary outdoor theater with custom staging and seating on the grounds of Mountain View Mausoleum, at 2300 North Marengo Avenue in Altadena — a little more than a mile from where the amphitheater stood.

Curtain is 8:00 p.m. Performances run Thursdays through Sundays until Sunday, August 16, eight in all.

“Grease” has a book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Oliver Azcarate directs, with musical direction by Chris Wade and choreography by Melissa Schade. Eric Stanton Betts plays Danny Zuko and Ruby Lewis plays Sandy. Bryce Ryness plays Vince Fontaine, and Cheyenne Wells makes her company debut as Marty. Eighteen more performers fill out the ensemble.

Board members, performers, designers and volunteers spent several weeks turning open ground into a working theater, the company said.

“What has emerged is more than a performance venue,” said Sarah Azcarate, the company’s founder and producing artistic director.

Ruby Lewis, who is on the creative team as well as in the cast, told Local News Pasadena that “Altadena Music Theatre is coming back like a phoenix rising.”

The fire that took the amphitheater began the evening of January 7, 2025, burned 14,021 acres and killed 19 people, Los Angeles County reported. The company said it lost sets, costumes, props and equipment, along with the Altadena home of Sarah Azcarate and her husband, Oliver.

Altadena Music Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2020, according to the company, and staged “Hair” in 2022, “Cabaret” in 2023 and “Guys and Dolls” in 2024. Warner Bros. Discovery is sponsoring the 2026 season. “Little Shop of Horrors” follows September 3 through 13.

Single tickets range from $40 to $107, and season passes covering both productions range from $66 to $120, the company said. Seating is outdoors, and audiences may bring their own food. Outside alcohol is not permitted; beer and wine are sold on site to patrons 21 and older. Only service animals are allowed inside the theater. If a performance is called off before an hour of playing time, including scheduled intermissions, the ticket becomes a rain check good for any remaining performance in the season or for a refund, through September 13.

At Farnsworth Park, two of three phases of the rebuild are fully funded, with $250,000 from the Pasadena Rotary Club and $150,000 from the Los Angeles Philharmonic earmarked for the amphitheater, as of November 2025. Until that work is finished, the company performs on ground it does not own.

NEED TO KNOW

Altadena Music Theatre presents “Grease,” opening Thursday, August 6, and continuing Thursdays through Sundays until Sunday, August 16. Curtain is 8:00 p.m. Single tickets run $40 to $107; season passes covering both “Grease” and September’s “Little Shop of Horrors” run $66 to $120. Performances are at the company’s temporary outdoor theater on the grounds of Mountain View Mausoleum, 2300 North Marengo Avenue, Altadena, CA 91001. Street parking is free around the grounds and in the surrounding neighborhood, and parking on Marengo Avenue is permitted for the length of a performance. For more, call (626) 794-7133, email altadenamusictheatre@gmail.com, or visit altadenamusictheatre.com.

Ticket link (“Grease”): https://ci.ovationtix.com/37054/production/1277727
Season pass link: https://ci.ovationtix.com/37054/store/packages
Press contact: Ken Werther Publicity, (323) 845-9781, kenwertherpr@gmail.com