Hippodrome Theatre

Just hours before the Hippodrome Theatre's opening gala yesterday, Howard Street jeweler Alvin Levi's upbeat mood matched the springlike break in the weather. "Most people don't get it," Levi said of the Hippodrome, just a block from his store. "They view it as art and entertainment and don't realize that it's the rebirth of a community." Hope sprang eternal yesterday in Baltimore's erstwhile retail hub, where hit theater productions once created long ticket lines and four big department stores - all now a distant memory - catered to a bewildering variety of shopping needs.

There's something about "Les Miserables" that keeps me coming back. It's not that "Les Miz," running through Sunday at the Hippodrome Theatre , is my favorite musical. Far from it. It's all too easy to point out the technical flaws in Claude-Michel Schonberg's melodies (bombastic) and Herbert Kretzmer's lyrics (unsurprising). The critics have been making these arguments for the past 27 years, and for the past 27 years, audiences have been ignoring the critics. Producer Cameron Mackintosh's much-hyped new staging incorporates brighter costumes and screen projections to simulate such effects as Paris' underground sewers.

The show begins long before the curtain rises. That's all one needs to know to appreciate the dramatic transformation of Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre, which reopens Tuesday after a $62 million restoration and modernization. The architects and artisans who labored for months to rescue the historic theater at 12 N. Eutaw St. didn't simply return it to its original appearance, though that certainly was done. They made it the centerpiece of a larger environment in which every inch works to prepare audiences for the Broadway-style performances and other shows that they have come to see. The result is an urban entertainment center with the splendor and opulence one associates with great theaters of the past and a backstage that can accommodate the most elaborate traveling productions.

When Vincent Lancisi was 6 years old, his father sat the boy on his lap for a serious conversation. "Don't ever go into the music business, Vinny," Ben Lancisi told his youngest son. "You'll never make any money in the entertainment industry. And it's terrible for family life. " The boy loved and admired his father and was determined to follow his advice. So, though he showed talent at the piano and had a pleasing tenor, he didn't pursue a musical career when he grew up. He started his own theater company instead.

Her husband complains that loving her is "like loving the rock of Gibraltar." Her public thinks of her as "Mommile Golda who makes chicken soup for her soldiers." Both descriptions of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir are given credence in William Gibson's Golda's Balcony. But the rock is the image most consistently conveyed by Valerie Harper in this one-woman show at the Hippodrome Theatre. Golda's Balcony Through May 21 at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. $24-$64. 410-547-SEAT

The Beatles may have sang that all you need is love, but when it comes to disobedient and dangerous mutts, Cesar Millan firmly yet calmly disagrees. "America loves dogs - like no other country in the world. They throw birthday parties for dogs," says Millan, who will present a dog-behavior seminar tomorrow afternoon at the Hippodrome Theatre. "Teaching America affection for a dog is not what I do. What I do teach is exercise, discipline and affection." If you go Cesar Millan will speak at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. Call 410-837-7400 or go to france-merrickpac.

In the nearly half-century since Camelot was first performed, our national self-image has altered. We no longer are as confident as we were in 1960, that we always use might to serve right. Perhaps that explains some of my disappointment in the production of Lerner and Loewe's musical running at the Hippodrome Theatre. But there are other reasons for discontent. If you go Camelot runs at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St., 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays through April 6. $25-$70.

Think of Mamma Mia! as a pop music puzzle. The puzzle pieces are 22 songs by the '70s Swedish pop group ABBA. The solution is a script that cleverly ties the songs together with a story about a bride-to-be's search for her father's identity. This solution has proved such a bona fide crowd-pleaser, the musical has become an international sensation. Its current engagement at the Hippodrome Theatre comes only two years after it first played here - with several of the same cast members (including former Baltimorean Tiffani Barbour as one of the bride's best friends)

Early in the second act of Little Women, the heroine gets bad news. The audience begins to weep helplessly and doesn't stop for a solid half-hour. The Hippodrome Theatre begins to fill with sea-water. After 10 minutes, you could pilot a small boat down the aisles. After 20, you could drop a fishing line into the waves and catch a late dinner. Heck, even the fish are crying. Little Women 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays; 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Through April 23. Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. $26-$71.

Taunting Frenchmen and a killer rabbit are at the gates of Baltimore. The touring company of Monty Python's Spamalot begins its 16-show run tonight at the Hippodrome Theatre. Spamalot, which opened on Broadway two years ago, is "lovingly ripped off" from the British comedy troupe's 1975 movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail - with other brave and strong bits thrown in. Spamalot runs today through March 18, times vary, Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center. Tickets, $30-$75, at BroadwayAcrossAmerica.

Spencer T. Kelly, a former hairstylist who owned and operated Spencer's Salon and was a combat veteran of World War II, died Aug. 8 from complications of dementia at the Pickersgill Retirement Community in Towson. He was 92. The son of farmers, Spencer Thomas Kelly was born and raised in Harmans. In his youth, he was a member of Uncle Jack's Kiddie Club and regularly performed at the Hippodrome Theatre. Mr. Kelly was a graduate of Southern High School and the Marinello School of Beauty in Baltimore.

Anthony Bourdain is returning to the Hippodrome on Nov. 17. Bourdain, chef-at-large at New York's famed Brasserie Les Halles, is the author of bestsellers “Kitchen Confidential” and “Medium Raw” - blunt and sometimes shocking portraits of life in restaurant kitchens.   Bourdain launched the Hippodrome's annual Foodie Experience series back in May 2010, when he shared the theater's stage with his friend Eric Ripert. At that appearance, Bourdain made peace with the Baltimore audience, expressing regret for the disparaging comments made about Baltimore in “Kitchen: Confidential” (I was an “ignorant, pathetic junkie”)

Joan Rivers is having a manicure and a pedicure in her hotel room while juggling a phone. "I'm in Indianapolis," she says. "I just learned how to spell it, and now I'm leaving. What a waste. " This week, between gigs in Florida and Ohio, she'll stop by the Hippodrome to dispense her trademark observations on her own world and anyone, anything that catches her attention. "When I go onstage, I just talk about what's happening," Rivers says. "My life is an open book.

After a hiatus of more than a year, Soulful Symphony re-emerged last month to perform for a packed house at the Hippodrome Theatre, inaugurating a concert series that continues there Friday night. Thanks to support from the recently launched Hippodrome Arts Fund, the ensemble of predominantly African-American and Latino musicians became the first resident ensemble at the Hippodrome , the flagship of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center. "It's a new chapter, a new home — but the same soul," said Darin Atwater, the composer, pianist and conductor who founded Soulful Symphony in 2000.

The Hippodrome Theatre is largely defined by marquee Broadway shows, from "The Lion King" to "South Pacific. " But starting Monday, the theater aims to be a hub for local arts groups, becoming much more than just a stopping-off spot for touring artists and productions. With the Hippodrome Art Fund, the theater envisions being able to offer a bigger stage and financial support for nonprofit dance companies, music ensembles and more. Broadway Across America, the leaseholder of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, which houses the Hippodrome , has contributed $300,000 to launch the effort.

Hooray for reader Linda Hark's letter complaining about the uncomfortable seating at the Hippodrome Theatre (" Hippodrome seating is just atrocious," Aug. 11). I'm one of those 5-foot-7-inch men whose knees banged against the seat in front of me. After just two performances the year it opened, I vowed never to return to the Hippodrome again. My business went instead to Washington's Kennedy Center for comfort and convenient parking. There's one thing Linda forgot to mention: The crowded seating at the Hippodrome could be a hazard in the event of an emergency or fire.

"What do you do when you're not sure?" If you're John Patrick Shanley, you write a play, call it Doubt, and begin with exactly that line. On stage, the line is spoken by a parish priest named Father Flynn at the beginning of a sermon. Ninety taut minutes later, at the end of Shanley's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, currently at the Hippodrome Theatre, this affable priest's actions will be the subject of doubt -- and that's a good thing. It's what thought-provoking theater is all about. Doubt runs through May 13 at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. $27-$67.

Jay Leno Saturday, Tonight Show host, comedian and auto enthusiast Jay Leno performs his standup routine at the Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center. All proceeds benefit programs and research by the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland. Tickets are $75-$140. The Hippodrome is at 12 N. Eutaw St. For more information, call 410-494-8545 or visit kidneymd.org.

The recent article about the future of the Hippodrome Theatre ("Brighter days ahead for the Hippodrome ?" July 31) may have been an attempt to lure people to attend the performances - or so I would guess. My latest Hippodrome experience involved purchasing tickets (5) at the cost of $91.00 each with parking for a performance of West Side Story. The show was OK but the seats were a poor excuse for a theater that was renovated at the cost of $63 million. Those in charge obviously forgot one very important feature - the comfort of the audience.