Vaudeville impresario Alexander Pantages opened the theater (1930, B. Marcus Priteca) as the first Art Deco movie palace in the US; from 1949 to 1959 it hosted the Academy Awards. In recent years, the theater has hosted touring stage musicals and dance companies.The concrete-and-black-marble exterior is relatively understated in contrast to the interior, with its vaulted, extravagantly detailed lobby and 2,812-seat auditorium. The latter was designed by Anthony Heinsbergen. The theater was reconfigured in 2000 for the stage presentation of The Lion King.