A special 40,000-square foot dome was constructed for the experience.
Pasadena is the first stop on a 14-city national tour for “APOLLO 11,” which will move its “Lunar Dome,” theater to 14 cities nationwide. Inside, visitors will experience an immersive program that blends hi-tech lights and Apollo 11 footage with live actors.
“The dome itself is a purpose-built building so it had to go through planning just like any building you would build in Pasadena or any town,” said Jens Weiden, Chief Revenue Officer at the Rose Bowl. “It’s called the Lunar Dome. By the time the first show opens it will have been built for over a month.”
“APOLLO 11” is produced by Nick Grace Management, SwissApollo and Mat Churchill Productions in association with UnUsUaL Entertainment and Sliding Doors Entertainment. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to walk on the moon 50 years ago on July 21, 1969.
“We’ve been talking to them and working through this for about six months or so, they approached us, this was a production that has been in the works for a while,” Weiden said. “We’re not the only stop. We’re the world premiere but they have plans to go to Orange County, then Houston. They were looking for sites in Los Angeles and we were one of the sites they were looking at.
For producer Mat Churchill, an admitted fan of everything space, this traveling show is meant to honor the achievement.
“Four hundred thousand Americans worked a decade to put people on the moon, I think it’s up there with the pyramids, in terms of what humans have done,” said producer Churchill, an admitted fan of all things space-related. “It’s an amazing story.”
“APOLLO 11” is written by Todd Kreidler and directed by Scott Faris.
“This truly immersive experience takes you from the thrill of the countdown to the enormous Saturn V rocket launch and on an unforgettable journey to the Moon and back,” director Faris said. “We’re excited to tell this unique story to the world, and thrilled to be opening in Los Angeles. It’s guaranteed to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience audiences will never forget.”
The audience can feel what it was like to blast off in a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center and land on the moon in the Lunar Module.
“The roof of the dome is LEDs and it’s an immersive 360 experience because as you look up you’ll see life-sized versions of lunar lander and the rocket itself,” Weiden said. “And there’s a cast of about 25 people who come out and recreate the different elements of the mission.”
The story concept for the show is based on a grandfather who wants his granddaughter to get off the cell phone, so he tells her the story of landing on the moon.
“It’s like a play but it’s immersive and interactive in that the actors engage with the LED wall and the rocket takes off and it feels like you’re actually on the surface of the moon,” Weiden said. “It gets people who wouldn’t be strictly interested in a play because of all the technology.”
Watch: A Time-Lapse Video of the Lunar Dome Construction
Constructing the Lunar Dome and hosting the premiere of the show is an honor, Weiden said.
“We’ve been talking to them and working through this for about six months or so, they approached us, this was a production that has been in the works for a while,” he said. “We’re not the only stop. We’re the world premiere but they have plans to go to Orange County, then Houston. They were looking for sites in Los Angeles and we were one of the sites they were looking at.
Why the Rose Bowl?
“We feel strongly that we’re an amazing site because everyone knows the Rose Bowl. So when you say ‘Live at the Rose Bowl’ it’s easy for people know where it is. We have lots of parking down here. It’s accessible and it’s easy for them. It’s also a very busy place, we have thousands of people who walk and run around here so as far as getting in front of eyeballs, people see what’s going on.”
Putting the show on in the middle of a typically busy summer season at the Rose Bowl is a juggling act, Weiden said.
“We’re very busy down here so every time we have an event, we need to think through the impact,” he said. “So we had to think through the impact on Rolling Stones on Aug. 22, we have Pasadena Daydream, which is a music festival on the golf course (Aug. 31), and we have our Flea Market that takes place the second Sunday of each month. So we worked with each one of these tenants and each one of those partners and let them know about it.
“We’re excited,” “It’s an amazing production, everything they did is first-class,” Weiden said. “That’s why we’re proud to associate with them, we feel the Rose Bowl is a marquee iconic building and we find partners who are doing top of the line ventures.”
Shows run in July and August with multiple shows on the weekend, on weekdays there are shows almost every day.
APOLLO 11 runs from July 5 through Aug. 11 at The Rose Bowl. For more information, see www.Apollo11show.com or, for phone sales, call 1-833-5-APOLLO.