Tarantino's cinematic universe as live cabaret show? Welcome to L.A.'s new CineVita

An elaborate mirrored structure sits connected an unassuming spot of onshore conscionable crossed Rivers Lake from SoFi Stadium. With its Art Deco facade and agleam reddish carpet, the venue billed arsenic the world’s largest Belgian spiegeltent looks stunningly retired of spot successful the municipality scenery of sprawling asphalt parking tons and low-slung beige buildings.

Called CineVita, the 15,000 square-foot double-decker structure is the caller location of the theatrical accumulation institution For the Record, which for the past 15 years has staged unrecorded philharmonic revues of beloved movie soundtracks. Its opening enactment astatine CineVita is simply a solemnisation of Quentin Tarantino favorites titled “Tarantino: Pulp Rock.”

The structure whitethorn conjure fantasies of seeing a show 100 years agone — with 3,000 hand-beveled mirrors, hand-cut stained solid windows and ornate carved wood ornamentation — but the show’s contented is decidedly modern. Guests astatine the VIP booths ringing the venue volition find a battalion of candy cigarettes connected their table, and there’s a Royale with food connected the menu, a wink to the burger famously referenced by John Travolta during his reverie astir Europe successful “Pulp Fiction.”

“We were immersive earlier immersive was a thing,” For the Record co-founder Shane Scheel says connected a caller day successful the tent. “This hybrid of music, movies and theatre — each successful 1 — and a nighttime out.”

The formed of the amusement “Tarantino: Pulp Rock” performs astatine CineVita, a caller 15,000-square-foot spiegeltent adjacent SoFi Stadium.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

For the Record was immersive retired of necessity successful its infancy, erstwhile it operated retired of tiny Vermont Kitchen & Bar successful Los Feliz. Scheel conceived its productions arsenic a benignant of cabaret meal theatre — a spot for his talented friends to loop retired amusement tunes of a cinematic assortment erstwhile specified opportunities were glancingly fewer successful L.A. Because the abstraction was truthful small, performers were forced to basal connected tables, rotation connected barroom stools and weave done the crowd. Its precise archetypal amusement was called “Tarantino successful Concert,” and the director himself attended with Rosario Dawson and loved it.

Today’s incarnation of the Tarantino amusement is “Pulp Rock,” and features an awesome formed of singers, musicians and actors re-creating cardinal scenes — and songs — from Tarantino’s revered canon, including “Kill Bill,” “Inglourious Basterds” and “Reservoir Dogs.” Actor Tara Lee, formed portion the amusement was successful London, says that For the Record creates an incredibly supportive situation for performers, a rarity successful the cutthroat satellite of amusement business. In the show, Lee embodies Uma Thurman successful scenes from some “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill.” (Yes, you’ll spot the twist and a notorious overdose.)

Tara Lee, who plays Mia successful “Tarantino Pulp Rock,” revels successful the circus-like ambiance of moving successful a spiegeltent, a mirrored tent.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Working successful the spiegeltent, which has a circular signifier successful its halfway and is ringed by woody tables and plush VIP banquettes, is dissimilar performing successful immoderate different venue, Lee says. There is besides a circus-like ambiance with further tents for nutrient services and bathrooms.

“It feels similar this amusement is what it was virtually made for,” Lee says of the tent. “It’s taken thing and elevated it 1,000 times over. It’s not conscionable coming to a show, it’s coming to an acquisition — down to the information that the nutrient is themed and the servers are successful uniform.”

Tara Lee, right, plays Mia and Anika Braganza is O-Ren successful the amusement “Tarantino: Pulp Rock” astatine CineVita, a 15,000-square-foot Belgian spiegeltent adjacent SoFi Stadium.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Since For the Record’s humble inception, its shows person grown exponentially. The radical moved from Los Feliz to the larger DBA nightclub successful West Hollywood, wherever Demi Moore’s daughter, Rumer Willis, joined the cast. Willis had travel to spot the amusement astatine a erstwhile venue and fell successful emotion with it, asking however she could go a portion of the act, Scheel says. Moore is present an capitalist successful CineVita, which has raised $6 cardinal to date. Each capitalist is simply a shaper and besides owns a portion of the structure — a uncommon woody successful Hollywood, notes Scheel.

Later, For the Record scored a residency astatine the Wallis successful Beverly Hills, which was a invited accidental but didn’t contiguous the aforesaid interactive options that defined a existent For the Record experience. This is why, during the pandemic intermission of 2020, Scheel and his co-creator, Anderson Davis, prioritized visualizing an idealized aboriginal for their company. What they truly wanted to do, they decided, was tour.

“We’ve created lightning successful a bottle. How bash you determination the bottle?” Davis says. “It turns retired you person to physique thing wherever the full vessel tin determination with you.”

An ornate Belgian spiegeltent mightiness not look to acceptable the measure astatine archetypal blush, but these lavish tents are so built for the road, says Peter Goossens, president of West Coast Spiegeltents, whose institution built the tent, known arsenic the Queen of Flanders. His institution creates its tents successful collaboration with the Rik Klessens family, fourth-generation spiegeltent builders based successful Belgium.

“Spiegeltent” is Flemish for “mirror tent,” and the structures archetypal came to prominence successful Belgium astir 1900 erstwhile they were utilized arsenic traveling creation halls astatine municipality fairs. Remarkably fewer of these old-world venues stay successful circulation — determination are lone a fistful successful America — though they are overmuch revered successful Europe, wherever it is overmuch much communal to stumble crossed one.

Scheel and Davis flew to Belgium with Goossens to conscionable with the Klessens family. There they were over-served a potent monk-brewed beer, Goossens jokes, and introduced to a satellite of possibilities for their imaginativeness of a traveling show.

“Our screening process erstwhile we get radical to Belgium is to springiness them a tripel brew oregon two, and by the extremity of meal we beauteous overmuch cognize everything astir them,” Goossens says with a smile.

Inside Cinevita, a 15,000-square-foot Belgian spiegeltent adjacent SoFi Stadium.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The structure that Scheel and Davis decided to committee aft their travel took 2 years to build, Goossens says. Members of the Klessen household hand-sewed the drapes and carved the wood by hand.

Now that it’s wholly built, however, Goossens says it should instrumentality lone astir 2 weeks to instrumentality down and astir 3 to enactment backmost up utilizing a unit of 12 from some Belgium and America.

CineVita volition stay successful L.A. done the extremity of the twelvemonth — “John Hughes and the Brats” is adjacent connected the calendar. In aboriginal 2026, the amusement — and the Queen of Flanders — volition deed the road, stopping archetypal successful Austin, Texas, and past connected to Washington, D.C. Multiple shows volition beryllium staged successful each city, making the venue a spot similar a movie theatre with rotating offerings.

“You locomotion successful and say, ‘This is simply a portion of art’,” Scheel says. “Half the crushed to travel retired is to spot this venue and however it provides specified a beauteous spot for our shows to truly travel alive.”