The Hot Sardines: Holiday Stomp
The Broad StageMain Stage1310 11th Street, Los Angeles 90404
The Hot Sardines bring Holiday Stomp to BroadStage's Main Stage: a raucous yuletide extravaganza shaped by classic holiday films and jazz standards. The evening gives seasonal material a traditional-jazz frame, with hat tips to Louis Armstrong, Edith Piaf, Duke Ellington and beyond.
Brooklyn-rooted and based in New York, The Hot Sardines were co-founded by Parisian vocalist and storyteller Elizabeth Bougerol and New York pianist and bandleader Evan Palazzo, working with an ensemble of traditional-jazz musicians. Their world draws on 1920s through 1940s jazz, with references including Armstrong, Django Reinhardt and Fats Waller. Bandcamp characterizes the sound as “wartime Paris via New Orleans, or the other way around,” steeped in “hot jazz” and “salty stride piano.” The group has taken its symphonic show, first presented with the Boston Pops, to orchestras across North America; Bougerol and Palazzo also debuted Banned Jazz at Carnegie Hall in 2024. Critics have called the band “potent and assured,” praised its “special spin on retro-jazz,” and described it as “one of the most delightfully energetic bands on New York’s ‘hot’ music scene.”
Acoustically tuned like a major concert hall, this 535-seat proscenium theater delivers the grandeur of a flagship auditorium within a footprint where every tier stays close to the stage. Patrons sit in assigned, raked theater seats finished with warm wood paneling, giving every row unobstructed sightlines and crisp, resonant sound whether the bill features chamber orchestra, jazz, or solo dance. Shows are strictly ticketed, making advance reservations essential, though doors offer rush discounts when seats remain. The crowd gathers primarily for focused listening, mingling before curtain and during intermission over drinks on the outdoor plaza, though no result mentions a full-service in-house restaurant. No result mentions late-night jam sessions, multiple sets, or after-show DJs. Free on-site parking sits directly out front on the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center campus at 11th Street, placing you just minutes from downtown Santa Monica while insulating the evening from Westside traffic. No result mentions the original opening year of the hall in the available sources.