The Music Center's Ahmanson Theatre
Opened in 1967, The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre (Ahmanson) features a state-of-the-art configuration with variable seating capacity that can accommodate a diverse selection of performances. The theatre was underwritten by philanthropist Howard F. Ahmanson Sr., the founder of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., a Los Angeles-based insurance and savings and loan company, and named for his second wife, Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson. The Ahmanson is home to a wide-ranging selection of theatrical and dance performances and is the site for Center Theatre Group presentations, including Pre-Broadway runs as well as the best of Broadway and the West End.
Originally faced on all four sides with off-white stone, the façade was altered in 1995 by Ellerbe Becket, the successor firm to Welton Becket & Associates, which designed the original Music Center campus. The theatre is joined with The Music Center’s Mark Taper Forum (Taper) by a 47-foot high colonnade that surrounds both structures and creates a visual balance with The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Pavilion) across Jerry Moss Plaza. The main façade has a glass skin that extends the full 73 feet of the five-level structure, giving patrons the opportunity to view the Taper’s massive mural.
The 2,109-seat theater was designed for musical comedy and theatrical productions, ranging from the intimate to the spectacular. To create a warm, welcoming feeling for patrons, the Ahmanson’s auditorium is wider than it is deep. There are three levels of seating: Orchestra (988 seats), Mezzanine (606 seats including the boxes) and Balcony (515 seats including the boxes). Like the Pavilion, the first 13 rows of the Ahmanson are arranged in continental style with no front-to-rear aisles. Audience members reach the Mezzanine and Balcony from large promenades that overlook Jerry Moss Plaza.
Renovations in the early 1990s enhanced the theatre’s acoustics, improved sightlines and allowed for more flexible seating arrangements. In fact, the Ahmanson can be quickly transformed from a 2,109-seat theatre to a 1,200-seat venue. Updates included changes to the circulation of the auditorium and the addition of six boxes on each of the side walls. At the same time, the architects lowered the ceiling and covered it with new acoustical paneling. They moved the Balcony and Mezzanine closer to the stage, expanded backstage areas and installed mobile dividers in the Balcony to decrease the number of seats for shows that require a more intimate setting. In addition, the Ahmanson now has a three-story lobby. Patrons can view the sculpture, “Acrobat Freeway,” created by local artist Peter Shire, as they enter the building.
The Ahmanson’s original décor featured rich reds and pewter gray tones. Purples and golds were later introduced as part of the Ellerbe Becket renovations. The proscenium was widened in 2010, and its appearance and functionality enhanced with metal mesh curtains and a removable/storable proscenium header.
Featured at the Ahmanson Theatre
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Tue Apr 11 8:00 PM
Sun May 07 1:00 PM
Center Theatre Group 1776
Ahmanson Theatre
What will it take to get two dozen powerfully passionate, exceedingly complicated, and all-too-human individuals to settle their differences, while they hold the very future of a nation in their hands?
This Tony Award-winning Best Musical i...Show More
What will it take to get two dozen powerfully passionate, exceedingly complicated, and all-too-human individuals to settle their differences, while they hold the very future of a nation in their hands?
This Tony Award-winning Best Musical is tuneful, witty, and constantly surprising, especially in this revolutionary new production from directors Jeffrey L. Page (Violet) and Diane Paulus (Waitress) with a cast that reflects multiple representations of race, gender, and ethnicity. You may never think about our country—who we are and why—the same way again.
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Fri May 19 7:30 PM
Sun May 21 2:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center MOMIX: Alice
Ahmanson Theatre
Seamlessly blending illusion, acrobatics, magic and whimsy, MOMIX sends audiences flying down the rabbit hole in Moses Pendleton’s newest creation, Alice, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland. Join this dazzlin...Show More
Seamlessly blending illusion, acrobatics, magic and whimsy, MOMIX sends audiences flying down the rabbit hole in Moses Pendleton’s newest creation, Alice, inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland. Join this dazzling company on a mind-bending adventure as Alice encounters time-honored characters including the undulating Caterpillar, a lobster quadrille, frenzied White Rabbits, a mad Queen of Hearts, and a variety of other surprises. Filled with visual splendor and startling creative movement, Alice reveals that nothing in MOMIX’s world is as it seems.
The MOMIX residency will include an opportunity for the public to submit an image and write an accompanying description of a place in Los Angeles where they find wonderment. Their submissions will be shared with the public on the LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza. More details will be announced at a later date.
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Tue May 23 8:00 PM
Sun Jun 25 1:00 PM
Center Theatre Group A Soldier's Play
Ahmanson Theatre
A Soldier’s Play, the 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning thriller by Charles Fuller, has rocketed back into the spotlight, thanks to this 2020 Tony Award®-winning Best Revival from Roundabout Theatre Company. “This is a play that deserves to be ...Show More
A Soldier’s Play, the 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning thriller by Charles Fuller, has rocketed back into the spotlight, thanks to this 2020 Tony Award®-winning Best Revival from Roundabout Theatre Company. “This is a play that deserves to be staged regularly all over America—though it’s hard to imagine that it will ever be done better than this. It keeps you guessing all the way to the final curtain” (The Wall Street Journal).
In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered and a series of interrogations triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America. Broadway’s Norm Lewis leads a powerhouse cast in the show Variety calls “a knock-your-socks-off-drama," directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon.
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Sat Mar 25 7:30 PM
Sun Apr 16 2:00 PM
LA Opera Pelléas and Mélisande
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Lost in the forest, a prince encounters an ethereal beauty with a mysterious past (and lush locks that would make Rapunzel envious). But after she's brought home to his family, she begins to grow increasingly close to his handsome younger brother....Show More
Lost in the forest, a prince encounters an ethereal beauty with a mysterious past (and lush locks that would make Rapunzel envious). But after she's brought home to his family, she begins to grow increasingly close to his handsome younger brother.
Debussy's sensual, exquisitely nuanced score casts a hypnotic spell, capturing an enigmatic dream world where forbidden love blossoms.
Conducted by James Conlon, this fascinating lyric masterpiece stars two riveting young performers, soprano Sydney Mancasola and baritone Will Liverman, as the doomed lovers, and Kyle Ketelsen as the jealous prince. The magnificent Susan Graham makes her role debut as Geneviève, mother of the two rival brothers, and the legendary bass Ferruccio Furlanetto returns as King Arkel, the family patriarch unable to grasp the tragedy unfolding before him.
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Tue Jan 24 11:00 AM
Thu Jun 29 11:00 AM
A TMC Arts Program Weekly Food Trucks
Grand Park - Olive Court
Indulge and treat your tastebuds to the diverse cuisine Los Angeles has to offer with Grand Park! Join us weekly Tuesdays - Thursdays at Grand Park’s Olive court right across the splash pad and discover new bites for all you foodie lovers.Indulge and treat your tastebuds to the diverse cuisine Los Angeles has to offer with Grand Park! Join us weekly Tuesdays - Thursdays at Grand Park’s Olive court right across the splash pad and discover new bites for all you foodie lovers.Show Less -
Fri Mar 17 6:00 PM
Sat Apr 22 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program Our Common Home
Jerry Moss Plaza
This interactive public art exhibition fuses art and technology to echo our troubled relationship with the planet. Four large-scale interactive pieces can be physically explored on the LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza, while a fifth collective artw...Show More
This interactive public art exhibition fuses art and technology to echo our troubled relationship with the planet. Four large-scale interactive pieces can be physically explored on the LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza, while a fifth collective artwork extends the experience online. Using face, hand and full body tracking, Our Common Home allows users to influence digital artworks in real time, while exploring how our individual decisions have a global impact.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
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Wed Mar 08 8:00 PM
Sun Apr 09 6:30 PM
Center Theatre Group Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Mark Taper Forum
Nearly thirty years after the Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 returns home to the Mark Taper Forum to be reimagined with an ensemble cast for a new generation of audiences. A powerful pi...Show More
Nearly thirty years after the Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 returns home to the Mark Taper Forum to be reimagined with an ensemble cast for a new generation of audiences. A powerful piece of living record and one of the most important works in the history of the Taper, Twilight... is a stunning and seminal play that explores the devastating human impact of the five days of uprising following the Rodney King verdict. From nine months of over 300 interviews conducted during the year following the uprising, playwright and scholar Anna Deavere Smith crafted a play that goes directly to the heart of the issues of race and class. Twilight... offers stark insight into the complex and pressing social, economic, and political issues that fueled the flames in the wake of the verdict and ignited a conversation about policing and race that continues today. Originally commissioned by and produced at the Mark Taper Forum, this 30th Anniversary Production is set to captivate our city once again.
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Sat Apr 01 8:00 PM
LA Phil LA Phil New Music Group with Brad Lubman
Walt Disney Concert Hall
This Noon to Midnight anchoring all-Reich concert culminates with a remarkable collaboration between composer Steve Reich and artist Gerhard Richter. Richter will provide a computer-generated film of his painting 946-3. The r...Show More
This Noon to Midnight anchoring all-Reich concert culminates with a remarkable collaboration between composer Steve Reich and artist Gerhard Richter. Richter will provide a computer-generated film of his painting 946-3. The result: a stream of images interpreted by music and a musical composition visualized by film images.
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Wed Mar 08 8:00 PM
Sun Apr 09 6:30 PM
Center Theatre Group Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Mark Taper Forum
Nearly thirty years after the Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 returns home to the Mark Taper Forum to be reimagined with an ensemble cast for a new generation of audiences. A powerful pi...Show More
Nearly thirty years after the Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 returns home to the Mark Taper Forum to be reimagined with an ensemble cast for a new generation of audiences. A powerful piece of living record and one of the most important works in the history of the Taper, Twilight... is a stunning and seminal play that explores the devastating human impact of the five days of uprising following the Rodney King verdict. From nine months of over 300 interviews conducted during the year following the uprising, playwright and scholar Anna Deavere Smith crafted a play that goes directly to the heart of the issues of race and class. Twilight... offers stark insight into the complex and pressing social, economic, and political issues that fueled the flames in the wake of the verdict and ignited a conversation about policing and race that continues today. Originally commissioned by and produced at the Mark Taper Forum, this 30th Anniversary Production is set to captivate our city once again.
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Sat Apr 01 12:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Arts Grown L.A. Sorensen Park and The Music Center Presents Los Cambalache
Sorensen Park, Whittier, CA
Experience the arts in your local community! Our Arts Grown L.A. program brings Music Center Performing Artists to communities and libraries all over L.A. County.
Experience the arts in your local community! Our Arts Grown L.A. program brings Music Center Performing Artists to communities and libraries all over L.A. County.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree
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Sat Mar 25 7:30 PM
Sun Apr 16 2:00 PM
LA Opera Pelléas and Mélisande
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Lost in the forest, a prince encounters an ethereal beauty with a mysterious past (and lush locks that would make Rapunzel envious). But after she's brought home to his family, she begins to grow increasingly close to his handsome younger brother....Show More
Lost in the forest, a prince encounters an ethereal beauty with a mysterious past (and lush locks that would make Rapunzel envious). But after she's brought home to his family, she begins to grow increasingly close to his handsome younger brother.
Debussy's sensual, exquisitely nuanced score casts a hypnotic spell, capturing an enigmatic dream world where forbidden love blossoms.
Conducted by James Conlon, this fascinating lyric masterpiece stars two riveting young performers, soprano Sydney Mancasola and baritone Will Liverman, as the doomed lovers, and Kyle Ketelsen as the jealous prince. The magnificent Susan Graham makes her role debut as Geneviève, mother of the two rival brothers, and the legendary bass Ferruccio Furlanetto returns as King Arkel, the family patriarch unable to grasp the tragedy unfolding before him.
Show Less -
Tue Jan 24 11:00 AM
Thu Jun 29 11:00 AM
A TMC Arts Program Weekly Food Trucks
Grand Park - Olive Court
Indulge and treat your tastebuds to the diverse cuisine Los Angeles has to offer with Grand Park! Join us weekly Tuesdays - Thursdays at Grand Park’s Olive court right across the splash pad and discover new bites for all you foodie lovers.Indulge and treat your tastebuds to the diverse cuisine Los Angeles has to offer with Grand Park! Join us weekly Tuesdays - Thursdays at Grand Park’s Olive court right across the splash pad and discover new bites for all you foodie lovers.Show Less -
Sun Apr 02 7:30 PM
LA Phil Herbie Hancock
Walt Disney Concert Hall
From paragon of Blue Note cool to space-age synth wizard, Herbie Hancock seems like he’s been everywhere and done everything—but every time he comes around, he’s got a new discovery to share. The LA Phil’s Creative Chair for Jazz graces the Walt D...Show More
From paragon of Blue Note cool to space-age synth wizard, Herbie Hancock seems like he’s been everywhere and done everything—but every time he comes around, he’s got a new discovery to share. The LA Phil’s Creative Chair for Jazz graces the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage once again, and the only thing you should expect is the unexpected.
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Fri Mar 17 6:00 PM
Sat Apr 22 6:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program Our Common Home
Jerry Moss Plaza
This interactive public art exhibition fuses art and technology to echo our troubled relationship with the planet. Four large-scale interactive pieces can be physically explored on the LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza, while a fifth collective artw...Show More
This interactive public art exhibition fuses art and technology to echo our troubled relationship with the planet. Four large-scale interactive pieces can be physically explored on the LED screens on Jerry Moss Plaza, while a fifth collective artwork extends the experience online. Using face, hand and full body tracking, Our Common Home allows users to influence digital artworks in real time, while exploring how our individual decisions have a global impact.
Show LessFree
Learn MoreFree

Tour The Music Center Campus
Free tours are available of all The Music Center's theaters.