The Music Center's Ahmanson Theatre

From the songwriting team behind the smash hit Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the critically-acclaimed films La La Land and The Greatest Showman, A Christmas Story, The Musical, brings the classic 1983 movie to hilarious life on stage! Set in 1940s Indiana, a young and bespectacled Ralphie Parker schemes his way toward the holiday gift of his dreams, an official Red Ryder® Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. An infamous leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a maniacal department store Santa, and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the distractions that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas wish. Nominated for three 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the Associated Press calls A Christmas Story, The Musical "a joyous Christmas miracle," while The New York Times writes "I was dazzled. You’d have to have a Grinch-sized heart not to feel a smile spreading across your face."

Presented by Center Theatre Group in association with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center.

"Electrifying. One of Matthew Bourne’s smartest, sexiest shows yet." —The Daily Telegraph

"Your jaw will drop, there are moments so stunning that you might just forget to breathe." —Broadway World

"A seismic youthquake. A Romeo and Juliet for the millennial generation." —The Stage

Experience Shakespeare’s timeless story of forbidden love with a scintillating injection of raw passion and youthful vitality. Confined against their will by a society that seeks to divide, our two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together. A masterful re-telling of an ageless tale of teenage discovery and the madness of first love.

Featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, an updated book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer, this love letter to the theatre has the whole shebang!

The sensational Broadway revival dazzles with celebrated classic songs, including “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

The ground-breaking and critically acclaimed winner of every ‘Best Musical’ award on Broadway, and the Pulitzer Prize, bursts onto the stage for a limited engagement, direct from Broadway.

Hell-bent on breaking free of his own self-perception, Usher, a young, gay, Black writer who hates his day job, writes a musical about a young, gay, Black writer who’s writing a musical about a young, gay, Black writer...a strange loop. Usher grapples with desires, identity, and instincts he both loves and loathes, all brought to life on stage by a hilarious, straight-talking ensemble.

Nominated for 11 Tony Awards, Michael R. Jackson’s blisteringly funny, “audacious and uproarious” (The Guardian) show is a heartfelt and thought-provoking masterwork that uses humor and honesty to explore themes around race and sexuality.

Murder and blackmail are on the menu when six mysterious guests assemble at Boddy Manor for a night they’ll never forget! Was it Mrs. Peacock in the study with the knife? Or was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the wrench? Based on the cult 1985 Paramount movie and inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue is the ultimate whodunit that will leave you dying of laughter and keep you guessing until the final twist.

Mexico’s most iconic artists (and infamously stormy lovers) leap off the canvas in this new musical portrait from Grammy Award-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. When a desperate wish on Day of the Dead reunites Diego Rivera with his wife Frida Kahlo, he jumps at the chance to seek forgiveness. But Frida refuses to return to the world that caused her so much pain, until another departed soul inspires her to look back at the art (and the man) she once loved.

Fire up the yule log and find the perfect present for your holiday celebration. Michael Feinstein is coming home to the Taper for the first time in over 15 years. Feinstein launches his Center Theatre Group Residency with a special celebration featuring a sparkling array of holiday standards and special experiences that will surely get you and your loved ones in an exquisite holiday mood. This world premiere concert includes a mix of classic holiday songs, jazz standards, and never-before-performed arrangements of music from the Great American Songbook, brought to magical life with a combination of live performance, a multimedia children’s choir, and dynamic dance.

Maurice Ravel’s “choreographic symphony” Daphnis and Chloé challenges conventional music status quos while highlighting his genius as an orchestrator. The epic dreamscape consists of the most number of musicians for any of Ravel’s works, yet allows for soloists to shine brightest here. Born out of the Sound Poetry and synthetic language of Hugo Ball’s Dadaism, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s cyclical Karawane is a monumental study of the familiar and unfamiliar. Here, the words are the music and the music is the words, brought to haunting life by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

This performance is generously supported by the Contemporary Initiatives Fund.

From the songwriting team behind the smash hit Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the critically-acclaimed films La La Land and The Greatest Showman, A Christmas Story, The Musical, brings the classic 1983 movie to hilarious life on stage! Set in 1940s Indiana, a young and bespectacled Ralphie Parker schemes his way toward the holiday gift of his dreams, an official Red Ryder® Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. An infamous leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a maniacal department store Santa, and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the distractions that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas wish. Nominated for three 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the Associated Press calls A Christmas Story, The Musical "a joyous Christmas miracle," while The New York Times writes "I was dazzled. You’d have to have a Grinch-sized heart not to feel a smile spreading across your face."

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. 

Mexico’s most iconic artists (and infamously stormy lovers) leap off the canvas in this new musical portrait from Grammy Award-winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. When a desperate wish on Day of the Dead reunites Diego Rivera with his wife Frida Kahlo, he jumps at the chance to seek forgiveness. But Frida refuses to return to the world that caused her so much pain, until another departed soul inspires her to look back at the art (and the man) she once loved.

From the songwriting team behind the smash hit Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the critically-acclaimed films La La Land and The Greatest Showman, A Christmas Story, The Musical, brings the classic 1983 movie to hilarious life on stage! Set in 1940s Indiana, a young and bespectacled Ralphie Parker schemes his way toward the holiday gift of his dreams, an official Red Ryder® Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. An infamous leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a maniacal department store Santa, and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the distractions that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas wish. Nominated for three 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the Associated Press calls A Christmas Story, The Musical "a joyous Christmas miracle," while The New York Times writes "I was dazzled. You’d have to have a Grinch-sized heart not to feel a smile spreading across your face."

Having quickly become a favorite of LA Phil and worldwide audiences, Korean star pianist Seong-Jin Cho puts his romantic side on full display with Schumann’s lone Piano Concerto, written specifically with his virtuosic wife Clara in his heart. Zubin Mehta leads a second half of Mahler’s First Symphony, an acoustically astounding, honest portrayal of life and death. This program includes the rarely performed, emotional Blumine (floral) second movement.

Concerts in the Thursday 2 subscription series are generously supported by the Otis Booth Foundation.

Having quickly become a favorite of LA Phil and worldwide audiences, Korean star pianist Seong-Jin Cho puts his romantic side on full display with Schumann’s lone Piano Concerto, written specifically with his virtuosic wife Clara in his heart. Zubin Mehta leads a second half of Mahler’s First Symphony, an acoustically astounding, honest portrayal of life and death. This program includes the rarely performed, emotional Blumine (floral) second movement.

Concerts in the Thursday 2 subscription series are generously supported by the Otis Booth Foundation.

From the songwriting team behind the smash hit Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the critically-acclaimed films La La Land and The Greatest Showman, A Christmas Story, The Musical, brings the classic 1983 movie to hilarious life on stage! Set in 1940s Indiana, a young and bespectacled Ralphie Parker schemes his way toward the holiday gift of his dreams, an official Red Ryder® Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. An infamous leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a maniacal department store Santa, and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the distractions that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas wish. Nominated for three 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the Associated Press calls A Christmas Story, The Musical "a joyous Christmas miracle," while The New York Times writes "I was dazzled. You’d have to have a Grinch-sized heart not to feel a smile spreading across your face."

From the songwriting team behind the smash hit Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen and the critically-acclaimed films La La Land and The Greatest Showman, A Christmas Story, The Musical, brings the classic 1983 movie to hilarious life on stage! Set in 1940s Indiana, a young and bespectacled Ralphie Parker schemes his way toward the holiday gift of his dreams, an official Red Ryder® Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. An infamous leg lamp, outrageous pink bunny pajamas, a maniacal department store Santa, and a triple-dog-dare to lick a freezing flagpole are just a few of the distractions that stand between Ralphie and his Christmas wish. Nominated for three 2013 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the Associated Press calls A Christmas Story, The Musical "a joyous Christmas miracle," while The New York Times writes "I was dazzled. You’d have to have a Grinch-sized heart not to feel a smile spreading across your face."

¡Feliz Nochebuena! ¡Feliz Navidad! It’s December in the Americas with Christmas carols sung in the music traditions of the composers’ homelands of Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Cuba and more.