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 Dec 05 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 31 6:30 PM
Center Theatre Group A Christmas Story, The Musical
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 class...Show More
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."
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Sun Jan 28 8:00 PM
Sun Feb 25 1:00 PM
Center Theatre Group Matthew Bourne's Romeo & Juliet
Ahmanson Theatre
Presented by Center Theatre Group in association with Glo...Show More
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.
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Tue Apr 02 8:00 PM
Sun Apr 28 1:00 PM
Center Theatre Group Funny Girl
Ahmanson Theatre
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 direct...Show More
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.
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Wed Jun 05 8:00 PM
Sun Jun 30 1:00 PM
Center Theatre Group A Strange Loop
Ahmanson Theatre
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-percepti...Show More
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.
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Tue Jul 30 8:00 PM
Sun Aug 25 1:00 PM
Center Theatre Group Clue
Ahmanson Theatre
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 ...Show More
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.
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Sat Nov 18 7:30 PM
Sat Dec 09 7:30 PM
LA Opera El Último Sueño de Frida & Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego)
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
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 th...Show More
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.
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Sun Dec 03 7:00 PM
Center Theatre Group Michael Feinstein in Coming Home: The Holiday Celebration
Mark Taper Forum
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 fea...Show More
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.
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Fri Dec 01 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 03 2:00 PM
LA Phil Esa-Pekka Salonen and Ravel
Walt Disney Concert Hall
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, ...Show More
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.
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Tue Dec 05 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 31 6:30 PM
Center Theatre Group A Christmas Story, The Musical
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 class...Show More
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."
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Sun Dec 10 2:00 PM
A TMC Arts Program: Arts Grown L.A. The Music Center and City of Palmdale Present The Alley Cats
Palmdale Playhouse, Palmdale, 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.
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Learn MoreFree
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Sat Nov 18 7:30 PM
Sat Dec 09 7:30 PM
LA Opera El Último Sueño de Frida & Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego)
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
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 th...Show More
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.
Show Less -
Tue Dec 05 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 31 6:30 PM
Center Theatre Group A Christmas Story, The Musical
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 class...Show More
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."
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Thu Dec 07 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 10 2:00 PM
LA Phil Zubin Mehta Conducts Mahler 1
Walt Disney Concert Hall
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. Zub...Show More
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.
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Thu Dec 07 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 10 2:00 PM
LA Phil Zubin Mehta Conducts Mahler 1
Walt Disney Concert Hall
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. Zub...Show More
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.
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Tue Dec 05 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 31 6:30 PM
Center Theatre Group A Christmas Story, The Musical
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 class...Show More
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."
Show Less -
Tue Dec 05 8:00 PM
Sun Dec 31 6:30 PM
Center Theatre Group A Christmas Story, The Musical
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 class...Show More
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."
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Sun Dec 10 7:00 PM
LA Master Chorale Navidad Nuestra: December in the Americas
Walt Disney Concert Hall
¡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.
¡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.
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