LOS ANGELES: Center Theatre Group has announced its 54th season at the Ahmanson Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, featuring three new Broadway hits, a powerful drama from London via Broadway, four returning fan favorites, and one production to be announced at a later date.
“The 2020-21 season at the Ahmanson is packed with nine shows, bringing back a sampling of our favorite productions and artists while also introducing our audiences to some exciting new work,” said CTG artistic Michael Ritchie in a statement.
The season begins with The Lehman Trilogy (Oct. 20-Nov. 28), Stefano Massini’s epic, adapted by Ben Power and directed by Sam Mendes, about a family and a company that changed the world. The National Theatre and Neal Street Productions show will follow an acclaimed run on London’s West End, at New York City’s Park Avenue Armory, and on Broadway this spring.
Returning after a record-breaking Ahmanson run in the 2018-19 season is the Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen (Dec. 1-Jan. 23, 2021), with book by Steven Levenson, score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and direction by Michael Greif.
Making another return is Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Les Misérables (Jan. 26-Feb. 28, 2021), which last played at the Ahmanson in 2011.
In its L.A. debut is the 2019 Best Musical Tony winner, Hadestown (March 2-April 4, 2021), a contemporary musical based that weaves together the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice and of Persephone and Demeter, with book, music, and lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell and direction by Rachel Chavkin.
After a gap to be filled by the season’s TBA show, another Broadway hit follows, with Aaron Sorkin’s new adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (April 29-June 6, 2021), directed by Bartlett Sher, with Richard Thomas in the lead role of Atticus Finch.
The summer continues with the return of Come From Away (June 9-July 4, 2021), Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s musical about a town in Canada that welcomes survivors of the 9/11 attacks, which was a hit at the Ahmanson in the 2018-19 season. Christopher Ashley directs.
Next is the Broadway musical The Prom (July 6-Aug. 8, 2021), with book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw. It tells the story of a high school girl in a small Indiana town who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom, and whose cause is taken up by a quartet of self-involved Broadway performers.
Closing the slate of shows so far announced is the L.A. return of Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of the Temptations (Aug. 11-Sept. 5, 2021), a catalog/bio-musical about the legendary Motown quintet, with a book by Dominique Morisseau, choreography by Sergio Trujillo, and direction by Des McAnuff. The show opened the Ahmanson’s 2018-19 season in its pre-Broadway tryout, and is still currently running in New York City.
