Where Every Show is a Big Hit!

In April 12, 1967, just three days after the Mark Taper Forum opened its doors, the Ahmanson Theatre opened. It was named for Howard Ahmanson, an important banker and civic leader in Los Angeles. The Ahmanson was designed to present big productions of musical theatre and is more than three times as big as the Mark Taper Forum. These shows are larger than life.

In addition to the Mark Taper Forum, Center Theatre Group also calls the Ahmanson its home. Touring companies from around the country also come to the theatre to perform. A touring company is a group of actors, actresses, singers, dancers and musicians who travel around the country performing a particular show. Not all of the shows performed at the Ahmanson are musicals.

Many of the shows presented at the Ahmanson Theatre started on Broadway, a famous street in New York City where many theatres are located. It is considered one of the highest achievements for a play or musical to have a show run on Broadway.

As you learned at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, musical theatre has its roots in opera. Sometimes the stories are about real events in our history. Miss Saigon, written in 1986, was about the Vietnam War. It featured an actual helicopter on stage (it didn’t fly, but it did start up its engine and it was very loud). Sometimes a show might take a modern look at a classic opera like La Bohème. This story was written before the last century, but in the version that was performed at the Ahmanson in 2004, the story took place during the 1950s.