‘The Humans’ Is in Good Company at the Ahmanson

1. More Stately Mansions

   Center Theatre Group’s very first show at the Ahmanson brought Ingrid Bergman back to the American stage after an absence of more than 20 years. More Stately Mansions headed to Broadway 10 days after its Ahmanson run (September 12 – October 21, 1967), directed by Jose Quintero and also starring Arthur Hill and Colleen Dewhurst (who received a Tony Award^® nomination for Best Actress in a Play).

   
   

   

2. A Streetcar Named Desire

   The 25^TH anniversary revival of A Streetcar Named Desire (March 20 – April 28, 1973) brought two of America’s greatest young stars, Jon Voight and Faye Dunaway, to the Ahmanson stage, wrote Managing Director Robert Fryer in the program. The production had all the heart I ever invested in a work for the theatre or screen, Williams reflected. All involved in this revival make theatre worth living again for a playwright and audiences, too.

   
   

   

3. Macbeth

   Charlton Heston and Vanessa Redgrave starred as the Macbeths in Heston’s second star turn (of six) at the Ahmanson. It took over two years to bring together this all-star team—juggling Heston and Redgrave’s busy film schedules as well as that of director Peter Wood—at the Ahmanson for its January 28 – March 8, 1975 run.

   
   

   

4. The West Side Waltz

   Academy Award^®-winning screenwriter George Seaton (Miracle on 34^TH Street), who served for many years as Executive Vice President of Center Theatre Group, commissioned the young playwright Ernest Thompson (On Golden Pond) to write a new work for the Ahmanson that became The West Side Waltz. Katharine Hepburn starred as an aging pianist in the World premiere (January 21 – March 14, 1981), and earned a Tony nomination after the production moved to Broadway in the fall.

   
   

   

5. The Little Foxes

   Elizabeth Taylor received a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, which headed immediately to the Ahmanson three weeks after closing in New York, playing in Los Angeles September 25 – December 5, 1981. You wouldn’t know it was [Taylor’s] first play. She’s relaxed. She moves with confidence. She listens to the other actors, wrote the Los Angeles Times of her performance alongside Maureen Stapleton.

   
   

   

6. Brighton Beach Memoirs

   Matthew Broderick starred in the World premiere of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs (December 10, 1982 – January 29, 1983). It was one of 14 of Simon’s works, including six World premieres, to appear at the Ahmanson, and one of eight directed by Gene Saks, who won a Tony Award for the Broadway engagement that followed. Broderick also won a Tony for his portrayal of Eugene Jerome, a character he reprised at the Ahmanson in the 1984/85 World premiere of Biloxi Blues and again at our 50^TH Anniversary Celebration in 2017.

   
   

   

7. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby

   Los Angeles Times theatre critic Dan Sullivan called The Royal Shakespeare Company in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, a theatrical journey the likes of which this reviewer has not taken before. Ahmanson audiences spent the summer of 1986 (June 15 – August 9) on this epic ride, which lasted over 510 minutes (or, 8.5 hours), not including a break for dinner. The heroic cast featured 36 actors portraying over 130 characters under the direction of Trevor Nunn and John Caird.

   
   

   

8. Sweet Bird of Youth

   Following her triumphant appearance as Alexandra del Lago in the London and Australian productions of Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth, Lauren Bacall is re-creating this role for the United States with an entirely new American cast and production, declared Bacall’s program biography, which (with a stunning photo) encompassed an entire page. Fully appropriate considering that Bacall was an aging film star playing an aging film star in the December 5, 1986 – January 25, 1987 run at the Ahmanson.

   
   

   

9. Seven Guitars

   Center Theatre Group partnered with regional theatres around the country to help develop seven of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle plays beginning in the 1980s through Wilson’s death in 2005. Seven Guitars traveled to Connecticut, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco before heading to the Ahmanson January 17 – March 10, 1996; its first Broadway preview was March 17. Seven Guitars featured an all-star cast of Center Theatre Group favorites including Keith David, Viola Davis, and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (who won a Tony on Broadway).

   
   

   

10. God of Carnage

    After a heralded Broadway run including three Tony Awards, stars Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini, and Marcia Gay Harden reunited at the Ahmanson under director Matthew Warchus for the West Coast premiere of Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage (April 5 – May 29, 2011). The production broke every box office record ever set for a play at the Ahmanson, selling 97,567 tickets and grossing nearly $8 million in eight weeks.

    
    

    

11. The Trip to Bountiful

    The legendary Cicely Tyson—after a 30-year absence from the stage—reprised her 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway performance alongside Vanessa Williams and Blair Underwood in the critically acclaimed revival of Pulitzer Prize winner Horton Foote’s American masterpiece at the Ahmanson (September 17 – November 2, 2014).

    
    

    

12. Blithe Spirit

    A month after The Trip to Bountiful closed, another legendary actress arrived at the Ahmanson: Angela Lansbury playing a medium in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, directed by Michael Blakemore (December 9, 2014 – January 18, 2015). Lansbury had won a Tony Award in 2009 in the role, and decided to take it on the road in the year before she turned 90!

    
    

    

But wait, there’s more! Check out our timeline for the many iconic plays and screen and stage stars we couldn’t fit on this list…

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