Ahmanson’s 2012-13 season includes ‘Seminar,’ Beatles musical

The 2012-13 season at the Ahmanson Theatre will feature Theresa Rebeck’s “Seminar,” starring Jeff Goldblum, and the U.S. premiere of “Backbeat,” a new musical about the origin of the Beatles, based on the 1994 movie.

As previously announced, the theater also will present the touring productions of “Anything Goes” and “End of the Rainbow,” the latter starring Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland. The season also will include the musical “The Scottsboro Boys.”

In all, the Ahmanson will offer five productions for the regular season, the same as the current season.

“Seminar” (Oct. 10-Nov. 18) will open the season in the production directed by Sam Gold that recently ran on Broadway. Goldblum plays a famous author who leads a writing seminar. The Broadway production opened with Alan Rickman in the lead role, with Goldblum taking over the role in April.

The tour of “Anything Goes (Nov. 27-Jan. 6) will star Rachel York in the role of Reno Sweeney. The current Broadway revival from the Roundabout Theatre Company opened in 2011 with Sutton Foster.

“Backbeat” (Jan. 16-Feb. 24) will run at the Ahmanson before an expected New York berth, though no dates have been set for a Broadway transfer. The musical focuses on Stuart Sutcliffe, the so-called “fifth” Beatle who died in 1962. The show ran in Glasgow, Scotland, and in London recently and is scheduled to open in Toronto in July.

The musical is based on the 1994 movie of the same name, which starred Stephen Dorff as Sutcliffe. The stage version is directed by David Leveaux and co-written by Iain Softley, who directed the movie.
The season will follow with “End of the Rainbow” (March 12-April 21); the return of the musical “Fela!” (April 25-May 5), which will be a sixth bonus option for subscribers; and “The Scottsboro Boys” (May 21-June 30, 2013), directed and choreographed by the original production’s Susan Stroman.

“The Scottsboro Boys” is currently playing at the Old Globe in San Diego through June 10.

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