Ahrens and Flaherty Musical Little Dancer Sets Sights on LA | Playbill

News Ahrens and Flaherty Musical Little Dancer Sets Sights on LA The Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical Little Dancer, inspired by the work of sculptor Edgar Degas, will be re-staged this summer at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, according to the New York Times.

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Tiler Peck and Kyle Harris Photo by Paul Kolnik

Susan Stroman, a five-time Tony Award winner, directed and choreographed the Kennedy Center world-premiere production of Little Dancer, which opened to mixed reviews in Washington, DC, Nov. 20. The production ended its run there Nov. 30.

A Los Angeles engagement for Little Dancer has not been officially announced by executives at the Center Theatre Group. News of the LA run was revealed in an interview with Stroman, who is currently in rehearsals for The Merry Widow at the Met.

A representative for CTG told Playbill.com that discussions were underway to bring Little Dancer to the Ahmanson, but no official plans are currently in place.

The musical has book and lyrics by Tony Award winner Lynn Ahrens and music by Tony Award winner Stephen Flaherty. The collaborators are known for the musicals Ragtime, Once on This Island, A Man of No Importance and My Favorite Year, among others. Their last Broadway outing was the short-lived musical Rocky, based on the popular film.

The writers are also developing a Broadway adaptation of their animated feature "Anastasia," which was workshopped earlier this year with Tony Award-winning A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder director Darko Tresnjak at the helm. In 2013, Stroman returned to stage the Kander and Ebb musical The Scottsboro Boys at the Ahmanson following the show's brief Broadway run. The production went on to earn critical acclaim this year in London's West End.

"Part fact, part fiction, and set in the harsh backstage world of the Paris Opera Ballet," press notes state, "Little Dancer is inspired by the young ballerina who posed for Edgar Degas and became, inadvertently, the most famous dancer in the world. Torn by her family’s poverty, her debt to the artist and the lure of wealthy men, Marie struggles to keep her place in the ballet corps—a girl on the verge of womanhood, caught between the conflicting demands of life and art."

The principal cast for Little Dancer included four-time Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines as Edgar Degas, three-time Tony Award nominee Rebecca Luker as Adult Marie van Goethem and New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck as Young Marie van Goethem.

Tiler Peck, Boyd Gaines, Rebecca Luker and Karen Ziemba Explore Degas in New Ahrens and Flaherty Musical Little Dancer

 
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