'The Baby-sitters Club' Stage Musical Sets World Premiere Date, Venue in Los Angeles

Exclusive: The Baby-sitters Club: A new musical based on Ann M. Martin's book series, which inspired the 1995 film and two TV series, will hold its world premiere this spring with Center Theatre Group at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles. Previews for the four-week run begin May 6, 2027, before […]

Exclusive: The Baby-sitters Club: A new musical based on the Ann M. Martin book series that inspired the 1995 film and two TV series will have its world premiere this spring with Center Theater Group at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Los Angeles.

The preview for this four-week course will begin on May 6, 2027, before its opening on May 16. The date and location were announced today by the production team, which includes Mountain A, the production company founded by Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman.

"Kids Club was a formative part of my childhood, as was musical theater, and I feel fortunate to be a part of bringing those two worlds together," Portman says. "I can't wait to share the joy these characters brought me as a child with audiences this spring." RELATED NEWS The Babysitter's Club book series as a stage musical with 'Kpop Demon Hunters' songwriters has been canceled at the Mark Taper Forum Theater season in Los Angeles as the reverberations of Covid are now a 'crisis unlike any other'.

Deadline previously announced the development of the project with a book by Keith Weatherhead (The Devil Wears Prada), music and lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick (KPop Demon Hunters) and direction and choreography by Annie Tipp (Octet). Watch on Deadline

Casting for the project will begin soon with The Telsey Office in New York and Henry Russell Bergstein Casting in Los Angeles.

In addition to Mountain A—which was co-founded by Portman and Sophie Moss—producers will include TWTheatricals. Riva Marker for Linden Productions (Stereophonic); Naya Kokokov Richards and Lucy Kitada (Netflix series Babysitting Club); Peter Richards for Working Barn Productions; and Center Theater Group. Tanna Entertainment's Greg Arest and Laura Kaufman and LD Entertainment's Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon are co-producers.

The musical reimagines Martin's book series and features the characters Christy, Mary Ann, Claudia and Stacey as they return to Stony Brook for a 25-year reunion.

The synopsis reads: “As old friendships rekindle and long-buried tensions resurface, the women find themselves faced with the coming-of-age questions that define this chapter of their lives: who they are, what they want, and whether the lives they've built are the ones they truly envisioned for themselves. He must cope with the challenges of life alone."

"We're creating something that's big-hearted and timeless, while honoring what people love about The Baby-sitters Club," Linden Productions and TWTheatricals said in a joint statement.

With more than 200 million copies worldwide, Martin's book series is one of the most successful lines of children's books in publishing history. Launched by Scholastic in 1986, the series was originally conceived as just four books—Christy's Big Idea, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, The Truth about Stacey, and Mary Anne Saves the Day—but eventually expanded to more than 250 titles and four spin-off series.

Adaptations included the 1990 HBO TV series, the 1995 feature film from Sony Pictures, and most recently, the acclaimed 2020-21 Netflix series.

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