THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB Musical Will Have World Premiere in Los Angeles

The Baby-sitters Club: A New Musical, adapted from Ann M. Martin’s bestselling book series, has set its world premiere. Center Theatre Group will present the musical for a four-week run at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, with previews beginning May 6, 2027, and opening night set for May 16, Deadline reports.

The producing team includes Mountain A, the production company co-founded by Academy Award winner Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas. In announcing the engagement, Portman said that the book series and musical theatre both shaped her childhood, and that she is excited to bring the two together and share the characters with audiences.

The musical features a book by Kate Wetherhead (The Devil Wears Prada), music and lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick (KPop Demon Hunters), and direction and choreography by Annie Tippe (Octet). Casting will begin soon, with The Telsey Office handling New York casting and Henry Russell Bergstein Casting overseeing Los Angeles.

The story finds Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey reuniting in Stoneybrook at age 25. As they reconnect, old friendships return alongside old tensions, and each woman is pushed to consider whether the life she has built matches the one she once pictured. The musical ultimately centers on how friendship can carry people through change and uncertainty.

Joining Mountain A as producers are TWTheatricals; Riva Marker for Linden Productions (Stereophonic); Naia Cucukov Richards and Lucy Kitada, who worked on Netflix’s The Baby-sitters Club series; Peter Richards for Working Barn Productions; and Center Theatre Group. Gregg Arst and Laura Kaufmann of Tanna Entertainment and Mickey Liddell and Pete Shilaimon of LD Entertainment serve as co-producers. Linden Productions and TWTheatricals described the project as a warm, enduring piece that respects what fans cherish about the source material.

Launched by Scholastic in 1986, The Baby-sitters Club was initially planned as a four-book run, beginning with Kristy’s Great Idea, Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, The Truth About Stacey, and Mary Anne Saves the Day. It went on to span more than 250 titles and four spin-off series, with more than 200 million copies in print worldwide. The books have previously been adapted into a 1990 HBO series, a 1995 Sony Pictures film, and a Netflix series that ran from 2020 to 2021.

The musical was first announced in September 2025, when TWTheatricals, the full-length production division of TheaterWorksUSA, revealed it had optioned the stage rights and assembled the creative team, followed by an industry presentation in New York that November.