Gordon Davidson, the artistic director of the Ahmanson Theatre in L.A., announced the plays on the theatre's 2000-2001 schedule. A nonsubscription production of Les Miserables will arrive on Dec. 12, as well as the new Martin Guerre, on Feb 23. Both musicals are by the team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg, but Davidson said the pairing of the two shows was "just circumstance."

The next show (May 3) will be The Scarlet Pimpernel, a revised production of the one that played on Broadway.

Final offering (July 23-Sept 17, 2000, opening July 30) on the sked is The Night They Raided Minsky's, an adaptation of the 1968 Hollywood film. The music is by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, book by Evan Hunter. Mike Ockrent directs the world premiere of this Broadway-bound musical, to be choreographed by Susan Stroman.

The season begins on Oct. 10 with Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, directed by Sir Peter Hall. Hall recently mounted for the Old Vic in London. David Suchet and Michael Sheen, who headed the British production, will join an otherwise American cast. Center Theatre Group is among the co-producers who will then move the production to Broadway, where a December opening is anticipated.

Martin Guerre will play the Ahmanson just before it makes its New York bow on April 27. The show won the Olivier Award for best new London musical in 1997 but was then rewritten and restaged last November in Leeds, England -- the version that will be seen in L.A. -- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent