San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
LOOKING BACK AT 2021 STAGE
The year’s most memorable shows included triumphant returns to the stage, plus one story that came to your mailbox
When stages finally came back alive this past year, audiences rejoiced, welcoming fresh productions or ones that were put on hold by the pandemic. Performing arts organizations relished the idea of making connections with audiences once again. Of the many productions on San Diego’s stages, here are my favorite five.
1
“Once on This Island,” Moonlight Stage Productions
On June 16, Vista’s Moonlight Amphitheatre became the first San Diego County theater to reopen for live performances, with a wellcast and upbeat production of this tropical fairy tale musical. As a 36-year resident of Vista and longtime Moonlight attendee, it felt wonderful to welcome theater back among a hometown crowd of exuberant and grateful Vistans.
2
“1222 Oceanfront: A Black Family Christmas,” New Village Arts
For decades, Dea Hurston has been a donor to San Diego theaters and supporter of local artists of color. But on Nov. 27, she achieved her long-held dream of becoming a produced playwright, with the opening of her first commissioned play at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad.
3
“Witchland,” Backyard Renaissance Theatre
Leave it to the daring Backyard troupe to create new theater that can’t be experienced at home. This horror comedy by new playwright Tim Mulligan was staged in an immersive environment, with special effects, jump scares and a spooky witch who seemed to pop up wherever you least expected (including behind and below you) during the show. 4
“Dear Jack, Dear Louise,” The Old Globe
Kudos to the Globe’s props department for meticulously re-creating World War Ii-era letters, telegrams, military V-mail and postcards for this “mailbox theater” show that told the mostly true story of playwright Ken Ludwig’s parents’ epistolary courtship. Over a series of weeks, ticket buyers received these exchanges by mail to experience the couple’s growing relationship, from strangers to newlyweds. 5
“Unmasking the Music of Notorious Pandemics,” San Diego Opera
As a prelude to its parking lot production of “The Barber of Seville” last spring, conductor Bruce Stasyna curated and conducted this fascinating, eclectic and not-at-alldepressing concert of songs inspired by pandemics, including Bach’s Cantata No. 25, written after a leprosy outbreak; songs from “The Secret Garden,” which begins with a cholera epidemic; the 1930s-era protest song “The 1919 Influenza Blues”; and “Seasons of Love” from the Aidsthemed musical “Rent.”