San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
NEW VILLAGE ARTS CELEBRATES SUCCESS OF ‘FERRYMAN’
It’s not unprecedented for a San Diego theater production to sell out its entire run.
Touring productions like “Hamilton” and “The Lion King” sold out their first San Diego visits to season ticket holders before single-ticket sales ever opened. And La Jolla Playhouse and the Old Globe have extended the runs of red-hot shows before they opened to accommodate demand.
But it’s an impressive feat for Carlsbad’s 100-seat New Village Arts, which sold out the entire run of its “The Ferryman” play about midway through the run, which closed on March 5.
The Tony Award-winning Jez Butterworth play is no feel-good musical. It’s a 3½-hour study of how “The Troubles” in 1980s Northern Ireland gradually destroy a family. Although New Village did add a matinee performance on closing weekend to accommodate ticket demand, it sold out within a few hours.
One reason for New Village’s success is that it was the first theater in the world — outside London’s West End and Broadway — to land the rights to produce the show. Most small theater companies wouldn’t bother applying for a play that requires 21 actors, dialect coaches, a live baby, goose and rabbit, and a working stove for cooking onstage, because it could never earn back its expenses with such a small house. NVA’S executive artistic director, Kristianne Kurner, said it was possible thanks to generous grants from a few foundations.
Another reason for its success is that Kurner, who directed the production, pulled off the challenging play, which had several children in the cast, realistic acts of violence, songs and dancing, and the aforementioned baby and rabbit (who were well-behaved on opening night) and goose (who could be heard honking offstage, to the audience’s amusement).
These days, many theaters nationwide are producing safer and more crowdpleasing fare because ticket sales have yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels. So I’m impressed by Kurner & Co. for taking such a big risk and proving that audiences will turn out for more challenging shows if they’re done well. Visit newvillagearts.org.
Lamb’s extends ‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T’
Speaking of shows doing well, Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado has extended for the second time its production of “R-E-S-PE-C-T,” a new musical revue of women singers and songwriters of the 1960s. The show by Kerry Meads and Vanda Eggington was originally scheduled to close on March 13. Now it’s scheduled to run through April 9.
Last year, Lamb’s had another big musical hit on its hands, “Million Dollar Quartet,” which ended up running for nearly six months, thanks to a series of extensions. Visit lambsplayers.org.
‘Girls’ Night Out’ to debut in Vista
Vista’s Broadway Theatre will present the world premiere of a new musical comedy this month called “Girls’ Night Out.”
Written and directed by Randall Hickman, who co-owns the 49-seat theater with partner Douglas Davis, the six-character show is about four women who find themselves snowbound in a Midwestern bar with an amorous “lounge lizard” and a bartender straight out of a romance novel. Davis co-stars in the production with Cassidy Mccarthy, Kelly Pocian, Kylie Young, Judith Carlstrom and Jacob Hatch.
It runs March 17 through April 2 at 340 E. Broadway in Vista. For tickets, call (760) 806-7905 or visit broadwayvista.biz.
NTC Foundation unveils arts grants
The NTC Foundation has announced $20,000 in grants for new projects being developed in the Arts District at Liberty Station in San Diego.
The 2023 recipients of the 5-year-old program’s grants include theater, photography, dance, music and writing programs based at Liberty Station.
Two of the programs have already taken place. Cameras in Communities was a digital media art workshop, run by Outside the Lens and Treehouse Academy, in February. “Motions and Emotions: Filipino American Stories of Healing,” produced by Trixi Anne Agiao, The Thoughtful Beast and New Americans Museum, was a mix of theater, dance and visual art that concluded Feb. 19.
Rosin Box Project and San Diego Dance Theater collaborated on a master class series on dance that runs through August. Treehouse Academy and Apt 4 Music are now co-presenting weekly music classes through March 31. Malashock Dance and Outside the Lens are co-producing a dance workshop for marginalized youths on May 5.
San Diego Writers Ink and Agiao are presenting a showcase for BIPOC writers and choreographers in May. And the Resurrecting Lives Foundation will present “Brainstorms,” a short film addressing the invisible wounds that war soldiers experience, in September.
pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com