San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
HOT TICKETS AT THE THEATER
Old Globe will finally complete the Shakespeare canon, a new musical debuts at La Jolla Playhouse, and the Balboa Theatre turns 100
In the two-plus years since San Diego theaters reopened following the pandemic shutdown, they have become both more conservative and more adventurous. They’re conservative with their spending because they’ve had to adjust to smaller audiences, the loss of the pandemic-era government support and higher labor expenses. But they’re also more adventurous in their efforts to create programming that attracts new audiences and to respond to demands for more diversity, both onstage and behind the scenes.
Here’s a look at five theater events taking place in 2024 that I’m most looking forward to.
The Old Globe’s ‘Henry 6’
Over the past 83 years, the Old Globe has produced all of Shakespeare’s plays except “Henry VI, Parts I, II and III.” Among Shakespeare’s earliest works, the “Henry VI” history plays tell the story of the War of the Roses, a decadeslong war between England’s York and Lancaster dynasties in the 1400s. Old Globe artistic director Barry Edelstein has made it his goal to complete the canon of Shakespeare’s plays with his own condensed adaptation of the plays, which will be presented this summer onstage in the Globe’s outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. Edelstein has condensed the three plays into two, and his adaptations will focus on the characters’ quest to achieve power at any cost, and how that singleminded purpose can lead to chaos, violence and anarchy — issues that now seem frighteningly contemporary in the wake of the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
Over the past six months, the Globe’s education staff has been meeting with community members citywide to talk about the play and gather feedback. Eventually, a few community members will become part of the “Henry 6” project — some as onstage actors, some in recorded videos that will be projected onstage, and some working behind the scenes in the Globe’s design departments. The two plays will be presented in repertory so people can watch them in order on consecutive nights or weeks. Part 1 plays June 30 through Sept. 14; Part 2 plays July 9 through Sept. 15. theoldglobe.org
La Jolla Playhouse’s ‘Redwood’
Idina Menzel, the Tonywinning star of “Wicked” and vocal powerhouse behind Elsa in Disney’s animated “Frozen” films, will star in “Redwood,” a world premiere musical at La Jolla Playhouse in February. “Redwood” will feature a book, lyrics and direction by Tina Landau and score and lyrics by Kate Diaz. The musical will tell the story of Jesse, a successful businesswoman, mother and wife who is hiding a broken heart. Finding herself at a turning point, she leaves everything behind and drives to the West Coast, where she ends up in California’s redwood forest and finds community and healing. Earlier this year, Menzel told me that she and Landau have dreamed for years of working together on a project. They share a passion and reverence for the redwoods, and she loves the fighting spirit of her character Jesse. She also described Diaz’s music as “epic and cinematic.” Diaz is a prolific Los Angeles composer, songwriter and producer who writes music for film, television, trailers and commercials. Landau is a writer and director who conceived and directed the 2018 Broadway musical “Spongebob Squarepants.” She also co-wrote with composer Adam Guettel the off-broadway musical “Floyd Collins.” La Jolla Playhouse premiered Landau’s fairy-tale-inspired play “Beauty” in 2003. Feb. 13 through March 31. lajollaplayhouse.org
Balboa Theatre turns 100
On March 28, 1924, the Balboa Theatre opened in an area of downtown San Diego now known as the Gaslamp Quarter. Today it is the city’s oldest operating performing arts venue. To celebrate its century of service to the community, San Diego Theatres is hosting a three-day anniversary weekend at the theater. On March 28, the Balboa’s 100th anniversary gala will feature a performance by playwright-pianist-performer Hershey Felder. The popular performer — who has logged hundreds of performances over the past 18 years at the Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse and San Diego Rep — said he is putting together a program of songs and music that have would have been famous in the U.S. and probably sung at the Balboa over the past century. The concert will feature audience singalongs. Proceeds of the gala will benefit the Balboa Theatre Grand Fund. On March 29, the silent film “The Flying Fleet” will be accompanied by the Balboa’s Wonder Melton theater organ, in a tribute to San Diego’s military. And on March 30, there will be a familyfriendly program of classic cartoons with organ accompaniment in the morning, followed by an evening of music, song and dance presented by several San Diego nonprofit arts organizations. March 28-30. sandiegotheatres.org/ balboatheatre100
Cygnet’s final season in Old Town
In 2025, Cygnet Theatre will move from its longtime home at the Theatre in Old Town to its new permanent home in Liberty Station’s Arts District, where the historic Naval Building 178 is being transformed into the multi-venue Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center. For its final Old Town season in 2024, Cygnet is presenting a full season of musicals, beginning with “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” followed by the West Coast premiere of “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” Jonathan Larson’s “tick, tick ... BOOM!” and a remounting of “Richard O’brien’s The Rocky Horror Show,” which the company first presented in 2016. cygnettheatre.com
CCAE Theatricals’ ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’
This year was filled with highs and lows for the fourmember team at CCAE Theatricals. In February, the young theater company won several top production awards at the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle’s 2022 Craig Noel Awards. Then just six months later, budget cuts at Escondido’s cityowned arts center forced the company out of its role as in-house theater producer. In recent months, CCAE Theatricals has become an independent nonprofit and has programmed a limited 2024 season. The season’s first main-stage production will be the San Diego premiere of Simon Stephens’ Tony-winning play about a young man on the autism spectrum who embarks on a journey to solve the death of a neighbor’s dog. “Curious Incident” was originally scheduled to make its San Diego premiere in 2022 at San Diego Repertory Theatre, but the company shut down two months before it was set to open. As a result, this will mark the play’s local debut, and it will be presented at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido.