’Tis the season to make theater plans for the New Year! It’s no secret that most San Diego theater companies are midway through their current season. Many of those companies have chosen a closing season line up that will get you out of the house and into their cozy theater seats.
Starting with some of the larger venues like The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse and Broadway San Diego, you are sure to find something that fits your entertainment needs.
This February The Old Globe will present its first indoor Shakespearean piece in more than a decade with The Winter’s Tale. This miraculous show about love and forgiveness will be directed by newly appointed artistic director Barry Edelstein and will run until March 16.
The La Jolla Playhouse will present a new page-to-stage musical called Chasing the Song. The show was written by Joe DiPetro and David Bryan and will be directed by Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley.
Broadway San Diego starts off the year with two well-known favorites: Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Keillor’s show is a one night only event Jan. 4 and Beast will run from Jan. 7-12.
San Diego audiences have had the pleasure of seeing Cygnet Theatre’s live on air radio versions of It’s A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol during the last 8 years. Keillor’s live radio show has spanned decades and even spawned a film version starring Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin and Woody Harrelson. Get a chance to see the master of live radio while you can!
Speaking of Cygnet Theatre, they will be presenting the Broadway hit and Tony award winning musical Spring Awakening from March 6-April 27.
Other mid-sized regional theaters here in San Diego like San Diego Repertory, Lamb’s Players and San Diego Musical Theatre will also be presenting Tony Award winning shows.
Lamb’s will be bringing Les Misérables to their stage in Coronado from July 18-Aug. 24, San Diego Musical Theatre will present Next To Normal from Sept. 26- Oct. 12 and The San Diego Rep will unveil the play RED from March 27-April 29.
And lastly, but certainly not least, are some of San Diego’s most edgy and groundbreaking theaters. Ion Theatre, Circle Circle Dot Dot, Moxie and The Diversionary Theatre all push the envelope giving patrons productions that continually exceed their theaters modest space size.
Ion Theatre has taken the 6th at Penn theater space and has daringly produced some of Broadway’s largest musicals with great success. This season they will be bringing Stephen Sondheim’s rarely done Passion to their space. If past productions like Grey Gardens and Gypsy are any indication of what we can expect, Passion (directed by San Diego favorite and Ion member Kim Strassburger and running from April 19-May 17) will surely be a show not to miss.
Circle Circle Dot Dot produces more original shows than any other theater in San Diego and this season is chock full of just that. See the sequel to San Diego I Love You when they present San Diego I Love You 2.0 written by Samantha Ginn and Julio Jacobo in February.
Moxie Theatre’s upcoming production of Mud Blue Sky (May 2-June 8), will give patrons an inside look at just what flight attendants find and go through on those quick turnover flights. It’s a raucous comedy about three flight attendants who dish about their personal lives while on a layover.
Diversionary Theatre, (San Diego’s only LGBT theater) with the help of director James Vasques, has given San Diego some of the funniest and most touching theater productions around. This summer they will present the cult pop musical favorite BARE.
BARE is a gripping musical about a group of Catholic students struggling to discover who they are under the roof of a Catholic boarding school.
While San Diego has a lot to offer, don’t forget those theaters just outside of San Diego.
New Village Arts in Carlsbad is a theater that is definitely worth the trip. With shows like the classic To Kill A Mockingbird (April 4-May 4) and the comedy Miss Firecracker Contest (May 30-June 29), their theater always gives top-notch performances.
The same can be said for Sean Cox and Christy Yael’s Intrepid Shakespeare Theatre in Encinitas. This February they will be taking on Shakespeare’s Scottish play Macbeth. A spooky suspense filled thriller that will surely keep you on the edge of your seat.
Rounding out North County is North Coast Repertory in Solana Beach. They have given San Diego audiences both award winning musicals and plays during the last 3 decades. This season artistic director David Ellenstein will direct San Diego favorite and multiple Craig Noel Award recipient Rosina Reynolds in the world premier Lionel Goldstein play Mandate Memories. The show runs from April 9-May 4.
Whatever theater you choose to visit in 2014, you will surely get the best that San Diego has to offer. So get out and see why San Diego is known as one of the best theater towns in the nation.
