All stories by James Hebert on BroadwayStars

Monday, October 1, 2018

La Jolla Playhouse's 'Hundred Days' a compelling, cathartic musical saga of coming to terms with life's limits by James Hebert

If you think about it — that is, if you care to think about it, because it’s not the happiest thought — every relationship is kind of one long breakup. It’s pretty much assured that …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:15PM
Sunday, September 30, 2018

La Jolla Playhouse picks Broadway's Jeanna de Waal to play title role in world-premiere musical 'Diana' by James Hebert

“Diana” has crowned its princess: La Jolla Playhouse is announcing today that Jeanna de Waal will play the late Diana, Princess of Wales, in the theater’s world-premiere musical about …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 02:42PM
Wednesday, September 26, 2018

'Beautiful' writer Douglas McGrath wowed by the enduring passion for Carole King's music by James Hebert

There’s a certain conversation that transpires time and again, says the writer Douglas McGrath, when a woman who has just seen “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” approaches him about…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 05:30PM
Monday, September 24, 2018

Diversionary's 'Bull in a China Shop' a bracing look at history through modern lens by James Hebert

Right from the start, “Bull in a China Shop” makes it clear that if this is a period piece, it’s one that comes with an exclamation point. (Not to mention plenty of &%@#’s.) At Diver…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:00PM
Friday, September 21, 2018

Tony Award winner and former 'Law & Order' show-runner Warren Leight heading for North Coast Rep as reading series launches by James Hebert

Warren Leight has been a go-to creative force in television for long enough — including five years as show-runner of the hit series “Law & Order: SVU” — that it might be easy to forg…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:00PM
Wednesday, September 19, 2018

La Jolla Playhouse's 'Hundred Days' a musical memoir born from passion and apprehension by James Hebert

From the moment Shaun and Abigail Bengson met 11 years ago, there was a third wheel in their relationship — a matter for no small measure of stress and apprehension. In fact, the matter wa…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:00PM
Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Quick tip: 'Mamma Mia' dances into the spotlight again by James Hebert

To paraphrase the title song: Here we go again. The never-say-die musical “Mamma Mia!,” whose movie sequel hit theaters over the summer, has landed at Escondido’s Welk, about three mon…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:00PM
Saturday, September 15, 2018

Huey Lewis musical 'Heart' has splash and soul in Old Globe world premiere, if a boxed-in plot by James Hebert

When you’re at a Huey Lewis and the News musical, you don’t necessarily see a wrap number coming. But early on in the Old Globe’s world-premiere production of “The Heart of Rock and …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 05:45PM

Fall arts preview 2018: Top 10 theater picks this season by James Hebert

From Jane Austen to Frankenstein to sweet cherry pie: There’s a little bit of everything on San Diego’s fall theater menu. Here’s a look at what’s cookin’: "Hundred Days" This folk…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:00AM

Fall arts preview 2018: For theater artist and educator Naomi Iizuka, 'America is much bigger than this little pool I grew up in' by James Hebert

Before she ever set foot in the United States, Naomi Iizuka lived in three different countries scattered around the globe. But when her family finally settled in Washington, D.C., during her…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:00AM
Friday, September 7, 2018

'Fun Home' a story of coming out and coming of age at San Diego Rep by James Hebert

For Amanda Naughton, the memories of seeing “Fun Home” for the first time are still vivid three years later: “The lump in my throat, a swelling in my heart, and tears. And my brain jus…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:00PM
Friday, August 31, 2018

You gotta have 'Heart': Talking rock 'n' roll, theater, hearing struggles and more with Huey Lewis as world-premiere musical hits the Old Globe by James Hebert

If you want to get to the heart of rock ’n’ roller Huey Lewis’ love for theater, you’ve gotta go pretty far back in time — to the drama club of New Jersey’s Lawrenceville School,…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 05:30PM
Tuesday, August 28, 2018

VIDEO: Catching up on the News about the Old Globe's world-premiere Huey Lewis musical by James Hebert

Huey Lewis, the hit singer-songwriter and harmonica ace whose scads of pop hits include “I Want a New Drug,” “Hip to be Square” and “The Power of Love,” is about to test the powe…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:10PM
Monday, August 27, 2018

Stark and visceral 'Seize the King' remixes 'Richard' with mixed results by James Hebert

A decade ago at La Jolla Playhouse, Will Power memorably put a hip-hop charge into Greek tragedy with “The Seven.” Now comes the playwright’s often caustic take on Shakespeare: “The …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:00PM
Saturday, August 25, 2018

'Phantom of the Opera' brings performance heat to match the show's spectacle by James Hebert

‘The Phantom of the Opera” is a musical shot through with emotional fireworks. Also, actual pyrotechnics: Those in the front rows of the touring production that just hit the Civic Theatr…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 04:30PM
Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Never-say-die 'Phantom' returns to town with a new masked man by James Hebert

As the song goes: You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. Also: You don’t make a play for the Phantom’s mask. Not that it would make Quentin Oliver Lee particularly upset if you did, neces…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 04:15PM
Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Eric Keen-Louie joining La Jolla Playhouse artistic staff as Jaime Castañeda departs by James Hebert

A shift in artistic staffing is under way at La Jolla Playhouse, as the theater’s associate artistic director departs and a new producing director is hired. The Playhouse has announced tha…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 03:00PM
Sunday, August 19, 2018

'Much Ado' makes bad love look good in ravishing Old Globe production by James Hebert

Further evidence that Shakespeare did not actually write all those plays: “Much Ado About Nothing” is clearly derived from the diaries of the mean girls (and boys) at Stratford Middle. W…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 03:15PM
Monday, August 13, 2018

At Old Globe, director Kathleen Marshall explores the push and pull of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado' by James Hebert

For more than 400 years, theater people have been trying to get a bead on the volatile bond between Beatrice and Benedick, the epic frenemies from Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.�…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 11:00AM
Thursday, August 2, 2018

'A Man of No Importance' holds sway at Coronado Playhouse by James Hebert

A Dublin bus conductor with a passion for the works of Oscar Wilde is at the center of the latest show from the ever-ambitious Coronado Playhouse. Manny Bejarano directs the 2002 musical —…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:00AM
Friday, July 20, 2018

Old Globe dips its toes into vintage Neil Simon with 'Barefoot in the Park' by James Hebert

For the newlyweds in Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park,” the ups and downs of settling into married life are more literal than usual: The pair have moved into a sixth-floor Manhattan …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:00PM
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Kathy Griffin's long, strange trip brings her back to San Diego by James Hebert

Plenty of entertainers court controversy; Kathy Griffin, though, has been in something like a long-term relationship with it. And yet maybe nothing could have quite prepared the Emmy- and Gr…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 01:00PM
Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Empowerment goes 'Blonde' at New Village Arts with staging of legal-eagle musical by James Hebert

The peppy sorority anthem “Omigod You Guys” is the first song in the movie-inspired musical “Legally Blonde.” And “Omigod you’ve gotta be kidding” was pretty much Kristianne Ku…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:00PM
Monday, July 16, 2018

'Forum' is energetic but shows its age in North Coast Rep revival by James Hebert

The actors in North Coast Rep’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” work up enough antic comic energy to levitate a fleet of chariots. All that exertion (and talent), thou…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:00PM
Friday, July 13, 2018

For theater community, finding ways to reflect societal diversity onstage is more urgent than ever by James Hebert

Theater is often at its best and most powerful when it says to those who feel overlooked, misunderstood or invisible: You are seen. Of course, theater doesn’t always manage to do that — …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 02:00PM
Sunday, July 8, 2018

At Old Globe, 'The Lorax' brings Dr. Seuss' environmental saga to vivid life by James Hebert

If you go see “Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax” expecting an environment-minded variation on the Old Globe’s “Grinch” musical, get ready for a darker shade of green. Both shows feature lim…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 03:45PM
Saturday, July 7, 2018

As he moves on, Broadway/San Diego's Joe Kobryner looks back at decades of theater memories by James Hebert

In a more than 40-year career on the San Diego arts scene — including a 22-year stint as local chief of the touring-show presenter Broadway/San Diego — Joe Kobryner has witnessed enough …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 11:12PM
Thursday, July 5, 2018

At La Jolla Playhouse, Pulitzer winner Martyna Majok's 'Queens' probes working-class lives by James Hebert

As tales of theatrical baptism go, Martyna Majok’s is pretty hard to top: She saw her first play, “Cabaret” on Broadway, with money she won playing pool while still a teen-ager. Actual…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 12:00PM
Friday, June 29, 2018

'The Lorax' arrives in the land of Seuss for musical adaptation's U.S. premiere at Old Globe Theatre by James Hebert

The exotic Truffula tree may not exactly be native to San Diego — its natural habitat being books instead of back yards. But the story that surrounds the tree is very much of our town: It …

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 02:50PM
Thursday, June 28, 2018

Lush look and sound give 'The King and I' a needed bump in touring version by James Hebert

The intimation of intimacy in the title of “The King and I” belies the sheer size of the sumptuous touring production that just opened at the San Diego Civic Theatre. With its scads of c…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 03:45PM
Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Curtain calls: July performing arts performances by James Hebert

Performances taking the stage this July in San Diego include Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, Disney's Newsies, Legally Blonde the Musical and On Your Feet!

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 01:25PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic