There's a phrase from a certain musical that has become a rallying cry for diversity as a source of American strength: "Immigrants " we get the job done." That line is not from "In the Heigh…
There's plenty that's prone to feel unfamiliar to most playgoers about "Wild Goose Dreams," the Hansol Jung play that's about to receive its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. First, ther…
There's a lot more to the movie-turned-musical "Benny & Joon" than those character names can convey, from a focus on the broader meaning of family to a frank consideration of mental illness.…
La Jolla Playhouse has unveiled the full lineup for the 2017 Without Walls Festival, the third edition of the theater's celebration of immersive and site-specific art. As announced previousl…
A few months back, Richie Ploesch was excitedly tossing ideas to Gary Kramer, the artistic director of San Diego's National Comedy Theatre, on how improv might benefit teen-agers with autism…
With his solo show "Latin History for Morons," John Leguizamo is about to repeat some history of his own: It will be the second piece the actor, playwright and comic provocateur has taken fr…
A San Diego landmark that was once alive with crowds and music every year at this time has been dormant for seven summers now. But organizers of the latest effort to reopen Balboa Park's his…
With apologies to Winston Churchill: If the British Empire should last a thousand years, people will still say the Victorian Era was its funniest hour. Not that those decades of repressive m…
As musical odes to roadways go, "Sunset Boulevard" is in a whole different area code from, say, "42nd Street" or "Avenue Q." And not just as gauged by GPS. Based on the classic 1950 Billy Wi…
At ease, San Diego #HamFans: There's no word yet on an on-sale date for the local engagement of "Hamilton," the megahit musical that runs Jan. 6-28 at the Civic Theatre downtown. (We're stil…
Sprawled belly-down on a bed, scrawling in a notebook as he ponders the prospect of a "consummation" with the grave; in the Old Globe's powerful new staging of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy…
Don't cry for Eva Perón, theatergoers, because the musical about her is definitely not about to do it.Or maybe you should shed a tear or two " although at this point it's a little late in…
A Tony Award-nominated star of a major Old Globe-connected Broadway hit is bound for San Diego to join the Globe's world-premiere musical "Benny & Joon." The Balboa Park theater is announcin…
The U.S. presidential race was still raging last year when San Diego Rep and its artistic director, Sam Woodhouse, chose a show that seemed ideal for the times: "Evita." After all, Woodhouse…
A few things can be said for certain about "Hamlet": It's a work of almost incalculable influence, the lodestone of Western literature. It has served " for centuries now " as a gold standard…
Next up at InnerMission Productions: Adam Gwon's 2009 chamber musical "Ordinary Days," about the intersecting paths of four young New Yorkers struggling to sort out their hopes and dreams in…
The 1990s had the blistering grunge of Nirvana and the bubblegum of the Spice Girls; the cultural explosion of hip-hop and the curious implosion of Milli Vanilli; the tragedy of Princess Di …
On a cool evening in early June, as auditions get under way for the play "Falling," the conversation onstage is as subdued as the lighting in the intimate "black box" theater. But as the act…
Now that he has spent almost two years on the road, Jacob Haren is about to wrap up his "Mormon" mission. "It's super-Method," jokes the North County bred-actor at how his stint with the tou…
The next line to be delivered at this evening's performance by a hapless but passionate Eastern European theater troupe promises to be heart-stopping. Not for the audience. For the actor. Th…
The Old Globe has found its Prince of Denmark to lead the Balboa Park theater's first revival of "Hamlet" in a decade. The Globe is announcing that Grantham Coleman will take on the title ro…
In Rachel Bond's gently affecting new play; HEIDI ("Angie") ARMBRUSTER's low-key performance gives her character the authentic feel of a lost but resilient soul who gains a sense of self.
Randall Hickman is the kind of actor who loves to wrap his arms around an acting challenge. So what could be better than a character who has eight arms? (Not to mention some very serious mak…
Poetry is an abiding presence in Rachel Bonds' "At the Old Place." And her gently affecting new play calls to mind a line from a poem that's not actually in the piece: "I learn by going wher…
Nothing's done halfway in Cygnet Theatre's slaphappy (and slapstick-y) revival of the Marx Brothers musical "Animal Crackers": Even Groucho's plus-sized mustache looks as if a semi-truck wen…