947 stories by "James Hebert"
Bogus beggars, plunderous nuns, cops on the take, gamblers on the make: The fine people of "Guys and Dolls" work so many angles you have to plot their progress with a protractor. And that's …
A good stage director is always thinking 10 steps ahead. And from the sound of things, Moxie Theatre executive artistic director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg " one of San Diego's most accomplis…
To those who know Leslie Odom Jr. for his Tony Award-winning turn in the world-conquering musical "Hamilton," the dashing singer-actor might seem some kind of overnight success. The truth is…
It was 62 years ago this summer that Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi " an appalling racial crime that helped ignite the civil rights movement. This week, Ion Theatre revisits his sto…
The matchless 1950 musical "Guys and Dolls" has been revived to within an inch of its life over the decades, with a whole lot more than a bushel and a peck (to borrow from one of its songs) …
The San Diego International Fringe Festival, whose fifth edition is now in full (and often freaky) flower here and in Tijuana, is a definition-defying mix of theater, dance, music and multip…
The windows of Dea Hurston's high-rise condo frame sweeping views of San Diego, from Balboa Park to Coronado to the blue Pacific beyond. And when Hurston purchased the place with her husband…
It seems pretty certain that if the novelist Emily Brontë had her druthers " or is that drithers? " the people behind the play "Withering Heights" would be tossed off the nearest (Heath)c…
What had seemed inevitable for Mo`olelo Performing Arts Co. has officially come to pass: The socially engaged San Diego theater company is calling it quits after 13 years. But the once-thriv…
It's been some week for Will Shakespeare, what with the uproar surrounding the Public Theater's Trump-ian depiction of Julius Caesar in the play about the ill-fated Roman. So maybe it's impo…
For its third festival incarnation, WoW is heading south. The Without Walls Festival " La Jolla Playhouse's celebration of immersive, site-specific and otherwise boundary-busting performance…
If theatrical overkill could, you know, kill, you might need a bodyguard for protection from the excesses of "The Bodyguard." Not that bombast is all there is to this movie-based musical, wh…
As Moonlight Stage Productions rolls out "Aida" " the Vista company's first production of the 2017 summer season " it's also announcing the lineup for its 2018 season, which offers some majo…
Quick " name that Disney-originated Broadway musical with the songs by Elton John and Tim Rice and the story about African royalty. If you said "The Lion King," you'd be right " but you also…
The Tony Awards took a surprise direction for two La Jolla Playhouse-bred shows last night " with "direction" being the operative word. While the musical "Come From Away" and the play "Indec…
It's true that the Tony Awards chose an unusual suspect to host the 2017 edition of the annual Broadway theater honors. But the anointing of Kevin Spacey " the Oscar-winning actor ("The Usua…
It's a little startling when, toward the end of the darkly poetic "Blacktop Sky," the young homeless man Klass suddenly turns to us and observes: "You may not be fully aware of the times we'…
It takes nine players to make a baseball team, which means San Diego Musical Theatre could field an entire five-club division with the mob of actors and musicians the company suits up for it…
The story of Shakespeare's "Richard II" revolves around two men who would be king. The story of the Old Globe Theatre's return to the darkly poetic history play, though, revolves around two …
Margaritaville is both a place and state of mind. Word is that it's also " and we're working to confirm this now " the title of a popular song. Seriously, though, it seems a genius move of t…
They faced chauvinism, ridicule, oppression and the gleaming blade of the guillotine. Nevertheless, they persisted. And in Lauren Gunderson's inventive, history-inflected "The Revolutionists…
From rock to pop-opera to classic show tunes, musicals rule San Diego's stages this summer. But there's still room for some promising plays, too. Here's a look at what's likely to heat up lo…
Acting is many ways an exercise in seeing the world through someone else's eyes. For Paul Eddy, though, there's been the added matter of trying to see through Buddy Holly's glasses. Holly's …
On its surface, Molière's "The Imaginary Invalid" " the story of a man fixated on, and frustrated by, matters of health care " would seem a pretty apt choice of play for this moment in hist…
The news keeps on coming for "Come From Away," the 9/11-connected Broadway musical that had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse two years ago in a co-production with Seattle Rep. Junkya…
