947 stories by "James Hebert"
Hedwig can you hear me? OK, wrong musical "Â although the heroine of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" does riff on "The Who's Tommy" in this hard-rocking show whose faithfully freaky (and fun) …
The adventurous and socially engaged InnerMission Productions has just launched its second full season with a lineup of works that are all San Diego premieres. First up is Martin Zimmerman's…
Four plays will be getting their initial shakedowns in December as La Jolla Playhouse brings back its DNA New Work Series for a fifth edition. The DNA showcase, which runs Dec. 9-11, has pro…
"I was born on the other side / of a town ripped in two. I made it over the great divide / now I'm coming for you." "Â "Tear Me Down," from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" When the "internatio…
We may have only just reached Thanksgiving, but San Diego theater is already wading deep into the yuletide. (Twelve days of Christmas? Make that 45.) And while this year's holiday stage…
The men in Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" come from many walks of life, but in Ion Theatre's bracing revival of the 1985 play, they all pad across the stage the same way: barefoot. …
And you thought that thing about the playgoer who tried to charge his phone onstage last year was the weirdest Broadway story you'd be hearing anytime soon. The drama-within-the-drama at …
Not every ghost story hitting the boards this season features the likes of Scrooge "Â and San Diego Rep doesn't necessarily give a figgy pudding if its upcoming world-premiere production c…
Last year at this time, La Jolla Playhouse was announcing it would roll out four world-premiere shows for its 2016-17 season, an ambitious commitment to new work. Now, for 2017-18, the Pl…
In a couple of telling scenes from the smart new touring version of "The Sound of Music," people struggle to summon the words to songs that have faded from their lives and minds. That's n…
The little musical that wouldn't die (its original off-Broadway production ran nearly 42 years, still a record) has just hit Scripps Ranch Theatre for a fresh go-round, complete with that on…
Sarah Gubbins is an L.A. transplant whose heart still beats Chicago blue, and the playwright says with a laugh that being on the West Coast when the Cubs won the World Series earlier t…
Jack O'Brien has been one of the biggest names on Broadway for well over two decades now "Â and these days it seems even New York's boulevard of dreams can't quite hold him in. Fresh off d…
It's a familiar story: A guy with some pretty odd locks swoops down from his tower to assert power, leaving citizens feeling jittery and bewildered. Will his heart soften, or will the popula…
Native Voices will return in 2017-18 as La Jolla Playhouse's resident theater company, the Playhouse has announced. It will mark the first time that a theater troupe has done a second stint …
Three decades ago, Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart" detonated like a grenade on the New York cultural scene. The 1985 play was (and remains) an angry and provocative work of advocacy …
For the mom and daughter in the captivating new musical "Miss You Like Hell," driving across the Great Divide proves easier by a mile than healing the one between their hearts. (And let's no…
Should laws and leaders always be followed, no questions asked? Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" asks that question " and so did Old Globe Theatre teaching artists who posed it to the …
Dinner parties gone very wrong are something of a dramatic staple, but even by the lively history of that subgenre, the combative gathering in "Disgraced" takes the (scorched) cake. Ayad Akh…
La Jolla Playhouse may be the birthplace of the Broadway-bound musical "Come From Away," but the remote town of Gander, Newfoundland, is in many ways the show's spiritual home. And this past…
The La Jolla Playhouse-bred musical "Jersey Boys" may be saying goodbye to Broadway in January after a glorious decade-plus run, but the Midtown Men keep on carrying the torch for the show. …
The Old Globe's holiday favorite "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" has the power to bring J. Bernard Calloway to tears. So, at first, did the rigors of performing in the show. (Or…
A painting gives "Art" its name, but friendship gives the play its focus "Â and its comic ferocity. Yasmina Reza's 1998 piece, a Tony Award winner as best play, centers on three longtime p…
La Jolla Playhouse is welcoming a favorite son of San Diego theater back to town for a benefit concert in December. Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Patrick Henry High grad, Broadway veteran an…
The Old Globe is revisiting a titanic Shakespeare tragedy, and bringing back a top stage and screen actor for another Bard work, as part of its just-announced 2017 summer season. The Balb…
