and, SEEN!

X (UC San Diego)

Proclaimers Scale: 3 trips to Pluto X by Alistair McDowall. directed by Rosie Glen-Lambert (MFA 3) February 23 - March 2 |Mandell Weiss Theatre About the Show When X, by Alistair McDowall begins, we are introduced to five travelers waiting to be picked up from their mission on planet Pluto. We are in a near future where much of the earth is no longer habitable, and Pluto is being explored as a viable option for human life. But their research base has lost radio signal, and their expedition has already lasted much longer than expected. The group is tasked with trying to determine if their pickup is late, if their pickup is no longer coming, or--most frighteningly-if they've lost contact with their pickup because earth itself has ceased to exist. As the passing time becomes increasingly more difficult to track, events begin to move out of sequence, and the line between what is real and what isn't becomes blurred. The travelers are desperate to sort through their fragmented memories, and to maintain control of their own lives. X is an evocative, hilarious, and devastating play that uses the metaphor of being lost in space to explore the loss of personal and collective memory. As we as a planet creep closer and closer to having to face the existential threat of environmental degradation, X could not be more timely. How do we want to be remembered, and who will remain to remember us?

did we just go to the Getty? [Age of Innocence (old globe)]

Globe-commissioned world premiere By Edith Wharton Adapted by Karen Zacarías Directed by Chay Yew This Globe-commissioned world premiere, based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, is set in 1870s Gilded Age New York City, where high society clashes with love. When the glamorous Countess Ellen Olenska sweeps into town, she upends the lives of everyone around her, especially the dashing lawyer Newland Archer. This new adaptation for the stage from Karen Zacarías (Destiny of Desire, Native Gardens) is the kind of lush period production for which The Old Globe is renowned.

a loss for words [English (old globe)]

January 27 – February 25, 2024 Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre Conrad Prebys Theatre Center By Sanaz Toossi Directed by Arya Shahi Winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, the Obie Award, and the Lucille Lortel Award. In a classroom near Tehran, four adult students prepare for an English proficiency exam. They each have a reason for being there: a chance at opportunity, access, or a new calling. But as they bond over this new way to express themselves, they also grapple with the lives they must leave behind. Told with hilarious wit and genuine compassion, Sanaz Toossi’s English is “both a buoyant comedy of communication and a subtle but probing exploration of what it means to speak and feel understood” (New York Theatre Guide).

too easy [Redwood (La Jolla Playhouse)]

FEB 13 - MAR 31, 2024 Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre Book by Tina Landau Music by Kate Diaz Lyrics by Kate Diaz and Tina Landau Conceived by Tina Landau and Idina Menzel With additional contributions by Idina Menzel Directed by Tina Landau Broadway icon Idina Menzel makes her La Jolla Playhouse debut in the world premiere of Redwood, a one-of-a-kind theatrical event about one woman’s journey into the precious and precarious world of the redwoods. Idina plays Jesse, a successful businesswoman, mother and wife. She seems to have it all, but inside, her heart is broken. Finding herself at a turning point, Jesse leaves everyone and everything behind, gets in her car and drives… and drives. Thousands of miles later, she hits the ancient forests of Northern California, where a chance meeting and a leap of faith change her life forever. In the presence of the magnificent, towering redwoods, Jesse finds strange and powerful connections, an unexpected sense of community, and a chance at healing. Acclaimed writer and director Tina Landau (Beauty) brings this immersive and cinematic new work to life with lush visuals and a soaring score from Kate Diaz. You will travel with Jesse into an intoxicating environment of dense greenery, fractured light and dizzying heights – a place where nature can help us heal, if only we don’t destroy her first. An exhilarating new musical featuring one of Broadway’s greatest stars, Redwood will awaken your sense of adventure and lift you higher than the treetops. “Now underneath a canopy of stars, I call out to the night. Please keep me safe and show me this is right. I’m scared of letting go of everyone I know.” Jesse, Redwood

2023 year in review

Just what it says on the tin.

many spoilers ahead (Wish (Disney))

boring Broderick (Babbitt, La Jolla Playhouse)

By Joe DiPietro Adapted from the novel by Sinclair Lewis Directed by Christopher Ashley You can’t always get what you want, but you might get what you need. Multi-award-winning star of stage and screen Matthew Broderick and Tony Award-winning playwright Joe DiPietro (Diana, Memphis) join forces with our own Christopher Ashley and a stellar cast for this remarkable theatrical event. Babbitt entered the zeitgeist in 1922 as a novel by white-hot satirist Sinclair Lewis, the first American Nobel Laureate. An instant literary classic, Babbitt has been a stalwart on ‘best ever’ lists for over 100 years, and is now adapted for the stage. George F. Babbitt is a middle-aged real estate broker in the Midwestern city of Zenith. By day, he has a prosperous, respectable middle-class existence. By night, he’s plagued by the thought that he has amounted to nothing. Searching for more to life than his top-of-the-line toaster and hickory golf club ― more meaning ― Babbitt leaps with abandon into the most spectacular rebellion of his life ― one that could end up costing him everything. Led by Matthew Broderick in the title role, the cast bringing this world premiere to life features Emmy Award nominee Anna Chlumsky (Veep), Ann Harada (Broadway’s Avenue Q) and Julie Halston (Sex and the City).

coming of age in a loincloth ( Sumo, La Jolla Playhouse)

Written by Lisa Sanaye Dring Directed by Ralph B. Peña A co-production with Ma-Yi Theater Company This production is sold out. A limited number of tickets are released daily, so please check back. True victory is victory over oneself Entrenched in an elite sumo training facility in Tokyo, six men practice, eat, love, play and ultimately fight. Akio arrives as an angry, ambitious 18 year old with a lot to learn. Expecting validation, dominance and fame, and desperate to move up the ranks, he slams headlong into his fellow wrestlers, especially Mitsuo, the highest ranked fighter. With sponsorship money at stake, their bodies on the line, and their futures at risk, the wrestlers struggle to carve themselves – and one another – into the men they dream of being.

clockwork comedian (Dishwasher Dreams, The Old Globe)

By Alaudin Ullah Directed by Chay Yew Music by Avirodh Sharma What exactly is the American Dream? For Alaudin Ullah’s Bangladesh-born parents, it means opportunity and a stable job. But to comedian Alaudin, America is the home of the New York Yankees and George Carlin. In an autobiographical solo show that the Hartford Courant calls “memorable and meaningful,” Ullah and musician Avirodh Sharma take audiences on a journey of vivid remembrances and discoveries from 1930s India (now Bangladesh) to 1970s Spanish Harlem to present-day Hollywood. Through comedy and music, this remarkable play, directed by the acclaimed Chay Yew, recounts the immigrant experience, how this country gets made, and the dreams of those who make it.

destroyed (Cabaret, The Old Globe)

An Asolo Repertory Theatre Production Book by Joe Masteroff Based on the play by John Van Druten and stories by Christopher Isherwood Music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb Directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to Cabaret! It’s 1931 Berlin, and inside the Kit Kat Klub, British nightclub singer Sally Bowles keeps the delirious party raging. But no amount of booze, music, and dancing can slow the ominous march of a changing Germany as it draws ever closer. Featuring an iconic score from Kander and Ebb—including “Maybe This Time,” “Mein Herr,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” and, of course, the title song—this Tony Award–winning musical is reimagined in a visionary new staging by Globe favorite Josh Rhodes (Guys and Dolls, Bright Star). BroadwayWorld calls this production, “Hands down the most cohesive, well-rounded, fully conceptualized staging of this musical that I have seen to date. My friends, this is how you do Cabaret.”