Theatre to look forward to in 2019
As this year draws to an end there are many differentarticles and lists about the best theatre in San Diego in 2018. This is not oneof those articles. This is a list towards the future, looking out on thehorizon at the shows that are singing their irresistible sirens song.
So here are the shows that I’m looking forward to seeing in the next 3 months. I’m only covering a few months because not everything for 2019 has been announced. I’ll follow up with other lists of shows that I’m looking forward to as soon as they are scheduled and as the year rolls out. It’ll be a year full of lists!
San Diego Repertory Theatre –AUBERGINE
January 24th – February 17th, 2019
Food, family, and culture can all be wrapped up in oneanother and in AUBERGINE, Chef Ray finds himself returning to family recipes tohelp connect with his Father who is ill. Connecting and strengtheningfamilial and cultural bonds through cooking, love at first bite, and the wayyou remember food your loved ones have made; sometimes a perfectly made itemcan express what words cannot. I’m taking my foodie friend with me to seethis play and I’m excited to see how all these theatrical ingredients cometogether.
The Old Globe – TINY BEAUTIFULTHINGS
February 9th – March 10th, 2019
A show about an anonymous advice columnist, based on abestselling book, adapted into a play by Nia Vardalos (Yes, from MY BIG FATGREEK WEDDING) and directed by James Vásquez (THE LORAX, THE GRINCH, INTHE HEIGHTS) who always finds the funny and the heart in the shows hedirects? Count me in!
(Full disclosure, Iwas really torn between this and FAMILIAR, written by Danai Gurira and playingJanuary 26th – March 3rd, so maybe just go see both)
La Jolla Playhouse – DIANA
February 19- April 7th, 2019
DIANA is a musical about, yes, that Diana. Thisworld-premiere musical looks at how an assistant kindergarten teacher ended upbecoming one of the most famous and photographed women in the world. Asan Anglophile and an English Monarchy buff I find the idea of this musicalfascinating. A palace with entrenched rules and traditions handed down fromgenerations or monarchs, navigating the increasing media fixation, and tryingto live within a marriage that had its challenges from the start in a show bythe Tony award winning team from MEMPHIS this is one not to miss.
Cygnet Theatre – ANGELS IN AMERICA
March 6 - April 20th, 2019
ANGELS IN AMERICA is set in New York in the mid 1980’s inthe middle of the AIDS crisis. A story told in two parts it follows thelives of people as they are impacting or impacted by the events around them. It is simultaneously hilarious, heartbreaking, and hopeful. It grapples with love, sex, religion, lifeand death, and how to find hope where it can seem there is none. A winnerof two Tony Awards for Best Play and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama show packs anemotional and thoughtful one-two punch.
Diversionary Theatre – HEDWIG ANDTHE ANGRY INCH
March 21 – April 21, 2019
HEDWIG is iconic; it’s rock and roll, it has conqueredBroadway, and still this show never seems to stop reinventing itself. This is the 20th anniversary production from its initial off-Broadwaydebut, and Diversionary is even doing a nationwide search for the right “gendernon-binary performer” to rock Hedwig’s heels and wigs. I’ll be the personin the back singing along wearing way too much glitter….
San Diego has so much theatre; the next list is just goingto be even more difficult to choose highlights from! If you happen to see any of these on the list(or really, any show), I’d love to know what you thought! Here’s to greatupcoming theatre in 2019!