Top San Diego Theater Picks 2022-2023

I'm a little late for summarizing the best of 2023, and I skipped 2022, so I've decided to bunch some memorable entertainment into this blog as we spring into early February 2024. 

The San Diego area has a vast array of cultural venues, from comedy, traveling Broadway shows, symphony, opera, and local theater, to galleries, museums, and outdoor festivals, but theater is always a top pick for me. Here's a roundup of selected shows we enjoyed over the past two years, which you may want to see in your own community or possibly in New York. 

The Old Globe Theater is a San Diego treasure, its architecture in the style of Stratford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare was born and his plays performed. While Shakespeare takes center stage outdoors during the summer, excellent musicals and dramas can be seen on the Globe's three indoor stages all year long in Balboa Park. 

(Credit: Condé Nast Traveler)

Bob Fosse's Dancin' (June 2022) was an updated version of the original show, incorporating a variety of dance styles paying homage to the white-gloved performances Fosse originated four decades ago. The staging was an ongoing creation of exuberant performances and costumes, reminiscent of the master's jazz inspired numbers with music to match.

Come Fall In Love the DDJL musical (September 2022) was an Old Globe world premiere of a Bollywood story adapted from a beloved Indian film, a cultural phenomenon with audiences lining up daily at the box office. Acting, songs, and color-drenched sets create a mesmerizing musical infused with flashy costumes and video backdrops to establish a sense of place during the main character's travels around Europe. In the end, the throbbing score and choreography deliver a vivid cultural overlay for the girl-meets-boy tale that challenges the norm, rendering the show utterly irresistible. It's currently in development on Broadway, so watch for the opening announcement sometime this year!

Cabaret  (September 2023) was a revival of a musical that has survived the test of time, while evoking reminders of a disturbing era all too similar to today's global political climate. The Kit Kat Club, with a cast of unforgettable characters and provocative entertainment, provides a seedy setting for the story of an American writer who falls for Sally Bowles, the lead performer at the club. Sets and staging capture the ambience of pre-WWII Germany as Hitler is rising to power and characters find themselves struggling to understand the world around them. All does not end well. The Kit Kat Club becomes a microcosm that is both a reflection of and escape from the pending horrors. The Emcee, a wide-eyed flirt bubbling with glee and suggestive one-liners like  spitballs, holds the audience's attention. Sally is the lost soul whose predicament is predictable. She gives the story its heart, but also its sad ending, not unlike the fate of Germany.

Opera

El Ultimo Sueno de Frida Y Diego (Oct/Nov 2022) was a magical experience and a San Diego Opera world premiere at the San Diego Civic Theatre in 2022. The extraordinary work focused on the love story of Mexico's famed artists who were forever intertwined through art, marriage, breakups, affairs, tragedy, and more. With a nod to Mexican folklore, the memorable sets are most brilliant in their depiction of the underworld. Frida had already passed, and Diego would die soon. Despite their complicated relationship, and Diego's reputation as a controversial public figure and unfaithful partner, he longs for his beloved Frida weeks before his passing. Actors perform in a stunning glow of candlelight on three ascending levels of the stage. Their robust operatic vocals resonate to the beat of haunting orchestral accompaniment in the underworld. Despite a full season of opera in San Diego, I’ve not been a frequent patron, but couldn't miss this much praised production about two people whose lives stretched across continents and have been memorialized in exhibitions, books,  documentaries, and movies. Frida y Diego has since been performed by San Francisco and Los Angeles opera companies, both in 2023. Perhaps on its way to a venue near you?

More Theater

The Ferryman (Jan-March 2023) presented by New Village Arts  in Carlsbad Village was a calculated walk through a dark  period of modern history. The story is about the impact of The Troubles on everyday people from 1968-1994 in Northern Ireland. Told from the perspective of the Carney family, modest grain farmers, the audience bears witness to the ambiguous nature of the social and political nightmare for the majority of the population. Going about their daily tasks during this era of undercover terrorism, if someone made a wrong move or comment toward the wrong person, they could find themselves tangled in violence or worse. It was a guessing game of who's on whose side. When violence ultimately befalls the peaceful Carney home, grief, uncertainty, and despair are palpable. Ferryman is a 2019 Tony award-winning play, considered one of the major dramas of the modern era. For anyone who recalls watching IRA stories play out on TV, The Troubles were a never-ending civil war news story. I was intrigued by the play, both informative and disturbing, as it demonstrated the plight of so many people caught powerless, without the freedom to live full lives, or to plan for their futures. The direction, performances and sets at New Village Arts were Tony worthy.

42nd Street (August 2023) at Moonlight Stage Productions, a local treasure in Vista, California, was a breath of fresh air. From a tap-dancing title opener to a Lullaby of Broadway show-stopper, the performances rang with vitality and familiarity. The story is adapted from the film about a small town girl who gets her big chance on Broadway when the lead calls in sick. It's a triumphant tribute to New York that pays homage to all that American musical theater represents. The gifts of the show are legendary contributions to the Great American Songbook, i.e. I Only Have Eyes for You, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, and 42nd Street. As a childhood dancer myself, who performed in variety shows and fund-raisers as a young mom, I have a soft spot in my heart for American musicals. I was tempted to jump up from my seat to the stage, tap my feet, and kick my legs in chorus line numbers. Other memories bubbled in my head as well. The Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut, dedicated solely to American musical theater, was always a treat when I lived in the area. Moonlight has a strong reputation for quality outdoor musical productions, and this one sparkled with all the right ingredients to keep the buzz alive. Don’t miss this one if it lands in your neck of the woods.