The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego today announced its 2014-2015 Season today and by the looks of it, it sounds terrific.
It all starts off September 13 with the World Premiere of Bright Star, a new musical with music by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin, lyrics by Edie Brickell, book by Steve Martin, based on an original story by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie makes his Globe debut directing with this entertaining musical of enduring love, family ties, and the light of forgiveness that shines from a bright star.
Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman, makes her San Diego directing debut beginning March 21 with The White Snake.
Jonathan Tolins’s “totally fictional” Off Broadway hit, Buyer & Cellar will be directed by Ron Lagomarsino, with performances beginning April 4th.
With The Twenty-Seventh Man, Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein returns to the play he premiered in New York by award-winning novelist Nathan Englander and reimagines it for the Globe’s intimate in-the-round space, bringing us larger-than-life personalities and an unforgettable reminder of the transcendent power of storytelling. It makes its West Coast Premiere on February 14.
Boxing’s “breakthrough saga for a new generation” (LA Times), Marco Ramirez’s wildly theatrical new play The Royale brings to explosive life the sights and sounds of the early 20th century boxing circuit, beginning October 4. Globe veteran Scott Schwartz returns January 24 to direct Kellen Blair and Joe Kinosian’s Off Broadway hit, Murder for Two, a vaudevillian mystery musical with an energetic two-man cast. Utterly romantic and one of the wittiest and most charming plays of the English stage, George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man mixes smarts and silliness in a wonderfully entertaining tale of love and war beginning May 9.
Tickets to the Globe’s 2014-2015 Season are currently available by subscription only. Subscription prices range from $99 to $615. Subscription packages may be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office.
Below are the show descriptions in more detail:
- The World Premiere of Bright Star, a new American musical – Music by Edie Brickell and Steve Martin, Lyrics by Brickell, Book by Martin, Based on an original story by Martin and Brickell, Directed by Walter Bobbie (Sept. 13 – Nov. 2, 2014) Donald and DarleneShiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.From award-winning screenwriter and playwright Steve Martin (Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Roxanne) and chart-topping singer-songwriter Edie Brickell comes a world premiere American musical inspired by their Grammy Award-winning collaboration “Love Has Come For You.” Bright Star features 25 new songs and tells a beguiling tale that unfolds in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina between 1923 and 1945. Billy Cane, a young soldier just home from World War II, meets Alice Murphy, the brilliant editor of a southern literary journal. Together they discover a powerful secret that alters their lives. Tony Award-winning director Walter Bobbie (Broadway’s Chicago) makes his Globe debut with this entertaining musical of enduring love, family ties, and the light of forgiveness that shines from a bright star.
- The Royale by Marco Ramirez (Oct. 4 – Nov. 2, 2014) Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.Jay “The Sport” Jackson dreams of being the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. But it’s 1905, and in the segregated world of boxing, his chances are as good as knocked out. When a crooked boxing promoter hatches a plan for “the fight of the century,” The Sport just might land a place in the ring with the reigning white heavyweight champion. Loosely based on real events, Marco Ramirez’s (“Orange is the New Black”) wildly theatrical new play brings to explosive life the sights and sounds of the early 20th century boxing circuit, and the ultimate fight for a place in history. The Los Angeles Times declared, “The Royale reanimates this breakthrough saga for a new generation!”
- Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! – Book and Lyrics by Timothy Mason, Music by Mel Marvin, Original Production Conceived and Directed by Jack O’Brien, Original Choreography by John DeLuca, Directed by James Vásquez (Nov. 15 – Dec. 27, 2014) Donald and DarleneShiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.Everyone’s favorite green meanie will return for his 17th consecutive year in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the heartwarming musical based on the classic book and animated film. James Vásquez returns to direct this beloved San Diego holiday tradition.
- Murder for Two – Book and Music by Joe Kinosian, Book and Lyrics by Kellen Blair, Directed by Scott Schwartz (Jan. 24 – Mar. 1, 2015) Donald and DarleneShiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.Multi-millionaire Arthur Whitney has been murdered at his own birthday party, and his killer could be any one of the guests. But this is no ordinary murder mystery. The entire world of this hilarious musical is brought to life by two incredible performers: one plays the detective, the other plays all 10 suspects, and both play the piano! Murder for Two is an irrepressibly wacky tour-de-force musical that NewYork1 dubbed “a must-see 90-minute jolt of caffeinated creativity!”
- The Twenty-Seventh Man by Nathan Englander, Directed by Barry Edelstein(Feb. 14 – Mar. 15, 2015) Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.In a Soviet prison in 1952, Stalin’s secret police have rounded up 26 writers, the giants of Yiddish literature in Russia. As judgment looms, a 27th suddenly appears: a teenager, unpublished and unknown. Baffled by his arrest, he and his cellmates wonder at what has brought them together and wrestle with what it means to write in troubled times. Time Out New York called The Twenty-Seventh Man “exquisite – as chilling and haunted as a ghost story.” Artistic Director Barry Edelstein returns to the play he premiered in New York by award-winning novelist Nathan Englander and reimagines it for the Globe’s intimate in-the-round space, bringing us larger-than-life personalities and an unforgettable reminder of the transcendent power of storytelling.
- The White Snake –Written and Directed by Mary Zimmerman (March 21 – April 26, 2015) Donald and DarleneShiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.One of the true geniuses of the American theatre makes her long-awaited San Diego debut with The White Snake! Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman creates an enchanting theatrical spectacle with live music and sumptuous visuals. In this visionary staging of a classic Chinese fable, a gentle serpent transforms into a beautiful woman. She falls in love with a dashing young man and decides to stay human forever, until a wicked monk discovers her true identity and vows to destroy her. The White Snake is an unforgettable theatrical event for all ages that NPR called “strikingly beautiful.” The New York Times proclaimed that Zimmerman “creates richly imagistic works – her eye refines and refinishes, drawing ever-sharper pictures from the texts she theatricalizes.”
- Buyer & Cellar by Jonathan Tolins, Directed by Ron Lagomarsino (April 4 – May 3, 2015) Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.What’s a renowned diva to do with decades of memories that light the corners of her mind? And where to put the acres of memorabilia bursting the seams of her Malibu estate? If you’re Barbra Streisand, you enshrine them in a mini-mall in your basement where you can pretend to go shopping! Out-of-work actor Alex More can’t pass up the oddest of odd jobs—an offer to play shopkeeper for one tough customer who doesn’t let anyone rain on her parade. Soon it begins to take a toll on his patience, his love life, and his view of people (who need people). Jonathan Tolins’s “totally fictional” Off Broadway hit will have you rolling in the aisles and realizing why The New York Times called it “seriously funny – a remarkably sustained slice of absurdist whimsy,” and the New York Daily News declared, “This play deserves a hearty ‘Hello, gorgeous!’ ”
- Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw(May 9 – June 14, 2015) Donald and DarleneShiley Stage, Old Globe Theatre, ConradPrebys Theatre Center.George Bernard Shaw’s most romantic comedy! The beautiful Raina Petkoff is about to marry the heroic soldier Sergius. But the battlefield sweeps into her boudoir when an enemy soldier takes refuge under her bed. Soon she will have to decide between her romantic ideals and the surprising sensations of new love. Arms and the Man, one of the wittiest and most charming plays of the English stage, mixes smarts and silliness in a wonderfully entertaining tale of love and war.
