Carrie Fisher, who died today at age 60, is destined to be known now and forever as Princess Leia Organa from the "Star Wars" saga. But Fisher's creative exploits stretched well beyond Holly…
San Diego's theater scene staked its claims far and wide in 2016, with the Old Globe Theatre-bred "Bright Star" (dreamed up in part by some guy named Steve Martin) landing on Broadway, an…
It's that time of year again when the forces of good gear up for a throwdown with those pesky legions of evil, in a last-ditch bid to save the galaxy/republic/aging entertainment franchise f…
Say this about the ever-festive Marshall family of Lamb's Players Theatre's "An American Christmas": They know how to do the holidays in style. For 25 years now, they've been the (fictional)…
Small may indeed be beautiful, as noted economist E. F. Schumacher once famously declared. But when it comes to CD and vinyl box sets, bigger is clearly better "Â and far more lucrative. T…
Late in Deborah Stein's play "The Wholehearted," the central character is recounting a horrific attack at the hands of her own husband when a TV-documentary host asks:Â "What did you do to…
A look at some top local productions of "The Nutcracker," that holiday ballet staple: California Ballet California Ballet returns to the Tchaikovsky favorite for an impressive 46th season…
Intrepid Theatre is shaking up its season and launching an ambitious community-outreach project as the rising company heads into the new year. First, Intrepid has announced that it will repl…
If San Diego's Hafso siblings ever do the musical "White Christmas" together, someone will have to rework the beloved duet "Sisters" to accommodate a party of three. As it happens, that s…
La Jolla Playhouse has picked its lead duo for "Freaky Friday," the stage-musical take on the movie-based saga of switched personalities. And the theater didn't have to look far: The two Bro…
Just over a year ago, George Takei experienced what he calls the "incredible, absolute thrill of a lifetime": Seeing the title of the stage musical he inspired go up on a Broadway marquee. T…
Lionsgate led its rival studios in Golden Globe Awards nominations Monday, thanks to the acclaimed movies "La La Land," "Hacksaw Ridge" and "Hell or High Water." The Santa Monica …
It's 1916 all over again (say hey to Woodrow Wilson and World War I) as Lamb's Players Theatre steps back 100 years in time for "An American Christmas,"Â its sumptuous annual stage show an…
Just when you think there's nothing new under the sun (or inside the snow globe), along comes a Christmas show that reminds even the Scrooge-iest soul how rewarding holiday theater can be…
When things are going well at a nonprofit arts organization " revenue up, audiences engaged, creativity flourishing " the glory often goes to the group's top executive (or exe…
The holidays won't be the same this year for fans of San Diego's longest-running Christmas theater tradition. For the first time in 25 years, "La Pastorela" "Â a show that's updated each y…
Sometimes, creating theater is like making a fresh miracle happen every day (twice a day if you're talking weekends). So sure, why not add a few degrees of difficulty by dreaming up…
Just when you think you've got "The Mystery of Love and Sex" all figured out (the play, not the riddles it references), someone can be counted on to throw expectations to the curb with a sim…
Works by a quartet of rising playwrights will get their first showcases in January, as the Old Globe Theatre announces the lineup for its fourth annual New Voices Festival. Among the plays t…
Some shows make you want to shout. Others very much want to make you shout, whether you had it in mind or not. "A Snow White Christmas" is unabashedly one of the latter: Audiences for …
Leonard Bernstein and a landmark album by The Beatles? There are so many facets to Edo de Waart's globe-hopping career as one of the most respected orchestral and operatic conductors of the …
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) …
Southern California Ballet is going all out with its 25th production of "The Nutcracker" by showcasing world-renowned dancers Jeremy Rucker and Dominique Larose as well as local Broadway-…
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…