Regional NewsHuey Lewis and the News Musical The Heart of Rock & Roll to Premiere at San Diego’s Old GlobeThe theatre’s 2018–2019 season will also include the West Coast premiere of Nia Vardalos’ Tiny Beautiful Things, Ken Ludwig’s The Gods of Comedy, and Danai Gurira’s Familiar.
By
Adam Hetrick
May 04, 2018
Huey Lewis and the News
The Old Globe in San Diego has announced the lineup for its 2018–2019 season, which will launch with the world premiere of The Heart of Rock & Roll, the new musical featuring the songs of Huey Lewis and the News.
Gordon Greenberg directs the new jukebox musical, which has a book by Jonathan Abrams and a story by Tyler Mitchell and Abrams. The musical about a corporate man who throws in his tie to reunite with his former band and take one last shot at rock and roll glory will run September 6–October 21.
Another musical world premiere, Looking for Christmas: The New Clint Black Musical—inspired by the country singer’s 1995 holiday album—will follow November 13–December 16. Kent Nicholson will direct the musical about a soldier’s reunion with his family after returning home from Afghanistan. Looking for Christmas has music and lyrics by Black and a book by Black and James D. Sasser.
Phillip James Brannon and Nia Vardalos in Tiny Beautiful ThingsJoan Marcus
Two recent Off-Broadway plays will make their West Coast debuts at the Globe next year, with Tony Award nominee Danai Gurira’s Familiar set to run January 26–March 3, 2019, and Nia Vardalos’ Tiny Beautiful Things (based on the best-selling book by Cheryl Strayed), which will run February 9–March 10.
A reworked version of the acclaimed Canadian musical Life After, which premiered at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2016, will receive its U.S. premiere at the Old Globe March 22–April 28. The musical about a 16-year-old girl faced with the sudden loss of her father (a superstar self-help guru) features a book and score by Britta Johnson. Barry Edelstein will direct.
The Globe will also stage full productions of new plays developed as part of its Powers New Voices Festival, including Laurel Ollstein’s They Promised Her the Moon (April 6–May 11) and What You Are, a Globe commission by playwright JC Lee (May 23–June 23).
Also announced is the co-world premiere of Ken Ludwig’s latest play, The Gods of Comedy, about a college classics professor whose cry for help with her career and relationship is answered by the Greek gods of comedy. The show will run May 11–June 16 under the direction of three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall following a run at the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey in early 2019.
The Globe will continue with its annual staging of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, running November 3–December 29.
