All stories by JAMES HEBERT on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Scouting the San Diego connections in an off year for locally bred shows at the Tony Awards by James Hebert

Nominees for tonight's Broadway theater honors include directors Des McAnuff and Casey Nicholaw

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:07AM
Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Review: Cygnet Theatre's 'Pride and Prejudice' a wild comic ride in decidedly nontraditional take on Jane Austen by James Hebert

Kate Hamill's adaptation of beloved 1800s novel bursts with laughs and surprises but is not one for the purists

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:06AM
Sunday, May 19, 2019

After three decades, a place of its own for venerable theater troupe Teatro Máscara Mágica by James Hebert

Birthday celebration this week doubles as a fundraiser for local company's move into new Casa Familiar project in San Ysidro

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:32AM
Saturday, May 18, 2019

Review: 'Gods of Comedy' is old-fashioned but spirited fun in world premiere at the Old Globe by James Hebert

Humor can be corny in Ken Ludwig play, but setup is clever and performances in tune with story's silly appeal

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 08:23AM

Review: 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' has its fun moments but the taste is a little off by James Hebert

Touring production of Broadway musical doesn't quite capture the essence of fantastical Roald Dahl novel about a poor boy and an eccentric candy-maker

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 08:23AM

'They Promised Her the Moon' is leaving the Old Globe's orbit for short local tour by James Hebert

Fact-based play about women's efforts to join the U.S. space program will visit four venues as part of Globe for All initiative

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 08:23AM

San Diego-bred director Casey Nicholaw is a 'king' of Broadway — and shares surprising kinship with musical-theater newcomer Cameron Crowe by James Hebert

Nicholaw, who has four musicals on Broadway, came up in San Diego during writer-director Crowe's 'Ridgemont' days

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 08:23AM
Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Moxie Theatre looks at the big business of getting chill in San Diego premiere of 'Yoga Play' by James Hebert

Comedy from Indian-born playwright Dipika Guha takes cues from real life with story of scandal at apparel company

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:54PM

La Jolla Playhouse rolls out lineup for latest WOW Festival, set for October at Arts District Liberty Station by James Hebert

Slate of site-specific and immersive shows at new Loma Portal location includes three Playhouse-commissioned projects and both local and international artists

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:54PM

OnStage Playhouse delving into the steamy, funny and mysterious with 'Venus in Fur' by James Hebert

Chula Vista company staging David Ives' sharply witty drama of audition-room intrigue

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:54PM

Jane Austen gets a comic makeover from playwright Kate Hamill with 'Pride and Prejudice' at Cygnet Theatre by James Hebert

Old Town company staging area premiere of rising dramatist's adaptation that ran off-Broadway

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 03:35PM
Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Devo, musical theater and skateboarding: The story behind La Jolla Playhouse's Tony Hawk-connected project 'Slam' by James Hebert

Composer and Devo leader Mark Mothersbaugh, North County-bred skateboard hero Hawk and Broadway writer Kyle Jarrow roll out the first staged reading of a new, skate-focused piece adapted fro…

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 10:47PM

'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' a sweet gig for director and former Old Globe artistic leader Jack O'Brien by James Hebert

Touring version of his Broadway production is about to land in San Diego for the first time

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 10:47PM
Sunday, May 5, 2019

'Gods' paying a visit to the Old Globe as theater stages Ken Ludwig's latest world-premiere comedy by James Hebert

Balboa Park institution puts up story of Greek deities who try to help a hapless modern-day academic

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:53AM
Wednesday, May 1, 2019

San Diego-connected Des McAnuff and Casey Nicholaw receive Tony nominations for best direction of a musical by James Hebert

No locally sprung shows are nominated for Broadway's top honors, but directors McAnuff, Nicholaw are part of the just-announced field

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 10:17AM
Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Review: Nuns and disco find comic communion in winning 'Sister Act' at San Diego Musical Theatre by James Hebert

Show is lightweight but performed with verve by talented cast in Horton Grand production

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 08:49AM
Friday, April 26, 2019

World-premiere musical 'Almost Famous' tops Old Globe Theatre's just-announced 2019-20 season by James Hebert

Show based on San Diego-bred writer-director Cameron Crowe's movie is the marquee title on slate that takes in two other world premieres and five plays making their West Coast debuts

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 10:55AM

Cameron Crowe calls Old Globe's world-premiere stage adaptation of 'Almost Famous' an ode to music — and San Diego by James Hebert

Oscar-winning writer-director's life as a young journalist inspired 2000 movie that he now has adapted as a musical

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 10:55AM
Thursday, April 25, 2019

Review: At San Diego Rep, 'Sweat' conveys in raw terms the human cost of economic upheaval by James Hebert

Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Lynn Nottage gets a sharp, volatile staging in local premiere

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 05:49PM
Tuesday, April 23, 2019

'Sister Act' brings its swing inside the convent walls as San Diego Musical Theatre stages movie-based musical by James Hebert

Miriam Dance stars as Deloris Van Cartier in R&B-driven show coming to Horton Grand Theatre downtown

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 09:18PM
Monday, April 22, 2019

Ion Theatre taking a final bow after a 15-year run by James Hebert

Hillcrest-based company was still winning honors for its productions as recently as last year

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 10:03PM

'Hedwig' rocks on at Diversionary by James Hebert

Groundbreaking musical and its gender-fluid star a good fit for LGBTQ-centered theater

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:53PM

TuYo Theatre is putting up its first independent production with 'UN-' by James Hebert

Latinx-focused troupe staging stories at Lyceum by collection of authors on the topic of what it means to be American

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 01:59PM
Friday, April 19, 2019

Musical 'Nine' picks up where Fellini film left off by James Hebert

La Mesa's Lamplighters Community Theatre is reviving movie-inspired show that won five Tony Awards in 1983

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:48PM

A bar becomes a battle zone of class, race and competition as San Diego Rep stages Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Sweat' by James Hebert

Play focuses on economic upheaval that threatens to tear apart factory workers' families and friendships in struggling industrial town

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 11:33AM
Thursday, April 18, 2019

Jerrie Cobb, pioneering aviator and subject of now-running Old Globe play, has died at 88 by James Hebert

Champion pilot was key part of 'Mercury 13' program for female would-be astronauts, and the subject of Balboa Park theater's 'They Promised Her the Moon'

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 06:17PM
Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Musical 'Slam' — with skate choreography by Tony Hawk — about to get some air at La Jolla Playhouse by James Hebert

New show, which is getting a workshop production as part of the theater's DNA series, features music by Devo leader Mark Mothersbaugh

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 05:21PM
Monday, April 15, 2019

Review: Antic, frantic 'Servant of Two Masters' is mad for laughs at New Village Arts by James Hebert

New adaptation of Italian comedy classic goes for contemporary gags at Carlsbad theater

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 05:16PM
Sunday, April 14, 2019

Alan Cumming talks of the acting life and becoming an American in Escondido show by James Hebert

Tony Award-winning performer set for one-night turn in 'Legal Immigrant' at California Center for the Arts, Escondido

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 08:00AM
Friday, April 12, 2019

Review: Old Globe's 'Moon' gives lift to true-life story of America's first female space trainees by James Hebert

"They Promised Her the Moon," a play about ill-fated Mercury 13 program, gets a worthy West Coast premiere

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 05:28PM
Thursday, April 11, 2019

The time has arrived for David Ives' 'All in the Timing' at North Coast Rep by James Hebert

Solana Beach company staging perennially popular collection of comic plays

SOURCE: The San Diego Union-Tribune at 07:34PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards