3 minute read
Best Live Theater
JEFF GRITCHEN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Capulets rehearse for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo’s production of “Romeo and Juliet” at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
1. Segerstrom Center for the Arts
There’s a sense of prestige at Segerstrom Center for the Arts you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in Orange County. Opened in 1986 (originally as the Orange County Performing Arts Center), the nonprofit arts organization oversees multiple venues on the arts campus and serves as home to the Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Pacific Chorale and South Coast Repertory.
“The Center continues to bring internationally acclaimed performances, not only in our theaters, but also uniquely curated outdoor performances featuring eclectic artists on the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza,” said Segerstrom Senior Director of Communications Carla Cruz. “We stay true to our mission to continue to grow an amazing arts community… Our education programs regularly serve 300,000 people annually.
“We are always evolving and bringing new experiences,” added Cruz, citing the new author series In Conversation with Fran Lebowitz, Amy Tan, and Erik Larson as an example.
The 2022-23 Curtain Call and Broadway series schedules will feature “Hamilton,” “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Frozen,” “Mean Girls,” “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical” and the North American premiere of “Like Water for Chocolate.” Various other genre series will present Belinda Carlisle, Mavis Staples, Chita Rivera, Jane Lynch, Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, George Benson, and others over the coming months. Cruz added that the dance classes have been popular and that Segerstrom continues to maintain COVID-19 safety protocols.
2. Laguna Playhouse
606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach; 949-497-2787; lagunaplayhouse.com
Laguna Playhouse is one of the oldest continually operating nonprofit theaters on the West Coast. Open since 1920, it offers acting classes, workshops, and a summer theater camp for kids.
This past summer, the Playhouse presented “Saturday Night Fever — The Musical,” “Xanadu” and tribute act Forever Simon and Garfunkel. The comedic production “Kim’s Convenience,” based on the acclaimed Canadian TV sitcom, runs through Oct. 9.
Executive Producing Director Ellen Richard explains that the venue was founded by “local community members who had a dream that has been sustained by theater lovers in Orange County. (Millions) of artists, volunteers and audience members are responsible for us being here today. I hope they recognize the part they have played in these past 10 decades.”
When it comes to regular patrons, Richard says “I believe they consider the playhouse to be their hometown theater. There is a strong sense of pride and ownership of this legacy institution.”
Back in the early 1960s, South Coast Repertory staged its first production at the Newport Beach Ebell Club. Several venues later, the company is now based on the Segerstrom Center campus. Over the summer, SCR’s theatrical slate included “Million Dollar Quartet” and “Matilda — The Musical.”
Artistic Director David Ivers says SCR is “fortunate to have the resources to mount productions on a national scale,” which allows it to “tell complex and compelling stories that engage even as they entertain.”
The 2022-23 season features “Nina Simone: Four Women,” “Snow White,” “A Christmas Carol”; “Prelude to a Kiss — The Musical” and “Coleman ’72” (Pacific Playwrights Festival); “The Little Foxes” and “Appropriate” will run in repertory on the same stage with overlapping casts.
Ivers says SCR’s “diverse representation of voices, theme, style, and culture are at the center of our programming. It all intersects with a passionate commitment to new voices, new writers, new plays and how they speak to extant work.”
