MotherNature Promises Pleasant Summer Nights

By Bob Morey

Ohhhhh My Friends, strap in; it’s going to be a fast and fun ride from now through September. The State of California has finally kicked Mother Nature back her share of the Carbon Tax, you know, one that we have all been paying since the voters approved Prop. 32, so we’ll finally be back to having the nearperfect weather we have come to love once again. I have been told by reliable sources that the sun will be out in the mornings and the nights will be warm and pleasant. For San Diego, this will last through early October with predictable weather forecasts. However, the clear mornings won’t begin until around July 1st as it will take about 30 days to process the payment to Mother Nature, however, the pleasant warm evenings will already be happening by the time you read this as a gift from Ms. Nature. Now that we are officially into summer, let’s go out and play.

On June 4th, on The Old Globe’s outdoor stage, The Lowell Davies Festival Theatre opens for its summer season with one of William Shakespeare’s most perfect plays, The Twelfth Night. Shipwrecked and alone in foreign Illyria, young Viola masquerades as her lost twin brother and becomes the go-between for the lovesick Duke Orsino and the beautiful Countess Olivia. Soon Viola finds herself in the middle of a topsy-turvy love triangle with lunacy and laughs on every side. This one has it all -- romance, music, poetry, comedy, swordplay, and more! Directed by Three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall (Globe’s Much Ado About Nothing, Love’s Labor’s Lost), The Twelfth Night is one of The Bard’s true comic masterpieces and will be one of the perfect nights under the San Diego stars you can have.

Running indoors on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage through June 25th is the hit Destiny Of Desire

On a stormy night in Bellarica, Mexico, two babies are born — one into a life of incredible wealth and one into a life of poverty. When a ruthless ex–beauty queen swaps the newborns, the stage is set for two outrageous misfortunes to grow into an extraordinary destiny. Directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (August Wilson’s Jitney) and filled with vibrant choreography and live music, Destiny of Desire explores the emotional rollercoaster and social commentary that make the telenovela the most popular form of storytelling on the planet.

Opening on June 7th, The North Coast Rep presents the West Coast Premiere of Eleanor. Written us back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer might just be the coolest guy in the room. Based on the hit Adam Sandler movie, “The Wedding Singer’s” sparkling score does for the ‘80s what “Hairspray” did for the 60s. Just say yes to the most romantic musical in twenty years. It’s 1985, and rock star wannabe, Robbie Hart, is New Jersey’s favorite wedding singer. He’s the life of the party until his own fiancée leaves him at the altar. Shot through the heart, Robbie makes every wedding as disastrous as his own. Enter Julia, a winsome waitress who wins his affection. As luck would have it, Julia is about to be married to a Wall Street shark, and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a decade, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever. The Wedding Singer has a short gig and closes on the 24th.

Old Town is always a great place to be this time of the year and one of the best stops you can make is the Cygnet Theatre, which brings us the suspenseful, slow-burning dark comedy Sharon, running until July 2nd. Not all is as it seems in this hilarious and Hitchcockian story that makes you question…well, everything. Sharon and Jakey are a loving mother and son, running the crumbling apartment building in Everett, WA, that’s been in the family for generations, repainting the walls as the tenants move in and out. Soon we start to realize that perhaps this family is not what they seem. Or are they…? Over the course of a very tense dinner, the story unfolds, and power switches hands. We finally get to the bottom of this comedic thriller, asking the question: What does survival look like? And who the f*ck is Sharon.

The La Jolla Playhouse has a hit on their stage with The World Premiere of Love All in The Mandell Weiss Theatre. Written By Anna Deavere Smith and Directed by Marc Bruni, Love All is the triumphant story of the rise of a sports icon and social justice pioneer Billie Jean King. The trailblazer for equality faced tough competition on the court and adversity in the world, all against a backdrop of the massive social changes of the 1960s and 70s. Love All evokes the highs and lows of Billie Jean’s extraordinary career and asks not just what it takes to be a champion but what it takes to change the course of history. “We’ve been curtsying for years. Now it’s time to stand up.” Love All leaves us on July 2nd

By Mark St. Germain

and Directed by David Ellenstein (see our interview with Mr. Ellenstein in this issue). While sitting on her favorite park bench in Washington, D.C., Eleanor Roosevelt reveals the many facets of the dynamic and iconic First Lady. Award-winning actress, Kandis Chappell takes on the portrayal as the witty, feisty, vulnerable woman who was considered the heart of FDR’s presidency. Exploring both the public and private persona of this remarkable woman, Mark St. Germain (Dancing Lessons, Becoming Dr. Ruth, Freud’s Last Session) deftly captures the essence of the woman who left an indelible mark on American history.

June is the month for weddings, The Moonlight Amphitheater in Vista has another show pulled from a fan favorite film with The Wedding Singer opening on June 7th under the stars. The Wedding Singer takes

The Rady Shell is already getting a solid workout of events (see their website for the schedule). However, The San Diego Symphony officially opens its 2023 Summer Season on June 30th with Trumpeter Pacho Flores joining Conductor Rafael Payare and The San Diego Symphony Orchestra with a night of dancing and iconic melodies. Flores will perform the West Coast Premiere of Roberto Sierra’s Salseando. Written for him in 2020, the concerto blends jazz improvisation with salsa rhythms and melodies. Starting the night off is Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and closes with Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances, Op. 45.

So, enjoy your day at the fair, but don’t forget to check your calendars for all the great shows this month. Most of these shows will come and go if you blink a couple of times. But you can count on San Diego’s Performing Art Community to keep you entertained all summer long, and a memorable summer it’s shaping up to be, so don’t miss out.