Coronado Playhouse proudly announces their 2021 Season, which will be the 75th anniversary for the Playhouse. CPH has prepared shows that will adhere to standards necessitated by COVID-19, while being comfortable for patrons and performers alike. The shows at the beginning of the year are smaller in scale but will have a big impact in terms of entertainment and significance. The shows later in the season, if permitted, will bring music and some of the larger scale productions patrons have come to expect from the historic institution.
CPH is also announcing a complete rebrand, including a new look and new website. The new site is found at coronadoplayhouse.org. The old site, with the .com suffix, is still active and will fork to the new URL. The new site will be hosting historical images and stories from the Playhouse’s 75-year history. They are also asking the public’s help in filling any gaps and in sharing other Playhouse history. Those with information can email [email protected].
The new season includes six main shows, including a FREE classic production, and several concert and cabaret events. Other exciting programming includes readings and other 75th anniversary events. CPH welcomes back three returning directors and welcomes new debuting directors to their stage.
Season ticket renewals and new subscriptions are available now. Please contact the box office for best seating. Single tickets are also available.
cul-de-sac
By John Cariani
A dark (suburban) comedy
January 30 – February 14, 2021
Streaming live, via ZOOM only
Weekends: Saturdays @ 7pm, Sundays @ 2pm
Directed by Sean Paul Boyd, debuting CPH director
On a lovely spring evening, all is not quite what it seems for three couples living on the same suburban cul-de-sac. Follow along as these neighbors go to great lengths to appear happy in what turns out to be both a darkly comedic and heartbreaking tale examining the American dream. This witty comedy explores the extreme measures people take to achieve their dreams.
cul-de-sac is by John Cariani, the Tony-nominated actor and a playwright of Almost, Maine, Love/Sick and Last Gas.
Director Sean Paul Boyd is no stranger to Coronado Playhouse. He directed A Holiday Cabaret. He also performed on the CPH stage multiple times, most notably as an Aggie in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and as a winning contestant in Pageant, the Musical. He is currently the artistic director at Trinity Theatre Company.
HARLEM DUET
By Djanet Sears
A Rhapsodic Blues Tragedy
March 19 – April 18, 2020
Streaming on demand
Directed by Kandace Crystal (American History Theatre, Trinity Theatre Company) debuting CPH director
In what could be a prelude to Shakespeare’s Othello, Djanet Sears’s Harlem Duet recounts the story of Othello and his first wife, Billie (before Desdemona). Their history is told through the lives of three couples during eras of special significance in the Black American Experience.
Set in contemporary Harlem at the corner of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X Boulevards, the tale tows the line of racial identity, sexual politics, and mental illness in the black community. Sears’ script diffuses the action through three timelines: the 1860s, 1928 and the present.
It’s a weighty play, and one that leaves us with no easy answers.
Harlem Duet received Canada’s highest literary honor for dramatic writing, the Governor General’s Literary Award, in 1998. That year it also received the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award.
This show will be recorded on stage and streamed to patrons on demand.
NOTE: Harlem Duet contains adult language
CONSTELLATIONS
Written by Nick Payne
One relationship. Infinite possibilities.
May 21 – June 20, 2021
Thursday-Saturday @8pm, Sunday @ 2pm
Directed by Samuel Young, returning CPH director
Marianne and Roland meet at a party. They hit it off…or perhaps they don’t. They go for a drink…or perhaps they don’t. They go home together…or perhaps they go their separate ways. Maybe she breaks his heart. Maybe he breaks hers.
Suppose that life exists in a multiverse…a set of parallel existences that contain infinitely different outcomes. The possibilities in our lives are, quite literally, endless. Every possible event that could happen, does happen. And if two lovers meet…are drawn together in every version of existence…every possible happy ending and heartbreak that could befall them, will.
Nick Payne’s Constellations takes a chance encounter between two drifting souls and opens a door to the infinite possibilities of their relationship. Constellations is a spellbinding exploration at how the tiniest change in the details of our lives can dramatically alter the lives we live.
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
By William Shakespeare
25th Annual FREE Classic Series
Made possible by a grant from the City of Coronado
July 16 – August 8, 2021
Thursday-Saturday @8pm, Sunday @2pm
Directed by Dennis Floyd, debuting CPH director
Set in the city of Ephesus, The Comedy of Errors is about the farcical misadventures of two sets of identical twins. Egeon, a Syracusan merchant, had twin sons both named Antipholus. At their birth, he bought another pair of newborn twins, both named Dromio, as their servants. In a shipwreck, Egeon lost his wife, one of his sons, and one of the Dromios.
Egeon’s remaining son, Antipholus of Syracuse, and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, later come to Ephesus, where—unknown to them—is the home of their lost twins. The new visitors are confused when local residents seem to know them. A series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to farcical and fantastic misunderstandings.
When the four twins come together, all is finally resolved. And in one final twist, their long-separated parents reunite as well.
The Comedy of Errors was first performed in 1594, and was probably written the year before, during the plague of 1592-93. Due to our current “plague,” we are now subject to new limits of social distancing and quarantining which add to the mishaps and the frustrations experienced by the characters in this production. Humor stems from their foibles as they navigate the necessary restrictions in a way that will seem all too familiar.
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare’s early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humor coming from slapstick, mistaken identity, puns and word play.
THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND
Music by John Kander. Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Conceived by Susan Stroman, David Thompson, Scott Ellis
Music makes the world go ‘round
September 3 – October 10, 2021
Thursday-Saturday @8pm, Sunday @2pm
Directed and Choreographed by Lauren Haughton
Music Direction by Richard Morrison
The World Goes ‘Round is a brilliant revue of the songbook from the multi-Tony award-winning team of John Kander and Fred Ebb. The original production of this stunningly constructed retrospective of the prolific musical theatre collaborators won three Drama Desk Awards. It was conceived by director Scott Ellis, choreographer Susan Stroman, and librettist David Thompson, who collaborated on such Kander and Ebb shows as Steel Pier and the 1996 revival of Chicago.
Filled with humor, romance, drama and nonstop melody, this theatre favorite is a thrilling celebration of life and the fighting spirit that keeps us all going. The show opens with “And the World Goes ‘Round” with the message that no matter what good or bad things happen in life, the world, and life, goes on.
Five singer/dancers find themselves careening through the world of love, babies, coffee, and everything in between. From Cabaret to Chicago, the nonstop hit-parade features unforgettable gems, including “Mr. Cellophane,” “Maybe This Time,” “Cabaret” and “New York, New York,” seamlessly interwoven into a passionate, harmonious, up-tempo evening of musical theatre.
The World Goes ‘Round is a thrilling eclectic collection of love songs, torch songs, and acerbically witty comic numbers. The musical arrangements and witty libretto will undoubtedly enthrall audiences and send them home humming a tune or two.
CLUE
Adapted from the screenplay by Jonathan Lynn
Additional Materials by Hunter Foster, Eric Price and Sandy Rustin
Adapted from the Paramount Pictures Film Written by Jonathan Lynn and the Board Game from Hasbro, Inc.
It’s not just a game anymore
November 5 – December 12, 2021
Thursday-Saturday @8pm, Sunday @2pm
Directed by Desha Crownover
On a dark and stormy night, six oddball guests, a butler and a maid, assemble for a dinner party at the home of Mr. Boddy. When their host turns up dead, it is clear that no one is safe! Soon the guests are racing to find the killer and keep the body count from stacking up. Join the iconic Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock and Colonel Mustardas they race to find the murderer and outgame each other.
The stage adaptation is lovingly based on the original cult classic 1985 Paramount movie which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue. The writers include Jonathan Lynn, who directed the original movie, Broadway star and director Hunter Foster, who directed the world premiere of Clue on Stage, Sandy Rustin and Eric Price.
This hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery will keep you guessing, and laughing, until the final twistas you try to figure out…WHO did it, WHERE and with WHAT!
When blackmail and murder are on the menu, everyone is a suspect.
Special Events:
LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE
By Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, Based on the book by Ilene Beckerman
An intimate collection of stories
One Weekend Only!
April 23 – April 25, 2021
Friday & Saturday @ 7pm, Sunday @ 2pm
Directed by Mary L. Smith, returning CPH director
This wonderfully witty show tells the life stories of women through the lens of their clothes covering all the important subjects—mothers, prom dresses, mothers, buying bras, mothers, hating purses and why we only wear black. Love, Loss, and What I Wore uses our connection with clothing and accessories, and the memories they trigger, to tell funny and poignant stories that all women can relate to.
From the well-known writers of “When Harry Met Sally…”, “Sleepless in Seattle”, and “You’ve Got Mail” and based on the best-selling book by Ilene Beckerman, this Drama Desk Award-winning play is a unique collection of monologues and ensemble pieces that are both funny and powerful.
VANITIES: THE MUSICAL
Book by Jack Heifner
Music/Lyrics by David Kirshenbaum
A celebration of friendship
Coronado Playhouse Concert Series
August 13 – August 15, 2021
Friday & Saturday @ 7pm, Sunday @ 2pm
Directed by Marc Caro
Vanities: The Musical chronicles the life-affirming journey of three vivacious Texas teens from cheerleaders to sorority sisters to housewives to liberated women and beyond.
This musical offers a sharp portrait of the lives, loves, disappointments, and dreams of these young women growing up during the turbulent sixties and seventies and reconnecting in the late 1980s. With a tunefully evocative score by David Kirshenbaum (Summer of ’42) and Jack Heifner’s hilarious adaptation of his long-running Off-Broadway smash, Vanities: The Musical is a funny and poignant look at three best friends who discover that, through thirty years of rapidly changing times, the one thing they can rely on is each other.
CLOSER THAN EVER
Music by David Shire
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Song by Song. A Cabaret.
October 14 – October 17, 2021
Thursday – Saturday @ 7pm, Sunday @ 2pm
Directed by Danny Campbell
Music Direction by Kirk Valles
Featuring Ralph Johnson, Sandy Campbell, Lee Lampard Stone, Drew Martin
Closer than Ever is a look into the private song vault of Richard Maltby, Jr., and David Shire (Big; Starting Here, Starting Now; Baby). The revue, Maltby and Shire’s Closer Than Ever, is filled to the brim with the brilliance for which these musical theatre giants are known.
Closer Than Ever is a nonstop exploration of everyday struggles in the “modern world.” Topics ranging from unrequited adoration… to aging… to Muzak are tackled with resounding sincerity and precisely placed hilarity. Each song is a unique story told by a new character, taking audiences, not only into the songbook of Mr. Maltby and Mr. Shire, but into the minds of the individuals facing these completely relatable challenges.
Closer Than Ever will inspire audiences to pause for self-reflection, whether presented as a fully realized production or a simple concert piece.
This “bookless book musical,” began as a one-act play conceived by Steven Scott Smith, who later expanded it into a two-act production, with Maltby taking over as director. Shire’s many credits include 2010, Farewell, My Lovely, All The President’s Men, the score for Saturday Night Fever, and The Conversation, which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola; Maltby is best known for the two revues he conceived and directed, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Fosse, both of which enjoyed long runs on Broadway.
JAMES BOND: THE MUSICAL ON STRAND WAY
Written and Performed by Tom Steward
A whistle-stop cabaret parody.
December 17 – 19, 2021
Friday & Saturday @ 7pm, Sunday @ 2pm
Writer and performer Tom Steward takes the audience on a whistle-stop tour of all 25 Bond films from Connery to Craig in and around live musical performances of James Bond-related music.
An evening of comedy and music in tribute to the James Bond films and their themes. Writer-performer Tom Steward parodies each and every Bond film in a new version of his solo show featuring performances by local musicians and musical theatre performers of rejected Bond themes, alternatives to the classic film scores, and some of the more bizarre soundtracks. Also featuring lip-sync, mime and interpretive dance, the show will close with the debut performance of an original theme composed for the as-yet unreleased 25th official Bond film, No Time to Die.
The show is based on Lonesome Whistle Productions’ One-Man Bond which debuted in July 2018 during The San Diego International Fringe Festival at The Geoffrey Off Broadway. Condensing all the Bond films into 60 minutes of stage time, this fast-paced solo show written, performed and directed by Tom Steward took audiences on a whistle-stop tour through all the Bonds from Connery to Craig featuring comic parodies, actor impersonations, and lines of dialogue from the films. In early 2019, the show was revived as part of the full-length productions of Bond on Third at Onstage Playhouse and Bond on Draper at La Jolla Riford Library with extensive new material including a multi-part staged reading of a James Bond TV serial.
Presented by Coronado Playhouse in association with Lonesome Whistle Productions.
Lonesome Whistle Productions, a company dedicated to developing innovative solo theatre, was conceived as a way of bringing Steward’s original one-person show One Man Bond to The San Diego International Fringe Festival in 2018. Since then, the company has collaborated with three San Diego theatre companies (OnStage Playhouse, La Jolla Theatre Ensemble and, now, Coronado Playhouse) to present short runs of “Bond on… “, a theatrical celebration of all things James Bond. Going forward,
Lonesome Whistle plans to collaborate with other emerging solo artists in San Diego to develop their ideas and help them get their work to the stage.
Coronado Playhouse is a qualified 501(c) 3 non-profit organization as San Diego County’s longest continuously run community theatre.
