 Left to right: Daniel Petzold, Maggie Lacey and Steve Kazee in "Appropriate." Photo by Jim Cox You know that expression “being in the moment”? I’ve been thinking a lot this year about live theater, about how important it is and how singularly immersive it is, and I believe this is why: We are “in the moment” when we sit together in the darkness and watch, hear, feel what’s happening on stage. The artists in front of us, too, are in the moment. Each performance is unique, no matter how many times it’s been repeated. Theater is now, theater is alive, theater is everyone in a sense being in the moment.
It’s been another stellar year for San Diego theater. My list of the 10 best productions of 2025 do not reflect the full breadth and ambition of what was presented on our local stages. But they stand out for me because in each of them, I found myself in the moment. That wasn’t always comfortable, but it was human. It was genuine. So, with much ado … 1. “Appropriate,” Old Globe Theatre. This harrowing production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Tony-winning (for Best Revival of a Play) melodrama was absolutely, positively NOT appropriate for the faint of heart. As I wrote way back in January when I reviewed it: “I can’t remember the last time I experienced a dramatic production as unsettling and frequently unpleasant as this one, while at once being completely engrossed.” Ostensibly the story of a disconnected family gathering at a rundown plantation mansion to settle their patriarch’s estate, “Appropriate” quickly escalated into a nasty, no-holds barred battle of words and recriminations. A ferocious cast led in ferocity by Maggie Lacey and directed by Steve H. Broadnax scorched through and savored shock after shock. 2. “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company. Another unnerving family drama set in the South – in this case, New Orleans’ Elysian Fields – Tennessee Williams’ classic “A Streetcar Named Desire” is often produced, and I’ve seen it onstage multiple times. My most memorable so far was Backyard’s bold and haunting (complete with an appearance by a whispering La Llorona) interpretation this summer, directed by Rob Lutfy. Blanche Dubois’ descent from the genteel into madness was portrayed with poignancy and torment by Jessica John, putting her own stamp on one of American theater’s most famous characters. With its two intermissions and its three-hour-plus running time, this production HAD to be compelling. It was. 3. “3 Summers of Lincoln,” La Jolla Playhouse. A crucial, quintessential American history lesson set to music (by Joe DiPietro and Daniel J. Watts), this richly conceived production gave us an Abraham Lincoln who was less the iconized figure played on film by Henry Fonda or Daniel Day Lewis and more a man of not just complexity and courage, but doubt as well. The titular “3 Summers” are those pitting Lincoln (Ivan Hernandez) against abolitionist Frederick Douglass (Quentin Earl Darrington), with the stakes being the soul and conscience of a nation. The musical score reflected the breadth of Americana, the story a reminder of the tragedy of war but at the same time the causes that need to be fought for. To director Christopher Ashley, now bound for New York’s Roundabout Theatre, bravo. For this and many others in La Jolla. 4. “Follies,” Cygnet Theatre. The most notable event NOT on a San Diego theater stage in 2025 was without question the opening of a brand-new venue: Cygnet Theatre’s Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center (aka The Joan) in Liberty Station with its two performance spaces. The larger Joseph Clayes III Theater was inaugurated with a stylish production of the rarely staged musical “Follies,” a 1971 collaboration between Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman. In a daring and inspired choice, Cygnet’s Sean Murray not only brought “Follies” to San Diego for the first time in more than 30 years, but cast many of our theater scene’s most esteemed actresses, including in the ex-showgirl leads Karole Foreman and Sandy Campbell. Even with its bizarro wind-up, “Follies” was sophisticated, nostalgic and often thrilling. 5. “Beauty’s Daughter,” OnWord Theatre. OnWord Theatre’s first full year producing culminated with a stirring one-person show written by Dael Orlandersmith and performed by OnWord co-founder Marti Gobel. Set in Harlem sometime in the ‘90s, “Beauty’s Daughter” is 31-year-old Diane, a scarred survivor in search of love, inner truth and reconciliation with an inescapable dark past. Over the course of 80 minutes, Gobel changed costumes and personas, becoming those either on the periphery or in the wheelhouse of Diane’s life – a streetwise teenager, a blind, drug addicted surrogate father, a philandering suitor among them. And Beauty herself, bitter and boozed out. All this accomplished in the tiny confines of Diversionary Theatre’s upstairs Blackbox space. 6. “La Llorona on the Blue Line,” TuYo Theatre. Leading ticket-holders from one vintage light-rail train to another with the wispy elusiveness of a butterfly by moonlight, La Llorona (Vanessa Flores) was the connective thread between three 15- to 20-minute stories written by Mabelle Reynoso and performed inside those retired railway or trolley cars. TuYo Theatre’s immersive production went down at the 1880s-built National City Depot operated by the San Diego Electric Railway Association. Reynoso’s vignettes, acted out practically in one’s lap, mingled haunting moments with evocations of gender equity and tales of women in the South Bay. Of all the site-specific theater events I attended this past year, including those at the Without Walls (WOW) Festival, this one was the most engrossing. 7. “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” North Coast Repertory Theatre. Two artists central to this rousing production of Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak’s hit Broadway show deserve a call-out: First, director Noelle Marion, who succeeded in translating this kinetic – and big -- musical comedy to a smaller stage; and actor Andrew Polec, who reveled in the role of likable but murder-minded Monty Navarro who’s seeking the D’Ysquith family lordship. Fortunately, I’d forgotten most of the Old Globe’s 2013 world premiere of this costumed romp (though not the unforgettable Jefferson Mays), so the North Coast Rep production was almost like seeing “Guide” for the first time. It wasn’t long during the evening before I remembered that this was – and is – one very funny affair. 8. “Fragment/o/s Of Air/e,” OnStage Playhouse. This year saw a rich offering of lead performances by female artists, including John in “Streetcar,” Gobel in “Beauty’s Daughter” and Deborah Gilmour Smyth in Backyard’s “The Waverly Gallery.” Bravest of all was Valeria Vega’s star turn in OnStage Playhouse’s production of “Fragment/o/s Of Air/e.” Carla Navarro’s tense drama finds the Chilean-born Nina (Vega) and her family, since residing in America, gathered to watch a historic presidential debate in Chile. Looming over the various family conflicts is the psychological torture Nina is enduring – aftermath of another brand of torture and more from the Pinochet years. “Fragment/o/s” was the highlight of OnStage’s ambitious year, a production that stayed with me on the long drive home from Chula Vista to Mission Valley. And beyond. 9. “Other Desert Cities,” Cygnet Theatre. Families in turmoil seemed to be a recurring theme on San Diego stages in 2025. The Wyeths of Palm Springs were no exception. Cygnet’s production of “Other Desert Cities” came 12 years after the play was staged at the Old Globe. Once again it delivered personal and political confrontations with urgency and ambience. Its most riveting moments were those between mother Polly (Rosina Reynolds) and daughter Brooke (Melanie Lora), the latter whose memoir lit the fuse for what be less than a holly-jolly yuletide family reunion. “Other Desert Cities” is one of those rare politics-minded plays that doesn’t mire itself in polemics and tired, self-important oratory. Of course it helped to have an ensemble like Cygnet’s which also included Debra Wanger, Alan Rust and Geoffrey Ulysses Geissinger. 10. “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” Moxie Theatre. It was back to Harlem, this time in the 1930s, for Moxie’s best production of the year, of Pearl Cleage’s slow-burning about those who live in and around a neighborhood apartment house. Chief among them is a drinking, despairing chanteuse named Angel (Deja Fields) and her best friend Guy (Kevanne La’Marr Coleman), the pair directed by Moxie’s Desiree Clarke Miller. The onstage chemistry between Fields and Coleman carried the day, supported by a cast that also featured Xavier Daniels, Carter Piggee and Janine Taylor. The intertwining character studies, grounded in the social change and music of the period, made “Blues” an absorbing, and heart-rending, few hours in a theater. Honorable mention: “The Waverly Gallery,” Backyard Renaissance; “The Heart,” La Jolla Playhouse; “Waitress,” Moonlight Stage Productions; “Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground,” North Coast Rep; Yvonne Brown’s “Fre3sty13,” San Diego International Fringe Festival
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 Cygnet's "A Christmas Carol" returns, but in a new space. Photo by Rich Soublet II t I’ve been seeing Cygnet Theatre’s annual production of “A Christmas Carol” so long that I can remember the early versions when it was presented as a radio-show telling of Dickens’ yuletide tale. Still, a few years ago I decided that, like “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” at the Old Globe, I didn’t need to see “A Christmas Carol” AGAIN.
This year I’ve been compelled to do so, and for two very good reasons: First, this “A Christmas Carol” is the first produced at Cygnet’s new home, The Joan, in Liberty Station. Second, there’s a new Ebenezer Scrooge. Patrick McBride, who served admirably as Bob Cratchit for as long as I can remember at Cygnet, has stepped into the starring role, taking over from Sean Murray, the theater’s artistic director, who is still directing “A Christmas Carol.” I also took with me on Friday night two people who’d never seen the show at Cygnet. Fresh eyes. Fresh ears. Fresh perspective. Because I’ve written about this production so many times, I’ll pay respectful brevity to the qualities that make it an entertaining show. Like the original musical score by Billy Thompson. Like Jeanne Reith’s period costumes and Peter Herman’s wigs and makeup design. Like an ensemble that but for the Scrooge portrayer plays multiple roles, sings and jokes with audiences before the show, and year after year gives this production its all. (The one newcomer this yule is Bryan Banville, taking over the Bob Cratchit role and others.) Like, from that ensemble David McBean, whose Marley’s Ghost and Ghost of Christmas Present have always been and are still priceless fun. I should salute the other cast members -- the returning Eileen Bowman, Megan Carmitchel, Jasmine January, Allen Lucky Weaver and McBride. The new production space requires entrances from the wings and from behind an upstage door, unlike Cygnet’s Old Town theater where, for example, McBean’s Marley’s Ghost would ascend to the stage from a lower entryway. This much is negligible. Though that upstage door, complete with storied lion knocker, is utilized more hauntingly at The Joan. You’ll see for yourself. More haunting still in the new theater is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come – huge and deathly black and billowing. Far more imposing than in Old Town. Otherwise, any technical or logistical changes to Cygnet’s “A Christmas Carol” are not noticeable, at least not to me. And that’s fine. If it ain’t broke, you know … I’m not quite sure how I feel about McBride’s Scrooge. I’ve been so accustomed to him as the likable, dignified Bob Cratchit that it’s hard – excepting the first 20 minutes of the show or so – to dislike him as Scrooge. The reclamation, the change of heart, the realization of goodness feel inevitable along Scrooge’s ghost-escorted travels rather than his seeming terrified or grudging or disbelieving. To be completely fair to McBride, there’s some recency bias here that lingers. I never really bonded with Sean Murray’s Scrooge either, because the late, great Tom Stephenson who played the part for years was so consistently wonderful. It feels a little late to complain that this show is over-long (which it is, mainly because the song sequences slow down the narrative as much as enhancing it). There’s also considerable exposition uttered by the supporting cast members when showing would function better than telling. There still are, however, many thoughtful and inventive staging touches – and that’s saying something with a story that changes location (including from Scrooge’s past life) as much as “A Christmas Carol” does. Except for the 1984 television film that starred a perfect George C. Scott, I can’t think of any movies or other TV productions that managed to translate Dickens’ tale very memorably, let alone stage versions that did. So what did my guests, the newbies, think of Cygnet’s “A Christmas Carol”? They both gave it a thumb’s up, though, they said, more for the comic bits than anything else. The ghouls’ plundering “Mr. Scratch” number was a particular hit. They did find the puppets used to “portray” Tiny Tim, the boy Scrooge and others a bit creepy. Me, I’m so used to those puppets (designed by Kris Golojuch and the late Lynn Jennings) that they don’t faze me at all. So am I jaded? Have I seen “A Christmas Carol” at Cygnet too many times now? Has the thrill gone? Ask me next year – in the audience at The Joan. “A Christmas Carol” runs through Dec. 28 at the Joseph Clayes III Theater in Liberty Station, Point Loma.  Wilfred Paloma (left) and Wil Bethmann in "To My Girls." Xing Photo Studio Coursing beneath “To My Girls’” blended margaritas and baring of skin and one wild attempt at a DIY Spice Girls dress-up video is some serious baring of soul. It’s not that playwright JC Lee’s high-spirited gathering of three gay millennials for a Palm Springs getaway isn’t Party Central personified. It is. But like most parties this one doesn’t go exactly as planned.
Many critics pontificating about Lee’s 2013 play, which is enjoying its San Diego premiere at Diversionary Theatre, have in doing so referenced Mart Crowley’s 1968 drama “The Boys in the Band.” That play also revolved around a party, this one a birthday gathering set on the Upper East Side. While “The Boys in the Band” found its characters practically at odds with their sexuality, those in “To My Girls” are proud of theirs – their noisy conflicts and intense self-examinations stem from their faults and frailties as individuals, not just as gay men. The two-hour play, directed at Diversionary with buoyancy and thought by Jesse Marchese, manages well the balance between the outrageous and the interior. What the principals of “To My Girls” contend with is in large part a disconnect between queer generations, the millennial characters confronted by a testy boomer (the man who’s rented them the Palm Springs digs) and by a Gen-Zer brought home from a bar. This coupled with the interpersonal dramas going on makes for a VERY busy script, though except for a closing 15 minutes or so that feels tacked on everything coalesces in a diverting manner. The party-giver in Lee’s play is Curtis (Wil Bethmann), an Instagram influencer who loves his “girls,” but indications from the very start are that he loves himself and his impulses even more. The first to arrive at the Palm Springs pad (superlatively conceived by Mathys Herbert right down to the hanging chair, wet bar and artsy portraits of Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli)) is Castor (Wilfred Paloma), whose uber-flamboyance hides a vulnerability and no paucity of hurt. Leo (Zack King) is a propounder of inter-relational and social media wisdom and, like Castor, someone of depth and disappointments. So you have Curtis (white), Castor (Asian-American) and Leo (Black), bound by friendship and history, sharing their queerness and general age but with very different existential perspectives. Bernie (Frank DiPalermo), the owner of the house, reveals himself to be a two-time Trump voter, instantly alienating him from the others, though halfway through “To My Girls” it could be said that everyone’s unreasonable to some extent. It’s less politics and more of that aforementioned generational divide from which the tensions roil. Omar (Jocorey Mitchell) is the young man brought to the house by Castor, and besides being the youngest man in the room he’s the most accepting and maybe even the sharpest. In between its revelries “To My Girls” caroms through its characters’ confrontations, misunderstandings, accusations, recriminations and reconciliations. The playwright’s conceit is that the party never truly stops and the action is weighted more toward entertainment than preaching. Still, the quintessential moment of the play is the recitation of a letter, one written and read in a spotlight by Castor. It’s here that Lee may be saying what he wants to say most of all about gay culture and relationships at their most complex. It’s fitting that this is Paloma’s scene, for over the two acts his is the production’s most hilarious and also most tender performance. Make no mistake, “To My Girls” is party time … but there’s time made for much more. “To My Girls” runs through Dec. 7 at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. |