Cygnet Theatre Reveals Lineup For 2023-24 Season

Cygnet Theatre has announced its full line up for the 2023/2024 Season. The organization's 20th Anniversary Season will also be its last full season in Old Town before the milestone move to the ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station, whose projected opening is in 2025. The 20th season features all musicals as a way to capture the theatre's past, present and future in a celebratory way.

The season begins with a tried and true holiday classic that continues to be a San Diego favorite. Artistic Director Sean Murray will return to the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the ninth annual production of A Christmas Carol. The new year kicks off with the riveting on-act musical Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson, featuring Cygnet Theatre Resident Artist Karole Foreman in her award-winning portrayal of Billie Holiday. In the spring, audiences will finally get to see the previously-postponed thrilling immersive pop-opera Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 with book, lyrics and music by Dave Malloy. That is followed by Jonathan Larson's autobiographical search into the soul of an artist with tick, tick...BOOM! In the fall, Cygnet then brings back an all-time audience favorite with the sexy, silly Sci-fi classic Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show. And while Sean Murray will not be stepping into fishnets to reprise the role of Franknfurter, he will once again direct the iconic musical.

“As we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Cygnet’s first season back in 2003, we decided to take that spirit of celebration in mind and assemble a selection of shows that feels very Cygnet: something new, something different and a revival of one of our most requested plays" said Murray. "In addition to our signature holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol, we’re offering four vastly different musicals. It will be a celebration, indeed!"

Subscription packages are now on sale and begin at $120. The box office is available to answer questions about shows and packages. For more information please contact the box office at 619-337-1525 or visit www.cygnettheatre.com. More information about Cygnet Theatre's move to ARTS DISTRICT Liberty Station can be found at www.Building178.org.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Adaptation & Lyrics by Sean Murray

Original Score by Billy Thompson

Directed by Sean Murray

Music Direction by Patrick Marion

Dec.1 – Dec. 30, 2023

Cygnet’s holiday smash hit is back for its ninth season! Enjoy the holiday classic adapted from Charles Dickens’ timeless tale of hope and redemption. This imaginative production features original music, creative stagecraft and puppetry, and live sound effects. Step into a Victorian Christmas card for a unique storytelling experience that is sure to delight the entire family!

LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR & GRILL

By Lanie Robertson

Directed by Wren T. Brown

Featuring Karole Foreman

In Association with Ebony Repertory Theatre

Jan. 24 – Feb. 18, 2024

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill recounts Billie Holiday’s life story through the songs that made her famous. 1959, in a small, intimate bar in Philadelphia, Holiday puts on a show that unbeknownst to the audience, will leave them witnesses to one of the last performances of her lifetime. Through her poignant voice and moving songs, one of the greatest jazz singers of all-time shares her loves and her losses.

NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812

Book, Lyrics and Music by Dave Malloy

Adapted from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Apr. 10 – May 12, 2024

From the celebrated and award-winning composer Dave Malloy comes Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation. This award-winning musical expands the possibilities for the genre with its daring score and bold storytelling.

tick, tick… BOOM!

Book, Music & Lyrics by Jonathan Larson

Jul. 3 – Aug. 4, 2024

Before he electrified the world with Rent, Jonathan Larson was a young man struggling to make his mark in the theater. While he waits tables and seeks his big break, the pressure to give it all up grows as Jon approaches his 30th birthday. Will he sell out to keep the lights on? Will he lose the love of his life? Will he finally write the soaring song that can change everything? And if he does, will anyone be there to see it? Set in 1990 and scored by the music that redefined a genre, tick, tick… BOOM! cracks open the ticking-time-bomb world of creating theater to celebrate the power of finding your voice and holding on to a dream.

RICHARD O’BRIEN’S THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

Music, book and lyrics by Richard O’Brien

Directed by Sean Murray

Musical Direction by Patrick Marion

Sep. 11 – Oct. 20, 2024

Cygnet is remounting one of our audiences’ favorite shows! A satirical tribute to the science fiction and B-list horror movies of the 20th century, the show centers around two naïve lovers, Brad and Janet. Seeking shelter from a thunderstorm in an old castle, they find themselves thrust into the laboratory of the cross-dressing mad scientist Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter and his motley crew. Stripped of inhibitions – and their clothes – Brad and Janet embark on a wild, unforgettable journey of pleasure and self-discovery. Reality, fiction, and camp collide in this mash-up of comics, rock and roll, and late-night horror flicks.

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