THE GRINCH & 'Ebenezer Scrooge' Holiday Show Coming to The Old Globe

The Old Globe will celebrate the holidays with its two popular San Diego yuletide traditions: the annual production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and the return by popular demand of Dickens’s comedic send-up Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show.

The 28th annual holiday production of The Grinch features award-winning actor Andrew Polec (The Old Globe’s Hair; Crime and Punishment, A Comedy). This year will mark Polec’s fifth time portraying the title role. The Grinch will run November 5 through December 31, 2025, with the official opening night on Sunday, November 9. The full cast and creative team will be announced at a later date. Scrooge will run November 21 through December 28, 2025, with the official opening night on Tuesday, November 25. The full cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.

Subscriber and donor priority pre-sale for Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show starts September 3 at noon, and single tickets for the general public will be available online September 17 at TheOldGlobe.org; and on September 20 by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE (234-5623) and in person at The Old Globe’s box office in Balboa Park.

Additionally, a special concert presentation of ¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad! is scheduled for November 21 and 22, 2025, with tickets on sale September 24, 2025.

“The holidays are a time of festivity, family, and generosity, and this year the Globe is bringing a bounty of all of these to San Diego,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “The cornerstone of our programming, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, returns for its 28th year, with the brilliant Andrew Polec once again front-and-center with his green fur and great heart. For the very first time, the Globe will perform a concert version of this extraordinary show in Spanish, welcoming a new audience to experience this moving and fun musical as “¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad!” The Grinch’s friend Ebenezer Scrooge returns to our campus, too, in the sixth year of the hilarious Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big San Diego Christmas Show. And we kick-off all of this wonderful work with our annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, marking the official start of the holidays in our city. There’s something here for everyone, and there’s a wide range of ways to participate. We can’t wait to welcome San Diego and spread the joy of this most wonderful time of the year.”

The Grinch features a book and lyrics by Timothy Mason and music by Mel Marvin. The original production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was conceived and directed by Jack O’Brien, with additional lyrics by Theodor S. Geisel, additional music by Albert Hague, and original choreography by John DeLuca.

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a wonderful, whimsical musical based upon the classic Dr. Seuss book. Back for its 28th incredible year, the family favorite features the songs “Santa for a Day,” “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and “Welcome, Christmas (Fah Who Doraze),” the delightful carol from the popular animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Celebrate the holidays as the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in The Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, is once again transformed into the snow-covered Who-ville, right down to the last can of Who-hash.

Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, returns to the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, this Scrooge parody is set in San Diego and is written by Gordon Greenberg (Globe’s Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors, Globe’s Crime and Punishment, A Comedy, and The Heart of Rock & Roll) and Steve Rosen (Globe’s Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors, Globe’s Crime and Punishment, A Comedy, The Other Josh Cohen). All the traditional elements of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol are intact—including the iconic ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future—in this reimagined holiday story with a very comic twist. Audiences of all ages will cheer as Ebenezer Scrooge rediscovers the true Christmas spirit in this riotous Dickens mash-up filled with music and laughter—and set in “wintery” San Diego.

¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad! is a world premiere Spanish translation of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Led by the Globe, and with special permission from Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the theatre will introduce a spectacular new version of Dr. Seuss’s renowned classic at two presentations on November 21 and 22, 2025, with actors at music stands, a full orchestra, and some indications of costuming and staging. The concerts will be held on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in The Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park. Tickets for the special concert presentation of ¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad! go on sale September 24, 2025, and will be available at TheOldGlobe.org. The full cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.

The 20th annual, free to the public, Globe Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will be held on the Globe’s Copley Plaza on Sunday, November 9, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. Additional details will be announced at a later date.

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is supported by Artist Sponsor George C. Guerra (for Andrew Polec as The Grinch). Student Matinees are sponsored by Jerri-Ann and Gary Jacobs, Viasat, Supporters of the Arts Engagement Giving Circle, and by The Donna Van Eekeren Foundation supporting all Children’s Initiatives in the Arts Engagement Program.

Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show is supported by Production Sponsor Show Imaging.

¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad! was developed with support from Ann Davies, George C. Guerra, and Paula and Brian Powers, with additional support from Sue and Edward “Duff” Sanderson.

Financial support for The Old Globe is provided by The City of San Diego. The Theodor and Audrey Geisel Fund provides leadership support for The Old Globe’s year-round activities.

Bios and photos of all participants can be found at TheOldGlobe.org/Press-Room.

The Tony Award–winning The Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional nonprofit regional theatres. Now in its 90th year, the Globe is San Diego’s flagship performing arts institution, and it serves a vibrant community by creating theatre that lives beyond the stage. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and Audrey S. Geisel Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 16 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages. The company’s Summer Shakespeare Festival is internationally renowned, and in 2024 the Globe completed the Shakespeare canon with Edelstein’s landmark production Henry 6, which received the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle's 2024 Craig Noel Award for "Outstanding New Play.” More than 250,000 people annually attend Globe productions and participate in the theatre’s artistic and arts engagement programs. Its nationally prominent Arts Engagement Department provides an array of participatory programs that make theatre matter to more people in neighborhoods throughout the region. Humanities programs at the Globe and around the city broaden the community’s understanding of theatre art in all its forms. The Globe also boasts a range of new play development programs with professional and community-based writers, as well as the renowned The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Numerous world premieres—such as 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!—have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.