As I write this, it’s almost mid-December. By Dec. 31, I will have attended more than 150 cultural events just in the larger San Diego area. I also saw and heard numerous concerts and a new opera in other parts of the country, including three Florida Orchestra concerts conducted by San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival Artistic Director Michael Francis in St. Petersburg, Orlando and Clearwater. Most recently in Houston, I attended the December 2 Houston Grand Opera world premiere of Jake Heggie’s “It’s a Wonderful Life,” visiting museums and checking out Houston Symphony’s “Very Merry Pops.” It is indeed a wonderful life, to bear witness to the inspired creativity of others. To recall the best of San Diego is an annual, entirely subjective chore. Of foremost importance wherever it is evident are boldness of purpose and the courage to tackle the seemingly impossible. La Jolla Playhouse presented fascinating and enigmatic work this year: the examination of a historic murder in “Hollywood”; Jeff Augustin’s surreal “The Last Tiger in Haiti”; Ayad Akhtar’s prelude to the 2008 financial fall, “Junk: The Golden Age of Debt”; a treatise on child-rearing, “Tiger Style”; and perhaps quirkiest of all, Quiara Alegria Hudes’ Playhouse-commissioned musical, “Miss You Like Hell.” The most outstanding and definitely the hardest to comprehend was “The Last Tiger in Haiti.” My kind of wonderful. Others worthy of mention hereabouts: The Old Globe for the lovable musical, “October Sky.” Lamb’s Players’ earns praise for my favorite gnarly production of the year, the deeply flawed treatise on theatrical and political truth, “Equivocation” by Bill Cain. It starred Robert Smyth and the finest area actors as Shakespeare and his troupe caught up in the aftermath of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. Intrepid Theatre’s astonishing “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” starring Deborah Gilmour Smyth and Robert Smyth and directed by Christy Yael-Cox; and, after assuming (shared) programming at the Horton Grand Theatre, Intrepid’s fine production of “Art.” Diversionary Theatre wowed everyone with the world premiere musical titled “The Boy Who Danced on Air.” Kudos to Ion Theatre for boldness and excellence for “Sunday in the Park with George” at San Diego Museum of Art, directed by Kim Strassburger; and their recent Sixth@Penn production of “The Normal Heart,” in which Artistic Director Claudio Raygoza scored in the Ken Kramer role. Ion’s record of gut-wrenching small productions continues. Moxie Theatre’s recent production of “The Kid Thing,” showcased one of the best performances of the year, that of Jo Anne Glover. North Coast Repertory scored with a surprising and involving “Way Down River,” which starred Richard Baird. San Diego Repertory’s earns kudos for their world premiere of Herbert Siguenza’s hysterically funny Moliere adaptation, “Manifestis Destinitis,” plus an intense production of Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize winning “Disgraced.” If there were a trophy for Outstanding Theatrical Achievement it would go to Cygnet Theatre for their alternating repertory of August Wilson’s “Seven Guitars” and “King Hedley II” at Cygnet Theatre Old Town. Cygnet’s casting of splendid San Diego actors and their dedication to the works of Wilson, often referred to as the American Shakespeare, are exemplary of the finest in San Diego theater and worthy of the utmost esteem and support. See you at the theater next year!
