The Old Globe returns to pre-pandemic strength in the 2024 season with a lineup that includes two world premieres – and a major milestone as well.
The season begins Feb. 8 and features the same number of productions for the Balboa Park theater as prior to the COVID-19 shutdown in early 2020. It also includes a unique accomplishment among theaters in regards to one William Shakespeare.
The two Globe-commissioned, world premieres are Karen Zacarías’s The Age of Innocence, based on Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, and Melinda Lopez’s and Joel Perez’s Stir, about family, food and healing.
The season features two U.S. premieres, the hit London musical Ride with book and lyrics by Freya Catrin Smith and music and lyrics by Jack Williams, and Duel Reality, a production by The 7 Fingers, directed by Shana Carroll of Cirque du Soleil’s Iris.
The Old Globe also will produce the two most recent winners of the Pulitzer Prize, James Ijames’s Fat Ham, a fresh take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Sanaz Toossi’s comedy English, directed by Arya Shahi.
Two potential crowd pleasers also are West Coast premieres – Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, adapted for the stage by Tony Award–nominated playwright Ken Ludwig and Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen, both part of The Old Globe’s Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show.
Like Fat Ham, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B, pivots with a new spin on the famous exploits of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
And as for LeBron James, the basketball superstar is the inspiration behind King James, by Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph. The play focuses on two fans who couldn’t be more different – except that they both love the Cleveland Cavaliers, James’ original team.
And the Old Globe’s 2024 Summer Shakespeare Festival will mark a milestone as the theater completes the Bard’s canon with the world premiere adaptation of Henry 6, a two-play condensation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Parts I, II, and III, adapted and directed by Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. The festival begins June 30.
“This wide range of material tells stories that transport us to other worlds and other times even as they entertain us, make us think, make us feel and make us laugh,” Edelstein said in a statement.
Tickets for the Old Globe’s 2024 season may be purchased by subscription. Five-play packages start at $104.