List of Upcoming Shows in Southern California

[tripelite]

Posted: 6/2/16 at 9:09pm

As a theatre fan living in Los Angeles, I find it difficult to keep track of all the shows coming here, especially since many are in Orange County, La Jolla, San Diego, etc.  As such, I created (and try to maintain) a spreadsheet of all the announced shows within reasonable driving distance that either pique my interest or I thought would interest most of my theatre-going friends.  So many people have asked me for a copy of this list that I thought some people on this forum might like it.

A few notes:
1.     I included every show I know of coming to medium-to-large theatres in Southern California. 
2.     Including every single play or musical on this list would be madness. 
3.     For the most part, I did not include 99 seat theatres, although I know there are some extraordinary theatre companies performing in these small spaces.  If I hear of something exceptional in a small theatre, I try to add it.
4.     If you have any suggestions or corrections, please send them to me, although I can’t guarantee that I’ll add everything. Shows and dates are always subject to change.
5.     I know that some of the shows on this list will be terrible.  I just like to keep track of what's coming.
6.     Hopefully people find this useful, and if they do, I’ll strive to maintain it.  If not, I’ll take it down.
 

Maybe we should have a BWW meet-up at one of these.

 

List of shows in Southern California: https://goo.gl/lEk5lv

 

Happy Theatregoing!

Updated On: 6/4/16 at 09:09 PM

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 3:02am

This is fabulous! Thank you so much, tripelite, for putting this together.

Audrey

[bear88]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 4:21am

This is helpful. I'm going on a SoCal trip in a few weeks with my theater-loving teenage daughter and this does some research for me.

[5377brian]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 6:55am

This is awesome, thank you for doing this.  The meetup is a good idea too...count me in :)

Updated On: 6/3/16 at 06:55 AM

[Adair Haywind]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 10:02am

Words cannot express my gratitude for this!! Thank you so much!!

[hork]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 11:43am

Wow, this is great, thanks!

[hork]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 11:47am

I got excited there for a second, because I thought Tokyo Fish Story might be based on the Japanese movie Fish Story, but sadly, no.

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 12:48pm

Thanks very much for doing this.  I was tasked with finding a show "between LA and SD" for Labor Day week.  This will make that task so much easier.

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 4:19pm

Thanks, this is great!! Have sent it to a number of friends...

[tripelite]

Posted: 6/3/16 at 4:41pm

I'm pleased to hear that people find the list useful!  I just noticed that while the link in my post works, if you cut and pasted the URL from the message, it was missing one letter and sent you elsewhere.  I have fixed it.  I have also added the 2016-17 Kirk Douglas season.

Updated On: 6/3/16 at 04:41 PM

[hork]

Posted: 6/10/16 at 8:17pm

Has anyone seen any shows at the California Theatre in San Bernardino? They have an interesting season coming up, but I don't understand why their shows only play for three days, or, in some cases, one day.

[belrowley]

Posted: 6/10/16 at 9:10pm

Thank you so much for this! I'm only familiar with the LA-based theaters, but I'm looking forward to some road trips over the summer.

You might want to include the Hollywood Bowl performance of West Side Story as well. Just got tickets to it!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 6/10/16 at 9:37pm

I'm an actor in NYC, but thinking about making the leap to LA full time. Was in callbacks for Hunchback at La Mirada, and really enjoy the LA life. So thanks for this!

[WestCoastActor/Director]

Posted: 6/11/16 at 12:25pm

Awesome.  Thanks for posting this.  As an East Coast native who has lived in Southern CA for a long time now I have always craved seeing theatre.    About ten years ago a friend made a list of every show playing in just LA over a one month period- including all theaters.  There were over 300.   My favorite was a 9 seat theatre down an alley.   There were only 8 chairs.  When the last person came in they shut the door and the final seat folded down from it.

I have the summer off for work so I am catching up on theatre.    I just saw Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at International City Theatre in Long Beach which is worth a look.   It is a solid production of one of my favorite recent plays.  Considering the need for diversity in casting I was dismayed that a white actress was cast as Cassandra.  Turns out she didn't perform and we got the director with a script in hand.

I am seeing Hollywood for the closing performance Sunday in LaJolla.   I have been facinated with the story of William Desmond Taylor since I lived in Hollywood.   I am seeing The Little Mermaid and Buyer and Cellar next week as well as The Boy From Oz at the Celebration Theatre (half price Gold Star tickets reduce the risk).  I have tickets for Beautiful, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the West Side Story concert coming up.   Thanks to your list I can plan on some more shows.

[tripelite]

Posted: 7/20/16 at 10:59pm

I have been making regular updates to the list of upcoming shows in Southern California - including newly-announced seasons, concerts by Broadway performers, the LA Opera, LA Theatre Works, National Theatre Live screenings, and more.  Let me know if you have any additions or comments!

This content is frequently updated, but the link stays the same.

List of upcoming shows in Southern California: https://goo.gl/lEk5lv

Feel free to share the link with friends or family who live in Southern California and love theatre!

[kristinj1]

Posted: 7/21/16 at 12:24am

Thanks for this!  I don't see Old Globe's upcoming new musical October Sky on your list.  I think it opens in September.

[wally]

Posted: 7/21/16 at 2:03am

You have Darren Criss in Hedwig in San Diego. Is this confirmed? I thought he was only doing SF and LA.

[tripelite]

Posted: 7/21/16 at 2:12am

Good catch!  I added October Sky and the rest of the Old Globe 2016-17 schedule to the list.

I also removed Darren Criss from San Diego for Hedwig and added Lena Hall.

Thank you, kristinj1 and wally!

By the way, does anyone know of a good LA or SoCal online theatre forum (even though a lot of Californians like me obviously visit BWW)?

Updated On: 7/21/16 at 02:12 AM

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 7/21/16 at 6:38am

Hi-five Tripelite from London

Looking to come out to California in November.I couldn't find a decent website for theatre in the Los Angeles area, you do get the Los Angles Theatre website, which is replicated fo every city in America, but with a different city name, however this website is very very limited. I have put a link below, so everyone is on the same page as me.

https://www.los-angeles-theatre.com/

Would be very handy if someone did something similar for San Francisco and Chicago.

Keep up the good work.

[tripelite]

Posted: 11/20/17 at 8:13pm

I have expanded my Southern California theatre list to include more venues and more types of shows. You can now find it here:

http://theatreinsocal.com

It covers most of Southern California, with a focus on commercial venues that are 300+ seats. It also includes major theatre-related events on TV or in cinemas. Not perfect, but I have found it to be extremely helpful to track what's coming. You can also filter by region, date, genre, etc.  Enjoy!

[ashley0139]

Posted: 11/20/17 at 11:30pm

This is amazing!  Thank you so much!  I didn't know Audra and Eden were doing concerts.

[Jocelyn3]

Posted: 11/21/17 at 8:59am

Thanks for sharing this amazing work!  Might have missed it, but I didn't see a listing for Joshua Henry concert at the El Rey on Monday, December 11, 2017.

[tripelite]

Posted: 11/24/17 at 12:10am

Thanks for letting me know about the Joshua Henry concert! I added it to the list.

[grumpyoptimist]

Posted: 11/24/17 at 12:45am

This is awesome.  FWIW, For The Record Live is doing Love Actually in concert http://sortingroom.thewallis.org/love-actually-concert

And Summer is now extended to Christmas Eve

http://www.lajollaplayhouse.org/donna-summer

THANK YOU for the work that goes into this!

[tripelite]

Posted: 11/25/17 at 1:26am

Thanks for the heads-up about the Summer extension! I wasn't sure at first if Love Actually counted as a show, but having seen their Scorsese show, I agree that it does.

I appreciate all comments and suggestions - I want this to be as useful as possible for my fellow theatre lovers.