South Coast Repertory will stage three world premieres — including one about the late comic Joan Rivers — while bringing back a popular Broadway staple during its 2024-25 season, announced by the Costa Mesa-based theater company today, May 8.
The theater will present Hershey Felder, known for his portrayals of famous composers such as George Gershwin, in a new musical play, “Rachmaninoff and the Tsar,” from Feb. 18 through March 2. Felder will return March 3 to perform his “Great American Songbook Sing-Along,” which features classic songs from the 20th century plus lots of audience participation.
The popular musical “Little Shop of Horrors” will kick off the season, running Sept. 21-Oct. 19. The holiday classic “A Christmas Carol” will also be back for a 44th year, with Richard Doyle again reprising the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, from Nov. 30 through Dec. 24.
Here are highlights of the 2024-25 season:
Sept. 21-Oct. 19: “Little Shop of Horrors,” Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s musical about a bloodthirsty succulent, will open the season on SCR’s Segerstrom Stage.
Oct. 27-Nov. 24: “Joan,” Daniel Goldstein’s portrait of the late comedian Joan Rivers, will take audiences through the triumph and tragedy of the star’s career on the Julianne Argyros Stage.
Longtime SCR cast member Richard Doyle will return as Ebenezer Scrooge in South Coast Repertory’s very popular annual production of “A Christmas Carol,” which will have its 44th season from Nov. 30 through Dec. 24, 2024. (Photo by Jenny Graham, South Coast Repertory)
Nov. 3-Dec. 24: Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” which typically sells out its holiday season run, returns to the Segestrom Stage.
Jan. 12-Feb. 2: “Wish You Were Here,” a play by Pulitzer Prize-winner and Orange County native Sanaz Toossi, will chronicle the lives of five friends in Iran over the span of a decade.
Hershey Felder, shown portraying George Gershwin, will return to South Coast Repertory in February 2025 with a new musical play, “Rachmaninoff and the Tsar.” He will also perform the “Great American Songbook Sing-Along” on March 3. (Courtesy of South Coast Repertory)
Feb. 18-March 2: “Rachmaninoff and the Tsar” will feature Felder playing the Russian pianist and composer, with Jonathan Silvestri in the role of Tsar Nicholas II on the Segerstrom Stage.
March 3: “Great American Songbook Sing-Along” is a one-night event on the Segerstrom Stage with Felder performing classics by composers such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin and Rogers and Hammerstein.
April 5-May 4: A world premiere still to be announced will be presented on the Segerstrom Stage during the Pacific Playwrights Festival, an annual proving ground for new works.
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April 27-May 18: “The Staircase,” Noa Gardner’s play about a mother and son who spend their evenings playing cards and retelliing Hawaiian legends, will receive its world premiere on the Julianne Argyros Stage. The show is part of the Pacific Playwrights Festival.
Additionally, South Coast Repertory’s Theatre for Young Audiences program will stage “The Incredible Book Eating Boy,” a musical based on Oliver Jeffers’s children’s book, for audiences 4 and up on the Julianne Argyros Stage from Feb. 28 through March 16.
Subscriptions for the 2024-25 season, ranging from $22 to $415, are now on sale. Subscribers may also purchase tickets to “A Christmas Carol” and “Rachmaninoff and the Tsar” at this time. Individual tickets go on sale July 22, ranging in price from $30 to $116. To buy tickets or for more information, call 714-708-5555 or go to scr.org
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