Begin Again, the new musical built on songs by Pat Monahan and the band Train, now plays The Old Globe in San Diego through October 18, a week beyond the October 11 closing the theater gave when it announced the cast in July. The Globe bills the run as the show's world premiere and a pre-Broadway engagement.
Performances began on September 6 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, in Balboa Park, and the press opening was on September 17. The extra week gives the production six weeks of performances in San Diego, against the five originally scheduled.
The source is John Carney's 2013 film, which starred Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo and earned an Academy Award nomination. Gretta, a gifted songwriter nursing a broken heart, crosses paths in New York with Dan, a record producer close to burning out, and the music they make together starts to put both of them back on their feet.
Emma Busse plays Gretta and Patrick Heusinger plays Dan, with Charlotte MacLeod as Violet, Kevin William Paul as Max, Adrienne Walker as Miriam, Nik Walker as Saul and Casey Whyland as Stevie in a company of 19.
Jenna Clark Embrey and Molly Beach Murphy wrote the book, and Jerry Becker and Train drummer Matt Musty contribute additional music and lyrics. Lorin Latarro directs, with choreography by David Neumann and music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Brian Usifer. The design team is Derek McLane (sets), Linda Cho (costumes), Amanda Zieve (lighting), John Shivers (sound) and David Bengali (projections), with illusions by Skylar Fox.
Announcing the production, Globe artistic director Barry Edelstein said of Monahan and Train that "their distinctive voices will bring a vibrant sound to our stage that our audiences haven’t heard here before."
Tickets are available from The Old Globe box office in Balboa Park, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE and through the theater's production page. The show carries a warning for strong language and adult themes.
