Review: On Theater: Variety will spice South Coast Repertory’s new season

South Coast Repertory came into existence in 1965 after an inaugural summer in Long Beach under another name. The Second Step Theater opened in March after a three-show preview in Laguna Beach. Then came the Third Step in downtown Costa Mesa and the company’s present location — for the past four decades — in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Town Center.

SCR’s 2017-18 season, its 53rd, will feature the theater’s usual complement of world premieres — five, including three SCR commissions — along with contemporary hits and reimagined classics.

“Our upcoming season is both entertaining and filled with theatrical substance,” says Marc Masterson, who succeeded founders David Emmes and Martin Benson as the theater’s artistic director. “We have music, romance, comedy, drama and relevance for the world we live in today.”

One of the newer shows will kick off the SCR season, although it’s already paid a visit to the neighboring Segerstrom Center for the Arts. That would be “Once,” which received 11 Tony nominations in 2012 and won eight including best musical, best actor and best book. It’ll be on the Segerstrom Stage from Sept. 2-30 under the direction of Kevin Nicholson.

“Once” will be followed by August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean,” the first entry in Wilson’s decade-by-decade chronicle of 10 plays, all set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. “Gem,” circa 1904, features a 285-year-old woman. Kevin Nash will direct the drama, which is slated for an Oct. 14 to Nov. 11 engagement.

If the next play, “Shakespeare in Love,” sounds familiar, it’s because it’s based on the 1998 Oscar-winning movie which won a ton of awards, including acting Oscars for Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench. Masterson will be in the director’s chair for this one, which will run from Jan.13 to Feb. 10.

“Shrew!” — as in “The Taming of the Shrew” — also has Shakespearean roots, but In Amy Freed’s wickedly funny spin on the classic, Kate also has the upper hand. Art Manke, who directed Freed’s “The Monster Builder” last season, will also helm this one . It runs from March 24 through April 21.

Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Sisters Rosensweig,” at SCR from May 5 to June 2, focuses on three sisters from Brooklyn in the early 1990s. The scene is London where the three siblings gather for a birthday celebration and hearty reminiscing.

All of the aforementioned plays will occupy the Segerstrom Stage. Opening the Julianne Argyros Stage season Sept. 24 will be “Curve of Departure” by Rachel Bonds, another reunion of sorts, this time at a funeral. Mike Donohue will direct.

The “Madwoman in the Volvo” will be back Dec. 3-24 in “Sugar Plum Fairy,” written by and starring Sandra Tsing Loh. Bart DeLorenzo will direct this comical assault on holiday sentiment.

Lauren Yee’s “Cambodian Rock Band,” ticketed for March 4-25, is billed as part comedy, part mystery and part rock concert as a father and daughter face the music of the past. Musical contributions will be by Dengue Fever.

Closing the Argyros season will be “Little Black Shadows” by Kemp Powers, a drama set in pre-Civil War Georgia. May Adrales is directing and the play runs from April 9-29.

SCR’s popular Theater for Young Audiences will return with a three-production season – “Ella Enchanted: The Musical,” Oct. 27 to Nov.12; “Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook,” Jan. 26 to Feb. 11, and “Amos & Boris,” May 18 to June 3.

And it wouldn’t be an SCR season without “A Christmas Carol.” This traditional holiday treat returns — for the 38th straight year — from Nov. 24 through Dec. 24 with Hal Landon Jr. donning his Scrooge raiment for the 38th time and John-David Keller directing, also for the 38th year.

Season subscriptions currently are on sale with information available at (714) 708-555 or online at scr.org. The theater is located at 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

TOM TITUS reviews local theater.