The Moonlight is Live and In-Person This Summer

VISTA, CA The curtain will finally rise on Moonlight Stage Productions’ long-delayed 40th anniversary season this summer when it returns to live and in-person entertainment in June with four Broadway musicals. The season opens on June 16, a day after California’s tiered Coronavirus reopening system is expected to end. The Moonlight is poised to respond to the ever-evolving health guidelines from the state and has measures in place including a socially distanced seating option, hand sanitizing stations placed throughout the theatre and daily cleaning of common areas. A socially distanced seating area has been established in the theatre’s “great lawn” section for those who have not received Covid-19 vaccinations or for those who are but wish to remain distanced from others. Patrons who plan to sit in any of the theatre’s other seating areas are asked to be fully vaccinated or to have received a negative Covid-19 test 48 hours prior to their ticketed performance. The Moonlight is requiring audience members to wear face masks while they are in the theatre except for when they are eating or drinking in their seats. Moonlight has instituted measures for its artists and staff to minimize health risks and is proactively working with the Actors’ Equity Association to ensure a healthy working environment on and backstage.

The Moonlight’s 2020 summer season was halted due to the prolonged discontinuation of live entertainment in California last March due to the pandemic. Except for limited-capacity movie nights in October when some restrictions from the state were eased, The Moonlight has not been able to offer live entertainment since its last ClubM cabaret performance on the enclosed stage of the amphitheatre in February 2020.The 2021 summer season will be a homecoming for The Moonlight’s audiences and for those who make the onstage magic happen.

With the unexpected announcement from the state on April 6 that California would fully reopen on June 16 as part of its blueprint to recovery, Producing Artistic Director Steven Glaudini and Managing Director Colleen Kollar Smith expeditiously curated a summer season that would reflect the theatre’s intention to offer a healthy and safe working atmosphere for its acting company and staff while offering the top-flight production values that audiences have come to expect.

Opening its 40th anniversary summer season is the calypso flavored “Once On This Island” (June 16 – July 3), the groundbreaking musical retelling of “The Little Mermaid.” Revived on Broadway in 2017 and winning the Tony Award for best revival, the show has a musical score filled with Caribbean influences and comes from the creative team of writer and lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty. The show will be directed and choreographed by Paul David Bryant with Lyndon Pugeda as music director and conductor.

Next, The Moonlight revives the Disney classic musical “Beauty and the Beast” (July 21 – August 7). Not produced by The Moonlight since 2005, the production is the perfect opportunity to introduce this Disney musical to a new generation of theatregoers. It is the ideal outdoor entertainment experience for families, and it features all the well-known songs from the movie version. Music is by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and book by Linda Woolverton. Jamie Torcellini, having played the role of Lefou in the original Los Angeles company followed by Broadway, returns to The Moonlight to direct. Rounding out the creative team is Choreographer Bill Burns and Music Director and Conductor Elan McMahan.

Another Moonlight revival, the poignant and provocative “A Chorus Line” (August 18 – September 4), returns to The Moonlight stage for the first time since 1992. Conceived and originally directed by Michael Bennett, “A Chorus Line” will be directed at The Moonlight by Kay Cole, who created the role of Maggie in the show’s original Broadway production. Choreographer Hector Guerrero will re-create Bennett and Bob Avian’s original choreography. Randi Ellen Rudolph is music director and conductor. Music is by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics are by Edward Kleban.

Closing the season is the San Diego Regional Premiere production of “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan” (September 15 – October 2). Featuring the Broadway sets and costumes, this exhilarating musical follows the extraordinary story of the Estefans who came to America from Cuba to break through extraordinary barriers on their way to reaching universal stardom. This jukebox musical features such Estefan hits as “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You,” “1-2-3,” “Live For Loving You,” “Conga”, and many more. The show will be directed by James Vásquez, choreographed by Carlos Mendoza and Lyndon Pugeda is music director and conductor. The show’s book is by Alexander Dinelaris.

Subscriptions and single tickets to the 2021 summer season will go on sale Sat., May 15 at noon online at moonlightstage.com, by phone at (760) 724-2110, and in-person at VisTix, 200 Civic Center Drive, Vista.

Prior to the opening of the summer season, The Moonlight will offer one night only concerts and movie nights. Moonlight Youth Theatre offers a concert reading of “Little Women The Musical” on May 15, The Music of Woodstock concert on May 21, “Toy Story” movie night on May 22, “The Karate Kid” movie night on May 28, and The Magical Music of Disney concert on May 29. Tickets for these events are on sale now. This fall, the award-winning Moonlight Youth Theatre will produce “The Wizard of Oz” October 22-30 directed by Broadway’s Geno Carr with Music Director and Conductor Lyndon Pugeda. Tickets will go on sale May 15.

For more information, visit moonlightstage.com or call (760) 724-2110.

CALENDAR INFORMATION
“Once On This Island”
June 16 – July 13, 2021
Gates open at 6:30 p.m. for dining and picnicking; curtain at 8:00 p.m.
“Beauty and the Beast”
July 21 – August 7, 2021
Gates open at 6:30 p.m. for dining and picnicking; curtain at 8:00 p.m.
“A Chorus Line”
August 18 – September 4, 2021
Gates open at 6:30 p.m. for dining and picnicking; curtain at 8:00 p.m.
“On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan”
September 15 – October 2, 2021
Gates open at 6:00 p.m. for dining and picnicking; curtain at 7:30 p.m.

Shows run for three weekends. The first two weekends are Wednesday through Sunday nights, and the final weekend of each run is Wednesday through Saturday night.

TICKET INFORMATION
Subscriptions are $113 – $179 for all four musicals. Single tickets are priced $17 – $59 with additional general lawn discounts for seniors, students and the military. Subscriptions and single tickets go on sale on May 15.

ABOUT THE MOONLIGHT & MOONLIGHT STAGE PRODUCTIONS
Winner of several San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards, including “Best Resident Musical” for 2019’s “West Side Story” and 2017’s “In the Heights,” Moonlight Stage Productions has been named “San Diego’s #1 Outdoor Theatre” by readers of ‘San Diego Magazine.’ Moonlight Stage Productions provides high-caliber Broadway musical theatre in the 2000-person capacity Moonlight Amphitheatre, owned and operated by the City of Vista. Audiences attend from throughout San Diego, Southern Riverside, and Orange Counties, making the Moonlight a regional destination for Broadway musical theatre. The Moonlight’s summer season of Broadway musicals is produced in the picturesque Moonlight Amphitheatre and has been a summertime tradition experienced by more than one million people since the theatre’s founding by Kathy Brombacher in 1981.

Throughout the decades, the Amphitheatre has seen numerous transformations, but nothing as dramatic as the total reconstruction of the stage house in 2008-2009. A state-of-the-art venue was revealed with a grand reopening in June 2009, including a modern stage and audience facilities. Since then, the Amphitheatre has extended its entertainment offerings with the addition of concerts and other special events held throughout the year through Moonlight Presents and ClubM. Moonlight Stage Productions is the cultural arts program of the City of Vista and is produced in partnership with the Moonlight Cultural Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which supports the programming at The Moonlight year-round in addition to offering youth education programs through Moonlight Youth Theatre.