Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 2018

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November 3 – December 29, 2018
(Opening night: Thursday, November 8)

Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage
Old Globe Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center

Book and lyrics by Timothy Mason
Music by Mel Marvin
Original production conceived and directed by Jack O’Brien
Original choreography by John DeLuca
Directed by James Vásquez

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a wonderful, whimsical musical based upon the classic Dr. Seuss book. Back for its 21st incredible year, the family favorite features the songs “Santa for a Day,” “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and “Welcome, Christmas (Fah Who Doraze),” the delightful carol from the popular animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Celebrate the holidays as the Old Globe Theatre is once again transformed into the snow-covered Whoville, right down to the last can of Who-hash.

Running time: One hour, thirty minutes. There is no intermission.

As in years past, The Grinch will be performed on Saturday, December 1 at 10:30 a.m. for children on the autism spectrum and their families, as well as other families with special needs that may appreciate the welcoming and supportive environment this performance provides.

Production Sponsors
Audrey S. Geisel / The Dr. Seuss Fund at the San Diego Foundation
Bank of America
Random House Children’s Books

The Globe’s Arts Engagement Discovery Programs, which include Grinch Initiatives and Free Student Matinees, are supported in part by:
Bank of America
The Chartitable Foundation
County of San Diego
Samuel I. and John Henry Fox Foundation
The Robert and Peggy Matthews Foundation
Nordson Corporation Foundation
Patrons of the Prado
“Bucks for Buses” Program
The Pratt Memorial Fund
Sahm Family Foundation
San Diego Gas & Electric
Wells Fargo

This activity is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency.

Financial support is provided by The City of San Diego.

The Old Globe’s arts engagement programs are supported by The James Irvine Foundation.

James Vásquez (Director, Swing, Dance Captain) is happy to be celebrating his 16th Christmas in Whoville. Previously with The Old Globe, he directed the world premiere of American Mariachi, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Rich Girl, and Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show; served as associate director for Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax; andprovided musical staging for The Comedy of Errors, Boeing-Boeing,and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, among others. With The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program, he has directed Clybourne Park and the world premiere of Keith Reddin’s Acquainted with the Night. He recently received the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for In the Heights (Moonlight Stage Productions), and he received the award in 2010 for Sweeney Todd (Cygnet Theatre Company). His other recent directing/choreography credits include American Mariachi (Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company), The Addams Family (Moonlight Stage Productions), West Side Story and Cats (San Diego Musical Theatre), Pippin, the West Coast premiere of [title of show], and Next Fall (Diversionary Theatre), and Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Pageant (Cygnet Theatre Company), as well as developmental workshops at La Jolla Playhouse and Goodspeed Musicals. Mr. Vásquez is an award-winning filmmaker, amateur gardener, and lover of dogs. Mr. Vásquez is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Timothy Mason (Book and Lyrics) has been represented at the Globe and on Broadway with Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! His other theatre credits include Levitation, Only You, Babylon Gardens with Timothy Hutton and Mary-Louise Parker, and The Fiery Furnace starring Julie Harris (Circle Repertory Company), his six-play The Young Americans Cycle (comprised of Ascension Day, The Less Than Human Club, Time on Fire, Mullen’s Alley, My Life in the Silents, and The Life to Come)(American Conservatory Theater’s Young Conservatory in San Francisco), Cannibals (Naked Eye Theatre), Six (Guthrie Theater Lab), and productions at Actors Theatre of Louisville, South Coast Repertory, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, Jungle Theatre in Minneapolis, and Royal National Theatre in London. Mr. Mason created many plays for young audiences at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, including musicals in collaboration with Mel Marvin, and the first Dr. Seuss musical, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins with composer Hiram Titus. Mr. Mason’s novel for middle-school kids, The Last Synapsid, was published by Random House. His new historical thriller for adults, The Darwin Affair, will be published June 11, 2019 by Algonquin Books.

Mel Marvin (Composer) has composed Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Tintypes at the Globe. His Broadway credits include Yentl, A History of the American Film, Tintypes (Tony Award nomination), Fascinating Rhythm, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and Lincoln Center Theater’s Cymbeline. He has also had nine shows produced Off Broadway. His other credits include many of America’s best-known regional theatres, including Arena Stage, Guthrie Theater, American Repertory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, and Mark Taper Forum, where he was an Associate Artist and wrote the original music for the premiere of Angels in America. Mr. Marvin’s other projects include Guest from the Future, an opera with libretto by Jonathan Levi that premiered at Fisher Center for the Arts in July 2004, and Buwalsky, an opera commissioned by Holland’s Opera Spanga that premiered in The Netherlands in August 2004 and toured the U.S. that fall. Mr. Marvin is Head Faculty Composer and Producing Director of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is one of seven musicals for young audiences he has written for his daughter, Kate.

Jack O’Brien (Conceived and Directed Original Production, Artistic Director Emeritus) served as Artistic Director of The Old Globe from 1981 to 2007. His Broadway credits include the recent Broadway productions of Carousel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Front Page, It’s Only a Play, Macbeth, The Nance, Catch Me If You Can, The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination), Henry IV (Tony Award), Hairspray (Tony Award), Imaginary Friends, The Invention of Love (Tony nomination), The Full Monty (Tony nomination), Two Shakespearean Actors (Tony nomination), Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination), and many more. He has also directed for national tours, the West End, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and San Diego Opera, as well as six movies for PBS’s “American Playhouse.” He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2008. Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director, his memoir about the early years of his career, was released in 2013.

John DeLuca (Original Choreography) Currently producing Mary Poppins Returns (December 2018).Film: Into the Woods, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Nine, Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago, and The Terminal. TV: Tony Bennett: An American Classic, “The 75th Annual Academy Awards,” and “The Kennedy Center Honors.” Broadway/New York theatre: Minnelli on Minnelli, Broadway Sings Elton John, Deborah Voight on Broadway, Sweet Adeline (City Center Encores!), and Two Gentlemen of Verona (The Public Theater). National tours: The Boy Friend, Chita & All That Jazz, Music of the Night, and Brigadoon. American Stage Company: Oedipus Private Eye, Lucky Guy, and The Gig. Two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Award nominations, American Musical Theatre Award, Choreography Media Honors, two American Choreography Awards, and Hamilton Behind the Camera Award.

Bob Richard (Additional Choreography) provided the choreography for the Broadway and tour productions of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! for the past 13 years. Off Broadway he directed and choreographed Inventing Mary Martin: The Revue of a Lifetime (Joe A. Callaway Award nomination) and The Road to Qatar. He has directed at North Shore Music Theatre, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and Theatre By The Sea, including productions of Peter Pan, The Music Man, Beauty and the Beast, and Chicago, winning several awards. He has choreographed at The 5th Avenue Theatre, Theatre Under The Stars, and Pioneer Theatre Company, and internationally in Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore. Mr. Richard’s television and film credits include “LazyTown,” “The Tonight Show,” “The Today Show,” “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” and the Big Apple Film Festival. He is also a guest master instructor at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. He has received a Footlight Award, Gypsy Rose Lee Award, Ivey Award, Ernie Award, and San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award. Mr. Richard’s career has encompassed dancing, teaching master classes worldwide, directing, and choreographing for over 36 years in the world of show business. Without children and their dreams and imagination, there would be no Christmas!

Elan McMahan (Musical Director) previously worked on the Globe productions of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (2011, 2013–2017), the Summer Shakespeare Festival (2012–2013), and the New Voices Festival reading of Cake Off (2015). She is the Resident Musical Director at Moonlight Stage Productions with over 50 productions to her name. She has received three San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Craig Noel Awards for Outstanding Musical Direction: in 2012, for her body of work, including Moonlight’s Sweeney Todd and Fiddler on the Roof and the Globe’s As You Like It; in 2015 for Moonlight’s Big Fish; and in 2017 for Moonlight’s In the Heights. Ms. McMahan holds a B.Mus. from Brigham Young University and an M.Mus. from St. Louis Conservatory of Music.

John Lee Beatty (Scenic Design) has designed the Globe productions of Much Ado About Nothing, King Richard II, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Cornelia, Dancing in the Dark, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!,and Redwood Curtain. His 115 Broadway credits include Sweat, Disgraced, The Nance, After Midnight, Good People, Venus in Fur, Other Desert Cities, Time Stands Still, A View from the Bridge, The Royal Family, The Color Purple, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Rabbit Hole, Doubt, Chicago, Proof, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, A Delicate Balance, The Heiress, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Most Happy Fella, Burn This, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Talley’s Folly, Fifth of July,and Crimes of the Heart. His Off Broadway credits include The Whipping Man, Sylvia, The Substance of Fire, A Life in the Theatre, and Lips Together, Teeth Apart, as well as 38 seasons at Manhattan Theatre Club and Circle Repertory Company, 22 seasons at City Center Encores!, film, opera, television, and circus. Mr. Beatty is the recipient of Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and he is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame. He is a graduate of Brown University and Yale School of Drama.

Robert Morgan (Costume Design) has designed the Broadway productions of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Full Monty, Imaginary Friends, I’m Not Rappaport,and Sherlock’s Last Case. His Off Broadway credits include Pride’s Crossing and Saturn Returns (Lincoln Center Theater) and The Loves of Anatol (Circle in the Square Theatre). His television credits include “American Playhouse,” The Skin of Our Teeth,and A Christmas Carol. He has designed internationally for the West End and Maria Theresa’s Schönbrunn Palace Theater in Vienna. His regional credits include The Old Globe (Associate Artist), Ahmanson Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, American Players Theatre, The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Guthrie Theater, Huntington Theatre Company, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, McCarter Theatre Center, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Studio Arena Theater, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. He has received two Drama Desk Award nominations and 12 Drama-Logue Awards, and he has exhibited at Prague Quadrennial. He is the former Director of Boston University’s Theatre Arts Division, School for the Arts.

Pat Collins (Lighting Design) has designed Globe productions of Twelfth Night, Cymbeline,and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Her Broadway credits include Orphans, Good People, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Doubt (Tony Award nomination), Sight Unseen, Proof, A Moon for the Misbegotten, A Delicate Balance, The Sisters Rosensweig, Conversations with My Father, The Heidi Chronicles, I’m Not Rappaport (Tony Award), Execution of Justice (Drama Desk Award), the original production and 1988 revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’, Once Upon a Mattress, An American Daughter,and many more. Her Lincoln Center Theater credits include Third, Ten Unknowns, Death and the King’s Horseman, The Threepenny Opera (Tony nomination), The Floating Light Bulb,and Measure for Measure. Her Off Broadway credits include The Foreigner, Doubt, Burn This, Quartermaine’s Terms, How I Got That Story,and A Life in the Theatre. Ms. Collins has designed lighting at theatres throughout the country, including Mark Taper Forum, McCarter Theatre Center, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Hartford Stage, Alley Theatre, Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Guthrie Theater, Goodman Theatre, American Repertory Theater, and Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. She has also designed over 100 productions for opera companies throughout the world.

Paul Peterson (Sound Design) has designed over 100 productions at The Old Globe, including Other Desert Cities, The Brothers Size, God of Carnage, Nobody Loves You, Odyssey, Engaging Shaw, Life of Riley, Plaid Tidings – A Special Holiday Edition of Forever Plaid, Welcome to Arroyo’s, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway Bound, The Last Romance, Lost in Yonkers, I Do! I Do!, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Kingdom, Six Degrees of Separation, The Women, Two Trains Running, Hold Please, Restoration Comedy, Pig Farm, Moonlight and Magnolias, Vincent in Brixton, Lucky Duck, The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Blue/Orange, Time Flies, Pentecost, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, The Boswell Sisters, Crumbs from the Table of Joy, and many more. His regional credits include designs for Milwaukee Repertory Theater, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Center Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Sledgehammer Theatre (Associate Artist), Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company, San Diego Repertory Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Diversionary Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Malashock Dance, University of San Diego, San Diego State University, and UCLA. Mr. Peterson received his B.F.A. in Drama with an emphasis in Technical Design from San Diego State University.

Anita Ruth (Orchestrator) is an orchestrator, arranger, and musical director active in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. She has prepared over 150 musicals in the last 30 years. She was the musical director of the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres from 1968 to 1988. Since then she has been a freelance music director and orchestrator at Guthrie Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Bloomington Civic Theatre, and Theatre Mu, among others. She has been the arranger/music director for three Shakespeare productions at the Guthrie in addition to music directing their production of A Christmas Carol for many years. In 2004 she orchestrated two operas composed by Mel Marvin: one presented in Holland and the other at Bard College.

Joshua Rosenblum (Vocal Arrangements and Incidental Music) has conducted 13 Broadway and Off Broadway shows, specializing in flying vehicles (Miss Saigon, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!). He is the composer/lyricist of the Off Broadway smash hit revue Bush Is Bad, as well as the musicals Fermat’s Last Tango, Einstein’s Dreams, Garbo and Me, and Mark Felt, Superstar. As a pianist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops; in the Encores! series at New York City Center; and in solo recitals at Symphony Space. He is a faculty member of the Yale University Department of Music and a contributing writer for Opera News. Mr. Rosenblum is the founder and music director of the Pit Stop Players and the recipient of a grant from Signature Theatre in Washington DC as part of the American Musical Voices Project. rosenblummusic.com.

David Krane (Dance Music Arranger) created the dance music and additional score for the Academy Award–winning Chicago and the film of Nine; created the musical score adaptation for Disney’s Into the Woods starring Meryl Streep; produced and arranged Michelle Williams’s vocals for My Week with Marilyn; and composed Aspire with Stephen Cole, the first American musical produced in the Middle East. Their musical comedy about that incredible experience, The Road to Qatar!, was produced in Dallas, New York City, and the Edinburgh Festival. It is licensed by josef-weinberger.com, and the album, produced by jayrecords.com, is available on iTunes. Mr. Krane’s many Broadway credits include Cabaret, On the Twentieth Century, and She Loves Me. His latest works are Disney’s new film Mary Poppins Returns and his own new original musical Goin’ Hollywood. davidkrane.com.

Jess Slocum (Production Stage Manager) previously worked on the Globe productions of Much Ado About Nothing; Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night (Globe for All); Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!;Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood!; The Imaginary Invalid; Red Velvet; Picasso at the Lapin Agile; Love’s Labor’s Lost; tokyo fish story; The Metromaniacs; In Your Arms; Twelfth Night; Buyer & Cellar; Bright Star; Othello; Water by the Spoonful; The Winter’s Tale; A Doll’s House; Pygmalion; A Room with a View; Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show; the 2011–2013 Shakespeare Festivals; Rafta, Rafta…; Robin and the 7 Hoods; Alive and Well; Sammy; Cornelia; Since Africa;and The Glass Menagerie. Her Broadway credits include In the Heights. Her regional credits include Noura (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Indecent, Side Show, Ruined, The Third Story, Memphis,and Most Wanted (La Jolla Playhouse), and Post Office (Center Theatre Group). She is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and a proud member of Actors’ Equity.