Best San Diego Musicals Running in 2024 & Coming in 2025

The Ballad of Johnny and June, with a book by Robert Cary and Des McAnuff, who also directs, has its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. Country music royalty Johnny Cash and June Carter remain to this day one of the most famous couples of the 20th Century. Created with the support of the family and told through the eyes of their son John Carter Cash, this new musical covers it all: their childhoods, their 1956 meeting at the Grand Ole Opry, the storied on-stage proposal in 1968, and the soaring highs and whiplash lows of fame, life on the road, addiction, arrests, controversies, marriage, family, and devotion. This is a whole-hearted and clear-eyed telling of one of the most iconic love stories in music history, complete with a soundtrack of beloved hits — I Walk the Line, Ring of Fire, Hey Porter, Jackson, I’ve Been Everywhere and many more. 

Running in May 28 - July 7, 2024 at La Jolla Playhouse.

Camelot has book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, and this production is directed by Jeffrey B. Moss. Prepare for an evening of enchantment at North Coast Rep with CAMELOT, brilliantly adapted for intimate theatres. Written by Lerner & Loewe, this Tony Award-winning fairy-tale musical resounds with such memorable songs as, “I Loved You Once in Silence,” “If Ever I Would Leave You,” and the title song, “Camelot.” Based on the King Arthur legend, it features the iconic characters King Arthur, Guenevere, Sir Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. This epic story centers on the quest for democracy, justice, and the tragic struggle between passion, aspiration, and kingdoms. Transport yourself to a world of romance, revelry, and magic.

Running May 29 - June 23, 2024 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre. 

Mrs. Doubtfire: Everyone’s favorite Scottish nanny is headed to San Diego! Rob McClure will reprise his Tony-nominated Broadway performance on tour alongside co-star (and real wife!) Maggie Lakis in this internationally acclaimed hit musical critics call “a feel-good, family-friendly comedy that delivers” (The Hollywood Reporter). Based on the beloved film and directed by four-time Tony Award® winner Jerry Zaks, MRS. DOUBTFIRE tells the hysterical and heartfelt story of an out-of-work actor who will do anything for his kids. 

Running June 4 – June 9 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.

Disney's Finding Nemo Jr: When Marlin, an anxious and overprotective clownfish, learns that his son, Nemo, has been captured, he must face his fears and set off on an epic adventure across the ocean. Along the way, with the help of lovable characters such as the optimistic Dory, Marlin, and Nemo both overcome challenges on their journey to find each other and themselves. See this vibrant underwater world come to life on stage in a story full of family, friendship, and adventure! BroadwayWorld called it, “a splashy good time for the whole family.”

Running June 28 – July 14, 2024, at the Casa del Prado Theatre in Balboa Park. 

Tick, Tick...Boom!, with book, music, & lyrics by Jonathan Larson and direction from Katie Banville, plays at the Cygnet Theatre this summer. Before he electrified the world with Rent, Jonathan Larson was a young man struggling to make his mark in the theater. While he waits tables and seeks his big break, the pressure to give it all up grows as Jon approaches his 30th birthday. Will he sell out to keep the lights on? Will he lose the love of his life? Will he finally write the soaring song that can change everything? And if he does, will anyone be there to see it? Set in 1990 and scored by the music that redefined a genre, tick, tick… BOOM! cracks open the ticking-time-bomb world of creating theater to celebrate the power of finding your voice and holding on to a dream.

Running July 3 – August 4, 2024, at the Cygnet Theatre. 

13 The Musical has a book by Dan Elish and Robert Horn and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. With an unforgettable rock score from Tony Award-winning composer, Jason Robert Brown, (Parade, The Last Five Years, Bridges of Madison County) 13 is a musical about fitting in – and standing out! Evan Goldman is plucked from his fast-paced, preteen New York City life and plopped into a sleepy Indiana town following his parents’ divorce. Surrounded by an array of simpleminded middle school students, he needs to establish his place in the popularity pecking order. Can he situate himself on a comfortable link of the food chain… or will he dangle at the end with the outcasts?!?

Running July 19 – July 28 at the SDMT Stage. 

Mean Girls: High School Version: Cady Heron may have grown up on an African Savanna, but nothing prepared her for the wild and vicious ways of her new home…suburban Illinois! In the halls of North Shore High School, Cady unwittingly infiltrates the most popular and cutthroat clique knows as “The Plastics.” She rises to the top of the popularity pecking order by taking on the ruthless Regina George and learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung. Along the way, Cady learns valuable lessons about authenticity, self-acceptance, and the importance of treating others with kindness. With an array of catchy songs and vibrant choreography, Mean Girls will have audiences of all ages dancing in their seats!

Running July 26 – August 11, 2024, at the Casa del Prado Theatre in Balboa Park. 

Peter Pan: This high-flying musical has been thrilling audiences of all ages for close to 70 years and is now being brought back to life in a new adaptation by celebrated playwright Larissa FastHorse, directed by Emmy Award-winner Lonny Price and choreography by Lorin Latarro. The adventure begins when PETER PAN and his mischievous fairy sidekick, Tinker Bell, visit the bedroom of the Darling children late one night. With a sprinkle of pixie dust and a few happy thoughts, the children are taken on a magical journey they will never forget. This extraordinary musical full of excitement and adventure features iconic and timeless songs including “I’m Flying”, “I Gotta Crow”, “I Won’t Grow Up” and “Neverland”. PETER PAN embraces the child in us all so go on a journey from the second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning – your entire family will be Hooked!

Running July 30 – August 4, 2024, at the San Diego Civic Theatre. 

Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show has music, book, and lyrics by Richard O’Brien, music direction by Patrick Marion, choreography by Luke H. Jacobs, and direction by Sean Murray. Cygnet is remounting one of their audiences’ favorite shows! A satirical tribute to the science fiction and B-list horror movies of the 20th century, the show centers around two naïve lovers, Brad and Janet. Seeking shelter from a thunderstorm in an old castle, they find themselves thrust into the laboratory of the cross-dressing mad scientist Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter and his motley crew. Stripped of inhibitions – and their clothes – Brad and Janet embark on a wild, unforgettable journey of pleasure and self-discovery. Reality, fiction, and camp collide in this mash-up of comics, rock and roll, and late-night horror flicks.

Running September 11 – October 20, 2024 at the Cygnet Theatre.

Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street has a book by Hugh Wheeler and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. An infamous tale, Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber, returns to nineteenth century London, seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which, he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett’s luck sharply shifts when Todd’s thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up… and the carnage has only just begun!

Running September 20 – October 20, 2024, at the SDMT Stage. 

Winter Wonderettes has a book by Roger Bean and includes some of your favorite holiday songs. This seasonal celebration finds the girls entertaining at the annual Harper’s Hardware Holiday Party. When Santa turns up missing, the girls use their talent and creative ingenuity to save the holiday party! Featuring great ’60s versions of holiday classics such as “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Run, Rudolph, Run,” and “Winter Wonderland,” the result is, of course, marvelous! This energetic and glittering holiday package is guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages.

Running November 29 – December 29, 2024, at the SDMT Stage. 

Wicked, the Broadway sensation, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle.  Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin—smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.”

Running February 5 – March 2, 2025, at the San Diego Civic Theatre. 

3 Summers of Lincoln, with book by Joe DiPietro, lyrics by Daniel J. Watts and Joe DiPietro, music by Crystal Monee Hall, and direction by Christopher Ashley, has its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. Change the conversation. Change the world. Summer, 1862. The bloody conflict that was supposed to last only 90 days has now been raging for more than a year. President Abraham Lincoln must find a way to end the Civil War. Enter powerful abolitionist Frederick Douglass. If he can meet Lincoln face to face, he can help the president cement a vision of the future that ends slavery along with the war — all while preserving the union. Just three meetings took place between the two men — pivotal conversations between two fierce and equally brilliant leaders that shaped the course of history. This gripping new musical marks the sixth Playhouse collaboration between Joe DiPietro and Christopher Ashley (including the hit shows Babbitt, Diana, and Memphis) and they’re thrilled to be joined by composer Crystal Monee Hall and lyricist Daniel J. Watts. Their epic score blends gospel, R&B, powerhouse anthems and Broadway to tell the inspirational story of one of the most important friendships in our nation’s history, and that of a brutally divided country coming together. 

Running in February and March 2025.