The Grinch and Scrooge Will Return to the Old Globe This Holiday Season

The Old Globe will celebrate the holidays with two popular San Diego yuletide traditions: the annual production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and the comedic Dickens send-up Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show. The Grinch will run November 8 – December 31, 2023, with an official opening night on Sunday, November 12. Scrooge will run November 17 – December 24, 2023, with an official opening night on Tuesday, November 21. The cast and creative team for both productions will be announced at a later date. Subscriber and donor priority pre-sale for Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show starts September 12, and single tickets for the general public will be available online September 20 at www.TheOldGlobe.org; and on September 22 by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE (234-5623) and in person at The Old Globe’s Box Office in Balboa Park.

“As one of San Diego’s holiday season centerpieces for over 25 years, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a delightful and enchanting celebration of the spirit of community and togetherness,” said Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. “We are looking forward to San Diego audiences once again enjoying the generous blessing that Dr. Seuss and the late Audrey Geisel have gifted our city in order to help make the holidays cheerful and grand. In addition to our annual Who-ville celebration, we will be continuing our other holiday tradition, Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s hilarious San Diego riff on A Christmas Carol. Year after year these two holiday favorites bring love, laughter, and kindness to our San Diego audiences, and demonstrate just how much the Globe makes theatre matter to our wonderful city.”

The Grinch features a book and lyrics by Timothy Mason and music by Mel Marvin. The original production of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was conceived and directed by Jack O’Brien, with additional lyrics by Theodor S. Geisel, additional music by Albert Hague, and original choreography by John DeLuca.

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is a wonderful, whimsical musical based upon the classic Dr. Seuss book. Back for its 26th 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 Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in The Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, is once again transformed into the snow-covered Who-ville, right down to the last can of Who-hash.

Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show, returns to the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, this Scrooge parody is set in San Diego and written by Gordon Greenberg (Globe’s Crime and Punishment, A Comedy and The Heart of Rock & Roll) and Steve Rosen (Globe’s Crime and Punishment, A Comedy, The Other Josh Cohen). All the traditional elements of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol are intact—including the iconic ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future—in this reimagined holiday story with a very comic twist. Audiences of all ages will cheer as Ebenezer Scrooge rediscovers the true Christmas spirit in this riotous Dickens mash-up filled with music and laughter—and set in “wintery” San Diego.

Details about the 18th annual Globe Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony will be announced at a later date.

Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is supported by Major Production Sponsors Elaine and Dave* Darwin and Edelman, and Artist Sponsor George C. Guerra (for the actor playing The Grinch). *In memoriam.

Ebenezer Scrooge’s BIG San Diego Christmas Show is supported by Production Sponsor Elizabeth Cushman.

Financial support for The Old Globe is provided by The City of San Diego. The Theodor and Audrey Geisel Fund provides leadership support for The Old Globe’s year-round activities.

The Tony Award–winning The Old Globe is one of the country’s leading professional not-for-profit regional theatres. Now in its 89th year, the Globe is San Diego’s flagship performing arts institution, and it serves a vibrant community with theatre as a public good. Under the leadership of Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and the Audrey S. Geisel Managing Director Timothy J. Shields, The Old Globe produces a year-round season of 16 productions of classic, contemporary, and new works on its three Balboa Park stages, including its internationally renowned Shakespeare Festival. More than 250,000 people annually attend Globe productions and participate in the theatre’s artistic and arts engagement programs. Its nationally prominent Arts Engagement Department provides an array of participatory programs that make theatre matter to more people in neighborhoods throughout the region. Humanities programs at the Globe and around the city broaden the community’s understanding of theatre art in all its forms. The Globe also boasts a range of new play development programs with professional and community-based writers, as well as the renowned The Old Globe and University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program. Numerous world premieres—such as 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Bright Star, The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! —have been developed at The Old Globe and have gone on to highly successful runs on Broadway and at regional theatres across the country.

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