Arts & Culture in Winter Gardens

The Cygnet Theatre Company has turned written scripts into lively dramatic productions since 2003, winning seven San Diego Theatre Critics Circle Awards for its 2010 season. The recently extended run of Little Shop of Horrors draws audiences into a camp- and crescendo-laden rock musical that warns against purchasing suspicious looking chia pets. Curtains rise on Alan Menken and Howard Ashman's classic story of florist assistant Seymour (Brandon Joel Maier) as he attempts to woo his coworker, Audrey (Melissa Fernandes), and outwit the diabolical machinations of the flesh-eating plant that has made him famous. Premium-section seating settles patrons in the theater's center rows, allowing them to sink into renovated seats without losing sight of any stagehands in the wings.

For those who struggle to read CliffsNotes without the guidance of a Sherpa, a night of fast-paced live-action literature at San Diego REP helps keep things clear, entertaining, and to the point. With 37 of Bill’s works performed in 97 minutes, the show traverses a mind-spiking storyline full of laughs, tears, and historical nuggets. One moment you're mourning the tragic death of yet another character, and the next you're realizing why your 8th-grade English paper scored modest marks.

Hello, Dolly! is the much-loved tale of matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi, who is hired to arrange a marriage but unsuspectingly falls in love with the groom, the parsimonious half-millionaire Horace Vandergelder. The story unravels in a musical fashion, with tunes such as "Before the Parade Passes By" and "It Only Takes a Moment" dotting the plotline. Performances are August 19 through September 5, showing Thursday through Sunday at 8 p.m.

Since its inception in the early 1970s, Lamb’s Players Theatre has entertained audiences in its two intimate theaters. Whether the nonprofit, artist-run company is producing classic works or original pieces, it focuses on themes such as community, contemporary culture, and spirituality.

The Mystery Café is America’s Original Murder Mystery Dinner Theater, serving up both meals and laughter since 1986. As Boston’s premiere source of interactive entertainment, you’re not just watching our original comedic plays while dining on a gourmet three course dinner, you are actually a part of the show! Question the s

Even when a ballet imposes technical challenges and its reputation raises expectations to near-impossible levels, California Ballet's dancers and artists don't shy away. Much of the company's repertoire reads like a 19th-century Top-10 list—Midsummer Night's Dream, Coppelia, Swan Lake—yet it makes each staging uniquely its own, either by revamping the choreography, casting The Nutcracker with upwards of 200 students from its dance school, or creating sets and costumes that would dazzle an "Ooooh" out of a royal guardsman.

Even if a classic story was overlooked by the old masters, long-time choreographer and assistant director Charles Bennett was there to pick up the slack. Bennett passed in 2003, but his influence on the company’s repertoire endures in his imaginative multimedia adaptation of Snow White—where even the generally limited dwarves take on demanding roles—and the composite score for Dracula, which adds extra shiver to its macabre dance of wolves, bats, blood-suckers, and mesmerized Victorian maidens.