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| A welcoming sign in the theater lobby. (Maurice Hewitt) |
Attention Theater-Lovers! If you haven’t yet heard, this is the world premiere of an extraordinary one-act musical, THE HEART, whose hero is a travelling body part that keeps on keeping the beat.
It’s based on a 2013 novel by Maylis de Karangal titled Réparer Les Vivants (“Mend the Living”) about a young man who dies in a car crash and his parents’ tough decision about what to do with his still-beating heart. The novel apparently had a second life in French as a 2016 film a.k.a. Heal the Living, which was shown at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.
Onstage at La Jolla Playhouse, and now set in San Diego, the young man is a 19-year-old surfer who crashes on his way home from a great sunrise surf session and ends up brain-dead in a hospital emergency room. When his parents are contacted and have to face dealing with the terrible news, they’re immediately asked to donate his healthy organs, the most important one being his heart, which could save someone’s life but must be transplanted within 24 hours.
This theatrical version, featuring a cast of nine gifted performers who sing, dance, and take on multiple roles as doctors, hospital staff, and family and friends of the surfer and his designated organ recipient, is a work of collaborative genius like nothing you’ve ever seen before. And it shows how collaborative a process the work of getting a beating heart to have a new life in a new person can be, and the generosity of spirit it requires from everyone involved.
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| An early set rendering from Robert Brill. (Courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse) |
The look of the show is a main contributor to its success. The striking set by Scenic Designer Robert Brill and the brilliant lighting design by Amanda Zieve add continual arrays of color and spirit to The Heart. Photos aren’t permitted during performances; you’ll just have to see for yourself.
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| Tech photo by Samantha Laurent, courtesy of La Jolla Playhouse. |
The man behind this unique collaboration is Christopher Ashley, the multi-award-winning director who has been La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director since 2007 and is leaving in 2026 to become Artistic Director of Roundabout Theatre in NYC. Don’t miss this special event that’s packed with great music, visuals and feeling. You’ll be so glad you were there.
THE HEART at the La Jolla Playhouse
Book and Additional Lyrics by Kait Kerrigan.
Music & Lyrics by Anne Eisendrath & Ian Eisendrath.
Choreographed by Mandy Moore.
The Heart runs through October 5 at the Potiker Theater on the UCSD
campus.
2910 La Jolla Village Drive.
For tickets and information: lajollaplayhouse.org
Lonnie
Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has
been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen
years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net
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