La Jolla Playhouse is cooking up what it calls a “funny, colorful and delicious” world-premiere play that aims to shed light on the story of iconic American chef and TV personality Julia Child.
“The Recipe” follows the life of Child, who was credited with making French cuisine more mainstream in America with a 1961 cookbook she co-wrote called “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”
She also broke barriers by hosting a cooking show on TV, becoming a household name in the United States. She died in 2004, two days before her 92nd birthday.
Chef and author Julia Child works in the kitchen at her home in Cambridge, Mass., in 1992. (Jon Chase / AP file)
The play will run Feb. 10 through March 22 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.
“The Recipe” was written by two-time Tony Award nominee Claudia Shear and is directed by two-time Obie Award winner Lisa Peterson.
The cast is headed by Broadway actress Christina Kirk as Child and two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz as her husband, Paul.
Throughout the show, audiences will see Child’s rebellion against a privileged but bland upbringing, as well as how she found her calling and met Paul.
The play is based on Bob Spitz’s “Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child,” a biography released in 2013.
La Jolla Playhouse’s newest production, “The Recipe,” is directed by Lisa Peterson (left) and written by Claudia Shear. (Samantha Laurent)
Shear said she was especially drawn to Child’s formative years.
“I became obsessed with the young Julia, the woman who ate a fish on a dish and had an epiphany that changed her life and changed other lives. That is what I imprinted on [the play],” Shear said.
“It’s a story of a person and their relationships, and that person happens to be Julia Child. But every life is a story.”
Shear has worked with La Jolla Playhouse before on 2009’s “Restoration,” which she both wrote and starred in.
She was recognized with Tony and Drama Desk award nominations for her writing and acting in “Dirty Blonde” years before.
Peterson was the playhouse’s associate director for three years in the early 1990s and was resident director at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles for a decade.
The cast of La Jolla Playhouse’s “The Recipe” is preparing for its debut in February. (Samantha Laurent)
Shear praised the cast and crew of “The Recipe.”
“Rachel Hauck is one of the great set designers. Lisa Peterson is an esteemed director [and] I’m lucky to have her,” Shear said. “The cast is amazing … Christina Kirk as Julia and the great Norbert Leo Butz are magic together.
“The people that have worked on this — Linda Cho on the costumes and André Pluess [sound design and original music] and [choreographer] David Neumann — this is the best of the best. I’m punching far above my weight.”
Years after getting started on “The Recipe,” Shear is excited for it to be in a theater, where she says “you can do anything and you can be anything.”
“There is nothing like the theater,” she said. “You’re physically in the space with people. It’s unto itself. That’s why it’s lasted quite a time.”
‘The Recipe’
When: Tuesday, Feb. 10, through Sunday, March 22
Where: Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla
Cost: $77-$124
Show times and tickets: lajollaplayhouse.org/show/the-recipe ♦