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Actor Richard Thomas brings Hal Holbrook\u2019s \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d to San Diego on Thursday, Feb. 12. (Lia Chang)<\/p>\nOver the past 12 years San Diego theatergoers have had the good fortune of seeing actor Richard Thomas play a kaleidoscope of larger-than-life characters.<\/p>\n
In 2014, he was the villainous Iago to Blair Underwood\u2019s Othello at The Old Globe. Two years later, he returned to the Globe as U.S. President Jimmy Carter in the political negotiations play \u201cCamp David.\u201d<\/p>\n
Actor Richard Thomas brings Hal Holbrook\u2019s \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d to San Diego on Thursday, Feb. 12. (Lia Chang)<\/p>\n
And in 2022, he was the heroic Southern lawyer Atticus Finch in the national touring production of Aaron Sorkin\u2019s stage adaptation of \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird\u201d at the San Diego Civic Theatre.<\/p>\n
This week, Thomas is back in San Diego playing another iconic character in the national tour of Hal Holbrook\u2019s performance piece \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Actor Richard Thomas studies for his role in \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut, in June 2025. (Julieta Cervantes)<\/p>\n
A New York native, Thomas was 21 when he created the memorable role of eldest son John-Boy in the 1970s TV series \u201cThe Waltons.\u201d Now, at 74, he\u2019s the first actor besides Holbrook to ever star in \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d<\/p>\n
The solo piece re-creates Twain\u2019s famous oratory tours from the 1870s-1890s, where the author and raconteur spoke to audiences around the world about his books, tell stories and deliver humorous takes on politics, class, race and whatever news of the day he discovered in the local newspapers that day.<\/p>\n
Holbrook debuted his play in 1954 and performed it on Broadway and on tour until he retired in 2017. Over the years, Holbrook gave more than 2,300 \u201cTwain\u201d performances to audiences of more than 2 million people.<\/p>\n
While he was alive, Holbrook never licensed his play to any other actor. But before he passed away in 2021 at age 95, he gave his estate agents permission to bring back \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d if they ever found an actor who they believed could do the role justice.<\/p>\n
![\"Richard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sut-l-stage-twain1.jpg\")
Richard Thomas performs the one-man show \u201cMark Twain Tonight\u201d on Thursday at San Diego\u2019s Balboa Theatre. (T Charles Erickson)<\/p>\n
That person was Thomas, who was friends with Holbrook for decades and who replaced Holbrook in 2012 as chair of the National Corporate Theatre Fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow this is the second time I\u2019ve done Hal\u2019s job,\u201d Thomas joked, in a recent phone interview about \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said he was on the \u201cMockingbird\u201d tour a few years back when he got a call from the former producers of \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d who said they\u2019d gotten a call from Holbrook\u2019s estate about reviving the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018I know what this is. I hope this is what I think it is,\u2019\u201d Thomas recalled. \u201cI said \u2018Absolutely!\u2019 It\u2019s such great material and such a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In order to take on the monumental role, Thomas said it took some time to work his way through the monumental script. Over the years, Holbrook continuously wrote new versions of the script because he kept discovering new things about Twain\u2019s life, work and perspective on life.<\/p>\n
Thomas also put in some time doing research at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Conn.. where Twain wrote \u201cThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,\u201d anmong other novels.<\/p>\n
Last August, Thomas made his debut in \u201cMark Twain Tonight!\u201d at the nearby Hartford Stage theater.<\/p>\n
Now Thomas is in the midst of a 45-city U.S. tour, which arrives at the San Diego Civic Theatre on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Thomas said he wasn\u2019t intimidated to be filling Holbrook\u2019s shoes, since he\u2019s been an actor for most of his life and virtually every stage role he\u2019s ever played has been performed by others before him. His goal isn\u2019t to re-create Holbrook\u2019s performance but to be faithful to the material Holbrook wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cHal is inimitable and it was a great performance. But this is a whole different ballgame,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cThis terrific performance piece that he put together now enters the repertoire. Hopefully other actors will play it so Twain can keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Richard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sut-l-stage-twain2.jpg\")
Richard Thomas performs the one-man show \u201cMark Twain Tonight\u201d on Thursday at San Diego\u2019s Balboa Theatre. (T Charles Erickson)<\/p>\n
Thomas said that while Twain\u2019s books and humor are not as much in the public eye today as they were in the 20th century, audience response to the touring show has been very positive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reception has been wonderful,\u201d he said. \u201cTwain is just remarkable. He is so various and so rich and so much fun. His insights are so apropos of whatever America is going through. He\u2019s not only ours, he is us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have more voices in the American chorus than ever before, and that\u2019s a good thing, but Twain is a mirror of what we have been in our time. His social evolution as a person, as a thinker and as a citizen has been parallel with the country. As he grows up and wakes up, the country grows up and wakes up, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas described Twain as an \u201cequal opportunity offender,\u201d who could speak to prejudices on both sides of every issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll pop anyone\u2019s balloon, but the first balloon he pops is his own,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cHe\u2019s always the first to make fun of himself, which is endearing and which maintains the egalitarian qualify of the play. Even if he says something very challenging, he\u2019s still your friend. There\u2019s enough humor in it, enough salt in it, that people will enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the tour has wound its way across America, Thomas said that some parts of the script have landed differently with audiences, depending on the region he\u2019s visiting and its predominating politics and religion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are passages where in one part of the country they get cheers and applause, and in other parts get dead silence,\u201d he said. \u201cRegions have their own personalities. There are very different crowds. It\u2019s so volatile right now and lines are so starkly drawn and people are so barricaded inside their own beliefs that I think it\u2019s a very good time for him to try and dismantle some of this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas described the tour as a wonderful experience, because it\u2019s visiting a lot of small towns he hasn\u2019t seen before, and he\u2019s been accompanied on the tour by his wife of more than 30 years, Georgiana Bischoff.<\/p>\n
The tour\u2019s final performance is on Feb. 22 in Ohio. Just just two days later, Thomas will start rehearsals for another play, David Lindsay-Abaire\u2019s new \u201cThe Balusters\u201d at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York.<\/p>\n
Thomas said \u201cTwain\u201d road will hit the road again in 2027, but dates have not been announced. He said he\u2019s looking forward to taking the show back out again next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s deliciously fun and also wonderful to be able to be intimate with the audience,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cHe\u2019s always talking to the audience like he\u2019s letting them in on something. It\u2019s a marveouls way to establish a relationship. There\u2019s always a wink there.\u201d<\/p>\n
RICHARD THOMAS STARS IN \u2018MARK TWAIN TONIGHT!\u2019<\/p>\n
When:\u00a0 7:30 p.m. Thursday\n<\/p>\n
Where: Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., downtown<\/p>\n
Tickets: $61.25-$214<\/p>\n