By Kristen Nevarez Schweizer
September 5, 2025
La Jolla Playhouse has a habit of birthing the kind of musicals that grow up to win Tony Awards. That alone is why hundreds of San Diegans buy tickets to LJP’s world premieres. Personally, I attended The Heart for two reasons. First, I’m the kind of millennial theater fan who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles to see the immersive, projection-spectacular CAGES: A New Musical in 2022. I’m interested in the potential for theatrical EDM (electronic dance music) musicals. Also, Lincoln Clauss—who floored me as Emcee in The Old Globe’s 2023 Cabaret—is in the cast.
Here’s The Heart’s premise: a young, local surfer succumbs to brain death due to a tragic car accident. His heart and other organs still live. Over twenty-four taut hours in San Diego, we follow the young heart on its literal journey from one body to another, and along the way, we meet the people it brushes past. The result? An ensemble transplant docudrama that’s somehow both hyper-efficient and deeply human.
As expected, Lincoln Clauss as Thomas Driscoll is magnetic. He navigates the delicate dance of convincing grieving parents to register their comatose son as an organ donor, with the intensity of a potential villain and the soul of an everyday hero. Also incredible: Bre Jackson is a show-stopper as Cordelia Owl, an ICU nurse who refuses clinical detachment. When these two sing, the room doesn’t just listen—it holds its breath. These stand-out vocalists deliver unique excellence when the synth sound threatens to meld the music together. As terrific actors, they also bring the punch of humanity required to ground the series of fast-paced vignettes.
At just about 80 minutes, this show is brisk—no ballad bloat, no endless reprises. Kait Kerrigan’s book moves like an athlete, lean and precise, while Anne and Ian Eisendrath’s electronic score keeps things pounding forward. The result is slick. Cool. Stylish in the way San Diego sometimes forgets it can be.
Because here’s the thing: as sharp and modern as The Heart is, it feels like a first chapter, not a final draft. Which is thrilling. It could be a beta test for a modern musical theatre form—shorter, beat-driven, unafraid of electronics. The Heart doesn’t give you enough story or an earworm song to become unforgettable, but it does give you the sense that the art form is evolving.
Christopher Ashley directs with trademark simplicity (he famously pared Come From Away back to just 12 chairs and two tables) that lets individuals shine, and you can sense Broadway producers scribbling notes already. But I don’t just want to know if The Heart transfers, I want to know what comes after. Can electronic musicals hold their own against the brass-and-belt tradition? Can a 90-minute form become Broadway’s new sweet spot? The Heart suggests yes.
For now, though, it’s San Diego’s. Catch it before it heads east—because if the future of musicals has an EDM pulse, we’ll remind everyone it started beating here.
The Heart
A World Premiere Musical
La Jolla Playhouse
Aug 19 – Oct 5 | Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre
Book and Additional Lyrics by Kait Kerrigan
Music and Lyrics by Anne Eisendrath & Ian Eisendrath
Based on “Réparer les Vivants” by Maylis de Kerangal
Choreographed by Mandy Moore
Directed by Christopher Ashley
