A faded silent film star, an embittered writer, and a devoted butler are getting a new kind of stage treatment in San Diego this September, as local company Cinballera Entertainment brings a hybrid opera-ballet version of the 1950 Hollywood classic Sunset Boulevard to the Old Town Theatre. The production, titled Sunset Boulevard: A Hollywood Ballopera, is scheduled for three performances beginning September 4, 2026, and features operatic singing, classical dance, and classic film scores performed by a cast of five.
According to the event listing from KPBS, the show blends cinema, ballet and opera and promises an immersive visual experience using old Hollywood style paired with modern film technology. Performances run Friday, September 4 from 7 to 9 p.m., Saturday, September 5 from 8 to 10 p.m., and Sunday, September 6 with both a 3 to 5 p.m. matinee and an evening show, all suitable for all ages with understandable sung and spoken words. Tickets range from $20 to $35 and are handled through San Diego Arts Tix.
Cinballera Entertainment was founded on June 18, 2023, by Southern California sisters Tiffany Brannan, a dramatic coloratura soprano, and Rebekah Brannan, a ballerina with San Diego Ballet, according to the Cardiff By The Sea Music and Arts Salon. The company name is a portmanteau of cinema, ballet and opera, pronounced “cheen-ball-era” as a nod to opera's Italian roots. For this production, Tiffany Brannan stars as the reclusive silent-era star Norma Desmond, Rebekah Brannan plays aspiring screenwriter Betty Schaefer, and company artist Bryan Christian Dahl takes on the role of butler Max von Mayerling, per the company's own announcement on Cinballera Entertainment's Facebook page.
From Escondido Chamber Shows to a Fourth Season
Cinballera Entertainment isn't new to Southern California stages. The company debuted its first production, Stolen Love: A Chamber Ballopera, in July 2023 at the Grand Ritz Theater in Escondido, according to the Escondido Times-Advocate. The company opened its fourth season in July 2026 with a staging of Puccini's opera Il Tabarro, the paper noted, and Sunset Boulevard: A Hollywood Ballopera continues that same fourth season.
The source material carries considerable Hollywood pedigree. The original 1950 film noir was directed by Billy Wilder, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Brackett and D. M. Marshman Jr., starring Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond and William Holden as screenwriter Joe Gillis, per Wikipedia. At the 23rd Academy Awards in March 1951, the film earned 11 Oscar nominations — including nods in all four acting categories — and won three awards for Best Writing, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, and Best Music Score by Franz Waxman.
The film's cultural footprint has only grown since. In 1989, the Library of Congress selected Sunset Boulevard for preservation in the National Film Registry as part of its inaugural group of 25 culturally significant films, and in 1998 the American Film Institute ranked it No. 12 among the 100 greatest American movies of the 20th century, according to the Ultimate Pop Culture Wiki. The KPBS listing describes the film's story as the tale of a faded silent film star who ensnares an embittered writer in her celluloid fantasy, and includes the character's famous line, “I am big; it's the operas that got small!”
A Historic Venue Inside Old Town
The Old Town Theatre at 4040 Twiggs Street, where the ballopera will take place, is a 246-seat venue located inside Old Town San Diego State Historic Park that has served as the main production home for Cygnet Theatre since 2008, according to GB Magazine. Cygnet Theatre, which manages the venue, was founded in 2003 and is preparing to transition its primary staging operations to a new permanent home at the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center in Liberty Station, according to Cygnet Theatre.
Tickets for Sunset Boulevard: A Hollywood Ballopera are sold through San Diego Arts Tix, which is operated by the non-profit San Diego Performing Arts League. That organization was formed to support roughly 60 regional performing arts groups across San Diego County through ticket distribution and audience development, according to the League's own materials. Those interested in attending can also reach the production directly by phone at 760-859-5260 or by email at [email protected], while the Old Town Theatre box office can be reached at 619-337-1525.
Not the First Stage Reinvention
Cinballera's ballopera isn't the first time Sunset Boulevard has left the screen for the stage. Before this adaptation, the film was famously turned into a stage musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber in the 1990s, winning seven Tony Awards including Best Musical following its Broadway premiere, according to Jay's Classic Movie Blog. Cinballera's version takes a different route, condensing Billy Wilder's sprawling narrative and Franz Waxman's grand score into an intimate five-person format built around live dance, opera vocals, and film-inspired visual staging inside a historic Old Town venue.
