Jay Irwin - Page 34

There's a plot device that has annoyed me since I was a kid. Sitcoms use it a lot. It's where the main character keeps lying and/or making obviously poor decisions which keeps digging them deeper and deeper into a hole until you just want to scream at them, "Just tell the truth and do the right thing already!" In sitcoms it all gets resolved in a fun way in 22 minutes and everyone learns a valuable lesson. But when this plot device is combined with the nation's current economic woes as is the case with Laura Marks' play "Bethany", currently playing at ACT, that frustration with the characters never seems to end leading to a bleak evening which left me asking, "why?" Is this a journey we need to take or is it simply frustration for frustration's sake and shining a spotlight on the plight of some to make others without the plight feel better about their lives?

A world premiere play from one of Seattle's best, Stephanie Timm, directed by one of Seattle's best, Darragh Kennan and from one of Seattle's best theatre groups, New Century Theatre Company. Seems like a dead lock winner right? But while I still found "Tails of Wasps" currently playing at ACT thoroughly engaging and interesting I wasn't so blown away by it as I have been by others from this group. And yes, I may be holding them up to a higher standard, but that's what you get for consistently being on the top.

Balagan Theatre is bringing one of the oddest topics for a musical to the Seattle Rep with the world premiere of "Ernest Shackleton Loves Me". From anyone else this might seem like a stretch but from the minds of Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn, who brought us the likes of Striking 12 and Sleeping Beauty Wakes, along with book writer Joe DiPietro, a story about a single mother/musician who begins a Skype conversation with Ernest Shackleton as he journeys across the Antarctic is just a jumping off point for something magical. I recently sat down with co-author and one of the leads of the show Valerie Vigoda along with fellow cast mate Wade McCollum to discuss this odd pairing.

Psst! Hey Buddy! Yeah you! You lookin' for a good time with some scantily clad performers who are ready and willing to do whatever you want while putting on a hell of a show? Well then you'd better hop in your time machine and head back the 1960's because Seattle doesn't do that anymore. But luckily we have "Seattle Vice" now performing over at ACT which takes a look back at those grittier days of Seattle in the 60's where the booze and the boobs flowed freely.

A musical about imprisonment, homosexuality, fascist regimes, revolutionaries, morphine addiction and a movie star; must be Kander and Ebb because only they could pull it off so beautifully. But their "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is not often produced possibly due to its harsh themes but also that it's a very difficult show to stage and perform with its rich nuances. And while the current production at SecondStory Repertory has some wonderful performances, ultimately the choices and in some cases additions to the show made it lack the passion and danger the show needs to up the stakes of its story.

You're a cute little new musical that has workshopped itself at Village in their Village Originals program twice before. You have an interesting storyline and a fun little gimmick. You start off a little weak but there are sparks of potential. So why would you completely abandon that cute storyline and gimmick by Act Two and then proceed to beat your audience over the head with a tired message of letting time work things out? (A message that made no sense for what preceded by the way.) Unfortunately this is the question I found myself asking at Village Theatre's "The Tutor". Sure the performers shine but they shine in a show that has no idea what it wants to be or where it wants to go.

I always question the wisdom of these smaller theaters working with almost no budgets putting up these big flashy Broadway shows. They're not going to have the funds for lavish sets and racks of fancy costumes. But even without all that Seattle Musical Theatre managed to take Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" and create an evening of naughty fun with some truly solid performances.

When Seattle Shakespeare Company hits one out of the park they do it with gusto. Such is the case with their current production of Oscar Wilde's battle of witty banter, "The Importance of Being Earnest". They've managed to take Wilde's delightful romp and made it even more delightful by executing it with magnificent precision in all aspects. If I had to find one drawback with the production it's that it ended as I, for one, was having entirely too good a time.

I'll admit to a certain amount of trepidation when going to see the world premiere of "Royal Blood" by Sonya Schneider at West of Lenin. I mean a world premiere play about a dysfunctional family with characters based on the author's relations. It sounds like one of my least favorite things in theater, someone else's therapy on stage. Not to mention that everyone wants to be "August: Osage County" these days. And sure, while there were a few elements that read a touch predictable, fortunately what I got was a fresh storyline with gripping dialog from an ensemble of outstanding actors which amounted to a thoroughly engaging evening.

I truly appreciate when a show realizes it doesn't need all the flash, all the bells and whistles, in order to be great. Sometimes a show has such a simple and straightforward story to tell that it just needs to tell it. Such is the case with "The Suit" currently playing at the Seattle Rep. This heartbreaking tale has such simple innate beauty that it needs only some chairs, a few musicians and a trio of gifted actors to convey the tragic allure of itself.

It's one of my all time favorite shows so naturally I'm a little picky about it. I mean, Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's "Little Shop of Horrors" is one of those near perfect musicals. Great story, great characters, super fun music, it's got it all. But just as the plant in the show feeds on blood, so does the show, metaphorically speaking of blood as being the grit, funk, soul and attitudes of 1960's doo-wop and B-horror movies. And while there's a ton of talent and great voices on the stage of the current joint production from ACT and The 5th Avenue Theatre, there's also a shocking lack of that "blood" from the production.

We all love to gawk at things different from what we call "normal". The internet is full of such things. Hell, one might even view our love of theater as such as it's a window into the lives of others. And that's the focus of Bernard Pomerance's stirring play, "The Elephant Man", as we view a freak show from all angles. And while STAGEright's production has some outstanding moments, at times it feels a little too ambitious for the company and the space.

Before you start the lynch mob against LungFish Productions for altering Jason Robert Brown's "The Last Five Years" let me assure you that not one word of the original has been changed. It's the intent of the piece as how it's told that director and conceiver Kyle James Traver has reimagined and while I wasn't 100% sold on the new vision, it's still a beautiful piece from some incredible performers.

Sure, it's a story about a monster, but a monster that is looking for love and acceptance and his creator who's looking for power and the redemption they both seek from their mistaken paths to find their goals. Mary Shelley's novel manages all that within a simple gothic romance and David Quicksall's adaptation manages a somewhat gripping stage representation of that tale. Unfortunately while much of the staging of "Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus", currently presented by Book-It Repertory Theatre, offers chilling moments, many other choices within the show detract so much as to pull you from the story and leave it muddled.

Dear Readers, I must warn you against seeing the latest show over at Teatro ZinZanni, "On The Air". After viewing it last night my smile muscles are only now beginning to recover from the perma-grin that this show and its incredible cast stuck on my face. I've been fortunate enough to see a few ZinZanni shows and this was one of the best, if not THE best I have seen.

Get yourself ready for something naughty, witty and all around fun as the Seattle Rep has brought to town David Ives' battle of wills and words, “Venus in Fur”. This ribald evening from two powerhouse performers is rife with Ives' typical meaty dialog will keep you guessing as to who's really in charge.

When my Mom goes to see shows of mine that are on the edgy or weirder side she inevitably comes back with the comment, "That was interesting" afterward. Translation: not my thing and a little too weird. I, on the other hand, like a little weird in my theater especially when it culminates into a good message or "aha!" moment at the end. But while I was on board through Act One with the message and imagery in "Marisol", the inaugural production from newly hatched theater company The Collision Project, Act Two led me into a melange of overdone messages and just became kind of "interesting" for me.

One of the things I love about William Finn's shows is that he draws such rich and flawed characters which makes them all the more real and relatable. This is extremely true in his most popular work, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", currently playing at Seattle Musical Theatre, where the kids of the Bee, as well as the adults, work through their own idiosyncrasies. But the lovely thing about the show is that since the subjects are children, they don't deny their flaws but embrace them as a part of themselves and use them to their advantage. And the cast and crew of the SMT production recognize that and never poke fun of the characters but embrace and love them as well and that's what makes this show an absolute joy.

If you know what I mean when I say things such as "Are you telling me cocoanuts migrate?!?" "She's got huge tracks of land!" and "Ni!" then you're my kind of nerd who understands the joy that is "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". And while musical theater nerds are aware, I was surprised to find out how many others didn't know that the genius of Holy Grail was giddily translated into the musical "Monty Python's Spamalot" which ran off with the Tony for best musical in 2005. And now the 5th Avenue Theatre presents an all local production of the smash hit and with the talent and design at their disposal, it's about as close to the Broadway show as you're going to get (without Jews, of course).

A new work is always a risk even from author Charles Waxberg who gave us the amazing "A Shade of Green" a few years back. In this case from Theatre 9/12 we kind of have two works from Waxberg with his new play "The Equation". And while the performances in the piece were admirable, only one of the stories held together (for the most part) while the other left me completely confused.