Jeff Orton

Seattle Musical Theatre has taken on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" for the holidays, that bright and frothy, crowd-pleaser of a tuner. And while for this production they've managed to gather up some stellar talent, that talent sometimes has a hard time getting through the noise, or in most cases, the lack of noise.

Direct from the biblical land of Caanan! Seattle Musical Theatre (SMT) dazzles this holiday season with a spectacular production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. For 13 performances a diverse cast of fresh local talent brings this timeless tale to the stage.

Direct from the biblical land of Caanan! Seattle Musical Theatre (SMT) dazzles this holiday season with a spectacular production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. For 13 performances a diverse cast of fresh local talent brings this timeless tale to the stage.

With one week left until The 17th Annual Festival of New Musicals, Village Theatre is excited to announce the casting for Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat, an electronic pop musical about one of the world's greatest inventors; Hart Island, a look at social justice and the people society has forgotten; Afterwords, a tale of art and love; Howl's Moving Castle, based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones; and ZM, a hilarious romp through a zombie-filled future by the Tony Award-winning authors of Urinetown. Taking place in Issaquah on August 11-13, 2017, The Festival of New Musicals provides an essential platform for writers to incorporate a key component of live theatre - the audience. Each new musical will be rehearsed during the week, then present to the audience in staged reading format, performed in full using scripts.

Spanning 28 theater companies and 59 productions, from the largest and most prominent to small, humble and innovative, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor as much professional theater as we reviewers can cram into our year.

The 'large theater' productions of ACT Theatre's The Royale and The 5th Avenue Theatre's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying take top honors and the 'small theater' productions of ArtsWest's Death of a Salesman and Washington Ensemble Theatre's The Things Are Against Us take top honors - for most category wins!?

Spanning 28 theater companies and 59 productions, from the largest and most prominent to small, humble and innovative, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor as much professional theater as we reviewers can cram into our year.

It's been a crazy year, Dear Readers. Lots of ups, lots of downs, and LOTS of emotions. And I'm not just talking about on stage. But let's not dwell on the bad things that may have happened in the world and focus on some of the amazing things Seattle theater companies gave us this past year, and let me tell you there were quite a few. So many in fact that in some categories I simply had to call out more than the usual Honorable Mentions as some performances just needed to be noted. You'll see what I mean especially when you get to the female categories as the ladies were certainly bringing it this year. But let's get started shall we? Out of the myriad shows I saw this year in Seattle, here are the shows and performances that truly stood out to me.

Despite a budget that is literally millions of dollars less than Seattle's oldest and most established theater's, Seattle's Sound Theatre Company is nominated for 7 awards in 7 categories. Not only is Sound Theatre Company looking to win a plethora of honors on October 24th but this relatively small organization has already garnered 4 People's Choice Awards as voted on by the region's theatre-going public. The Gregory Awards hosted by Theatre Puget Sound is the regionest largest honorarium of excellence in the field of live theatre.

In any given show you usually have the good guys and the bad guys. The people you identify with as being in the right and those in the wrong. But even when some people are clearly wrong it's possible to see why they react the way they do if the performances are strong enough. Such is the case with Sound Theatre Company's current production of “Parade” as the performances throughout are so clear and so strong that even those doing despicable and abhorrent things can seem reasonable, at least within their own ideologies.

ArtsWest has announced an extension of Angry Housewives, the longest-running musical in Seattle theater history. Premiering in 1983, Angry Housewives went on to play for nearly seven years in Pioneer Square Theatre spaces, burning its songs and cut-loose attitude into Seattle's history. With an Off-Broadway stint in 1986, the production has had a healthy run in regional theatre, including most major cities in America.

It's been quite some time since everyone's favorite Mom-laden punk band has graced a Seattle stage, but those "Angry Housewives" are back at ArtsWest. And while appearing to need a little more rehearsal and settling in time and still with a script that feels a bit hackneyed at times, the show with its ridiculous and infectious personalities still makes for a very fun night. Set the way back machine to the mid 80's as we find four suburban women looking to break free from their hum drum lives. Bev (Heather Hawkins) is newly widowed and broke. Carol (Ann Cornelius) is divorced, almost just as broke and desperate for love. Jetta (Chelsea LeValley) is a new Mom with an uptight and controlling husband (Mark Tyler Miller). And Wendi (Janet McWilliams) is a bit of a dreamer who's just looking for her next big thing. So when Bev's money problems become too much, the four band together to do the only thing they can do to make some money, enter a contest for the best punk rock band at a local club, of course. The show with book by A.M. Collins and music and lyrics by Chad Henry has a few script problems. The dialog can get a bit cliche and the story is about as predictable as a sit-com. And the production itself looked to need a bit more rehearsal time as its musical numbers were killer but its scene work and transitions were rocky at best. But I'm sure that will settle in time. But beyond all its problems the show is still fun and it's clear to see why it continued to run for so long back in the 80's and 90's. The ensemble is terrific and obviously having a blast up there. The four male counterparts to the ladies are superb. Miller is delightfully out of touch and chauvinistic. So much so that I felt the audience turning on him at one point but he managed to get them back during his song of redemption. Jeff Orton as Wendi's sailboat obsessed boyfriend and Brian Lange as the club owner Lewd Fingers each nailed their characters and their duet reminiscing on their past love was a real crowd pleaser. And Trent Moury as Bev's teenage son and his lamenting doo wop number about his too cool Mom practically stopped the show. But it's the ladies who completely kill in the show with their hilarious Mom-centric punk style. Especially LeValley's amazing lead vocals and dimwitted character and Cornelius' sultry ode to her lacking love life. Sure, the show wasn't rock solid the night I saw it but I have faith it'll get better with time and it still managed to be a sublimely silly rockin' good time. And so with my three letter rating system I'm giving "Angry housewives" a YAY on credit (which I'm sure they will live up to with all that potential). So go "eat your f***ing Cornflakes" and get out to catch the Angry Housewives before we lose them for another decade. "Angry Housewives" performs at ArtsWest through May 24th. For tickets or information contact the ArtsWest box office at 206-938-0339 or visit them online at www.artswest.org.

ArtsWest has announced the return of the longest running production in Seattle theatre history, as four angry housewives take the stage tonight, April 23rd.

ArtsWest has announced the return of the longest running production in Seattle theatre history, as four angry housewives take the stage on April 23rd. Premiering in 1983, this musical went on to play for nearly seven years in Pioneer Square Theatre spaces, burning it's songs and cut-loose attitude into Seattle's history. With an Off-Broadway stint in 1986, the production has had a healthy run in regional theatre, including most major cities in America.

Oh my! It's been a hell of a year for the Seattle Theatre scene and I can say we've been quite fortunate to see the incredible shows we have. So many amazing shows in fact that picking just a few stand outs (let alone a "best") is a near impossibility. But I have searched the deep dark recesses of my memory to find the shows and performances that really stood out and stuck with me beyond the evening and throughout the year. And so, without further ado, I'm thrilled to present the BWW 2014 Seattle Critic's Choice Awards (or Jay's Picks). Let the awesomeness flow!

If you're going to go after a quirky, off kilter show such as "Urinetown", you need to go for the over-stylized melodrama aspect of it or don't even bother. Well Balagan Theatre has never been one to shy away from that "go big or go home" mentality and their current co-production with Seattle Musical Theatre is no exception. But as over the top as it is, it just doesn't quite reach the heights of satire in some places to really push the show into the realm of sardonic gold.

The heads of Balagan Theatre heard that Seattle Musical Theatre (SMT) also had Urinetown in their season and reached out to the heads of SMT to create a partnership that would be more beneficial for both theaters and for the theatre community. With this in mind, Balagan is shifting their scheduled Urinetown production from September to August, to allow for a Co-Production with Seattle Musical Theatre. Balagan is thrilled to add SMT to their season co-producers. This joint production of Urinetown will take place at SMT's theater at Magnuson Park.

The heads of Balagan Theatre heard that Seattle Musical Theatre (SMT) also had Urinetown in their season and reached out to the heads of SMT to create a partnership that would be more beneficial for both theaters and for the theatre community. With this in mind, Balagan is shifting their scheduled Urinetown production from September to August, to allow for a Co-Production with Seattle Musical Theatre. Balagan is thrilled to add SMT to their season co-producers. This joint production of Urinetown will take place at SMT's theater at Magnuson Park.

Seattle / Mainstreet Festival of New Musicals will take over Fremont's West of Lenin Theatre, presenting three brand new musicals, three late-night trivia cabarets, an evening of pitch sessions for fresh, up-and-coming musicals; and a final concert featuring all-Seattle talent performing pieces written by all-Seattle composers!

It's the day after Thanksgiving and suddenly I feel myself getting attacked from a Thanksgiving turkey. No, it's not my Sister's cooking but the world premiere offering from Balagan Theatre of "Thankskilling, The Musical". It's still the completely offensive and hilarious show I saw in the summer as part of Balagan's Summer New Works readings but now a little more fleshed out. And while the humor is still there the production felt it needed a little more cooking time. The bird was just a tad underdone.