Amelia Divine

Cole Porter’s gold standard musical Anything Goes is a blast from the past, but Reboot Theatre’s Anything Goes blasts audiences directly into the future by putting the entire musical in space. Packed with extraordinary talent, inventive stagecraft, and a genuinely fun spirit, this production is jam-packed with many successful, high-fidelity parts. Unfortunately, the decision to put the entire production in a space frame tale muddies the performance more than enhances it. 

The Humans might be the perfect show to see in that strange, autumnal window between Halloween and Thanksgiving happening now, walking the line between a haunted house story and a family drama. It’s about the horrors of ordinary life, family gatherings, and how we show up for each other. Sound Theatre Company’s production of Stephen Karam’s Tony Award-winning play, now performing at the Seattle Center, translates this into a well-staged adaptation from the immersive audio, effective set design, and authentic lead performances.

At the theater’s entrance, audience members are handed a packet of tissues sealed with a photo of a frowning man in a birthday hat—Brendan Healy. The program looks like a memorial pamphlet, complete with “In Loving Memory of Brendan Healy” printed across the front. The projected backdrop displays the pulpit of an ornate church. A performer shakes hands with audience members and shares his condolences.  But that person, we soon learn, is the deceased. It’s his funeral. Brendan Healy takes the stage, ready to deliver his own eulogy.

It’s spooky season, and what’s spookier than a wealthy, greedy family willing to do anything to fulfill their selfish desires? Moral decay lies at the heart of Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, now performing at Intiman Theatre in a production by The Feast. When it premiered in 1939, it shocked audiences with its depiction of avarice, corruption, and gendered power in the American South. Nearly a century later, those same themes still resonate. 

Musical theater productions serve different purposes: some embrace or challenge the cultural milieu, keeping audiences keenly aware of the context with which the musical exists, and others invite a full escape, an invitation into a completely different world. Village Theatre’s wholesome and romantic Brigadoon is meant to transport you completely, and the execution of its escapism is pristine.

What do we mean when we say someone is “like family”? In Washington Ensemble Theatre’s Hells Canyon, playwright Keiko Green takes that question and reveals the complicated debts, histories, and power dynamics hiding underneath. Directed by Amber Tanaka and now running at 12th Ave Arts through September 21st, Hells Canyon is a taut, genre-bending piece examining what haunts us that blends horror and psychological drama with real emotional teeth.

Every once in a while, a show comes along that feels like you are catching something before the rest of the world does. That is the experience with Here and Their, now performing at 12th Ave Arts. This original musical production epitomizes local Seattle theater at its finest. It is original, funny, tender, layered, and filled with heart. That it is happening in a small black box space makes it all the more impressive.

There is something about Mamma Mia! that just feels like summer. Maybe it is the breezy Greek island setting, maybe it is the glittery ABBA soundtrack, or maybe it is because this show operates entirely on pure joy. The Paramount’s current production leans into that joy, delivering an experience that feels more like an event than a standard night at the theater. The audience came ready for it too, with people in disco lamé, breezy resortwear, and go-go boots.

In House of Joy, co-produced by Pratidhwani and Seattle Public Theater, the house is more than just a setting. It listens. It responds. It protects and encourages. It even moves, embodied by the stunning choreography of the guards. These dancers don’t just live in the house. They are the house. This is fantastical escapism at its finest, and with one of the most fitting titles I’ve heard in a long time, the spirit of the house is, quite simply, joy.

There’s no escaping the kitchen in Hungry, now playing at Sound Theatre Company. Not just because the set keeps the kitchen table at center stage, no matter where in time we’re dropped. But because food, and everything it represents; culture, class, control, comfort is the simmering heart of this gripping two-hander. And with two extraordinary performances from Simone Alene and Jayne Hubbard, that heat doesn’t just stay on. It boils over.

Golden, written by Andrew Lee Creech and now playing at ACT Theater,, is a rich, character-driven drama that delivers clean, linear storytelling about what it means to live with dignity when the world feels like it’s falling apart.

DADS doesn’t so much invite you in as dare you to stick around long enough to figure it out. Now playing at 12th Ave Arts, this messy, physical, and defiantly queer performance — created and performed by the Drama Tops duo Elby Brosch and Shane Donohue — explores grief through endurance, irony, and chaos. But for much of its 90-minute runtime, you’re left wondering what, exactly, you’re watching, and why.

At its best, a one-person show invites you into the mind and heart of its creator, allowing you to walk a little in their shoes—whether through literal storytelling, experimental performance, or (ideally) a bit of both. In The Things Around Us, now playing at Intiman Theater, Ahamefule J. Oluo lets you walk in their bright red socks, giving us an ephemeral portrait of their life through music and storytelling.

Oliver! has always been a tale of survival, of the brutal systems that devour the vulnerable, and of the strange and tender communities that spring up in their margins. With Lionel Bart's reframing of Oliver!, now on stage at Theatre Off Jackson, Reboot Theatre Company takes a sharp left turn into 1970s London—a city battered by austerity, riots, and the pounding heartbeat of the punk movement. This isn’t your grandma’s Oliver!.

Time Stands Still (by Thalia’s Umbrella), draws you into a carefully crafted, intimate world where the line between audience and observer feels blurred. With a thoughtfully detailed set and a standout performance from its lead actress, this production demonstrates the impact of small-scale storytelling with deep emotional resonance.

CRAVE, Sarah Kane’s stylistic one-act play, is an uncompromising plunge into the raw, chaotic landscape of human emotion. Now performing at Intiman Theater, this is a 55-minute concept piece that seems to revel in its own disarray. In true avant‐garde fashion, the play introduces us to four enigmatic characters–A (Lathrop Walker), B (Christopher Morson), C (Marya Sea Kaminski), and M (Alexandra Tavares)–whose disjointed, abstract musings recall the erratic pulse of late 90s beat poetry. Their relationships remain a mystery, their interactions sparse, each figure channeling a distinct, seething rage that resonates deeply with our current socio-political climate.

The legacy of Hamilton needs no rehashing – record sales, Tony wins and nominations, career launches, and undeniable songs. But is that legacy still preserved in the productions that continue to bear its name, or does any further attempt at putting on an official Hamilton show pale in comparison to the legendary original? Fortunately, the production of Hamilton performing at the Paramount Theater lives up to all the hype!