Jay Irwin

I’m about to commit a musical theater geek sin, Dear Readers, so get the torches and pitchforks ready. I don’t care for Stephen Sondheim’s show, “Company”. I appreciate it for what it is, but I think it rambles, and ultimately says not very much at all. Then along comes the revival of the show with a gender swap element, currently playing at the Paramount. And this new take did not help my appreciation, in fact it exasperates all the things I find problematic with the show and adds in a slew of new issues.

Dear Readers, the musical version of the hit 1992, Whoopi Goldberg comedy “Sister Act” has never been one of my favorites. On paper it should work with an Alan Menken score and fabulous source material were it not for those lackluster Glenn Slater lyrics. He writes passable songs but nothing that truly grabs you. But it’s a big, flashy musical with nuns rocking out so it isn’t all bad. But I must emphasize “big”, which is why the choice to put this up on Taproot Theatre’s quite cozy space baffled me. However, director Bretteney Beverly managed it. Sure, there were some downfalls, but overall, she managed it.

Dear Readers, chances are you played that classic board game “Clue” as a kid. That game of weapons and rooms and attempting to decipher who the killer is. And if so, then you also may have seen the classic 80’s comedy movie based on that game with a litany of comedy heavy hitters playing those iconic suspects. And if you’re like me, and love both of those things, when you heard a stage version of “Clue” was coming to the 5th Avenue Theatre you may have thought, “oh no, this could be dreadful”. Luckily, Dear Readers, it’s actually a lot of fun. In fact, I laughed out loud multiple times, and not just at the jokes I remembered from the movie.

Dear Readers, I will admit that “Girl From the North Country”, currently playing at The Paramount, is a tough one to get into. It’s not a happy little romp and not structured like your typical musical. But if you can get past the bleak and let those voices wash over you, it’s a tragically beautiful ride, assuming they can work out some of those sound mixing issues in the theater.

Dear Readers, I should start by saying that “Spring Awakening”, the musical from Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater based on the 1891 play by Frank Wedekind, has never been one of my favorites. But that first national tour and especially the 2012 local production from Balagan Theatre gave me a better appreciation for the show for what it is. However, the current production from the 5th Avenue Theatre did not.

Dear Readers, as you know, I’ve often extolled the fabulousness of the shows at The Can Can. Director Chris Pink and the cast and crew repeatedly bring the goods. And I’ve often commented on how one show after another may be one of my new favorites of theirs. Well, Dear Readers, they’ve done it again with, “Dolly!”!

Summers around Seattle tend to get a bit lighter on the theatrical side. But there’s still a bunch of fun things coming along. Here are a handful that I’m excited about.

I was excited for this one. And if the show had been 30 minutes, it would have been great. At an hour, it would have been good. But at 90 plus minutes, the dead horse was severely beaten, and I found myself repeatedly looking at my watch.

First off, Dear Readers, “Sherlock Holmes and the Precarious Position” currently playing at Taproot Theatre, is not a Holmes story from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s a silly little lark with Holmesian characters by Margaret Raether. The program even says, “Based on the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle”. Second, do not try and gleam anything from the title. I’m still not certain what the “Precarious Position” was. At least, not without really reaching for a connection. Having said that, this silly little lark was fairly fun, largely due to a cast that was having just as much fun. So, it’s not brilliant or life changing, but I will go so far as saying it’s gigglelicious.

Dear Readers, we’re about to enter the realm of one of my favorite shows, “Once on This Island”, currently playing at Village Theatre. This gem of a show is, sadly, not often produced. In fact, I’ve only seen it twice, once on Broadway in 2017, and once in 2005, again from Village Theatre. Both of those productions hold very special places in my memory as being stellar shows. I tell you this for one reason and one reason only, I am very picky when it comes to this show. I know the story and the music backwards and forwards. And I am loathed to say that this current production suffered from bad choice after bad choice, misstep after misstep, resulting in something that resembled the gem, but ultimately did not shine.

At first glance, Dear Readers, Stefano Massini’s “The Lehman Trilogy”, as adapted by Ben Power and currently playing at ACT, may seem like a daunting task. I mean, a 3-and-a-half-hour play (thankfully with two intermissions) about bankers. It doesn’t sound like a rollicking good time. It sounds like the theatrical equivalent of eating your vegetables. Well, with a scintillating script and stunning performances from the three actors in the play, these vegetables have been sauteed to perfection and spiced and sauced to delicious result.

If there’s one thing, Dear Readers, that Disney is good at, it’s spectacle. But when you take that spectacle and combine it with one of their most musically magical properties such as “Aladdin”, it should end up with theatrical gold for the whole family. When the genie first poked his head from the lamp on stage back in 2011, I’ll admit it was less than magical. But, by the time it went to Broadway it grew by leaps and bounds. And even now, this tour currently playing at the Paramount, they seem to have updated some of their Disney Imagineering to make the experience even more magical and when combined with a killer cast, just hold on for a good time.

So, did the Rep’s “Fat Ham” crush my soul? Absolutely not and I must entreat anyone reading this, DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!!!

When you go to the theater, Dear Readers, you sit in silence and enjoy the show. You may laugh, or cry, or gasp, but for the most part, you keep yourself to yourself. (At least I hope you do.) But every now and again, shows may ask something of you. Maybe a call back like in “Rocky Horror” or voting for who the murderer is in “Drood”. Well, Washington Ensemble Theatre has created a little piece, or rather several little pieces, in the style of the Neofuturists, with “Scrambling the Goose”, opening at 12th Ave Arts on April 26th. I was able to catch a rehearsal, and even with some elements missing, I can tell this show is going to be a blast.

Dear Readers, warning, I’m about to be a bit of a snob here. I know, big surprise. But I’m not the biggest fan of the musical, “Beetlejuice”, currently playing at the Paramount Theatre. I wasn’t a fan when I first heard the cast recording and now having seen it, I can’t say my opinion has changed all that much. A bit, but not much.

We’ve had a recent spate of the murderous, dark comedies, Dear Reader. First there was “Blood Countess” from MAP Theatre and then the 5th Avenue gave us “Something’s Afoot” and is soon to give us “Clue”. And now Seattle Public Theater has joined in with Jen Silverman’s “The Moors”. And like the others, this one has a tendency to dwell on its own joke a touch too long. But luckily for us it also has a killer cast (pun intended) to keep us giggling.

I like to think, Dear Reader, that I don’t need to have the meaning/plot/message of a show spoon fed to me. But sometimes, as with Zora Howard’s “Stew” currently playing at ACT, I could use a bit of clarity. I’m not saying the show was completely confusing, not by a long shot, just a few elements in it as well as that ending that left me questioning what I just saw. Then again, sometimes those shows can be the most fun afterwards, as my theater companion and I got to try and decipher what it meant to us.

Pop quiz, Dear Readers. What is the world’s longest running musical? No, it’s not “Phantom”, that’s the longest running Broadway musical. But if we include Off-Broadway we get the longest run of 42 years and 17,162 performances with Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s “The Fantasticks”. And while the current production at Village Theatre dragged a bit at times, this enduring classic still has some fun to offer.

Dear Readers, I cannot imagine a time when anyone, let alone me, would have a bad time at The Can Can. I honestly am not even certain what that show would look like. They’d need to change up everything they are by having bad and out of shape singers and dancers, performing a lame story and songs, while keeping all their clothes on. Luckily for us, the Can Can, including their current offering “Noir”, is the exact opposite of all that.

Curating a season is not an easy thing, especially for a large, professional theater. You want to strike that delicate balance of diversity, entertainment, cutting edge, and most of all audience appeal. But when the 5th Avenue Theater announced they were doing “Something’s Afoot”, an old show often done by community theaters, I was perplexed. But maybe it’s good, I mean, I’ve never seen it. Sadly, it’s not.