Jay Irwin - Page 23

Back in 2013 Andrew Lippa sent his latest work off to Broadway. "Big Fish", based on the movie of the same name, was sure to be a big hit. But for some reason this sweet little tuner failed to catch fire and closed in just under 4 months. Sadly with such a tepid reception no tour of the show was ever planned so the only way anyone would see this lovely show would be a regional production. Fortunately we currently have one of those for "Big Fish" at Taproot Theatre. Unfortunately, while there's plenty of talent in the show, one of the leads wasn't quite up to the task vocally and for a big, ballad laden musical that can be deadly.

There's nothing like a well done David Mamet play with its verbal sparring, clever dialog and constant exchange of power. But in order to be great the performances need to be so laser focused and on point you could cut glass with them. And while the current production from Theatre9/12 of "Speed the Plow" is on its way to that level, they still need a bit more settling into the roles in order to be fully committed.

Break out your flip flops and Hawaiian shirts because it's time to head on down to the beach, "Twister Beach", the latest in culinary craziness from Mark Siano and Opal Peachey at Cafe Nordo. This modern day twist on the old Beach Blanket Bingo movies of the 50's and 60's offers up something for everyone with that Siano/Peachey brand of insanity liberally sprinkled on stop making for a super fun evening.

If you happened to be in the vicinity of The Town Hall in Seattle last night, and not fortunate enough to be inside, then you may have noticed that the atmosphere was a little cooler, a little sexier, a little more poignant and basically fabulous. Well that's due to the fact that outrageous star of stage and screen Alan Cumming was performing his 'Alan Cumming Sings Happy Songs' cabaret to promote the album of the same name. We'll get to the album in a minute but first let's talk about what it was like to be in the presence of a genius showman.

I'll admit unfamiliarity with Lerner and Loewe's "Paint Your Wagon" before recently. Never saw the original, never saw the movie, and had only a passing familiarity with the bigger songs in it. So to educate myself before seeing this production I watched the movie, which was also rewritten from the original musical version but what I had available to me. Wow, what a train wreck that is! Horrific story, songs that move nothing along and a movie that seems to be there solely for Lee Marvin to mug to the camera. So I was trepidatious to say the least about this rewritten version at the 5th Avenue Theatre and after seeing it I'm of two minds.

Sometimes you go to a show and you see what can only be described as a "Star Turn". That performance that shows just how amazing an actor is. But what do you call it when you see it over and over again? Lately I call it Conner Neddersen as, just like his previous stellar performances, his performance in Strawberry Theatre Workshop's current production of "9 Circles" shows off once again just how fine of an actor he is and how he keeps growing better and better with each role.

In this ever changing world we are getting more and more acceptable variations on love. There are still the traditional ones, man and woman, parent and child, friend to friend. But people are opening up to more with same sex unions and even polyamorous relationships becoming more common. No one can tell you who to love but people will surely try as is evident in the sweet and funny examination of 'The Mystery of Love & Sex' currently playing at ACT.

One of the reasons we love a good family drama is it appeals to that voyeur in us all. We love to peek inside someone else's world and see how it compares to our own. But as chaotic and messy as those lives may be they still speak more eloquently and at just the right moments than we could, being scripted and all. And while peeking in on the secrets and lies of the LeVay family in Lydia R. Diamond's “Sticky Fly”, now playing as part of the Intiman Theatre Festival, may be powerful and evocative it also lacked some of that ordered chaos as much of the pacing of the play and the timing of it all felt clunky and unfocused.

Once again those summer months are upon us but that doesn't mean we can't still spend some time in a darkened theater. Here are my top picks for summer shows happening around the Seattle area.

That old idiom, "History is written by the victors" kept ringing in my head last night as I watched the National Touring Company of "Motown: The Musical" at the Paramount Theatre. Or rather one could say, "History is written by the one telling it." This retelling of the life of Berry Gordy and his creation of Motown Records with a book written by Berry Gordy based on the autobiography by Berry Gordy comes across like a jock in the locker room bragging about all his conquests. But with such bad writing and storytelling coupled with an overabundance of half songs the show feels like a bunch of skewed half-truths and amounts to a tepid and forced evening.

I'll admit I'm quite picky and protective about the works of Charles Busch. He's one of my favorite authors with his brilliant ability to tell a well thought out story through the kitschy lens of 40's, 50's and 60's pop culture. I've been fortunate enough to see the master himself perform his own works three times. I've only ever seen a local production attempt one of his works once before (a dreadful bastardization of “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom” that need never be mentioned again). So when I heard that Fantastic Z was performing his most well known work, “Psycho Beach Party” AND it was opening on my birthday I thought this could either be a wonderful thing or the universe playing a cruel joke. Well lucky for me (and for all of you) the folks at Fantastic Z and director Kyle Baiz must have as much love and respect for the piece as I do as they managed a fun and frothy, pitch perfect production.

Absolute truth is an elusive thing. In our daily lives we lie to get what we want. We lie to be polite and spare someone's feelings. We lie by not telling all the facts. And sometimes we lie by manipulating the facts so they're true to us. Seattle Public Theater's current production "Caught" by Christopher Chen walks a treacherous tightrope between truth and lies on multiple levels with a thoughtful and humorous show. And even as engaging as it was, ultimately it felt a little long winded and I question what its own truth really was.

Dear Readers, if you read my review for Part One of "The Brothers K", still playing at Book-It Repertory Theatre then you'll know the difficulties I had watching it what with all the onion cutting going on in the theater. Well last night with the premiere of "The Brothers K, Part Two: The Left Stuff" the onions were there in force along with tons of dust, pollen and cats. Must have been the case as the tears were flowing all night long. With just more of the same goodness from Part One, Part Two solidified just how good this story and this production is.

It's always fun to take a trip back to New Providence providing you can avoid getting on the bad side of the Yao family. Now before you go looking for this vacation spot on some travel website, let me tell you it's not a real place but the fantastical steampunk world created by author Maggie Lee. And if you were lucky enough to catch her pervious melodramatic serial plays "The Clockwork Professor" and "The Tumbleweed Zephyr" then you already know how much fun a visit to New Providence is and how much you need to catch the third installment, "A Hand of Talons" currently playing at Theatre Off Jackson. Same fun, same gorgeous costumes, same suspense and intrigue. It's just always a good time.

It's something most of us have to do at least 5 days a week, go to work. So you'd think a musical about folks and their working lives would resonate more. But the musical "Working", despite being loved by musical theater nerds, never really caught on. In fact it only ran for 24 performances on Broadway back in 1978. But thankfully the folks at Showtunes have done what they do and dusted this one off for a weekend so more people can discover how wonderful it is.

A few months back another group in Seattle put up an immersive production of "Romeo and Juliet" that blew me away and finally gave me the chance to see a completely solid production that I liked. But even while watching that I knew that Seattle Shakespeare Company would be closing out their season with their own intimate production of the show and I worried that the chances of getting another great production might be tempting fate or the theater Gods or the odds or whatever. Well unfortunately my fears were well founded as this new staging, while having a few stand out supporting performances, ultimately falls flat with a severe lack of passion or love (crucial for a love story) and an overarching theme that at best feels confusing and tacked on and at worst, pretentious.

I would say that I loved every second of Book-It Repertory Theatre's current adaptation of David James Duncan's 'The Brothers K, Part One: Strike Zones' if it weren't for all the damned onions someone was cutting in the theater. What? There were no onions? So then I was just repeatedly tearing up over the story? Oh, well then, I guess I can say it. Yup, with its beautiful adaptation and stunningly honest performances, I loved every second of Book-It Repertory Theatre's current adaptation of David James Duncan's 'The Brothers K, Part One: Strike Zones'.

One of the major problems with the Loman family in Arthur Miller's masterpiece "Death of a Salesman", currently closing out the season at ArtsWest, is that the family doesn't communicate with each other. They bluster and puff up about things that may or may not have happened but they never really talk to each other about what's important. And while that lack of communication may serve the story well it does not serve the performance as the same could be said for the production at ArtsWest itself. During it's over 3 hour runtime there were a lot of emotion and stirring speeches being made but for the most part the actors were not connecting with each other and if they aren't connecting with each other then the audience cannot connect with them.

Most often when you go see a play there is a very plain narrative, a beginning, a middle and an end to convey your story. Some plays out there, however, make you work a little harder either with non-linear structure or an existential bent. And then there are some plays that go so far that you walk out of them thinking "What the hell did I just see?" Well Washington Ensemble Theatre's creepy and surreal "The Things Are Against Us", currently playing at 12th Avenue Arts, is firmly footed in that second camp but often dipped its toe into the third which resulted in a show that was creepy and fun but left my theater companion and me with a car ride home filled with statements like, "Well, I think this is what happened."

Back in 2013 the Seattle Rep gave us a lovely Christmas Present with R. Hamilton Wright and David Pichette's wonderful adaptation of "The Hound of the Baskervilles". So when they announced that they would be ending this season with more Holmes from Wright with "Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem", naturally there was a lot of excitement and anticipation for more from this team. And while the team is still on point and while it's still more Sherlock goodness, this original Holmes mystery from Wright doesn't quite have the elegance and grace of a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle piece.