Jay Irwin - Page 52

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.

I will admit to the fact that the original 1992 film of "Newsies" is one of my guilty pleasures. So when I heard they were making a stage version of the musical I was dubious but excited. The original already made you overlook much of the schlock, cheese, historical inaccuracies and plot holes. But the stage version, currently at the Paramount Theatre, with its retooled story forces even more of a willing suspension of disbelief almost to the point of brain death. But if you can manage that level of tucking rational thought into some dark corner then you're bound to have a good time as this spectacle is loaded with tons of vibrancy and a bevy of cute "boys" who sure do sing and dance pretty.

Slice of life plays, like "Puny Humans" currently playing at Annex Theatre, are difficult at best especially when focusing on one specific sub-culture such as Comic-Con attendees. You need something new to say about your subjects, you need to make your subjects empathetic and you need an over-arching reason for us to be looking at this particular slice of life. Unfortunately writers Bret Fetzer and Keiko Green fail at all three of those elements making their 2 hour and 45 minute show (yeah, you heard me) drone on.

I doubt that many of us these days have such a rigid upbringing that our passion causes us to question our ideals. Sure there are people with strict ideologies but we live in a more inclusive and forgiving world (most of us) and usually our beliefs follow suit with our wants. Which is why Aaron Posner's play "My Name is Asher Lev", currently being performed by New Century Theatre Company, with its juxtaposition of strict religious beliefs against passionate art might come across as a bit foreign to most of us and a potential hard sell. But thanks to the usual talent and commitment from the folks at NCTC even this unfamiliar tale can resonate with power.

I'm perfectly fine when a play chooses to break the fourth wall and become self-referential. The ability for anything to be able to point out its own shortcomings is a sign of self-actualization. But when a play repeatedly does so and then pats itself on the back for its cleverness of doing so as does Aaron Posner's "Stupid F**king Bird", currently playing at ACT, then it becomes wearing almost to the point of insulting. And while Posner's play certainly has its funny moments, those repeated exposes onto itself started to feel like the play was flipping the audience the bird (and I don't mean a Seagull).

Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, put your tray tables and seat backs in the upright position and hang on as Cafe Nordo presents an evening of fun and food with their 60's spy send up, "To Savor Tomorrow". And as usual with the Cafe Nordo shows, if the laughs weren't enough for you then the delectable food will be.

Romantic comedies for the straight community abound. But as they say in the current production from Gay City Arts and The Bitter Single Guy Productions, "The Hat", gay stories aren't told much unless they involve AIDS or civil rights. This is what makes "The Hat" so refreshing. It's a simple, cute romantic comedy about a newly single guy in his thirties suddenly trying to date in this modern world of hookup apps and he just happens to be gay. And while the story wandered a bit the dialog is crisp and fresh and the characters could not be more likable and relatable.

I'll admit to only a passing familiarity with Janis Joplin before I saw the current show at the 5th Avenue Theatre, “A Night with Janis Joplin”, in that I knew who she was but was hard pressed to come up with any of her songs. Of course, after seeing the show I found I knew more of her stuff than I thought, I just didn't know it was her. And while Kacee Clanton as Janis is quite a sight to see not to mention the other incredible women she has up there with her, the show as a whole doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a biography, a rock concert, a history of blues? Who can say? But what I can say is that the connecting dialog attempting some kind of through line for the show was at best boring and at worst forced and embarrassing.