Eric Ankrim News

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below.

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below!

Voting is now underway for the Seattle Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below!

There's a certain amount of pressure when a theater company becomes the first in the area to produce a big name show locally. Yes, it's a coup to be the first to get the rights (and Balagan seems to be cornering the market on that this season) but they also need to do the show justice or else, why bother? This is why what Balagan is pulling off with their current production of "Avenue Q" is all the more spectacular. Not only have they put up one of the new hot shows but they've done it in a way that rivals any tour of the show and created an outstandingly fun time that will leave you grinning all the way home.

Buddy the Elf is bringing the North Pole to Seattle this holiday season when ELF - The Musical takes over The 5th Avenue Theatre. Under the direction of Seattle's theatrical superstar Eric Ankrim (in his 5th Avenue directorial debut), Elf will feature Seattle's singing and dancing wunderkind Matt Owen as Buddy, the iconic Christmas groupie, alongside Broadway's Kendra Kassebaum as his true love, Jovie. Owen and Kassebaum are joined by Broadway vet Kim Huber, and Seattle stars Sean G. Griffin, Allen Fitzpatrick, Cynthia Jones, Nick DeSantis, and Jessica Skerritt.

Is it possible that "Rent", Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking hit from 1996 has now become so dated that it no longer has the edge it once had? Or is it that the current production from the 5th Avenue Theatre is so desperately trying to be edgy that it shows its weakness? That is the question before us. But whatever you feel about the show itself, the current production at the 5th takes so many missteps that it's hard to see the show as anything but an adorable relic.

Balagan Theatre has announced their 2012-2013 season, which includes Avenue Q, winner of the Tony® Award "Triple Crown"; Hedwig and the Angry Inch, featuring rising musical theatre star Jerick Hoffer (also known as drag cabaret chanteuse Jinkx Monsoon); August: Osage County, recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; and a musical to be announced at the Season Preview Party, Saturday, June 23, at 8 p.m.

It's a brand new season of love this summer when The 5th Avenue Theatre brings a bold and innovative production of RENT to the stage. Fresh from his smash success with First Date, Bill Berry directs this electrifying new staging of Jonathan Larson's modern rock-opera classic. A cast of Seattle's young rising theater stars, featuring Daniel Berryman, Aaron C. Finley, Naomi Morgan, Jerick Hoffer, Ryah Nixon, and Andi Alhadeff will take center stage, belting hits including "La Vie Boheme," "Take Me or Leave Me," "One Song Glory," and "Rent." Based on the Puccini opera La boheme, the hit musical premiered in 1996 to instant acclaim, and swept a host of theater awards - the Tony, the Obie, and the Pulitzer.

After receiving positives reviews from critics and audiences alike - and selling out every performance of its January run - Balagan Theatre brings the coming-of-age rock musical, Spring Awakening, back to Seattle in April, plus a weekend tour to Mount Vernon in May.

After selling out every performance of its January run, the Balagan Theatre will bring the coming-of-age rock musical, Spring Awakening, back to Seattle in April, with a weekend tour to Mount Vernon in May. Check out the production photographs below.

After receiving positives reviews from critics and audiences alike - and selling out every performance of its January run - Balagan Theatre brings the coming-of-age rock musical, Spring Awakening, back to Seattle in April, plus a weekend tour to Mount Vernon in May.

If you choose to take a date (first or otherwise) to the new World Premiere musical "First Date" currently being presented at ACT and co-produced through ACT and the 5th Avenue Theatre, you may end up getting quite sentimental and mushy towards your date as the evening wears on. Or you may end up breaking up as you laugh a little too hard at some of the baggage of these characters that hits a little too close to home. Either way, you're bound to have a good time (at least until the fighting begins) at this fun and funny bit of cotton candy.

Eric Ankrim and Kelly Karbacz go looking for love in First Date, a co-production between ACT - A Contemporary Theatre and The 5th Avenue Theatre which begins performances tonight. Get a first look at the production below!

What do you do with a dated overdone musical that every High School on earth has done in order to make it fresh for a professional run? Well, you could pair up with a local dance theater to punch up those outrageous dance sequences to give the audience something new. That's exactly what the 5th Avenue Theatre did when they teamed up with Spectrum Dance Theater in order to try and polish up their production of "Oklahoma". The problem is that it punched up a bit too much and made it feel a bit too new. Luckily the leads of the show still knew how to tell the story and that's what made the show enjoyable.

The 5th Avenue Theatre brings the wide open plains to Seattle with a reimagining of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

Balagan Theatre has moved into its new home on Capitol Hill, presenting four productions in eight weeks, including the third installment of one-act comedy festival Death, Sex and the return engagement of Broadway (and Seattle) smash-hit musical Spring Awakening.

Eric Ankrim and Kelly Karbacz will go looking for love in First Date, a co-production between ACT - A Contemporary Theatre and The 5th Avenue Theatre. This new musical about one date, two people, and all the voices in their heads, also features Seattle stars Benjamin Harris, Vicki Noon, Brandon O'Neill, Rich Gray, Greg McCormick Allen, and Sonya Meyer, in roles including old boyfriends, ex-fiancees, best friends, and pushy relatives, not to mention fellow diners who intrude on the couple's blind date. The 5th Avenue's Producing Director Bill Berry directs this clever and quirky world premiere romantic comedy with musical staging by Broadway's Josh Prince. With a book by screenwriter Austin Winsberg and music and lyrics by the dynamic writing team of Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, this comedy chronicles the perils and pitfalls of blind dating and the journey from "tragic mistake" to "true love." Or at least to a second date.

What do you do with a dated overdone musical that every High School on earth has done in order to make it fresh for a professional run? Well, you could pair up with a local dance theater to punch up those outrageous dance sequences to give the audience something new. That's exactly what the 5th Avenue Theatre did when they teamed up with Spectrum Dance Theater in order to try and polish up their production of "Oklahoma". The problem is that it punched up a bit too much and made it feel a bit too new. Luckily the leads of the show still knew how to tell the story and that's what made the show enjoyable.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is bringing the wide open plains to Seattle this February with a reimagining of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

The smash-hit musical Spring Awakening receives its regional premiere in Seattle this January, courtesy of the award-winning Balagan Theatre and featuring the very best of the Seattle theatre scene's next generation.