Book-It Repertory Theatre [Book-It] kicks off 2019 with an honest look at addiction in Seattle native Tom Hansen's American Junkie. Adapted by Jane Jones and Kevin McKeon and directed by Jones, Hansen deftly balances a raw story about the path that leads to self-destruction with wry humor and hope.
Book-It Repertory Theatre has a winner on its hands. MY ANTONIA sings with triumph as a story we both know by heart and one we long to hear. It deftly deals with the issues of love and loss, class divide, and immigration. Whether a century ago or current day, the story of My Antonia is remarkable for its beauty and authenticity.
Book-It Repertory Theatre kicks off 2019 with an honest look at addiction during Seattle's grunge years with Seattle native Tom Hansen's American Junkie. Adapted by Jane Jones and Kevin McKeon and directed by Jones, Hansen deftly balances a raw story about the path that leads to self-destruction with wry humor and hope. A tight, 90-minute ride through Seattle's music scene during the grunge era, American Junkie looks at the man behind the addiction and takes a hard look at the power heroin and other opioids have on people's lives.
Book-It Repertory Theatre continues its 29th season with the enchanting My Ántonia by Willa Cather. Annie Lareau, who adapted the novel and starred as Ántonia in Book-It's original 2008 production, returns to direct the 2018 production.
Book-It Repertory Theatre continues its 29th season with the enchanting My Ántonia by Willa Cather. Annie Lareau, who adapted the novel and starred as Ántonia in Book-It's original 2008 production, returns to direct the 2018 production.
During the curtain speech Seattle Shakespeare Company Artistic Director (and director of the night's show) George Mount and Managing Director John Bradshaw joked on how they don't often get to present a Washington premiere since they usually deal in 400-year-old plays. What they also don't usually contend with is the trend of turning every successful movie into a theatrical endeavor but here we are with the Seattle Shakespeare Company presenting the stage version of 'Shakespeare in Love' based on the 1998 film. Now don't get me wrong, not all stage adaptations are awful and this one seems to be almost directly lifted from the wonderful Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard screenplay by the adapter Lee Hall so the script isn't entirely the problem here. No, the problems I have are threefold and amount to two very egregious things for a show entitled 'Shakespeare in Love'. There's not enough 'Shakespeare' and not enough 'Love'. But let's start from the top.
Seattle Shakespeare Company closes its 2017-2018 season with Shakespeare in Love, the delightful new stage adaptation of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard's Academy Award-winning film. This warm and witty romantic comedy will be helmed by Seattle Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director George Mount. Originally produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall with music by Paddy Cuneen, Shakespeare in Love previews May 2 and 3, opens May 4 and runs through June 3 at the Cornish Playhouse at the Seattle Center.
Seattle Shakespeare Company closes its 2017-2018 season with Shakespeare in Love, the delightful new stage adaptation of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard's Academy Award-winning film. This warm and witty romantic comedy will be helmed by Seattle Shakespeare Company's Artistic Director George Mount. Originally produced by Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions and adapted for the stage by Lee Hall with music by Paddy Cuneen, Shakespeare in Love previews May 2 and 3, opens May 4 and runs through June 3 at the Cornish Playhouse at the Seattle Center.
Seattle Shakespeare Company has never been one to shy away from a challenge and with their current production of "The Merchant of Venice" they certainly seem to have a challenge on their hands. As I see it they have one challenge they can, and hopefully will overcome as the production continues, the pace of the show, and one challenge inherit to the piece that they can never defeat but only embrace, the overt antisemitism.
The winners of the 2017 Gypsy Rose Lee Awards are announced by the Seattle critics circle, Seattle Theater Writers!
Seattle's critics announce the Nominees of Excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found in as much professional theater as we reviewers can attend in a year. Named in honor of the famed theater entrepreneur and Seattle native, Gypsy Rose Lee, and in a nod to the vast numbers or theater practitioners forced to travel the country to earn their living, the Gypsys seek to acknowledge the excellence of the Seattle theater community.
Dear Readers, it's been quite a year and, hopefully, we've come through it unscathed. God knows we've needed some shows to help us escape and others to make us think. But through it all we've had several shows that have proven to shine as some of the best of the year. Out of all the shows I was fortunate enough to see this year, I've selected a few that stood out. Here are those stand outs, a few honorable mentions and a few special mentions about which I just couldn't help myself but to mention in their own special way.
Lately friends have been asking me what shows I'm most looking forward to this holiday season. And while it's not a happy Christmas show I keep answering Building the Wall currently being offered from Azeotrope at 12th Avenue Arts. Then those friends look as me quizzically, I assume expecting some frothy musical or holiday classic at which point I say, the new play from Robert Schenkkan, who wrote All the Way and The Great Society about LBJ at which point those quizzical looks, rightfully, turn to ones of excitement and intrigue over another dose from a genius playwright. And now, Dear Readers, that I've virtually had the same conversation with you, you can understand why I tell you this is a play NOT TO MISS and how you MUST go get your tickets now. I'll wait. Did you do it yet? OK. Now on with the review.
Whether it be platonic or romantic, everyone has been in a relationship with someone who makes no sense for them, or is unhealthy for them, or both. But at the time, it satisfied a need. It's a very specific kind of relationship that, if handled poorly by the director or the actors, will be glaringly unconvincing, given how wrong the two people are for each other. However, through Corey McDaniel's pristine direction and such a talented cast, Theatre22's Burn This is an example of high-caliber theatre. There are no gimmicks, there's no fuss, even the music is stripped down to a single saxophone played between scenes. If you're looking for quality, Burn This will provide (now at 12th Ave Arts).
Seattle theatre company Azeotrope is pleased to announce the Seattle premiere of Building the Wall, by Tony Award winning playwright Robert Schenkkan (All The Way, The Great Society, The Kentucky Cycle), directed by Desdemona Chiang. Building the Wall begins opens Friday, December 1, 2017 and plays through December 23, 2017 at 12th Ave Arts Studio Theatre in Capitol Hill, Seattle.
You know that nightmare you have where nothing makes sense as the plot keeps switching from one horrible situation to the next? You try and try but you just can't make anything good last for more than five minutes. Now try living that and you'll have what the character Mo (Tim Gouran) feels like all the time in Linda McLean's disturbing play "Every Five Minutes" currently from Washington Ensemble Theatre. With some amazing performances especially from Gouran, you may leave a bit broken but you'll leave thinking.
I remember my first exposure to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, "Treasure Island". It wasn't the book but rather an animated version they showed occasionally during Saturday morning cartoons and although I haven't seen that one in years I remember loving it for its thrilling swashbuckling adventure and rich characters including a bad guy who wasn't all that bad even though he was a bloodthirsty pirate. Well I'm happy to say all those feelings from childhood came rushing back the other night as I watched Book-It Repertory Theatre's current adaptation. I mean, swarthy pirates, sword fights, and buried treasure. How can you go wrong?
Book-It Repertory Theatre continues its 27th season with the gripping classic Treasure Island. Full of enthralling characters and one of literature's most beloved villains, Treasure Island explores the complex relationship between the morally ambiguous Long John Silver and the young Jim Hawkins. Throughout this thrilling tale, Hawkins learns hard lessons of balancing the lure of adventure with the desire for stability and confronting the dilemma of liking a person, but not their behavior. The most popular pirate story ever written in English, Treasure Island is sure to delight audiences this holiday season!
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.
Peter Shaffer's stirring play "Amadeus" can move you to the point of tears, but only when it's done well. It is by no means a bulletproof play. Unfortunately the current production at Seattle Public Theater, while managing a few interesting performances, really just stands out as having an unfocused concept and is about as engaging as a history lecture.
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