Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theatre Picks in Seattle

Because I couldn't be limited to just five, here are the top SIX theatrical endeavors happening this summer in Seattle that have me a little giddy.

Intiman Theatre Festival - Angels in America

Pacific Northwest audiences will be given the rare opportunity of seeing Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, the two parts that make up Angels in America, in alternating repertory performances featuring an incredible cast that includes Marya Sea Kaminski, Anne Allgood, and Charles Leggett.

Angels in America will run August 12th through September 21st at the Cornish Playhouse. For tickets or information visit them online at www.intiman.org.

Passing Strange at ACT from Sidecountry Theatre

Featuring LeRoy Bell (The X Factor), this award-winning Off-Broadway hit is finally taking the Seattle stage. Passing Strange is a young black musician's odyssey of self-discovery, complete with sex, drugs, and above all, rock-and-roll. It's a musical, but don't expect show tunes or sequins. Instead, this gritty, heartfelt show will shake the house-and your conceptions of manhood, race, and identity.

Passing Strange performs June 8th through the 29th at ACT. For tickets or information visit them online at www.acttheatre.org.

Porgy and Bess at The 5th Avenue Theatre

Winner of the 2012 TONY AWARD® FOR BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is hitting the road with award-winning members of the Broadway cast in this stunning and stirring new staging. Accompanied by a lush 23-piece orchestra, this re-envisioned Broadway production includes such legendary songs as "Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So," and "I Got Plenty of Nothing."

Porgy and Bess runs June 11th through June 29th. For tickets or information visit them online at www.5thavenue.org.

Seattle Summer Outdoor Theatre Festival at Volunteer Park

The 14th annual festival will include performances by many of the regulars: GreenStage, Theater Schmeater, Wooden O, Last Leaf Productions, Jet City Improv, Shakespeare NW, and Young Shakespeare Workshop. New to the lineup this year is The 14/48 Projects.

The Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival is one park, two days, eight theater companies, and 14 performances, all FREE! The festival runs July 12th and 13th. For more information visit them online at www.greenstage.org/sotf.

The School for Lies from Sound Theatre Company

Tony Award-nominated David Ives' (Venus in Fur) saucy update of Molière's The Misanthrope stuffs contemporary off-color slang into the classic baroque farce, in which rivals scheme romance to expose a notorious cynic. Misbehavior, gossip, glamour and scandal reign in this clowning burlesque written in rhymed couplets.

The School for Lies performs August 7th through 24th at the Center Theatre. For tickets or information visit them online at www.soundtheatrecompany.org.

I Gelosi from STAGEright

I Gelosi (The Zealous Ones) lovingly recreates the world of the commedia dell'arte and tells the story of Italy's first great traveling theatre troupe. In the late 16th Century the Gelosi company takes the provinces by storm, thanks to the beauty, wit and charm of Isabella Andreini, one of the very first women ever to play on the stage. Invited to perform at the Court of King Charles IX of France, the Gelosi become the toast of Europe - until they risk the wrath of the Pope.

I Gelosi performs August 15th through 30th at the Ballard Underground. For tickets or information visit them online at www.seattlestageright.org.

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