SEATTLE THEATER REVIEWS

And I thought last year's offering from Caf Nordo and Scot Sgt. Rigsby Auguston was crazy. But Auguston has amped the wacky fun up to 12 now with their latest incarnation The View from Santa's Lap complete with delicious food, shadow puppet mermaids, and (dum dum dum) MURDER!...

A Civil War Christmas is a nice escape for folks that are getting a bit of a toothache from the glittery, schmaltzy, and sentimental Christmas plays foisted upon us this time of year. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paula Vogel (for How I Learned to Drive ), A Civil War Christmas i...

A musical adaptation of the 2003 Christmas movie 'Elf' makes a lot of sense: the movie has all of the joy, sweetness, glitz, slapstick, and happily-ever-after for a crowd-pleasing production. This adaptation, now performing for a brief stint at The Paramount Theatre, stays loyal to the vast majority...

I should start, Dear Readers, by saying that I've been spoiled where the stage musical of Holiday Inn is concerned. Spoiled by the filmed version of the recent Broadway incarnation which captured every single ounce of Broadway magic you'd want. So, while the current production of this wonderful ...

Book-It Repertory Theatre already routinely manages the difficult task of presenting literature in the Book-It style and making it flow and engage in a theatrical way, but apparently they felt this challenge wasn't enough for them as now they've attempted to add in music to that mix with their new a...

Most people have that thing every year that signals the beginning of the Holiday season; seeing the lights downtown, that first pumpkin spice whatever, or braving the crowds on Black Friday. For me, the Holidays don't really begin until I get to enjoy my favorite annual show from Seattle treasures ...

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 so...

Thanksgiving dinner is a tumultuous time for many of us as we attempt to spend an evening with our loved ones. Sure, we love our families but we don't always see eye to eye and as the wine flows and the turkey and yams fill our bellies, maybe our inhibitions and filters lower. That's the kind of d...

Don't be fooled by the understated title: Teatro ZinZanni's Love, Chaos & Dinner is an entertainment extravaganza. Replicating the beloved environment from its former home, Love, Chaos & Dinner feels like a quintessential ZinZanni production, even for Teatro ZinZanni first-timers....

In the latest in the spate of movies turned musicals with no new music to speak of to turn up in Seattle, following in the trend of Dirty Dancing or the egregious Flashdance , we've now been offered up The Bodyguard . And while the current offering didn't live up, or should I say down, to the a...

Dear Readers, I won't bore you with the rehash of how I feel about the stage adaptation of Disney's Newsies from my disappointment of the restructuring of the story and songs from the movie, to the required suspension of disbelief that any of these dancers are young newsBOYS, to the fact that Jack...

Good satire needs two things: merciless mockery, and a compelling narrative. Sandbox Radio's farcical 63 Trillion nails the mockery, but focuses so much of its attention on cramming in as many double-entendres as possible that the narrative becomes secondary to the dick jokes....

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 glaringl...

Did you know, Dear Readers, that as recently as the 1930's, gay men could be arrested for meeting in public? Maybe? But did you also know that in New York it became just as unthinkable to portray a gay character on stage? Just one of those shameful points in our history that's beautifully illumin...

I'm usually a sucker for a good sappy romance but I'll admit I missed the bandwagon where The Bridges of Madison County was concerned. I never saw the movie or read the book so any kind of name recognition or nostalgic feelings for a musical of this are lost on me and the show would have to exist...

There's a certain hilarious show leaving Seattle and leaving a void in the comedy that we all desperately need in these tumultuous times. But luckily for us Seattle Shakespeare Company has just the thing to fill that void with their uproarious Russian farce The Government Inspector . A production...

Rebel Kat did such a good job with the adaptation of 'Coriolanus' (one of Shakespeare's rarely performed later works) that it does not feel like an adaptation at all. Nay, director Emily Penick improves upon the original with a fierce cast consisting entirely of women. What's more, 'Coriolanus: Figh...

David Mamet's American Buffalo has never been what you might call a comfortable play laced as it is with profanity, crime, and violence. If done well the tension in Don's 2ns Hand Store should continue to build and build until it predictably results in chaos. But what Seattle Immersive Theatre h...

Back in 1997 a somewhat younger Broadway Geek became obsessed with the musical Ragtime . I even travelled to other cities to see it as many times as I could and basically became obsessed. I tell you this so you'll understand, Dear Readers, my deep love for this show which is firmly one of my top ...

Arthur Miller's classic The Crucible remains a kind of mainstay of theater across the country from professional productions down to the myriad high school productions. But for it to ring true it must resonate with society's repeated history with mob mentality whether that be the literal Salem wit...

BenDeLaCreme is a drag queen with a knack for the holidays--she leads the fantastic annual Homo for the Holidays (coming this Christmas!) and memorably played a craggy old lady with a disembodied head for a daughter on some TV show with RuPaul (per the Playbill). This season, in collaboration wi...

Life is hard for female children and for women in general in China. This is the basic message from Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's play The World of Extreme Happiness currently playing at Seattle Public Theater. The big problem with this is that we all know this and so beyond that, what story do they wa...

Back in 2011 many of us here in Seattle were subjected to a very different version of Disney's Aladdin than what you might see currently playing at the Paramount Theatre. Also for many of us that previous version left a bad taste in our mouths for the property. A property that we loved in its or...

There's a general rule of thumb in any theatrical production that if the cast is enjoying what they are doing then that will translate into audience connection and enjoyment. Of course, good source material like Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice doesn't hurt the issue nor does a wonderful...

There are two things, Dear Readers, that drive me crazy in watching any theatrical endeavor, shmacting and not listening, we'll dive into the meanings of those more in a bit, but what they accomplish is sapping the emotional core from a show. Fantastic Z's current production of Next Fall partiall...