Seattle Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 19

BWW Review: PAGEANT at ACT - a Hilarious Ride from Beginning to ... Well Almost
by Jay Irwin - June 16, 2018

Dear Readers, I recently commented on a show at ACT on how it was the veggies to your theatrical diet. A show that may be hard to swallow but it's good for you. Well if that show is your veggies then another show currently at ACT is your dessert. "Pageant: The Musical", currently being offered fr...

BWW Review: ACT's UNTIL THE FLOOD Examines a Society After Ferguson
by Jay Irwin - June 15, 2018

We all remember hearing of the tragedy of August 9th, 2014 when Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri was shot in killed by police officer Darren Wilson in his attempt to apprehend Brown after a convenience store robbery. It may have been on the other side of the country fr...

BWW Review: LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL at Arts West is a Study in Nuance and Subtleties.
by Kelly Rogers Flynt - June 12, 2018

Lady Day at Arts West is a study of nuance and subtleties. It is the story of Billie Holiday. Her life and music come to you through song and stories, music and monologues, told in a nightclub setting from Holiday near the end of her life. Just like her life, the show moves through humor, inspiratio...

BWW Review: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH at Arts West is Raw, Real, and Relevant.
by Kelly Rogers Flynt - June 11, 2018

Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Arts West is one of the least passive audience experiences I've ever had. The dialogue and lyrics are clever and full of plays on words and popular culture references. Keep your ears perked to catch all of it, and a few might still slip by. But more than just vocabulary ...

BWW Review: Book-It Deliciously Paints the Original PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
by Jay Irwin - June 10, 2018

If you think you know Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' you may want to think again. In fact, many only know the most basic plot based on its many references in popular culture throughout the years. But whether you're a novice or a die-hard Dorian Gray aficionado, you're in for a treat fr...

BWW Review: 5th Ave's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME Grows Up and Gets Dark
by Jay Irwin - June 09, 2018

Let me start, Dear Readers, by saying this is NOT the frothy Disney cartoon you may recall from your youth. Yes, it does contain many of the Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz songs from the 1996 Disney animated film but this show is more akin to the Victor Hugo novel than the cartoon. Gone are the ...

BWW Review: Strawberry Theatre Workshop's HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE Surprises
by Jay Irwin - June 08, 2018

One thing I've found with Paula Vogel's plays is that they never cease to surprise. You may think you know what you're in for but then she pulls back layer upon layer giving you so much more than you bargained for. This is certainly true with her Pulitzer Prize winning play "How I Learned to Drive...

BWW Review: LES MISERABLES at the Paramount Theater is All That and A Bag of Chips
by Kelly Rogers Flynt - June 07, 2018

Masterpiece, classic, epic, monumental - it's hard to find a word that encapsulates this production of Les Miserables. It is a timeless story of love, courage, and redemption that reminds us of what it means to be human. With moments of pageantry and beautiful stillness, the audience is drawn into a...

BWW Review: WILD HORSES at Intiman Theatre is a Wild Ride into Adolescent Memories
by Kelly Rogers Flynt - June 01, 2018

Wild Horses is a one-woman show that tells the story of one summer of her youth, a summer that changed everything. Summers used to be different. Kids and teens had to find their own ways to fill their time. With seemingly endless hours of opportunity and friends by our side, temptations and adventur...

BWW Review: SMOKED! at Cafe Nordo Tames the Wild West
by Kelly Rogers Flynt - May 26, 2018

SMOKED! At Cafe Nordo is an immersion dinner theater experience into the Wild West. From smoking guns to smoked oxtail chili, this show delivers an authentic western feel. From the moment you walk into the door, you are part of the show's atmosphere. With good guys to root for, bad guys to boo and p...

BWW Review: MACBETH at Seattle Repertory Theatre is hauntingly brilliant
by Kelly Rogers Flynt - May 24, 2018

MACBETH at Seattle Repertory Theatre is hauntingly brilliant. Take the classic tale of ambition and lust for power, mix it with an ensemble of seven young women with dark imaginations, and add toxic manipulations and you have a new, gritty adaptation that will leave you speechless. Young adolescent ...

BWW Review: LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN at Taproot Theatre is a Tightly Woven Tapestry of a Show
by Kelly Rogers Flynt - May 20, 2018

Lady Windermere's Fan at Taproot Theatre is a tapestry of tightly woven threads in which all are needed to tell the story. This show, an Oscar Wilde classic, is often produced in such a way that the humor overshadows the heart. Co-directors, Karen Lund and Marianne Savell, have instead chosen to exp...

BWW Review: FIVE LESBIANS EATING A QUICHE at Fantastic.Z is a Scrumptious Slice of Crazy
by Kelly Flynt - May 20, 2018

The women of Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche attack the play with smiles, sugarcoated sarcasm, and thinly veiled sensuality. There is a not a rotten egg in the bunch. The ensemble frolics its way through the silliness straight into the absurd. Laughs abounds, loves smolder, and you'll never look at q...

BWW Review: WELCOME TO ARROYO'S at Theater Schmeater
by Kelly Flynt - May 13, 2018

Welcome to Arroyo's is the story of two siblings in the aftermath of the death of their mother. Alejandro and Molly (Amalya) have different ways of honoring her memory that pervades every inch of their space - the business she ran below, and their apartment above. Alejandro decides to convert his mo...

BWW Review: SPT's HAND TO GOD is a Devilish Good Time
by Jay Irwin - May 12, 2018

Dear Readers, a few years back on one of my trips to the Mothership, I managed to catch Robert Askins' hilarious play "Hand to God" on Broadway and as soon as I finished wetting myself from laughter I thought, "Someone in Seattle needs to do this so my Dear Readers can wet themselves as well." Well...

BWW Review: Village's HAIRSPRAY is a Triple Threat of a Show
by Jay Irwin - May 11, 2018

Once again, Dear Readers, we've ventured into the realm of one of my favorites. We recently had my all-time number one in town, but I'd have to say Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's "Hairspray", is certainly in the top five with its infectious and rousing score and incredible book from Mark O'Donnel...

BWW Review: Paramount Presents LOVE NEVER DIES - Oh, Please Let It
by Jay Irwin - May 09, 2018

I'll admit that I've never been what you would call a fan of 'Phantom of the Opera'. I appreciate it for what it is, and I find it tolerable with some interesting melodies but largely it's all flash and no substance. But now comes the (gulp) sequel to 'Phantom', 'Love Never Dies' currently playing...

BWW Review: Reboot's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS Will Eat Your Heart
by Jay Irwin - May 06, 2018

Dear Readers, we're about to enter the realm of my favorite show of all time, that of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's musical masterpiece "Little Shop of Horrors". I tell you this in advance so you'll understand the gravitas of my critique of anyone attempting this particular show and I've seen man...

BWW Review: Seattle Shakes' SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Lacks Both
by Jay Irwin - May 05, 2018

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 ...

BWW Review: PILGRIMS from Forward Flux Meanders with Little Payoff
by Jay Irwin - May 04, 2018

Claire Kiechel, author of "Pilgrims" currently being offered from Forward Flux Productions at West of Lenin, lists in her bio that she is a writer on Netflix's "The OA". So, a Sci Fi play complete with mystery and secrets should be a surprise to no one. However, unlike "The OA", Kiechel's play mea...

BWW Review: Seattle Rep's FAMILIAR Reinvigorates the Wedding Comedy
by Jay Irwin - May 03, 2018

The family dramedy of a wedding in chaos is no new idea in fact it's been done to death. That's not to say there aren't good ones but it's certainly a subject that's been thoroughly mined. Or so I thought. Danai Gurira's fantastic play "Familiar", currently playing at the Seattle Rep, takes this ...

BWW Review: Shakespeare in ASL with Sound Theatre Company's Delightful A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
by Amelia Reynolds - May 03, 2018

Finally! In collaboration with Deaf Spotlight Presents, Sound Theatre Company has produced a bilingual "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with English and American Sign Language. This performance, now at 12th Avenue Arts, may have a streamlined aesthetic, but the incorporation of ASL makes the original Sha...

BWW Review: ArtsWest Really Goes for It With Demented Racial Carnival Ride AN OCTOROON
by Amelia Reynolds - April 30, 2018

ArtsWest does it again with another cool, cutting-edge production about identity with their latest show, 'An Octoroon'. Many modern adaptations of antiquated productions pointing out racism, though well-intended, are comparatively watered-down to Brandon J. Simmons' razor-sharp adaptation of 'An Oct...

BWW Review: WET's Creepy Techno-thriller THE NETHER
by Jay Irwin - April 28, 2018

As the folks at Washington Ensemble Theatre point out over and over in the lobby and in the press info of their latest offering, Jennifer Haley's "The Nether", the show is filled with trigger warnings and not for the faint of heart. With strobe lights and elements of violence and sexual assault of ...

BWW Review: A Powerful GOAL! From ACT's THE WOLVES
by Jay Irwin - April 27, 2018

Slice of life plays can be difficult, at least I've always found them so. They tend toward story, upon story, upon story, with little through line or resolution as life goes on. Such could be the case with Sarah DeLappe's "The Wolves" currently at ACT were it not for the fact that it's chock full ...