Seattle Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 29

BWW Review: Young Stars Perform with Aplomb in Village Theatre's BILLY ELLIOT
by Amelia Reynolds - May 25, 2016

There truly is nothing to not like about 'Billy Elliot' performing at Village Theatre....

BWW Review: Seattle Public Theater's CAUGHT Examines Twisting Truth
by Jay Irwin - May 23, 2016

Absolute truth is an elusive thing. In our daily lives we lie to get what we want. We lie to be polite and spare someone's feelings. We lie by not telling all the facts. And sometimes we lie by manipulating the facts so they're true to us. Seattle Public Theater's current production "Caught" by...

VIDEO: Rehearsal Preview of Robert Cuccioli in 5th Avenue Theatre's PAINT YOUR WAGON
by Michael Dale - May 20, 2016

The Lerner and Loewe classic score will be performed with a new book by Pulitzer finalist Jon Marans....

BWW Review: Book-It's Beautifully Touching THE BROTHERS K, PART TWO is a Must See
by Jay Irwin - May 16, 2016

Dear Readers, if you read my review for Part One of "The Brothers K", still playing at Book-It Repertory Theatre then you'll know the difficulties I had watching it what with all the onion cutting going on in the theater. Well last night with the premiere of "The Brothers K, Part Two: The Left Stuf...

BWW Review: Sultry and Gripping A HAND OF TALONS from Pork Filled Productions
by Jay Irwin - May 13, 2016

It's always fun to take a trip back to New Providence providing you can avoid getting on the bad side of the Yao family. Now before you go looking for this vacation spot on some travel website, let me tell you it's not a real place but the fantastical steampunk world created by author Maggie Lee. ...

BWW Review: Underdone Gem WORKING Shows Off the Working Class at Showtunes
by Jay Irwin - May 09, 2016

It's something most of us have to do at least 5 days a week, go to work. So you'd think a musical about folks and their working lives would resonate more. But the musical "Working", despite being loved by musical theater nerds, never really caught on. In fact it only ran for 24 performances on Br...

BWW Review: Seattle Shakes' Gimmicky ROMEO AND JULIET Lacks Passion
by Jay Irwin - May 09, 2016

A few months back another group in Seattle put up an immersive production of "Romeo and Juliet" that blew me away and finally gave me the chance to see a completely solid production that I liked. But even while watching that I knew that Seattle Shakespeare Company would be closing out their season ...

BWW Review: Family, Religion and Baseball in Book-It's THE BROTHERS K, PART ONE
by Jay Irwin - May 09, 2016

I would say that I loved every second of Book-It Repertory Theatre's current adaptation of David James Duncan's 'The Brothers K, Part One: Strike Zones' if it weren't for all the damned onions someone was cutting in the theater. What? There were no onions? So then I was just repeatedly tearing up...

BWW Review: ArtsWest's DEATH OF A SALESMAN Filled with Pathos but Lacks Connection
by Jay Irwin - May 03, 2016

One of the major problems with the Loman family in Arthur Miller's masterpiece "Death of a Salesman", currently closing out the season at ArtsWest, is that the family doesn't communicate with each other. They bluster and puff up about things that may or may not have happened but they never really t...

BWW Review: Feel-Good KINKY BOOTS at The 5th Avenue Theatre is Fun-Filled and Fabulous
by Amelia Reynolds - May 02, 2016

Picture it: New York City; the year, 2002. A wide-eyed, Broadway first timer awaiting her first celebrity signature after a production of 'Hairspray' felt a deep connection with the raspy-voiced actor when he looked me dead in the eye and apologized for his dry sharpie. With one 'Darling, I'm so sor...

BWW Review: WET's Creepy and Sometimes Confusing THE THINGS ARE AGAINST US
by Jay Irwin - May 02, 2016

Most often when you go see a play there is a very plain narrative, a beginning, a middle and an end to convey your story. Some plays out there, however, make you work a little harder either with non-linear structure or an existential bent. And then there are some plays that go so far that you walk...

BWW Review: Rep's SHERLOCK HOLMES Lacks Some Grace But It's Still Holmes
by Jay Irwin - April 28, 2016

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 Prob...

BWW Review: NEWSIES is a Rollicking Good Time, If You Turn Off Your Brain
by Jay Irwin - April 27, 2016

I will admit to the fact that the original 1992 film of "Newsies" is one of my guilty pleasures. So when I heard they were making a stage version of the musical I was dubious but excited. The original already made you overlook much of the schlock, cheese, historical inaccuracies and plot holes. B...

BWW Review: Annex's PUNY HUMANS Drones on with Not Much to Say
by Jay Irwin - April 25, 2016

Slice of life plays, like "Puny Humans" currently playing at Annex Theatre, are difficult at best especially when focusing on one specific sub-culture such as Comic-Con attendees. You need something new to say about your subjects, you need to make your subjects empathetic and you need an over-archi...

BWW Review: New Century's MY NAME IS ASHER LEV Elicits Powerful Emotion from the Unfamiliar
by Jay Irwin - April 25, 2016

I doubt that many of us these days have such a rigid upbringing that our passion causes us to question our ideals. Sure there are people with strict ideologies but we live in a more inclusive and forgiving world (most of us) and usually our beliefs follow suit with our wants. Which is why Aaron Po...

BWW Review: ACT's Funny STUPID F**KING BIRD Gets Too Deconstructed
by Jay Irwin - April 15, 2016

I'm perfectly fine when a play chooses to break the fourth wall and become self-referential. The ability for anything to be able to point out its own shortcomings is a sign of self-actualization. But when a play repeatedly does so and then pats itself on the back for its cleverness of doing so as ...

BWW Review: Musically Solid SOUTH PACIFIC at Seattle Musical Theatre Feels Unpolished
by Amelia Reynolds - April 11, 2016

Rogers and Hammerstein's 'South Pacific' is almost 70 years old. Seattle Musical Theatre took on this oldie but goodie and brought to life glimmers of classic Broadway razzle-dazzle. The singing was energetic and velvety smooth, the costumes (by Margaret Toomey) were carbon copies of the original pr...

BWW Review: Café Nordo's TO SAVOR TOMORROW Flies High with Laughs
by Jay Irwin - April 08, 2016

Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, put your tray tables and seat backs in the upright position and hang on as Cafe Nordo presents an evening of fun and food with their 60's spy send up, "To Savor Tomorrow". And as usual with the Cafe Nordo shows, if the laughs weren't enough for yo...

BWW Review: Sweet Gay RomCom with THE HAT at Gay City
by Jay Irwin - April 03, 2016

Romantic comedies for the straight community abound. But as they say in the current production from Gay City Arts and The Bitter Single Guy Productions, "The Hat", gay stories aren't told much unless they involve AIDS or civil rights. This is what makes "The Hat" so refreshing. It's a simple, cut...

BWW Reviews: Stellar Performances but No Story in 5th Ave's A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN
by Jay Irwin - April 01, 2016

I'll admit to only a passing familiarity with Janis Joplin before I saw the current show at the 5th Avenue Theatre, “A Night with Janis Joplin”, in that I knew who she was but was hard pressed to come up with any of her songs. Of course, after seeing the show I found I knew more of her stuff than I...

BWW Review: Seattle Rep's BROWNSVILLE SONG Hits No Good Notes
by Jay Irwin - March 31, 2016

It's all well and good to want to shine a spotlight on urban violence and inner city gangs through entertainment (theater, film, TV, etc.). It gets the issues out there in the hopes that something might get changed. But as it's been done time and time before, if you're going tell another one of th...

BWW Review: Seattle Public Theater's THE OTHER PLACE Beyond Brilliant
by Amelia Reynolds - March 30, 2016

Dealing with a potentially unreliable narrator can be an emotionally frustrating experience. I feel betrayed by a production where I feel like I cannot believe what the storyteller is conveying to me, because, truly, what was the point of entrusting a deceptive narrator with your time? But in 'The O...

BWW Review: WORSE THAN TIGERS at ACT Theatre: Absurdism with a Bite
by Amelia Reynolds - March 28, 2016

RED Stage's premiere production 'Worse Than Tigers' is more than an emotional roller coaster-- it is a full emotional carnival. Directed by Emily Penick, this jostling, absurdist comedy misleadingly kicks off with understated, easily digestible absurdity, including odd, disjointed language exchanged...

BWW Review: Local Jewell's LILIES Lacks Levels
by Jay Irwin - March 28, 2016

As you may know by now, Dear Readers, one of my pet peeves in any performance is the lack of levels. If you don't vary your emotion, intent and delivery for a character then that character might as well just be reading lines from a book. And while there were a few stand outs in the current product...

BWW Review: Gripping Vulnerability in MAP's BELLEVILLE
by Jay Irwin - March 28, 2016

MAP Theatre may not be one of the most prolific companies out in Seattle. In fact they tend to do only one or two shows a year. But what we have come to expect from them is certainly more quality than quantity as they invest tremendous amounts of thought and talent into those few shows. Their lat...