“The Humans” is a darkly funny slice of life

The cast of The Humans (Julieta Cervantes)

The Humans

Seattle Repertory Theatre

Through December 17, 2017

Stephen Karam has filled his 2016 Tony-award-winning Best Play, The Humans, with a lot of human darkness, which then allows for some darkly funny commentary. The play, starting a national tour at Seattle Repertory Theatre, has a power-house cast (Richard Thomas, Pamela Reed, Daisy Egan, Lauren Klein, Therese Plaehn, Luis Vega) portraying an uneasy Thanksgiving family gathering.

In a somewhat stereotypical way, the family has: issues that complicate the holiday, secrets that get revealed, and sets of disappointed hopes and dreams of individuals. In less stereotypical ways, the family has: the oldest member suffering severe dementia that is dealt with in a loving way, a younger family member with gastrointestinal issues that will best resolve through surgery that results in an ileostomy – and some plain speaking about it, and a married couple as the sandwich generation who are in difficult financial straits.

Pleasing Show For All the Holidays

Cast of Holiday Inn (Mark Kitaoka)

Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn

5th Avenue Theatre

Through December 31, 2017

Ah, Lorna Luft! We are so happy you are gracing our local stage and bringing a lot of joy with you! You make Holiday Inn so much fun!

If you have never seen the 1942 oldy-but-goodie movie, Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Virginia Dale and Marjorie Reynolds, you probably know nothing about the new musical on stage at the 5th Avenue Theatre except the holiday-themed name. Jim Hardy, Ted Hanover and Lila Dixon (Eric Ankrim, Matt Owen, and Taryn Darr) are a song-and-dance trio working to make it big. Jim and Lila are engaged, but they have completely different goals.

Jim wants a quiet life in the country and Lila still has stars in her eyes. Jim finds an old farmhouse in Connecticut and snaps it up, but just then, they have a great six week offer. Lila wants to go and promises to come to Connecticut after, so they part. (This is a bit different from the movie, so if you know the movie, know that the musical won’t track exactly.) We’re not surprised that Lila doesn’t ever move there.

Heartfelt Play With Song Bites Off Too Much Story

Cast members in A Civil War Christmas (Robert Wade)

A Civil War Christmas – An American Musical Celebration

Taproot Theatre

Through December 27, 2017

An endearing and hard-working cast brings to life a tapestry of stories set around Christmas Eve, 1864. Figures of note in the Civil War are present, including President Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, General Ulysses Grant of the Union Army, General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army, and a whole host of then-notable and some completely unknown and fictitious characters.

The stories, chosen and interwoven by playwright Paula Vogel, are meant to acknowledge many issues present at that time of divided national interests. Slaves are being freed, North and South are still at war and full of enmity for one another, and Lincoln is under increasing threat of attack. There is much darkness, and the struggle for peace and for human connection is a difficult one to win.

An ensemble cast of 13 plays multiple roles. There are, I hear, 60 scenes, which is a lot of scenes. This is apparently less than the published version, and was cut by permission. Still, the tumultuous tales don’t blend easily and following their paths takes a lot of attention from audience members.

December Shows to Lift the Gloom

Cast of The Secret and Impossible League of the Noosphere in The Baltimore Plot (Roberta Christensen)

December brings gifts of world premieres, and options of holiday cheer and a few options that can provide some relief from holidays, if you choose.

A Civil War Christmas: An American Musical Celebration, Taproot Theatre, 12/1-30/17

It’s a bitterly cold Christmas Eve on the banks of the Potomac River where the lives of abolitionists, assassins, soldiers, enslaved and free are woven together in an American tapestry. In their darkest hour, when peace seems impossible, the promise of Christmas breaks through despair in this musical celebration of compassion and hope by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel.

www.taproottheatre.org

Zinzanni Still Rocks the Tent in Marymoor

Ms. Ariana Savalas as Madame Zinzanni (Michael Doucett)

Teatro Zinzanni

Marymoor Park

Through April 29, 2018

Teatro Zinzanni has moved, for at least six months, to Marymoor Park. The spiegeltent is set up, the doors are open, and the merriment is ongoing. If you have been to the Seattle location, be reassured that everything is exactly the same as you remember, except the parking is MUCH easier (though a bit pricey at $15/car).

This time, the story encompassing the night’s antics is that a food critic has come to evaluate the menu and the cast is in a tizzy to please her. Madame Zinzanni, an incandescent Ariana Savalas, commands the staff to make Ms. Pleasant’s visit an outstanding one.

Most Madame Zinzannis are outstanding talents, but Savalas brings the usual singing talent, an appropriate imperiousness, and also an amazing whistle! I haven’t heard such beautiful whistling to a song in a very long time! It’s a special treat!

Village Theatre’s recent production of "Into the Woods" deserves recognition

Christine Marie Brown, Trey Ellett, (Eric Polani Jensen peaking through) and Mari Nelson in the beautiful Witch costume (Mark Kitaoka)

Into the Woods

Village Theatre

Through November 19, 2017

If you have never seen the movie of Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim or the stage play, you may not know that Sondheim took five different fairy tales, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, the Baker and his Wife (a version of Thumbelina, of sort), Rapunzel, and Jack and the Beanstalk and wove them together so that they all know each other and live in the same small village.

So, Red visits the Baker and Wife to get food for Grandma, next doorish to Jack and his Mother, and they live in Cinderella’s village with her Stepmother and StepSisters and the same Prince, who is brother to the Prince who falls in love with Rapunzel – and then he throws in a Witch and some curses needing lifting. It’s pretty ingenious, but then – he’s SONDHEIM!