Ibsen's "League of Youth" is a strange hybrid

The League of Youth (Michael Brunk)

The League of Youth
Theatre9/12
Through July 29, 2018

Theatre9/12's production of Jeffrey Hatcher's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's play, The League of Youth, is a strangely hybrid affair. Hatcher's adaptation was done in 2017 and while Ibsen's work is said to be his only comedy, it is essentially a farce - not necessarily a comedy. Sometimes "farce" is not funny. In this case, it skewers politicians and small towns and, since it was written in the mid-1800s when women were either married or servants or nuns, it skewers that state of affairs, too.

On a Fourth of July picnic, a newcomer to a small town, Stensgaard (Tom Ryan), decides their rituals and traditions are stodgy and he challenges the town by announcing a new political party called “The League of Youth.” He claims he can stop the corruption and it's time for a new generation to take over.

He's quickly informed that his goal of becoming the town's highest politician has a requirement - he must "own property." Since the vote is that night, he has to be married - or at least engaged - by nightfall. While the youth of the town meet elsewhere and someone else writes his manifesto, he pursues the marriageable women in town with property rights. 

Not just big hair – “Hairspray’s” little moments also please

Nick DeSantis, Shaunyce Omar and Callie Williams in Hairspray (Tracy Martin)

Hairspray

Village Theatre

Everett: 7/6-29/18

There is plenty to enjoy in the Village Theatre production of Hairspray, and a lot of it is in tiny moments that make it clear that directors Steve Tomkins and Timothy McCuen Piggee have thought about every detail. It’s also a bit bittersweet for those who have enjoyed Tomkins’ directing at Village, because this is his last official production as artistic director at the theater.

This production has heightened the revolutionary part of the story of a young woman who puts her dreams on the line in order to desegregate her local television dance program. It’s a particularly good message for these turbulent times.

July Theater Openings mean park Shakespeare, musicals, and world premieres

Disenchanted (Erin Ewing)

The weekend of July 14 and 15 is the annual Seattle Outdoor Theater Festival! (http://greenstage.org/sotf/) with free Shakespeare and kid plays for an entire weekend! It is the official launch of the summer park plays all over the area. In addition, there are two big musicals, Lauren Weedman coming back to town with a solo show, and a few world premieres to check out. No one is sitting out this summer seaon doing nothing – so get out yer calendars!

Family Matters, ReACT Theatre, 7/6-28/18 (at 12th Avenue Arts) (world premiere)

Local playwright Rachel Atkins has crafted a new play, set in the backyard of the Horowitz-Yamasaki-Bloom family home. This multi-generational Jewish-American-transracial family gathers for their traditional Mother’s Day celebration with bagels and lox and Korean potato salad. Everyone arrives with secrets, and as the afternoon progresses, their revelations bring out their complicated hidden truths, while examining the myriad expectations, responsibilities and roles that women face in every modern family. An insightful, humorous and affecting new look at the ties and traditions that bind.

www.reacttheatre.org

The League of Youth, Theatre9/12, 7/6-29/18

A Henrik Ibsen play, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher in 2017, focuses on a young liberal, frustrated by the cronyism of politics. He creates a “League of Youth” to lobby against the establishment. Ibsen’s only comedy caused rioting in the streets: conservatives claimed it was an attack on their party, and liberals claimed it was an attack on theirs!

www.theatre912.com

Amusing and Dark “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Brandon Simmons in The Picture of Dorian Gray (John Ulman)

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Book-It Repertory Theatre

Through July 1, 2018

If you know a little about the story of Dorian Gray, maybe you’ve heard of the novel about a man who doesn’t age and a portrait of him that does. Oscar Wilde, better known as a playwright in Britian in the late 1800s, wrote the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, in a serial fashion which caught literary fancy and also was decried for destroying morality.

Book-It Repertory Theatre has taken a stab at turning Wilde’s novel into a play, which is an amusing switch for Wilde’s history. This adaptation by Judd Parkin is less “Book-It” in style, which uses a lot of narrative as dialogue, possibly because Wilde wrote so theatrically with a lot of conversation. Certainly, the adaptation flows extremely well.

It’s also much more amusing than I expected from what I knew to be a dark story: A young Dorian Gray (Chip Sherman) is painted by a besotted (gay) painter, Basil Hallward (Jon Lutyens). Influenced by notorious Lord Henry Wotton (Brandon J. Simmons), Gray is drawn to “free spirit” ideals. Lord Henry leads Gray to honor youth and beauty and when Gray sees his beauteous young painting, Gray wishes that somehow he could remain ever young and the painting could age in his stead.

Some Brilliant Choices for “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” – an average musical

Joshua Castille and E.J. Cardona in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Tracy Martin)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

5th Avenue Theatre

Though June 24, 2018

In a small revolution, without a ton of fanfare (aside from their usual advertising), the 5th Avenue Theatre has busted down doors of exclusion for thousands of deaf and hard-of-hearing folks by casting a deaf actor as the lead in their current musical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and providing him an opportunity to both sign and be sung for. The 5th Avenue joins a recent production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Sound Theatre Company that was entirely reconfigured to include signing and speaking throughout.

That aspect of this musical production is simply brilliant! Joshua M. Castille, a versatile and accomplished actor, who happens to be deaf, is cast here as Quasimodo, the twisted-from-birth boy who is hidden away in the towers at Notre Dame to be “protected” from the heartless plebians of the city. E.J. Cardona sings for Castille and follows him around (mostly as a gargoyle companion) and manages to be melded to him beautifully and to also sing soaringly and emotionally.

This production is likely just about the best production you might be able to see of this musical. The cast is solid, the technical aspects are beautifully done, and the addition of 30 members of the Pacific Lutheran University Choral Union fills out the singing with suitable church harmonies.

“How I Learned to Drive” – One Big Trigger (See it anyway)

Amy Danneker and Frank Boyd in How I Learned to Drive (John Ulman)

How I Learned to Drive

Strawberry Theatre Workshop

Through July 7, 2018

I can, by no means, claim any kind of encyclopedic knowledge of modern plays, but I cannot bring to mind any play that is focused on incest besides How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel. There are plays, like August: Osage County, that contain it as a sort of sub-plot (among many), but this play has no other sub-plot, only context. It’s a remarkable play, partly because while it deals with a deeply odious subject matter, it allows an audience to experience it without maudlin lingering in the miasma. There is a sort of “breathing room” for audiences.

Partly that is because Vogel tells the story in a back-and-forth manner through time. Her point is not to wallow in the darkness of human nature, it’s more to instruct those who may not know the “how it happens” aspect – the grooming.