SMT’s “Aida” was great, but it’s over

Matthew Lang and Tanesha Ross in Aida (Jeff Orton)

Aida

Seattle Musical Theatre

Through February 24, 2019

I regret to inform you that Seattle Musical Theatre presented a terrific production of Elton John’s musical, Aida, but you can’t see it because it’s closed. It was only three weekends long and one of those weekends was the Snow Event of the Century.

A lot of the praise for this production lies with Troy Wageman as director/choreographer. Troy has been a musical theater performer for years and done some terrific work on stage. But it’s his development into a musical theater director to be reckoned with that may be his best contribution to the art, because he truly has an eye for how to take a little and make it look like a helluva lot.

SMT doesn’t have a lot of money for sets or costumes or lights or sound. Sound in that Magnuson Park skinny rectangular theater, especially as managed by the patched together sound board, can be extremely hit or miss. But Troy knows how to manage that and knows who can manage it for him, and apparently Martin Sisk is a genius with that sound board. Why? Because the lead singers in this production sounded effing amazing. Loud and clear!

New Company, As If Theatre, Presents Lovely "The Clean House"

The cast of The Clean House (Rosemary Dai Ross)

The Clean House
As If Theatre Company
Extended through March 3, 2019

As often happens in the Seattle area, a group of like-minded folks get together and decide to create a new company. Sometimes it's to produce one particular script and sometimes the goal is a bit larger. Out in Kenmore, a group of mature women (as in "not eager 20-somethings") have created As If Theatre Company, in an area that doesn't have a lot of theater going on there. 

Since I live nearby and like the idea of theater in Kenmore, I was pleased, as well, that they chose to produce Sarah Ruhl's The Clean House. I'd seen the production at ACT Theatre a decade ago and I remembered that I really loved the play but didn't remember enough about it and wanted to revisit it.

“Rock of Ages” is a Big Cheeseball You Eat Anyway

Diana Huey and Galen Disston in Rock of Ages (Tracy Martin)

Rock of Ages

5^th Avenue Theatre

Through February 24, 2019

Piles of snow didn’t stop the crew of Rock of Ages from puttin’ on a show! Some of the hardier audience members were even able to snag $20 tickets. 5^th Avenue admin made the decision to help entice people who were able to get downtown to come in from the cold and have fun.

The musical is mostly an excuse for talented singer/performers to belt their faces off to well-known rock-and-roll songs from the 80’s and 90’s. It’s got some good jokes and a barely-palatable “story” to hang the songs on. You don’t go for deep and thoughtful story content, you go to sing along with the performers. They know all the words, you just chime in when you remember a few! (I don’t mean you actually are supposed to sing along, but it’s kind of inevitable if you already know the song.)

A robust cast of local talents bring the fun to life, with an assist from “she who we claim as ours,” Diana Huey, as the lead young-girl-from-a-small-town-who-wants-to-be-a-star-and-runs-away-with-her-parents’-disapproval-to-a-big-bad-Los-Angeles Sherrie, and a “real” rock legend, Mickey Thomas from (Jefferson) Starship as club owner Dennis. A bashful-looking Galen Disston, lead singer of the local rock band, Pickwick, takes on a new challenge as Drew, the-boy-who-wants-to-be-a-rock-and-roll-star-and-starts-as-a-bar-back. 

Watching “American Junkie” is Hard, But Worth It

Ian Bond in American Junkie (Studio 19 Photography)

American Junkie
Book-It Repertory Theatre
Through March 10, 2019

Watching someone act out shooting heroin and hearing them describe it is definitely discomfiting. Hearing in the description that they are removing wads of tissues from holes in their body that reach the bone to find flesh decent enough to shoot into could make the hearer feel like running to the bathroom to vomit. Yet, that is part of what is in store for audiences of a searing, yet compelling new work at Book-It Repertory Theatre.

American Junkie, an adaptation of a novel by former junkie, Tom Hansen, by Jane Jones and Kevin McKeon, is an intense experience. If you’re naïve about what junkies go through or experience, this ride will certainly fill in a few blank spots.

So, why would you want to put yourself through that? Because it’s important to understand people who are different from you, or to understand your relative or friend or friend’s friend who is going through something similar. We’re currently living through what is being termed “an opioid crisis,” yet those whose lives are unaffected probably don’t understand why it’s so hard to get ahead of these addiction issues.

“Fire Season” Smolders Over Opioid Crisis

Mike Dooley and Kathryn Van Meter in Fire Season (Truman Buffett)

Fire Season

Seattle Public Theater

Through February 17, 2019

Seattle Public Theater launched a new playwriting prize, The Emerald Prize, in 2016. It’s a pretty large prize of $10,000. It was a long process that involved getting submissions from selected professionals who were tasked with providing five plays, three of which had to be from women or LGBTQ-identified writers or people of color, or an intersection of these categories. Aurin Squire, an eclectic writer of plays, docudramas and documentaries, journalistic efforts and television episodics, won the prize.

Squire came to Seattle and workshopped the play and eventually the play was chosen for SPT’s season and is now on stage. Fire Season is set in a small rural Washington State community. 

The program tells us that Squire has a sister who is a physician working in a rural area who had her prescription pad stolen and used for the purchasing of a lot of sedatives. The play includes a woman doctor in just such a circumstance as it tells the story of the scourge of opioid addiction in this small town. Dedra D. Woods plays the doctor and she details the difficulties faced by a doctor of color in a small town that is mostly white. 

February 2019 Theater Openings

Diana Huey and Galen Disston in Rock of Ages (Mark Kitaoka)

A big musical, two different takes on Uncle Vanya, and a lot more is in store for your February theater-going pleasure. Check out what’s coming up!

Rock of Ages, 5th Avenue Theatre, 2/1-24/19 (opens 2/8)

Diana Huey comes back to town to headline this ‘80s rock ‘n’ roll homage. It’s the story of a small town girl and a city boy who meet on the Sunset Strip while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Their rocking romance is told through the heart-pounding hits of Styx, Foreigner, Joan Jett, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister and more.

www.5thavenue.org

The Devil and Sarah Blackwater, Annex Theatre, 2/1/19-3/2/19 (world premiere)

Singer-songwriter Sarah Blackwater’s rock and roll tour is rudely interrupted when the Devil comes calling about a debt - the eternal soul of her partner, Sam. With love as her compass, Sarah goes through hell and back to discover what’s worth holding on to.

www.annextheatre.org

Uncle Vanya, The Seagull Project, 2/1-17/19 (at ACT Theatre)

Uncle Vanya is the second major play written by Anton Chekhov and premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. A provincial family is in turmoil, after the esteemed Professor Serebryakov and his wife, Yelena, arrive to stay at the family estate after coming to the end of their fiscal rope. The desires of the family begin to boil under these new circumstances.

www.acttheatre.org/actlab/uncle-vanya/