Seattle Theaters Forge Ahead with Openings

"The Fifth Wave" at Macha Theatre Works

Despite the brisk wintery air of February and attendant struggles with in-person entertainments, Seattle theater companies continue to provide and protect as much as they can. Some are postponing, but others are forging ahead. We’ve got world premieres and a national tour to see. Get your ids and your shot records ready, mask up and go!

Dragon Lady/Dragon Mama, Café Nordo (in repertory), 2/1/22-3/6/22
Sara Porkalob, solo performer extraordinaire, began a planned trilogy of memoir/biography plays with Dragon Lady: It is the year of the Water Dragon and the eve of Grandma Maria’s 60th birthday. By the light of the karaoke machine, fueled by pork dumplings and Diet Pepsi, she shares a dark secret from her Filipino gangster past with one lucky grandchild. Traversing 50 years of faulty family memories, this timely new musical is about what it means to come to America.

Her second play, Dragon Mama, continues down the generation from grandmother to mother.

Maria Porkalob, Jr., yearns for a gayer, more POC-filled life than Bremerton, WA, can offer. When presented with an opportunity to make a quick fortune, Maria must make an important decision: leave her debt-ridden mother, four young siblings, and newborn daughter Sara for the wild unknown of Alaska, or stay close to home, family, and intergenerational trauma. Traversing 25 years filled with queer love in a barren land, Dragon Mama features ghosts, Filipino gangsters, and a dope ‘80s and ‘90s soundtrack.
These play in repertory, and can be seen without Nordo’s traditional “meal and show” and are offered on the eve of Porkalob’s departure (finally, after a covid-delay of many months) to perform in a Broadway show.
www.cafenordo.com
 
Photograph 51, UW School of Drama, 2/2/22-2/6/22
London, 1953. Scientists are on the verge of discovering what they call the secret of life: the DNA double helix. Providing the key is driven young physicist Rosalind Franklin. But if the double helix was the breakthrough of the 20th century, then what kept Franklin out of the history books? A play about ambition, isolation, and the race for greatness.
www.drama.washington.edu
 
Red Riding Hood, Seattle Children’s Theatre, 2/1/22-3/6/22 (world premiere)
Fairytale Farce! Wolfgang (Conner Neddersen), the greatest actor in the world, is preparing for the performance of his lifetime in the “true story” of Red Riding Hood when a Delivery Driver (Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako) carrying a mysterious package interrupts his rehearsal. She boldly calls into question Wolfgang’s story, adamant that he should only tell the classic tale. As their story flourishes, a madcap romp through the popular fairy tale ensues. This lively adaptation reminds us that when something is important, bravery knows no bounds.
https://www.sct.org/onstage/productions/red-riding-hood-2/

Voices and Talent Shine in “Songs for a New World” but the songs are not so shiny

 

Songs for a New World (Gabriel Corey)

Songs for a New World
Village Theatre
Issaquah: through Feb 13, 2022, Everett: Feb 18-Mar 13, 2022
 
My experience in attending this musical ran along two very, very different tracks. The first track was glorious! I was attending a musical again at Village Theatre and there were four hugely talented performers on stage. I didn’t feel like four was too few; I did not feel like the harmonies were “light” because there were only four singers.
 
The talented quadruplet filled the stage, harmonized beautifully, and satisfied everything about the performance one could want. Maria Habeeb has a lovely soprano that flows easily and sweetly. Alexandria Henderson has an edge and a keen sense of drama that reflects in her voice. Tyler Dobie’s face showed every single emotion, even fleeting ones, as he felt each emotion in a song. Cal Mitchell is energetic and powerful and sometimes scene-stealing.

January Theater is Alive and Happening!

 

Bohemia (Truman Buffett)

It’s a bit later in the month than usual, but there are some great shows still scheduled for this blustery month. So far, no theater listed here has cancelled, but always check just in case! It looks like a pretty glorious month of shows.

Songs for a New World, Village Theatre, 1/12/22-3/13/22
(Issaquah 1/12/22 to 2/13/22 | Everett 2/18/22 to 3/13/22)
It’s actually the Puget Sound premiere of the show by Jason Robert Brown (which is a bit surprising), featuring powerful songs of life, love, the choices we make, and the hope they inspire. This production embraces life’s challenging events and strives to show us that renewal and survival is always within reach. This is an all-BIPOC cast of all-star performers.
www.villagetheatre.org
 
Fannie: The Music And Life Of Fannie Lou Hamer, Seattle Repertory Theatre, 1/14/22-2/13/22
Locally cherished playwright, Cheryl L. West, pens a bioplay. Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer tells the impassioned story of American civil rights activist and hero, Fannie Lou Hamer. Part theater, part revival, and all power – this play with music will have your head nodding and hands clapping from start to finish. From her humble origins as the daughter of a Mississippi sharecropper to co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and demanding recognition at the National Democratic Convention, Fannie is a story of justice that will not be denied. (Solo performer)
www.seattlerep.org
 
Bohemia, Marxiano Productions, 1/20-30/22 (at the Triple Door)
The story centers around famous Bohemian composer Antonín Dvorák who has hit a wall prior to composing his magnum opus. In a move of desperation he turns to a bottle of absinthe for inspiration. In this whimsical and mystical dream cabaret, Dvorák is visited by the ghost of late composer Frédéric Chopin and a host of green fairies. Chopin and many other famous Bohemians guide Dvorák as they search for the true source of inspiration and grasp at artistic immortality.
www.thetripledoor.net

An Entrancing World Premiere from a Masterful Musician

 

We've Battled Monsters Before (John McLellan)

We’ve Battled Monsters Before
Artswest
www.artswest.org
Through December 26^, 2021 (and virtually)

Justin Huertas was born lucky. He is perfectly positioned to take advantage of exactly this age of “becoming inclusive,” as theater works to widen and embrace diverse stories from diverse backgrounds. He’s Gay and Filipino American. He is also, luckily, a hugely talented musician/writer/actor/performer. And it’s lucky for us (particularly in Seattle) that we get to experience his art.

Huertas often writes from a perspective of a young person uneasy with their circumstance or background or family. His first major musical, Lizard Boy, set the table with a story of a boy who magically is turned into a lizard and has to manage how he stands in the world being so clearly different from everyone else. The genesis of the story is linked to Huertas’ journey of coming out Gay, and his Filipino-American heritage, and having to deal with feeling different than others. Like the stories he’s chosen subsequently, the boy triumphs in the end.

While his next effort, Howl’s Moving Castle, was not his own story (it’s an adaptation of a well-known book and movie), it, too, has magical elements and young people struggling with who they will be and how they will navigate life. His songs showed progress in sophistication and in how they move the story along and help the musical come to life.

The summer before Covid, Huertas teamed up with Mathew Wright and Artswest, where you can also see We’ve Battled Monsters Before until December 26^th or possibly virtually online, with his next world premiere, The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion. The premise for that story is based on real Puget Sound octopus wrestling! Around that, he crafted a family story of secrets, magic (of course), and learning about how to accept and be your real self.

With each new creation, his musician-ship matures a little bit more, his lyrics become more pointed, and the “reasons” things happen in his musicals continue to strengthen. And now, his latest world premiere, We’ve Battled Monsters Before, arrives. Based on a Filipino poem, Ibong Adarna, we have a family of generations of secret warriors with a young woman who doesn’t know her own power or what it’s to be used for.  

Holiday Traditions to be thankful for!

Your favorite holiday traditions can now be visited in person! Check out what's opening in December and what is still running into the holidays and don't miss your present by getting tickets late! Shows are already selling out.

We’ve Battled Monsters Before, ArtsWest, 11/26/21-12/26/21 (world premiere)

The next world premiere musical arrives from the creative mind of Justin Huertas. When you’re the youngest sibling in a family of secret warriors who for generations have protected Seattle from monsters and demons, living up to your Lola’s expectations is, in a word, daunting. Adarna’s mistakes were cute at first, but when they begin to cost her family more than she ever imagined, she must decide what she would sacrifice to save them. Loosely adapted from the 16th century Filipino epic poem Ibong Adarna, playwright-composer-lyricist Justin Huertas returns to his Lizard Boy roots with a sweet and intimate actor-musician musical adventure.

www.artswest.org

Christmastown: A Holiday Noir, Seattle Public Theater, 11/26/21-12/24/21

In this film noir-inspired holiday thriller, hard-boiled detective Nick Holiday investigates some un-holiday-like shenanigans taking place in Christmastown that sends him on a search for the truth about Big Red. Add a glamorous elf, a used-Christmas-tree salesman, a muckraking reporter, and a quick-thinking cab driver, and you have what the Seattle Times calls the “best new holiday romp of the year!”

www.seattlepublictheatre.org

Inspecting Carol, The Phoenix Theatre, 11/27/21-12/20/21

​Behind the scenes of a struggling theatre’s annual clumsy production of A Christmas Carol, rehearsals are at a standstill. Tim is no longer Tiny, Scrooge wants to do the play in Spanish (Feliz Navidad), and their funding is on hold pending an inspection. To top it off, a man who asks to audition for the show is mistaken for the inspector for the National Endowment for the Arts. The cast caters to the bewildered wannabe actor, and he is given a part in the ill-fated production. Everything goes wrong at the theatre that is anything but show business as usual.

www.tptedmonds.org/season-13--20202021.html

Snow Business, Seattle Men’s Chorus, Benaroya Hall, Federal Way Performing Arts Center, Everett Civic Auditorium, 12/5-23/21

Everyone’s favorite Christmas chorus is back on the boards at Benaroya Hall, where it seems they belong best. Get ready for sexy Santas and colorful choralography and the dulcet tones of a 200-man musical melding.

www.seattlechoruses.org or https://flyinghouse.secure.force.com/ticket/#/events/a0S1S000009r1gHUAQ

Scott Shoemaker’s War on Christmas, Shoes and Pants Productions and Theatre Off Jackson, 12/2-24/21

Christmas is saved! The all-star variety spectacular that quickly became a YuleTide tradition makes its triumphant return at Theatre Off Jackson! After two years of sold out shows at Re-bar and a hit streaming special in 2020, "Scott Shoemaker's War on Christmas" is ready to knock your stockings off once again. Come spend an evening with Scott and a cast of Seattle luminaries as they try to figure out who's fighting a war on Christmas and what for? Comedy, songs, dance numbers, delightful videos, and partial nudity! Joining Scott are an amazing group of illustrious superstars: Adé, Waxie Moon, Mandy Price & Faggedy Randy!

https://tinyurl.com/ytmbw3f5

“What We Were”/Pony World Theatre – Intense Re-introduction to Great Seattle Theater

 

What We Were (photo by Sayed Alamy)

What We Were

Pony World Theatre

(at 12th Avenue Arts)

Through November 6, 2021

https://www.ponyworld.org/

If you feel ready to embrace live theater again, and you long for the dark cover of a large room with many silent eyes riveting their gaze at the lighted area in the center with real people telling a story of heartbreak, neuropathways that are disrupted by trauma, and a history of never speaking for themselves, then you must hurry to get tickets for What We Were at Pony World Theatre.

Before I get too far into the “about” section, you’ll be gifted with performances by four of Seattle’s solid talents. Tracy Leigh and Lisa Viertel are two veterans of many small company productions and when you see their names in a cast line-up, you can feel secure that you’ll be experiencing their high-quality acting. They are nuanced and complex and embody full human beings with clear positives and negatives.

Lauren Freman and Tyler Bonnell complement these actors, with Lauren carrying the bulk of the focus and Tyler providing a heart-breaking vulnerability in a small but crucial role. All three women must time-shift without changing a thing except their behavior and do so while never leaving the audience feeling unsure of “when” these characters are portraying the events.