Review: The Color Purple at Village Theatre – Magnificent Cast

 

Mariah Lyttle (Celie) and Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako (Shug Avery) (photo Auston James)

The Color Purple – The Musical
Village Theatre
Through July 27, 2025 (in Everett)
 
A beautifully cast and directed and designed production of A Color Purple has another two weekends of performances in Everett. If you have any interest in the story, from the book or the movie, you are well advised to get tickets and see this show!

July 2025 Theater Openings Update

Birds of Play by Tanya Gagné, Elena Brocade & Laura Lippert (photo Angie Ortaliza)

More shows to tell you about this month! Get out yer calendars!
 
Murder on the Links, Taproot Theatre, 7/9/25-8/16/25 (extended)
After receiving an urgent plea from a stranger, Hercule Poirot whisks himself to the French seaside only to arrive a day too late. Paul Renauld has been found dead, and the scene of the crime is a golf course. Poirot sets out to solve the murder, uncovering a web of deception, hidden identities, and old grudges. Adapted by Stephen Dietz from an Agatha Christie novel classic mystery.
www.taproot.org
 
Birds of Play, a Cheeky Circus Caberet, Seattle Public Theater, 7/10-19/25
Joy Rides (Tanya Gagné) and her pet chicken Goldie (hot off their smashing debut on America’s Got Talent!) take you on a wild and whimsical adventure. Exploring and challenging forms of flight, fantasy, fashion, alchemy, mayhem, mastery and mystery delivers a joyful celebration of freedom and fearlessness. Get ready to shake a tail feather! 65 minutes. This show is performed with two variations: matinees for all ages with added magic and circus fun, and 7:30pm for 18 and over with adult language and burlesque.
www.seattlepublictheater.org

June and July 2025 Theater Openings – Free Park Shows soon!

12th Night at ACT Theatre - Pilar O'Connell, Cassie Q. Kohl, Malex Reed (Rosemary Dai Ross)

It’s parks season in the PNW! Free park shows officially have their kick-off at the July 9^th-13^th Seattle Outdoor Theatre Festival at Volunteer Park (Greenstage.org for more details). Lots of comedy this month on our stages. Get out yer calendars!

 
Bye Bye Birdie, 5^th Avenue Theatre, 6/6-29/25
Set in the wholesome town of Sweet Apple, Ohio, songwriter Albert Peterson and his savvy secretary - and sweetheart - Rosie Alvarez, hatch a publicity stunt to send rock ‘n’ roll sensation Conrad Birdie off to the Army with a televised farewell kiss for one lucky fan. But when Conrad arrives, the quiet town erupts into chaos, teenage hysteria, and unexpected romance. Featuring iconic songs like “Put on a Happy Face,” and “A Lot of Livin’ to Do,” this fresh staging brings bold new energy to a beloved classic, celebrating the humor, heat, and hysteria of American pop culture.
www.5thavenue.org
 
Gods of Comedy, Phoenix Theatre, 6/6-29/25
Daphne and Ralph are young classics professors who have just made a discovery that's sure to turn them into academic superstars. But something goes disastrously wrong, and Daphne cries out in a panic, "Save me, gods of ancient Greece!"…and the gods actually appear! The Ivy League will never be the same as a pair of screwball deities encounters the carnal complexity of college coeds, campus capers, and conspicuous consumption.
www.tptedmonds.org
 
Twelfth Night, ACT Theatre and Seattle Shakespeare Company, 6/7-22/25 (at ACT Theatre)
Viola is in love with Duke Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who is in love with Cesario, who is actually...Viola. Seattle Shakespeare Company makes its debut at ACT Contemporary Theatre with a new joint production of this gender-fluid romp and treasured comedy. Setting the play in a hopeful post-WWII Italy, this gender-fluid romp and treasured comedy explores the diversity of love, reminding us how relevant Shakespeare remains today.
www.acttheatre.org

May Grows Musicals and More

Honolulu Theatre for Youth come to SCT (courtesy HTY)

Musicals and more, this month, as Spring greenery grows entertainment in our fair city. Get out yer calendars!

The Sandwich Ministry, BAT Theatre, through 5/11/25 (at Kennedy High, 140 S 140^th St. Burien)
Following a once-in-a-century storm, three women come back together to make sandwiches for neighbors who have been displaced. Together, despite their differences, they look for purpose in a time of uncertainty and try to support each other and those around them.
www.battheatre.org
 
The SpongeBob Musical, Bainbridge Performing Arts, 5/2-18/25
When Bikini Bottom is threatened by the impending eruption of Mount Humongous, it’s up to SpongeBob and his friends to save the day. What follows is an explosion of color, music, and community as the citizens of the sea learn what really matters when everything's at stake.
https://bainbridgeperformingarts.org

Jam-Packed April Theater in Seattle

Athena at ArtsWest (John McLellan)

April brings an unusually large amount and range of productions to experience. Check the dates – some of them are only a few days long! Get out yer calendar, it’s Spring!
 
Emma, Dacha Theatre, 4/3-19/25 (at 12^th Avenue Arts)
Dacha’s production invites you to indulge in the numerous balls and parties of Austen’s landscape with an onstage seating option that plunges the audience into the heart of the action. Guests in immersive seats might act as a character’s confidante, help choose a character’s accessory, or even enjoy a punch toast with the leading lady. Riser seating is also available for more traditional theatre goers who prefer to watch the chaos unfold from the comfort of their seats.
www.dachatheatre.com/emma
 
The Mammy Project, Intiman Cabaret, 4/3-6/25 (at Erickson Theatre)
Artist Michelle Matlock takes a journey through the icon, stereotype, and myth of the “Mammy” caricature, and its impact on contemporary American culture. This one-person play and conversation weaves the untold history of Nancy Green, the first woman to play “Aunt Jemima” at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, with the documented struggle that African American activists like Ida B. Wells fought to receive representation at that very same World’s Fair. www.intiman.org
 
BITFEST, Theatre33 and other multilingual companies, 4/4-6/25 (Meydenbauer Center)
Many small cultural and bilingual theater companies exist in our community. They join together for the first time for the inaugural Bellevue International Theatre Festival (BITFest) April 4-6, 2025. Gathered from Theatre33’s network of community theaters, companies from OR, CA, and British Columbia will offer curated one-act plays in various languages. Tickets will be sold per block in 2-play blocks on the stage of the Meydenbauer Center. Also available is a BITFest pass. The last block of shows will be scheduled for Sunday, 4/6/25 and the BITFest will culminate with an awards ceremony and a closing reception.
www.theatre33wa.org
 
Squeeze, Seattle Public Theater and UMO Ensemble, 4/4-13/25 (world premiere)
Inspired by the clowning of Buster Keaton and the existential absurdism of Samuel Beckett, the ensemble and acclaimed playwright Trista Baldwin explore five clowns being shut out, in need, desperate to connect and vying for control of territory. Three simple platforms and a series of ladders connect or obstruct them all. Two stunning acrobats magically weave between personal vignettes that explore the issues of today's world.
www.seattlepublictheater.org

Pie Month! “Waitress” at 5th Ave - the Perfect Sweetness!

Tori Gresham, Kerstin Anderson, and Porscha Shaw in Waitress (Tracy Martin)

Waitress
5^th Avenue Theatre
Through March 30, 2025
 
On Pie Day, 3/14/25, a strong and sweet LOCAL production of Waitress opened at the 5^th Avenue. I joke - Pi Day (based on pi = 3.14) was the perfect day to open. The 5^th Avenue was able to snag one of the first regional rights to perform this charming musical and they’ve turned out a hit!
 
Director Lisa Shriver is back again after her triumphant direction, last season, of Beautiful at Village Theatre. Here, her pacing, smart collaboration with adroit set designer Julia Hayes Welch (a complicated set design moved swiftly and efficiently from scene to scene), and her work with the top-notch local cast combined to a light-as-whipped-cream flair.
 
We meet Jenna, a local waitress in a small town, and her waitstaff cohorts Becky and Dawn, the diner cook, Cal, and assorted townsfolk. She’s unhappily married to abusive Earl, feels trapped and scared, but makes amazing pies every morning. Can a pie contest help her win enough money to get out?
 
Kerstin Anderson fully immerses herself in Jenna. Her voice is sublime and sure. Her quirky character comes out and when she meets gynecologist Dr. Pomatter (wonderfully sweet and funny Adam Standley) and finds out she’s pregnant, and accidentally starts an affair with him, she shows a spunk that allows us to like this woman more than feel sorry for her.