Jay Irwin - Page 14

Dear Readers, I'm going to start out by coming clean to a fact that may cause a few gasps. I've never liked "The Lion King". Unlike much of the rest of America I didn't think the movie was that great and I seriously don't care for the stage version. The story is just a watered-down version of "Hamlet", the music is written by committee with many different composers contributing to the score making for an inconsistent show, and it's all flash and spectacle trying to overshadow songs that don't move anything along by throwing everything they can on stage to distract. It's just overrated. "But," many have retorted, "the costumes are so great." To which I always reply, "Yes, and you see many of them in the first five minutes of the show in the costume parade disguised as an opening number, "Circle of Life". And then after you've seen that, then what? The show has blown their big moment at the beginning of the show and it's all downhill from there. Plus, this is a musical. I come for more than costumes." But we're not here for me to eviscerate "The Lion King", which I could do all day. We know I don't care for it but that aside, how was the current production at the Paramount? Let's discuss that.

Dear Readers, I need you to stop what you're doing right now (including reading this review) and go to www.seattlepublictheater.com and get your tickets to the most ridiculous fun you'll have this holiday season, 'A Very Die Hard Christmas'. Seriously tickets are going fast so do it now and then come back and read the rest of this. I'll wait here and sing softly to myself while you're gone. ('If you like Pina Coladas, getting' caught in the rain. If you're not into yoga. If you have half a brain…') Oh, you're back? Did you do it? Good. Now let me tell you about the glorious show you just bought tickets to from the brilliance of Mark Siano, John Kranz, Jeff Schell, and the deliciously demented minds of The Habit.

Seattle Musical Theatre has taken on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" for the holidays, that bright and frothy, crowd-pleaser of a tuner. And while for this production they've managed to gather up some stellar talent, that talent sometimes has a hard time getting through the noise, or in most cases, the lack of noise.

You may say, Dear Readers, that it's impossible to have a bad production of the Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin classic "Annie". Throw some precocious kids on stage, belt out those recognizable tunes and you're gold. Well, I beg to differ as I've seen my share of "Annie" productions that missed the point, or the heart or maybe just didn't quite have the kids to pull it off well. (You know what they say, never work with kids or animals and this show has BOTH!) Well the current production at the 5th Avenue not only has the perfect tone for this boisterously fun old time musical, but they know exactly where the heart is in the show and in the audience and which buttons to push on both. Not to mention those precocious kids all seem to be consummate professionals with killer voices. So much so I'm suspecting they were actually just short adults. Maybe?

Before there was "Hamilton" there was "In the Heights". I know I'm a nerd, but it floors me how many people don't know that. Most theater aficionados know of "Hamilton" and by extension of Lin-Manuel Miranda but have a blind spot for "In the Heights" the Tony winning show that put Miranda on the map. And while it certainly feels like an early work from the man who would become King, it's still quite stunning and ground breaking for its time and the production from the Seattle Rep manages to capture all the heat and heart that the show demands.

A few years ago, Dear Readers, Seattle audiences were treated to the tour of Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin's lovely musical version of Roald Dahl's "Matilda". A clever little tuner that managed to go beyond simply adding songs to a beloved book and find the heart of the story. Unfortunately, the complaint I heard most often back then from people who saw it was that they couldn't understand the lyrics owing to a bad sound mix in the theater and a bevy of child actors putting on quite thick British accents. So, if you didn't know the lyrics then maybe you didn't get to know them. Well, Village Theatre has picked up this tale of these revolting children (not a judgment of the kids, it's one of the songs) and while the lyrics are much clearer in the more intimate setting and the talent from the kids and adults alike is top notch (with some excellent diction) the show at times feels like it's striving to find it's rhythm and barely finds its magic.

We all have those special toys that became real to us as children. I still have my old teddy bear (who's older than I am) who sits in a place of honor in my living room. This is probably why Margery Williams' classic story "The Velveteen Rabbit" resonated with so many of us. I know it did for me. And now Seattle Children's Theatre in association with Unicorn Theatre (UK) have brought us Williams' beautiful tale for the stage and the magic and wonder and Awww factor of it all couldn't be greater.

Dear Readers, today I want to talk to you about one of the most exciting companies in town and their latest show, The Williams Project's 'A Bright Room Called Day' by Tony Kushner. Specifically, I want to focus on three aspects of why they and their current show are so exciting and by the end I expect one if not all three aspects will entice you to catch this one, or at least I hope so.

Welcome class, I'm going to need you to put your phones away and open your minds to learn about the history of our country. No, I mean REALLY open your minds to learn about the REAL history of our country … and then some. It won't be an easy night for some but what Mike Daisey puts forth with his "A People's History" is certainly an eye-opening journey into the deep, dark crevasses of our sordid past as a nation.

Who hasn't danced around their home to the fabulous tunes of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine knowing that the 'Rhythm is Gonna Get You'? I know I have. (Don't judge.) And really if you too have any kind of affinity for their hot Latin rhythms then their bio-musical 'On Your Feet!', currently playing at the Paramount, will be for you. Maybe not the most engaging story, but oh those hips.

I know I could get lynched for stating this out loud, but I was never that much of a fan of the original film "The Nightmare Before Christmas". I appreciate the cute story and the animation but being a musical theater snob, the songs in it just don't do it for me. But now, after seeing Can Can's burlesque reimagining of this much beloved film, "This is Halloween" now in its ninth year, I realize what it's been missing all this time. Naked people.

One of our best living playwrights, in my opinion, is Mr. Harvey Fierstein. With his rich, vibrant characters and crackling dialog, he never ceases to surprise with his works and his raw honest approach to storytelling. Well back in 2014 he came out with a new piece, "Casa Valentina", and I was lucky enough to catch it on Broadway and it was just as amazing as one might expect. Now in 2018, Lesser Known Players has come along with the Seattle Premiere of this amazing work, however their production does not do justice to this fantastic piece as, with some few exceptions, they lacked the commitment and intent to pull it off.

In 1993 a few Norwegian politicians managed the impossible, to get the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate a peace. What sounds even more impossible is that they all kept it secret. Now this may not sound like the riveting topic for a three-hour play but what J.T. Rogers' 'Oslo', currently playing at ACT, does it to go beyond the facts of the accords and examines the humanity that made the accords possible and that kind of conflict makes for a tense and often times funny piece presented with a stunning ensemble from ACT.

Dear Readers, if you've been reading my reviews for a while then you may know of my disdain for performance art. Whether it's naked women being birthed from goo-sacks on stage, random men from the audience beating an actress with pillows, or actors on a seesaw reciting Becket I think it's largely pretentious and wish they would just tell the story already. And yes, I've been subjected to all those things. Luckily Pork Filled Players and REBATEnsemble's Halloween offering "Night Parade" is not completely performance art. Oh, there are some elements in there but that's not all it is. Unfortunately, that also means that the show has a hell of an identity problem as it really doesn't know what it wants to be as it meanders back and forth from performance art to fable to comedy to art lecture to God knows what.

Recently (and I do mean recently) another company in town did a concert staging of "Legally Blonde" utilizing actors of color in roles that they might not normally be cast including an African American "Elle". So, I questioned the logic when I heard that Seattle Musical Theater was doing the same thing right on its heels. Sure, the other one was just a concert (although so well done that it felt like a full staging) and only for four performances so maybe they just want to capitalize on that momentum with a full staging with sets and costumes and everything. Unfortunately, the Seattle Musical Theatre production of "Legally Blonde" feels so misdirected, half-assed and underdone that the only similarities are the diversity in the casting and the name.

Dear Readers, as many of you know, back in November of 2015 Seattle was blessed with being one of the first cities to see 'Come From Away' before it ventured on to be the hit it still is on Broadway. And if you recall my review you'll remember how I implored you to drop everything you were doing, including reading the review, and go get your tickets to catch this amazing show. And I'm sure many of my friends will attest to the constant nagging from me of 'have you gotten your 'Come From Away' tickets yet' so they wouldn't miss the show and the ones who succumbed still thank me to this day for said nagging. Well, Dear Readers, the first National Tour of 'Come From Away' has started and it's once again blessed our city to start in, this time at the 5th Avenue Theatre, and once again I must implore you to stop reading this immediately and go get tickets to this groundbreaking, heartfelt, stunner of a show (and then of course come back and read the rest of this) and my friends are all in for another round of nagging.

Dear Readers, in the past you may have heard me refer to what I call "theatrical alchemy". It's where all the right elements seem to magically come together in just the right ways to form pure theatrical gold. Well, the Seattle Rep currently has a bunch of alchemists working with them with their joint production with the American Conservatory Theater and their presentation of "A Thousand Splendid Suns", a riveting tale filled with so much tragic beauty that you'll be left breathless.

When any playwright sits down to their notepad/typewriter/computer I would hope they have pinned to their workspace a note which, in very large, bold letters reads, "Is this germane to the story I'm trying to tell or is it only interesting/funny to me?" Without that question we get plays like "Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England" currently being offered from Fantastic.Z. There's a little gem of a play in there buried deep amongst the superfluous detritus surrounding it.

I'm certainly a fan of the creepy and the crawly and the things that go bump in the night which is one reason Halloween is my favorite holiday. So, a spooky Cafe Nordo show entitled "The Witching Hour" should be right up my alley. And while it is and there's still all the delicious food and fabulous music and fun one would expect from a Nordo show, the story felt a little tentative and unsure of itself and where it needed to go.

Dear Readers, I know you've heard me talk before about taking the air out of a scene or earning your pauses or pauses you could drive a truck through. Well the latest offering from Forward Flux and Pratidhwani, Lindsay Joelle's "A Small History of Amal, Age 7", while being a sweet and sometimes touching story, suffers from a typhoon of air and a convoy of trucks driving through making the show feel forced and lacking connection.