Ruined at Intiman; The Laramie Project at Strawberry Workshop; Man of La Mancha at Taproot; HMS Pinafore at Seattle Center and globs of Cabaret/Burlesque shows and Outdoor Theater to quench your savage thirst!
I was planning on taking a theater break for the summer; apparently not. After a couple of very slow weeks in TheaterLand, there are a large number of new shows either opening, or soon to open, in venues all over town…now that summer is apparently REALLY here (thank god/God/goddess/whomever), hopefully most of them have A/C…
The Big Opening this week is Intiman’s production of the Pulitzer Prize winning drama, Ruined by Lynn Nottage. Directed by new Artistic Director Kate Whoriskey, this production is being co-produced with The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, where this show will head after the Seattle run, and eventually the show will travel to Johannesburg, South Africa. The play, thematically connected to Brecht’s Mother Courage, follows the lives of Mama Nadi and her “girls” who struggle to survive in the war torn jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, using both their wits and their bodies to evade rape, torture and death. Already in previews, this production runs now through August 8 at Intiman.
Another powerful and highly acclaimed drama, Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project’s The Laramie Project is being produced by The Strawberry Theatre Workshop starting this Thursday, July 8 and running through August 7 at the Erickson Theater, 1524 Harvard Avenue (between Pike and Pine and behind the Egyptian movie theater). Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews of people involved in, or affected by the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie Wyoming in the fall of 1999, the play portrays sixty different characters involved in the murder and the subsequent outcry to pass legislation protecting the LGBTQ community from hate crimes. Directed by Strawshop Artistic Director Greg Carter and featuring several outstanding local actors including Betsy Schwartz, Alycia Delmore, Shawn Law and Nick Garrison, this is a major summer theater offering and one that LGBTQ theater lovers should not miss. I’m seeing it this weekend, and we’ll get a review up as soon as possible…and hopefully, the Westboro Baptist Church has other plans this month and WON’T be in attendance to protest, as they have in other cities staging this play. If they do show up, you’ll recognize them by the dimwitted expressions on their faces and the moronic and offensive signs they’ll be carrying…feel free to glare at them with utter contempt…
Less likely to face protests, (unless the people of La Mancha are offended by their portrayal), Taproot Theatre Company’s production of the beloved musical, Man of La Mancha opens tonight July 7 with their first preview and runs through Aug 7 at their renovated (after last year’s arson fire) theater at 204 N 85th Street (85th and Greenwood; down the hill from Phinney Ridge). This musical adaptation (by Dale Wasserman, Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion) of the Cervantes classic, has been delighting musical theater lovers for over 40 years…If you feel like dreaming the impossible dream, then check it out…it’s a great show.
If you like your musicals on the operetta side and you love Gilbert & Sullivan, then you’ll want to check out the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s production of HMS Pinafore at the Bagley Wright Theatre at Seattle Center. If you want to “sail the ocean blue” with “poor little Buttercup” and company then check it out starting this weekend and running weekends through July 24. And, if you haven’t experienced G&S, then you should; when it’s done well, it’s pretty amazing…(and, you probably HAVE experienced G&S and didn’t even know it; Sideshow Bob sang the entire score of “Pinafore” on The Simpsons once and if you haven’t seen Mike Leigh’s film detailing the creation of The Mikaido, Topsy-Turvy, then you SHOULD, because it’s an awesome film…)
As for Cabaret and Burlesque shows, you have your pick (and Mr Savage has an interesting overview of the Burlesque scene over at The Stranger, you should check out; I agree with his conclusions about the state of Burlesque and where it could be headed if they’re not careful…) First up, the delightful gender bending Ben De La Creme has a cool gig she’s named, Terminally Delightful: Live in 3D! at the Jewel Box Theater at The Rendezvous, 2322 2nd Avenue starting Friday July 9 at 8pm and repeating for the following two Saturdays (but the July 23 show is at 11pm). Here’s a blurb about the lovely Ms De La Creme:
BenDeLaCreme is well known as a luminary in Seattle’s Burlesque, Drag and Cabaret Scenes, hailed for her head-turning hijinks and hemlines, but what other layers lurk behind the lashes? What histories hide within that hair?
After years of working alongside some of Seattle’s most respected cabaret performers, DeLaCreme eagerly pushes them aside to claim the immense amount of space she feels she deserves.
Join DelaCreme for her very first full length solo show, in which she reveals the story behind the starlet, peeling back the outer layers of makeup and artifice to reveal the makeup and artifice within.
Through story, song, video, and her own distinctive brand of physical comedy, DeLaCreme demonstrates the trials of staying perky in the face of cut throat professionals, well-meaning family members, and girls with blond hair.
Sounds yummy…unless you’re a blonde…
Other Burlesque options include, Scotty the Blue Bunny, one of the few men in the genre (who performs as a man…or, at least a man in a very tight blue bunny suit) and he’s got a show he’s calling “Where Do I Begin?” that’s part of Paula, The Swedish Housewife’s Wild Herring Cabaret series and it’s happening Saturday, July 10 in the West Hall at The Oddfellows Building at 10th & Pike on Capitol Hill. The show starts at 10pm, it’s $15 in advance/$20 at door and obviously it’s 21+ because these Trix are NOT for the kids…
Combining the worlds of burlesque and the Broadway-style musical, Shine: A Burlesque Musical opens Friday, July 8th at the Theatre Off Jackson (in the International District) following a successful run in Vancouver BC and prior to its debut at the New York Fringe Festival next month. Created by the cabaret duo, The Wet Spots, Shine is a “tassel-twirling original, full-book musical about an infamous burlesque theatre and the family of talented misfits who try to save it from demolition… or worse, respectability.” You’ve only got 12 chances to see it in Seattle before it heads off to The Big Apple…and how often do you get the chance to see nekkid people on stage? (actually, quite a lot, in Seattle…)Check out the video; it looks pretty awesome actually!
This post is getting TOO long! I’m going to wrap it up, and I’ll be back later to yak about OUTDOOR fun that does not involve the beaches at Madison Park, the Arboretum or the nude beach in Edmonds…not that I’ve ever been to ANY of those scantily clad places!!!
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
