We make no secret at SGS that we have a little (innocent) crush on local actor/singer Nick Garrison. He IS adorable, but it’s his talent that really gets us off and we’ve thought so since first setting eyes on him in his legendary performance in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Re-bar many years ago and further cemented by witnessing him in numerous productions at Re-bar, The 5th Avenue, Seattle Rep and The Triple Door. And lately, we’ve noticed that Nick is a very busy little bee with a lot of shows coming up in the weeks ahead and we feel it’s our civic duty to show him a little love and spread the word about some of his new gigs…
First up, is a brand new solo cabaret show that’s part of Paula, The Swedish Housewife’s cabaret season, “Thee Wild Herring Cabaret: a Smorgasbord of the Avant-Garde” and it’s being billed as, “Night, Sleep, Death and the Stars: an Evening with Nick Garrison” and it sounds like it’s a show dedicated to the songs, themes and genres of some of Mr Garrison’s favorite obsessions:
Darkly comic and sweetly heartbreaking, an evening with Seattle chanteur and performance artist Nick Garrison will take you on a rocking musical journey that mixes original songs, classic covers from Weimar-era cabaret tunes about plucky whores to stadium sized rock anthems about gender warriors, and horrifying, hilarious true stories to create a truly mind-bending and deeply entertaining musical extravaganza.
This show is ONE NIGHT ONLY, Saturday, June 5 at 10pm in the 2nd Floor West Hall of the Oddfellows Building, 915 East Pine Street on Capitol Hill. Get your tickets HERE!
If you can’t make that event, or if you’re craving more Nick and more Weimaresque torch songs (think Germany between the wars in the 1920’s/Marlene Dietrich/Cabaret) then check out Nick and his co-lead singer/songwriter, Angie Louise and their band/cabaret act, The Love Markets and their next gig at ACT (A Contemporary Theatre), 700 Union Street, Downtown Seattle. In their own words:
We are the Love Markets. We play songs of the old Weimar artists, and new songs written in the Weimar spirit. We are all on the market; we are all damaged goods. Life is beautiful.
This is definitely worth checking out. They will “Wilkommen” you to the Bullitt Theatre at ACT at 8pm on Friday, June 11th and the cover is $12. Get your tickets HERE.
If you’re not into cabaret songs and the Weimar Republic and the whole crying into your beer stein as the Nazis march into power thing, then you can check out Nick’s dramatic chops in July when he’ll be one of the featured ensemble in Strawberry Theatre Workshop’s upcoming and highly anticipated production of the controversial play, The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of people that were either involved with the murder of gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming on October 12, 1998 or were personally affected by the event, the work has received widespread acclaim, as well as frequent protests by anti-gay groups including numerous attacks by Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church, a hate group who are represented in the play itself, (they staged a protest at Matthew Shepard’s funeral). Also starring in the Strawberry Workshop’s production will be Betsy Schwartz, Emily Chisholm, John Ulman and Shawn Law and it’s being directed by Greg Carter. The play is being staged at the Erickson Theatre Off Broadway, 1524 Harvard Avenue (behind the Egyptian movie theatre) and the show runs from July 8 to August 7. Tickets go on sale for this event on June 1 at Brown Paper Tickets. I suggest getting your tickets SOON; despite the warm weather of July/August, this show will generate a lot of interest and ticket sales due to it’s notoriety and status as a modern theater classic and the credentials of its cast and producing theater. And, you won’t want to miss an opportunity to eyeball the bastard/haters from the Westboro Baptist Church who will undoubtedly be here at some point to protest the production…go, and give’em the finger and stay for a great piece of theater!
I’m all out of Nick News for today…the Fan Club is adjourned…
Love Markets photo by Laurie Clark
-Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
