All that plus, “The Glass Menagerie” at Theatre Schmeater; “The Cider House Rules, Parts One and Two” continues their anniversary show at Book-It!
Village Theatre, the beloved local company offering productions of classic musicals at its theaters in Issaquah and Everett, is opening their 2010/2011 season with the “feel-good” musical comedy “The Full Monty” based on the popular film. The heartwarming tale of out of work British men who decide to make some money by starting a male-strip troupe of “average Joes” runs Sept 16-Oct 24 in Issaquah before moving to the Everett theater for a Oct 29-Nov 11 run. It’s a cute enough show, even though they STILL cheat us the real “Monty”. We’re checking it out, NEXT weekend.
You youngin’s probably don’t remember her, but advice columnist Ann Landers was a cultural icon for about a 110 years…(since replaced by Dan Savage who writes his column on HER desk!) ACT is presenting a theatrical adaptation of Miss Lander’s life, “The Lady With All the Answers” by David Rambo and it’s running Sept 10-Oct31 in the “intimate Bullitt Cabaret”. The very funny local actress Julie Briskman stars as Ann and they promise us she will charm us with “chutzpah and one hell of a Rolodex!”. I’m seeing it tomorrow night and we’ll see if this proves to be the case!The above photo of Julie Briskman by Chris Bennion/ACT.
Emerald City Scene is a new theater company populated by some talented young theater artists and they’re kicking off their season with Joanna Laurens’ “Five Gold Rings” which I know NOTHING about so let’s check out the synopsis, shall we?:
In the desert, Henry (David Carlson) waits. He waits for his children to come home for Christmas. He waits for his wife to come home. This Christmas, as usual, the kids come home, but the wife does not. But this year, Henry’s sons Daniel (Jesse Parce) and Simon (Solomon Davis) are presented with telling their father that his water source has run dry, and that he must leave his home. Along with their wives, Freyja (Adrienne Littleton) and Miranda (Kelli Mohrbacher), the kids have issues, too, with sources running dry: Daniel is impotent, and Simon has had a vasectomy . These five must figure out whether or not to keep the rings they have that bind, or tear them off, revealing the skin raw beneath.
“Five Gold Rings” opens TONIGHT, September 17 and runs through October 2 at the Ballard Underground, 2220 NW Market St in beautiful, but frequently chilly, Ballard. IF I can find a car, I’m seeing this tonight and will let y’all know about it this weekend!
Also opening this week: Theatre Schmeater’s production of the Tennessee Williams classic, “The Glass Menagerie” which runs through October 16 at their Capitol Hill theater. And, the folks at Book-It Rep continue with their big Anniversary production of their adaptation of John Irving’s beloved novel, “The Cider House Rules” which is so HUGE they’ve divided it into two parts! Part 1 played this summer and Part 2 runs Sept 15 through October 16 at the Center House Theatre at Seattle Center. And, never fear if you missed Part 1; they are also playing that show in repertory this month as well and offer special packages to see BOTH shows…That’s a lot of Irvingesque angst and comedy featuring orphans and abortions for your buck!
It’s also the end of this week’s theatre preview and I’ll just leave you with, “Good Night you Princes of New England, and, you Readers of Seattle Gay Scene!”
-Michael Strangeways
