This Week in Arts: Wednesday Roundup (11/27)
The next month will basically consist of “shows that are Christmas shows” and “shows that are not Christmas shows,” so NWT has decided to make things easy on everyone by compiling lists of each. With that in mind, these Wednesday roundups will be pretty lazy — but here are some things happening this week, including a ton of openings this Friday.
(You can find a list of anything-but-Christmas shows here, a big list of Christmas shows here, and a quick guide of suggested starting places for your Christmas entertainment here. Showtimes and locations are listed on NWT’s Calendar page.)
Openings: Christmas Shows
Loads of shows — most of them Christmas-related — are opening on Friday.
In Seattle, Christmas shows opening include the decades-running, festive adaptation of A Christmas Carol at ACT Theatre; the long-standing tradition The Nutcracker at Pacific Northwest Ballet; The Bishop’s Wife: A Live Radio Play at Taproot Theatre; and two very different plays at Seattle Public Theater: the noir film-inspired Christmastown, and the action flick-inspired A Very Die Hard Christmas.
In the south end, Burien Actors Theatre opens a modern family comedy, The Christmas Spirit; Lakewood Playhouse opens The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, based on the hilarious classic children’s book; and in Olympia, Harlequin Theatre opens Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol, featuring the detective in a jaded, Scrooge-like role. And on Saturday, CenterStage Theatre in Federal Way opens Robin Hood: A Holiday Panto.
Up north, two Edmonds theatres open shows: A Christmas Story: The Musical from Edmonds Driftwood Players, and Inspecting Carol at the Phoenix Theatre. And in Marysville, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical opens at Red Curtain Arts Center.
Openings: Not-Christmas Shows
For non-Christmas-related shows, the list is much shorter.
Yesterday, The 5th Avenue Theatre began a long run of previews for its new musical, Mrs. Doubtfire, an adaptation of the early-’90s Robin Williams movie. But what will the story be without the film’s beloved leading actor? Does the world need a Mrs. Doubtfire musical? And will it keep up with the times, or devolve into one big, unfortunate-into-offensive cross-dressing joke? Since the show was announced, trans communities have expressed concern over what the adaptation and production will look like, while the theatre has been noticeably mum about it. We shall see. The show officially opens on 12/13.
Also this week, previews start for Book-It Repertory Theatre’s remount of Howl’s Moving Castle, its musical adaptation of the children’s book, which opens on Saturday.
Other Happenings
In short runs, this week Theatre Off Jackson hosts a remount of Parlor House: Panic of 1893, an immersive theatre experience from WhatNot Theatrics. NWT caught the preview performance yesterday to get a taste to pass along — but it wasn’t readily clear from the preview who the target audience is. Those who like the experience of being surrounded by stage action, no matter the setting, might have fun with it.
And plenty of shows continue their runs this week, including Shout Sister Shout! at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Cabaret from Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Pride and PrejuDICE from Dacha Theatre, and Mrs. Krishnan’s Party from Indian Ink with Seattle Theatre Group. The Go-Gos musical, Head Over Heels, features a great cast (and a huge one, at 18 members) and is getting rave reviews — go check it out at ArtsWest.
Wednesday Roundup is a weekly (ish) feature, with NWT’s picks for the upcoming week and recaps around town.
Want to plan your show schedule further out? See what’s happening on NWT’s Calendar page, which aims to list just about every theatre show in town. And for news on all the openings, see Miryam Gordon’s openings coverage every month here.