6 Things to Brighten Your Life This Week
Here are six hand-picked, worth-your-time, probably-uplifting things to do or see this week.
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Author: Chase D. Anderson
5 Things to Brighten Your Life This Week
Here are five hand-picked, worth-your-time, probably-uplifting things to do or see this week.
Read more
With Unique Book Club, Coming Together by Staying Apart
As social isolation from the novel virus threatens to drive us all mad, novel book clubs bring Washingtonians together from afar.
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Avoiding the Plague? Here Are Some Small-Screen Options to Try.
With all the performance cancellations and social distancing, no doubt many of us will be spending some quality time with the TV. Here are some shows that are holding my attention these days.
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Seattle Opera’s ‘Yardbird’ Tells a Story, But a Tired One
What’s billed as the story of a jazz great taking care of unfinished business after his untimely death, winds up a tale of addiction to drugs and White women. It runs through March 7.
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Old-Timey Rom-Com Heads to Village Theatre in Everett
Village Theatre gives a lovely production to ‘She Loves Me’, a rehashed musical based on the same 1930s story that inspired the ’90s film ‘You’ve Got Mail’. It runs in Everett through March 22.
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As If Wants Your Cakes. Live Girls! Wants Your Cupcakes.
An up-and-coming Kenmore theatre company wants your cake recipes ahead of its upcoming production; and the long-running Cupcake Reading Series wants your new play scripts. Both have deadlines next weekend.
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Why Are All the White Administrators Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
‘Admissions’ looks at diversity in the wild world of top prep schools, but provokes tough questions of privilege in arenas far beyond that elite enclave. It runs at Seattle Public Theater through February 23.
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A Darker Play-Within-a-Play Takes Shape in ‘Our Country’s Good’
Strawberry Theatre Workshop’s latest is a dark look at criminology and injustice, set in an early British prison colony in Australia. It runs through February 22 at 12th Avenue Arts.
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In Two ‘80s Theatrical Creations, Strong Women and Big Hair
‘Steel Magnolias’ at Taproot Theatre (thru 2/29) and Tacoma Musical Playhouse’s ‘Beehive’ (thru 2/16) center strong female characters, from an ’80s small-town salon to world-class stages of the ’60s.
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(What to Watch) February 2020 Edition
This month, there are plenty of ways to feel the love, with someone special or on the town by yourself. Here are my personal picks for February.
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‘Black Bois’ Takes the Big Stage This Week, to Another Sold-Out House
Dani Tirrell’s ‘Black Bois’, which premiered in April 2018 at On the Boards, returns this year on Valentine’s Day at the Moore Theatre. It’s a multi-genre love letter to Black community, healing, and joy.
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Seattle’s Asian Art Museum Opens Up Again This Week. Here’s an Early Look.
The newly imagined Seattle Asian Art Museum, at the center of bustling-but-serene Volunteer Park, reopens after three years of large-scale renovations. Inside is a bounty of art that’s gorgeous in its breadth and contrasts.
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Solo Fest: Dare to Claim the Stage
This weekend, Sharon Nyree Williams brings ‘Dare to Claim the Sky’ to ACT Theatre, alongside work from three other solo performers; and On the Boards features five dancers and seven durational works in its own solo fest later this month.
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The Funniest Thing On Right Now? That’s Easy — It’s ‘Noises Off’
The classic farce goes behind the scenes of what might be the worst show ever. Harlequin’s production of it is slapstick that’s as smart, and funny, as it gets. ‘Noises Off’ runs in Olympia through February 8.
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Can You F***ing Not?
The Millennial experience gets an opera treatment in ‘#adulting’, from the classically trained singers of the Lowbrow Opera Collective. It runs through February 9 at 18th & Union.
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‘Drama Tops’ Explores the Switchy Territory of Gendered Experience
The new work by dancer/choreographer Elby Brosch looks at trans experience alongside binary and non-binary identities. It runs through 1/30.
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Jaha Koo Pairs the Deadly Serious with the Whimsical in ‘Cuckoo’
The South Korean artist uses a trio of chatty rice cookers to delve into the dark and desolate sides of his country’s past and present. The U.S. premiere of ‘Cuckoo’ runs at On the Boards through January 26.
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In Tchaikovsky’s Dramatic Composition, an Uninspiring Man Gets a Gorgeous Opera
Seattle Opera’s take on Tchaikovsky’s ‘Eugene Onegin’ is beautiful, in instrument, voice, and design, with a lusciously lyrical delivery makes up for a rather uninspired plot. It runs through January 25.
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(What to Watch) January 2020 Edition
It’s the perennial question avid arts-goers get from friends (and strangers): What should I see? Here are my personal picks for January.
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From Film to Broadway, ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ Gets an Update at The 5th. It’s a Fun Show, with a Big Asterisk.
The stage adaptation of the ’90s movie is having its world premiere in Seattle, before moving straight to Broadway this spring. It’s a huge production with lovely design, and content that includes both fun updates and eye-rolling (and potentially harmful) trope. It runs through January 4.
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Two ‘Social Justice Scrooges’ Stay Up Past Christmas
Two versions of ‘A Christmas Carol’ — one new and one classic — seek to highlight the social-justice message at the heart of the original. ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol’ plays at Harlequin in Olympia through 12/31; and ‘A Christmas Carol’ plays at ACT Theatre in Seattle through 12/28.
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Sugar Plum Gary Is Coming to Town. Look Busy.
Once upon a time, Santa Claus came to visit. The only survivor would like to tell you about it.
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Balanchine, Morris, and Byrd: A Delight in Three Nutcrackers
Three interpretations of ‘The Nutcracker’ on Seattle stages demonstrate its adaptability for the tastes — and moods — of new audiences. The invigorated classic epic (at Pacific Northwest Ballet, through 12/28), a sassy spin-off and an elegant workshop (at the Paramount Theatre and On the Boards, both through 12/15) are all delightful, and distinct.
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Lump of Coal: Burien City Council Gives BAT the Boot for Christmas
Midway through its 40th season, Burien Actors Theatre received an unpleasant surprise: the city was shuttering its building and, in a matter of weeks, its tenants would have to move on. The theatre is asking its fans to step in.
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With Crescendos of Vocals and Horns Blaring, ‘Susan’ Is a Song of Family, and Letting Go
Using humor, rich detail, and ample song, musician-writer-comedian Ahamefule J. Oluo tells stories of his mother, growing up, and searching — from Texas to Seattle to the Niger Delta. ‘Susan’ runs through December 8 at On the Boards.
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‘Tis the Season: Holiday Shows to Light Up Your Stage
The holiday shows are all opening, and this year there’s a great selection to consider, from comedy from the Herdmans, drag queens, and nuns; to modern family escapades and mayhem; to classics featuring Scrooge, Sherlock, and Ralphie; and several variations on dances with the Rat King.
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Ho Ho Nooo …? Non-Holiday Shows for the Holiday Season
Over the holiday season before it’s started? Just looking for something different? Here are a few shows just for you — from big musicals to performance art — to enjoy in December.
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(Ovations) Short-Form Dance Fests
Short-form work is an easy way to test out different art forms. It’s experimental. It’s approachable. And there’s usually something for everyone. Happily, Seattle is bustling with festivals of short new work in performance art and dance. Here are a few coming up soon.
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With a Trio of Inventive New Works, PNB’s ‘Locally Sourced’ Is Ballet for We Who Don’t ‘Do the Ballet’
With elegance, precision, and an army of highly trained dancers, the slate of new works up now at Pacific Northwest Ballet will satisfy — and excite — frequent-goers, too. But the appeal of ‘Locally Sourced’ is much broader. It runs through November 17.
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