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Seattlest Pix 09Nov25
Can't Miss It: Thanksgiving Eve
Seattlest has oft-cited our love of "Awesome" (after all, they are now officially Ones to Watch). We go and see them every chance we get, so of course we were at their music-cum-theatre production of Delaware: A Subtle Spectacular when it premiered this February at the Re-Bar. And of course we knew we'd be back for the second staging in October. So there we were, at the Re-Bar last Friday for their big opening night show, wondering how in the hell we were going to describe it all.
As it is, we find the music of "Awesome" hard to explain---more often than not we fall back on their own description as "absurdist garage art-pop with indie-prog sensibilities"---and to adequately deconstruct Delaware is that much more difficult. It's a music revue featuring vignettes written by Tim Sanders, directed by Matt Fontaine, and performed by actors Mark Boeker, Tracy Repep, and Montana von Fliss. Here's how the band attempts to describe this artful admixture:
Delaware is a free-form theatre/music hybrid concerning melancholy, metaphysics, mermaids, and an accordion player lost in space.
That's a good start. We'd add that this work is an exercise in sincere absurdity, while one of our companions at the show Friday claimed that Delaware is an "amalgam of sensory and cerebral dexterity." Then she repeated that soundbite a few times while we wrote it down. Evan, one of the "Awesome"s, said he considered the show to be an "existential playground." That works too.
Because really, how can you neatly pigeonhole a show with staged protesters outside the venue, a song primarily played with kitchen utensils, repeated admonishments that eating random berries will either kill you or make you a better person, instructions on proper fish-gutting technique, and a monologue on waffles? Look, we came away with a large amount of "facts," both somewhat plausible ("In the ocean, there are an average of seven things looking up at you.") and completely illogical ("There are cracks in sidewalks; there are cracks in eggs." "Therefore, something is hatching under the sidewalk.").
But we do know that we love a meditation on life as a dream, on physical and emotional transformation, and on the much-maligned, melting-woman state of Delaware. We love a McSweeney's-esque program that gently informs us that "there will be one satisfying intermission." We definitely love David Nixon, Ph.D., for his hardcore banjo action, his spastic dance moves, and his perpetually befuddled look. And finally, we really, really love that Delaware is now in CD (take-home) form for only $10. After the show's run, the CD will be available at the new and vastly improved "Awesome" website, Amazon, and CD Baby, as well as Easy Street and Sonic Boom locations. For now, it's only at the Re-Bar. So you're gonna hafta go, and see if you can put this smart, introspective show into words after the fact. We bet you a waffle it won't be a piece of cake.
Delaware: A Subtle Spectacular
Re-bar, 1114 Howell St. (Howell and Boren)
Playing Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays; doors at 7:30, show at 8pm; now through Saturday, October 29th
Note: No shows this Thursday and Friday, but come Saturday, and it's on like Donkey Kong
$14, 21+, reservations suggested: (206) 706-4789
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Here's what I wrote about "Delaware" back in February:
A visual, aural and tactile extravaganza, "Delaware - A Subtle Spectacular" has all the elements of a dada-esque evening of spoken word, musical immersions, and visual delights -- plus, waffles. Lots and lots of hot, crispy, buttery, waffles, all of which will leave your eyes sated, your ears tingled, your funnybone tickled and your tongue dripping with syrupy goodness.
"Delaware" is a musical/theatrical melange bursting full-born from the collective brows of local theatre art-rockers "Awesome" (John Ackermann, Kirk Anderson, Basil Harris, Evan Mosher, John Osebold, and the aetherial presence of Rob Witmer), interspersed with short scenes and monologues by local playwright Tim Sanders, and all under the direction of Matt Fontaine. Don't expect anything in the way of a coherent plot; the effect is a more dreamlike, kalaeidoscopic sensorial experience that stretches the creative possibilities of performance in ways that will surprise, delight and intrigue -- imagine if The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" had been produced by Frank Zappa, and staged by Ernie Kovacs and you begin to get some idea of what to expect -- and the waffles! Did I mention the waffles?
Thanks to the meticulous production design of local musical legend Mark Nichols, "Awesome!" has never sounded better. Vocal harmonies merge and overlap with stereophonic precision, and the music is crisp, clean, and suffused with the band's signature atmospheric collision of styles and instrumentations (who else would ever consider pairing mandolin and theremin?). The musical production is supported by a solid cast of local performers: Mark Boeker, Tracy Repep, and Montana von Fliss handling the luminous, often raucously funny dialogue, Eric Ray Anderson playing a half dozen vintage waffle makers like they were musical instruments themselves, and The Stranger's Brendan Kiley interspersing the various bits and pieces with a series of nonsensical "factoids". Director Fontaine shifts the pacing from high-speed comedy to languid introspection, perfectly matching the band's musical moods. The result is a true "synergy" where the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.
If all this sounds gushingly nebulous, well then, so be it. "Delaware" needs to be experienced to be fully appreciated, and there is little here that could possibly disappoint. The various structural elements all blend, merge, and flow through each other in ways that at first defy logic or meaning. But, like our dreams, they eventually submerge the audience into a world of subconscious free-association that can really only be taken on its own terms. The audience is simply carried along on a series of loosely connected images and metaphors that gradually coalesce into a sort of waking dream state that settles over one like the warm comfort of a familiar old blanket.
Dang! I was going to go tonight!