Weekend Theatre: April 24-26
George (Hugh Panaro) exhibits his newest work, "The Bathers" (Lauren Carlos left, Chad Jennings middle, Matt Owen right) in "Sunday in the Park With George". Photo by Chris Bennion.
ONE WEEKEND ONLY: Icono-Clan/Spectrum Dance Theatre @ the Moore. Spectrum Dance presents a bill featuring work from three of America's foremost choreographers: Gus Solomons, Jr., Donald Byrd, and Centralia-born Merce Cunningham. Together, these three legends have expanded the vocabulary and reach of contemporary movement...which sounds sort of boring, right? Well, it's not. (1322 Second Ave. Sat. 8 p.m. & Sun. 5 p.m., tix $15-$29.50.)
OPENINGS
Sunday In the Park With George @ 5th Avenue. There are two sorts of musical theatre people: the Andrew Lloyd Webber sort, and the Stephen Sondheim sort. This writer squarely falls in the latter category. Sondheim rejects the jazz and pop oriented simplicity of his forebears, composing brilliantly complex and off-kilter music, perfectly matched to the thematic complexity of his stories. Sunday in the Park isn't Sweeney Todd, quite, but it's a fantastic piece of musical theatre in its own right and well worth the effort--even if you don't care for musicals much at all, Sondheim could win you over. (1308 Fifth Ave. Fri. 8, Sat. 2 & 8, Sun. 1:30. Tix $22-$81.)
CLOSING
Wrecks & Other Plays @ the Balagan. Neil LaBute is perhaps the single most misunderstood playwright in America. His plays (In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors) are profanity-laced, testosterone-fueled farces about the wickedness of men. As such, they share a certain similarity to the work of David Mamet, but whereas Mamet actually is an ass himself, LaBute is a subtle, creative thinker exploring the dark side of pretty people. The fact that he's often taken for either a bully himself, or an aggrieved former loser (both of which were floated in a wretched NY Times Magazine profile last month), misses the point: LaBute understands the complex, competitive, self-serving tendencies that underpin a looks-obsessed, highly competitive American culture. Wrecks, a collection of LaBute's shorter plays, is a great introduction to one of America's leading playwrights, whose first Broadway debut just took place in New York. (1117 E. Pike St. Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tix $15.)
Baggage Claim @ Freehold Theatre. A new Seattle arts group, Heroes Everywhere, are debuting themselves with an original play by a local playwright about a group of old friends who come together for the first time in years to support a friend suffering from heart disease. Things get real from then on; lessons are no doubt learned; things shall be comed-to-terms-with. (2222 Second Ave. Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tix $10/$7.)
ALSO PLAYING
Keefee's House of Cards @ Theatre off Jackson. Local theatre artist Stephen Hando, with Printer's Devil Theatre, have expanded Hando's character/caricature "Keefee" from a comic routine into a full-length installation show. Keefee, "a fixture of the Tallahassee gay bar culture for longer than anybody cares to remember," has recently pulled up stakes and headed out west to Vegas, setting up shop at "Shenanigans," the “Gaming House of Broken Dreams.” (409 Seventh Ave. S. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m. $15.)
Love's Tangled Web @ Annex Theatre. "Love's Tangled Web reminded us sharply of how hilariously queeny things used to be around here. It goes on far too long--what starts out with a full head of bitchy, biting steam somersaults into the ridiculous, then faceplants." [Rad our review.] (1100 E. Pike St. Fri. & Sat., 8p.m. Tix $12/$5.)
Jekyll & Hyde @ ACT. "Dr. Jekyll must be the loser if Hyde is the winner, and Bradford Farwell injects his Jeykll character with healthy doses of arrogance and sanctimony in ACT's production. Jekyll's an asshole, and a creepy asshole to top it off. Everyone else in the show--but chiefly David Anthony Lewis--plays a Hyde whose blood runs pretty hot in a violent outbursty sense, but is otherwise shy and thoughtful. Is it a spoiler if we tell you which of the two get the girl?" [Read our review.] (700 Union St. Thurs. 7:30, Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8, Sun. 2 & 7:30. Tix $10/$15/$37/50+.)
Gutenberg! the Musical @ ArtsWest. "Gutenberg, Johann. 'German printer born around the year 1400. Detailed records of his life and work are scant.' Or so the audience is told by the fictional playwrights Doug Simon and Bud Davenport, based on their internet research. With what little info they do know about the inventor of the printing press, the fictional friends write and compose Gutenberg! The Musical!, filling in the missing details of his life with what they charitably call 'historical fiction.'" [Read our review.] (4711 California Ave. SW. Thurs.-Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. Tix $32/$10.)
Wishful Drinking @ Seattle Rep. "[I]f diseased lung is what it takes to keep the rest of going in these dark times, Carrie Fisher has enough to qualify as a stimulus package in and of herself." [Read our review.] (Fri. 7:30 p.m., Sat. 2 & 7:30 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tix $20-$75.)
Quickies! @ Live Girls! Theatre. Seattle's Live Girls! Theatre, devoted to making a place on the stage for Seattle's talented female actors, is entering its tenth year, and this weekend, their annual Quickies! festival opens, with seven one-acts from the U.S. and the U.K. (2220 NW Market St. Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 4 & 8 p.m. Tix $18/$15.)
Crime and Punishment @ Intiman. "It can be difficult to see so much stripped from a story you're familiar with and that you enjoyed enough to have read it twice. That said, we were able to experience the play for what it was to us: a gripping tale of murder, delusion, and maybe redemption." [Read our review.] (201 Mercer St. Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2 & 8 p.m., Sun. 2 & 7:30 p.m. Tix $40-$55/$10 under 25.)
