None of this stuff about "timeless" settings for Tosca: the story takes place in Rome over a specific, eventful weekend in June, 1800, as Napoleon's troops are invading Piedmont on Italy's northern border. The story, on the other hand, is a potboiler involving a beautiful opera singer, Tosca; a fugitive politician, Angelotti; a famous painter, Cavaradossi; and a villainous police chief, Scarpia. By the end of the opera, the genuine Napoleon has won, and all......

Forget Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. The true blockbuster of the summer is Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society's Pirates of Penzance, playing at the Bagley Wright Theatre at Seattle Center. As with any Gilbert and Sullivan play, Pirates' plot does not stand up to rigorous analysis, and the G&S Society seems to know this. They treat the ridiculous twists and turns with wit and whimsy, creating a world in which everything seems possible.......