We laughed ourselves silly during the buoyant slapstick farce that is The Miser (through April 6, tickets $20-$34), which was not really our plan. We'd meant to be stern with the Seattle Shakespeare Company--Moliere isn't Shakespeare. It's an obvious bait and switch. more ›

Four Dickens Carolers are singing in lovely harmony. Children toddle by, then look back at the carolers, their eyes wide with wonder. Garland and lights are everywhere. more ›

A friend of ours -- and Into the Woods connoisseur -- says this is the best of the non-Broadway productions he's seen. We had never seen it before -- we like musicals fine, but for some reason we associate liking Sondheim with, you know, the fun of terrible key parties like in The Ice Storm -- and had only the faintest notion about its fractured fairytale plot: there's a Baker and his Wife who want to have kids but have been cursed by the Witch next door, Jack and mom and his magic beans, a more indecisive Cinderella than you'd expect, and a shiv-wielding Little Red Riding Hood. Having kids can be the moment you finally let go of your toys and stop looking upward for advice -- in a story like this, that means dad and mom have gotta go. In the first act, dads get left behind like nobody's business, in the second act, moms get clubbed to death. more ›