Taproot Theatre's 35th anniversary season has reaffirmed their identity in the Seattle theatre community. With The Beams Are Creaking and Brownie Points they continued their interest in social and moral issues. With The Odyssey they reaffirmed their belief in the power of story to cross cultures and time and touch upon the universally human. And now, with Something's Afoot, they have reminded the community that they can be fundamentally silly. more ›

Cats was one of Broadway's longest standing musical productions, having debuted there in 1982 and running until September of 2000, although it lives on around the country in a Broadway Across America tour (now at the Paramount through this weekend) and, no doubt, on community stages far and wide. more ›

For a big gay musical theater geek like Seattlest, it's kind of embarrassing to admit that we've never seen Cats. Lucky for us, the touring production is making a quick four-day stop at the Paramount next week (Apr. 15-19, tickets start at $20 and are available from the Paramount). We'll be here to give you our thoughts when we finally watch those crazy singing and dancing felines next week. But, while we count down to that fateful day, we'd like to share with you our recent conversation with one of the stars of the show, a delightful young actor by the name of Drew Roelofs: more ›

Hello Dolly's earliest seeds of existence were planted in 1938, while the stock market crash of a near-decade prior was still fresh in the collective American memory. The story of a clever woman who manipulated relationships and played cupid (among other things) for money, all the while really yearning for an opportunity to find her own true love, resurrects that depression-era vigor at the 5th Avenue Theater through this month. more ›

Seattlest is a Patsy Cline fan. The woman had range. And not just that, but husk. No matter what note she was unleashing, she never dropped the soul of the song for a second. Sure, if you watch video of her singing through "Walkin' After Midnight," you may see a smile on her face for the camera. But there's something behind that, something in her eyes and the tone of her voice as she delivers lines like "I'm always walking after midnight searching for you." You can hear the lonely despite the smile. Singing like that is harder than smiling through the pain. We can't explain why, it just is. But Patsy could do it, and she made it look effortless. It was her appeal, was what made her such an icon in her so-short-it-was-almost-non-existent career (she was killed in a plane crash at 30 years old). more ›

(Forgive the most obvious headline ever. We're distracted by the glowing orb in the sky.) more ›

When Seattlest was living in New York City and our then-six-year-old niece came to visit, it made perfect sense to take her to see The Lion King on Broadway. After all, it was a Disney production, based on the cartoon movie by the same name. We joked around with her before the show about how silly it felt to be an adult at a Disney play (even then she liked to goad us sarcastically about such things). But then the lights went low, the music started, and suddenly both us and our little niece were spellbound by the story and the incredible costumes, choreography, and score. more ›

There are a lot of things to love about Annex Theater's production of Blind Spot (currently running each Friday and Saturday, now through Feb. 14). After all, the play is nothing if not imaginative. more ›

We had the strangest dream last night that we were in Key Arena watching High School Musical: The Ice Show (of course it wasn't a dream at all). Seated next to us on the left was a Loudologist who claimed to have watched the show 500 times. This would explain his adept memorization of all the choreography and song lyrics. (He treated us to some chair dancing and singing in falsetto at various intervals, when he wasn't measuring the atmosphere on his loud-o-meter.) more ›

The other night, it was raining, and Seattlest had spent the entire day in our tiny studio apartment with the shades drawn. Next thing we knew, we found ourselves at that back of a particular dark, dank Eastlake bar chatting with our editor for another job about how much we'd love to write a musical. The thing about musical theater, we contended, was that it was cheesy. Granted, we maintained, we love musical theater for all its glittery, flashy, jazz-hands-and-kick-ball-change cheesiness, but we recognize the wider world doesn't see an ounce of reality in Sutton Foster dressed like a flapper, killing the big notes at the end of "Gimme Gimme." Most people can recognize talent like that when they see it, but it doesn't resound with them the way that, say, Angelina Jolie's heaving breast during a close-up action scene would at any summer blockbuster. more ›

BAILAMOS: Yes, yes, today is bright and sunny and lovely outside. But, the rains are coming, we're certain of it. And, if you want to beat the winter bummers this year, there are few things that could light up your life more than dancing all about. So, why not take a dance class through the UW's Experimental College? Tonight kicks off a nine-week class at the Fremont Abbey Arts Center, where you can learn Cuban folkloric dance. Fun! more ›

Seattlest has a very deep-seated thing for musical theater, so we're a little embarrassed that, until this weekend, we'd never seen Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera on the stage. We have, however, spent hours (nay, months) getting intimate with the original cast recordings, but somehow Phantom never rose to the top of our list of musicals we simply had to see. Still, when the opportunity arose to see it at the Paramount, we leapt at it. We're glad we did. more ›

By the time we made it to the Paramount for Avenue Q's opening night last night, just about everyone we know had told us how much we were going to love it. That's a high bar our friends and family set for this show. Now we know it's because they knew it could deliver. more ›

TEENY BOPPER EXPRESS: Disney's High School Musical opens at the Paramount tonight, so maybe steer clear of the teenagers downtown. If you have your own teenager, maybe it's a good night to set them free with their friends so they can go sing along and goo-goo-ga-ga over the cute boys and dreaminess of this sensational teenfest. more ›