Sometimes I don’t realize how weary worn my soul has become until I’m surprised by beauty. This age of Covid has produced a general malaise. We are trying to survive and thrive the best we know how, but the relentless drumbeat of uncertainty, sickness and sadness has dulled the vibrancy of many daily activities. And […]
There are many enjoyable aspects of writing theater reviews. One is forming overly long descriptive title credit sentences such as it was my genuine pleasure last night to experience The 5thAvenue Theatre in association with Spectrum Dance Theater present a captivating expression of West Side Story that highlighted the thriving dance and theater expressions that […]
Well, due to a prior engagement, I missed the opening night performance of Marie Dancing Still. Fortunately, Marie Dancing Still was still dancing still last night, which gave my wife and I the wonderful opportunity to see the most amazing dance sequence we have ever seen at Seattle’s 5thAvenue Theatre or really on any stage. If that seems […]
A musical that repeatedly proports “the sun will come out tomorrow” seems appropriate for audiences used to perpetually cloudy, dark, rain-slogged Pacific Northwest winters. Consequently, Annie finds itself back in Seattle once again championing the infectiously optimistic, dare I say escapist, mantra that “tomorrow there will be sun.” Despite my preconceived cynical disposition, I was […]
The 5th Avenue Theatre’s presentation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame may have songs and movie title lettering from its Disney film predecessor, but this Seattle production has abandoned any pretense of Disney’s “Happiest Place on Earth” motif to thoroughly ground the musical in the tormented source material of Victor Hugo’s original novel. The themes are […]
Sometimes you don’t know how soul worn weary you are, until you stumble upon a momentary resting place. And sometimes you don’t realize how much you need music, art and beauty until your eyes are tearing up in a darkened 5th Avenue Theatre watching the opening night production of Ragtime The Musical. America’s current, or […]
The touring production of the Broadway musical comedy farce Something Rotten opened last night at The 5th Avenue Theatre to uproarious laughter and applause from an audience that was well suited for the show’s greatest strengths. Something Rotten is a somewhat satirical, but mostly ridiculous, silly send-up of the American musical theater genre. It is […]
After watching The 5th Avenue Theatre’s opening night production of The Secret Garden I was reminded of my recent trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. While visiting the tulip festival I was at first overwhelmed by the acres of vibrantly colored tulips in full bloom. From a distance, the rows of flowers looked as […]
Don’t let the rather mundane and boring title fool you, Murder for Two is an innovative, consistently creative, hilarious musical comedy farce. This 5th Avenue Theatre/ACT–A Contemporary Theatre co-production is the Pacific Northwest premiere of what happens when just two gifted actors and one well-tuned grand piano embody the interrogation of a room full of […]
The Holidays are a whirlwind of busyness. Consequently, I don’t have much spare time to write this review. Thankfully, I don’t really need to write that much to fully communicate what I thought of the 5th Avenue Theatre’s production of A Christmas Story: The Musical. So here I go with as few words as possible… […]