Victoria Christmas Cards-As Plays
Latitude Theatre, one of Seattle’s newest theatres has also proved to be one of the most creative and innovative, with their second production Victorian Christmas Cards, at Theatre 4, at Seattle Center’s Center House. Six playwrights were each given a somewhat wacky Christmas card from the Victorian era, as a stimulus to write a short play using only minimal set pieces.
No man is a failure who has friends.
Although Lou Mager, the former organist supremo and producer at Kenyon Hall, is no longer with us, having passed away during the pandemic and 12th Night Productions has closed down; nevertheless, the new producers at West Seattle’s Kenyon Hall, have carried on the Christmas tradition of presenting a live radio play of “It’s a Wonderful Life.
British Christmas Tradition of Panto by Fremont Players
It’s always nice to see a community come together to show something cool now and again. I felt a powerful sense of community when I saw Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs, a British pantomime performed at the Sunset Hill Community Club in Seattle. The performance was put together by the Fremont Players and included original music by the Fremont Philharmonic Orchestra. British Pantomimes are traditionally performed at Christmas and afterward, with family audiences. So it was nice seeing the tradition continue even today.
Snowed In is about four artists who are writing a holiday musical while on a retreat. In the morning, they have to drive back to Seattle and present their finished show. However, while they are brainstorming, they realize that they snowed in. Under pressure, they create musical numbers that are comical, relatable, and are about the holiday spirit. Snowed In is created by Corinne Park-Buffellen and Mathew Wright. It is directed by Kelly Kitchens.
War on Christmas-Where Nothing is Sacred and Everything is Hilarious.
A must see for everyone this Christmas season, is Scott Shoemaker’s War on Christmas at Theatre off Jackson in the Chinatown/International District. Written by Scott Schoemaker and Freddy Molitch, it was passionately irreverent but like all great comedy its core was something serious, brilliantly elucidated by Scott’s opening monologue about the stresses of Christmas.
Christmas Time is Here, at Taproot Theatre
“Doesn’t anyone know the true meaning of Christmas?”
The beloved holiday classic A Charlie Brown Christmas has returned to Taproot Theatre. Director Jes Spencer and a talented cast and crew invite Seattleites to step into the family-favorite cartoon, which opened at Taproot’s Isaac Studio Theatre this past weekend. Audience members of all ages are welcome, and hushed commentary and giggles affirmed the youngest patrons’ enjoyment of the show.
A Santanist in Bright Red Feet Pajamas brings Christmas cheer
A holiday tradition at 18th & Union, Sugar Plum Gary returns with his eighth annual show of Cosmic Christmas Horror for the whole family.
A gentle-hearted “Santanist,” Sugar Plum Gary is a bushy-bearded man in jolly footie pajamas who has been haunted by the Holiday Spirit ever since he experienced the real Santa, an ancient and sinister creature more Lovecraft than Dickens. Every day is literally Christmas for Gary, and through improvisational conversation with the audience he shares the real reason for the season.
Back from the Dead-Animal Saints and Animal Sinners best ever at 18th and Union
One of my favorite events at my favorite theatre in Seattle is the storytelling group Animal Saints and Animal Sinners, comprised of Bret Fetzer, Scot Augustson and Kelleen Conway Blanchard. Although they are always incredibly superb, last night they reached stratospheric heights, in terms of fantastic writing and snappy delivery, Back from the Dead was the best of the best. What I also really love about this fantastic trio is that their styles and subject matter are all very different, but thematically unified.
The Faith of a Child that the World was Good and Right and True
Family Matters: Drawings by Tucker Goodman, the art exhibition at Taproot Theatre shares the theme of “family” with the Christmas show, Georgiana & Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley. The trilogy Christmas at Pemberly is all about how the Bennets and the Darcys blend their families into one clan, while Family Matters was inspired by a collection of old and new family photos, which inspired Goodman to transpose these photographic images into less realistic but more expressive black and white drawings.
Cats is the fifth longest running Broadway show. It is about a group of felines called the Jellicles. They all have vibrant personalities and quirky reputations, like Rum Tum Tugger the flirt, and Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, who are a crime duo. All the Jellicles have gathered for the night of the Jellicle Ball, where the patriarch Old Deuteronomy will decide which Jellicle will go to the Heaviside Layer, their version of heaven. Cats is comprised of high energy musical numbers which serve to introduce the characters to the audience and for the characters to entertain Old Deuteronomy. Cats is written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and is based on the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Elliot.
Cats
