When children have a long stretch with a fever or illness they can become dehydrated. To re-hydrate them requires a teaspoon for water or soup every five minutes. Perhaps the title of Quiara Alegria Hudes’s soul-searching drama, Water by the Spoonful, serves as a metaphor for all people struggling with questions of recovery, illness, loneliness, trauma, identity and loss. We all can use care, love, attention, and connection in small doses—all the time.
Oz is a magical land. Since 1900 when Frank Baum published the original The Wizard of Oz anyone with the faintest acquaintance with this American cultural treasure will recognize it. Roll that into the gay culture’s fetishizing of Garland and her solo performances, stir in a bushel of camp, pore in a religious cult running a reparative therapy clinic; blend well. What you get is Wizzer Pizzer: Getting over the Rainbow …
The world premiere of The Hours of Life, a musical about Edgar Allan Poe by Paul Lewis shines with loving attention. Directed by Corey McDaniel, this presentation by Theatre22 at the tiny Cornish Playhouse Studio at Seattle Center delivers the goods.
