The Worst Pies in London are a Smash Hit in Seattle
Directors Mathew Wright and Eric Ankrim do not fall short of “musical thriller” in their latest production, Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney […]
West Seattle
REVIEW-FROZEN-HOW HARD IT IS FOR HUMANS TO CHIP THROUGH ICE.
Searing acting, tense and thought provoking lines and the powerful energies of fear and deep sadness. Frozen is an arresting play. Delving into outrightly difficult territory- exploring a serial killer and those affected by him, this play asks hard questions. The play asks us to explore the difference “between a crime of evil and a crime of illness.” We’re asked to grapple with the idea that people are perhaps not born evil but act evil due to circumstances beyond their control.
Milk Like Sugar at ArtsWest review
Kirsten Greenidge’s award-winning coming-of-age story, Milk Like Sugar, is a moving examination of class, race, and gender through the life of a teenage girl. With a stellar cast and beautiful design, Malika Oyetimein’s directorial debut for ArtsWest is a production you won’t want to miss.
Milk Like Sugar is the story of three young women of color living in the inner city. On Annie’s sixteenth birthday, she and her friends make a pact to get pregnant and have babies together as soon as possible. They see this as an easy path to unconditional love and baby shower swag, but things quickly get more complicated…
Malika Oyetimein brings her strength as a director and her passion for telling the historically untold stories of people of color to ArtsWest for the first time with Milk Like Sugar…
The Little Match Girl Passion
Instead of a play, watching The Little Match Girl Passion and listening to a dramatic reading of A Child’s Christmas
Peter and the Starcatcher
If you’ve ever wondered how Peter Pan got to Neverland, along with all those pirates and mermaids, this is the
Ghosts-Extends performances to Oct. 23
“We don’t have the right to expect happiness.” Nor should you, if you’re going to see Richard Eyre’s adaptation of
Greasiest Stag in the Forest: Rotund Scam Artist is No Romeo
The Merry Wives of Windsor was a riot! And the GreenStage ensemble made it look easy. Daniel Wood directed
Death of a Salesman
The Underbelly of the American Dream.
Standing ovations often are not well-deserved; however the truly magnificent production of Arthur Miller’s 1949 Pulitzer Prize winner Death of Salesman, at Artswest, more than deserved the standing ovation, it received at the curtain call on Saturday night. Artistic Director Mathew Wright, took this superb well-constructed play, found an outstanding cast and kept me riveted for three hours. It is clearly the best show I have seen all year.
Love, Loss, and What I Wore
Seattle Premiere
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron is based on the surprise hit book by Ilene Beckerman. The play begins as Gingy (representing Beckerman) describes herself as an ordinary person who was bored one day and began to sketch dresses she had owned. She discovered that during many important events in her life she vividly recalled what she’d worn. She worked up this idea and sent copies to her family and a couple of best friends. One of those friends sent it to a publisher where the largely female staff circulated it among themselves and added post-it notes of their own recollections. In 1995 the publisher gave the book a chance
‘Voilet’ Sings to what it Means to be Beautiful
Violet is a 2014 Broadway hit that Director Andrew Russell has stripped down to the ‘bone’ for this run at ArtsWest. The title character Violet (Brenna Wagner) has hopes that a TV faith healer in Tulsa, Oklahoma will heal her face. It was scarred in a freak accident. The creators—Brian Crawley wrote the lyrics and book to Jeanine Tesori’s music—respect the audience and leave it to us to imagine the scar. They had to assert themselves throughout the long development process, but as Crawley notes, “We weren’t about to drive a bus onstage, why not leave the scar to the imagination as well.” Russell followed the spirit and with scenic designer Christopher Mumaw kept the props and furniture to the barest minimum. What’s left is a musical examination of one woman’s vulnerable search for healing and acceptance with little else on stage to distract your attention.