Seattle Blog Reviews

The Age of Aquarius is dawning on us, fellow human beings, in this glorious universe of ours. The day and night are alive and dancing in harmony to the music of our souls. The stars and moon are reaching out to you to say, “Seriously, you should go see Hair.”

Hair follows the story of Claude (Mark Tyler Miller), who is taken in by a tribe of hippies during the 1960s, including their leader and Claude’s best friend Berger (Jeff Orton). It’s celebrated for being one of the first “rock musicals” — complete with drums, electric guitars, psychedelic colors, bending backdrops, and even some super-scandalous nudity.

It’s Winter in Brooklyn — so naturally, it’s freezing as I walk into the theater and it’s snowing on stage.

Enter Kat, a purple and blue-haired punk rock vixen with a ridiculously filthy mouth. Kat, played by Valerie Vigoda (who, according to the program, is Disney’s go-to lyric doctor!) brings the energy and verve from the very second she steps on stage, stomping around in combat boots in her sleep-deprived stupor. Kat is a video-game composer, and her apartment is strewn with instruments, mixing equipment, and loop pedals. “OK,” you think, “that’s just the set. There’s no way she’ll use any of that.” BUT SHE DOES. THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SHOW. Within the first minute, she’s rocking out and live-mixing the hilarious first number, “This Sucks.” Every part of the song is created by her with the equipment — and then it gets better. She walks over to an electric violin and begins shredding, which is awesome, but then she tops herself yet again. She starts singing and playing at the same time! The audience’s collective jaw drops.

What do superheroes, gifts to homeless people, and poisoned blueberry muffins have in common? These were all subjects of films presented in NFFTY’s “Northwest Life” screening on Sunday. Gothingham by Robert Bojorquez follows the misadventures of Batman and Spiderman in the underwhelming city of Bellingham, Wash. In Change of Heart, filmmaker Owen Craft and his team explore themes of altruism and kindness through a simple story about a boy on a shopping trip. A dark and humorous comedy, MUFFINS by Hadley Hillel tells the story of a baker who fails to successfully execute his duties as a hitman. Many of the films featured in “Northwest Life” possessed a quintessentially Northwestern spirit, and all of the talented filmmakers from this region are worthy of recognition. However, the three documentaries in this set of films deserve special mention.

Then and Now This film follows the narrative of Eloise and her family in her fight against cancer. Presented by a team of 17-year-old Washington filmmakers (Ana Krafchick, Dayan Flynn Walsh, and Enjuli Chhaniara), “Then and Now” conveys a poignant and authentic description of a young girl’s life. Eloise and her family are strong, and Eloise articulates the ways in which she has refused to be defined by her battle against cancer. This documentary shares an important story from a local family, inspiring and encouraging the audience.

Saturday's “Reel Animation” series of films showcased a variety of creative artistic techniques, some of them effective and others regrettably not.

Candy Floss by Linnea Ritland is one of the good ones. It is a music video recalling a summer romance. The music is a cute, little ukulele ballad, and the animation provides artwork for the lyrics. The combination of live action, hand-drawn pink figures, and 2D computer-assisted animation creates a unique narrative. The live action segments give the music video a retrospective point of view, while the pink color of the hand drawn characters gave the memory a light-hearted and fun mood, as well as tying into the color of candy floss.

This series of short films shown at NFFTY on Friday revolves around shared themes of black humor, endings, and death.

Standing out as a favorite is Applesauce by Nathan Hansen, Cory Soukup, and Drake Tucker. According to the description provided by the program, in this film “A man thinks he has found true happiness. But he quickly learns that this comes with a price.” This happiness comes in the shape of a curious life-sized horse statue by the name of Applesauce. This short has amazingly cheesy sound effects that provide irony and hilarity as well as solid cinematography techniques that are at once tactful and seamlessly blended into the narrative.

Friday marked the continuation of an exciting lineup of films at NFFTY. Among the sets shown on Friday was “A Guide to Growing Up” in which filmmakers from 3 different countries (Canada, Australia, and the United States) showed films addressing a plethora of issues regarding the difficulties (and joys) of what it means to grow up and maneuver your way through developing your identity, perspectives, and personality in today’s modern world.

The following films are some of the highlights of the evening and deal with a variety of themes that cover some aspect of what it means to grow up and to overcome the challenges encountered along the way.

On Thursday night, filmmakers and art fans flocked to the Opening Night Gala of the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). This annual film festival, hosted in downtown Seattle, brings together international filmmakers ages 7-22 in order to cultivate the next generation of film talent. NFFTY presents films filled with passion, excellent visual design, and an innovative spirit. The films showcased at the Opening Gala of NFFTY 2014 were compelling and well-made, eliciting both tears and laughter from the audience.The following films are just a few highlights from the evening.

Dave’s Wild Life, directed by UK filmmaker Samuel de Ceccatty, captures the essence of what it means to live a passionate life. Dave would love to be a naturalist, and he keeps with pride a little leather journal full of diagrams and drawings of urban creatures (such as the “London Hipster”). Between Dave’s self-conscious grins and head-bobbing, you can’t help but smile. (Major shout-out to Stuart Benson for a fantastic portrayal of Dave and his endearing awkwardness.) From the outside, Dave’s life appears uneventful and mundane. But Dave lives his life to the fullest, armed with an infectious grin and creative perspective. His imagination makes life a worthwhile adventure. The film raises the question, “Do you live your life with as much passion as Dave?”

An evening that ignited excitement, joy and appreciation for the art and talent of young directors is the best way to describe the amazing gala celebration that kicked off the 2014 National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY).

The gala was held at Cinerama, where hundreds of spectators were excited to experience firsthand the talent of the young directors who opened the festival with high-quality films that varied in content and style. As crowds walked down the vibrant red carpet that lead to the theater, photographers, press, and audience members young and old gathered to celebrate NFFTY 2014.

Bethany documents a jungle. It’s setting in suburban America may seem sterile. Those who live in it slick back their hair and put on suits. They follow its rules and rarely stray from protocol. They do and say the “right” things. They’re always courteous, always civilized.

But beneath the niceties and small talk, the intention of the jungle—the savage relationship between predator and prey—is very much alive. It’s easy to get lost in the chaos of economic free fall. And those who don’t make the sale, who don’t pry open the door, are liable to slip through the cracks.

“As I walked into the Miró: The Experience of Seeing at Seattle Art Museum, I noticed first off the gorgeous use of color in the artwork itself. A greeting piece that demands attention, Miró’s ‘Woman, Bird and Star’ is the essence of larger-than-life colors. The second thing I noticed was not the other art pieces, but the bright, crimson wall that stands out from its white peers. There are several atmospheric touches like this throughout the exhibition, including quotes by Miró that are printed onto the walls, as well as a room that is completely painted black. Continuing on the topic of the atmospheric setup, the lighting is absolutely spectacular. As pertaining to the sculptures, the lighting is such that you can see shadows, which creates incredible depth and a more natural viewing perspective. Almost unnoticeable, the lights trained on the paintings are centered so that the outer corners of the walls are darker than the focal point.” - Hattie S.

“One of the most fascinating parts of this exhibition is the use of color in the works. Miró's sculptures are cast from bronze and have a mystifying tint to them: a combination of blue, green, white, black, and tan. His paintings are dramatically different, consisting of vibrant blues, reds, and yellows, outlined in pure black lines. The two divergent value themes serve to play off of each other, creating a sense of harmony and balance.” - Georgia G.

The most common excuses my friends give me when I ask them to accompany me to the ballet are the following: “It’s too long!” “I never understand what’s going on!” “It’s boring!”

But Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Pinocchio is the perfect beginner’s performance to gain an appreciation for ballet. Only running a little over an hour, it eliminates the inevitable fidgeting that often accompanies long periods of sitting. Pinocchio opens with a colorful set and costumes transporting you to a circus-like atmosphere in which you quickly forget you are indeed at the ballet. Pinocchio tells the classic childhood fairytale with upbeat music, humor and, of course, energetic and remarkable dancing (which is the real treat of coming to the ballet).

Painted in primary reds, yellows, greens, and blues, the dozen chairs that make up the majority of The Suit’s set are unrealistically simple, impossibly bright. They’re the sort of chairs a child would draw for stick figures in a two-dimensional house, shallow and cheery.

The chairs are fitting for the home of Philomen (Ivanno Jeremiah) and his wife, Matilda (Nonhlanhla Khewsa). The two tiptoe around the delicate illusion they’ve weaved together. Playing house, they eat from an invisible tray, bathe in an invisible shower, and turn an invisible faucet. They pretend not to notice that two chairs make their bed, that a bare clothing rack serves as a wall. Philomen narrates his life in Sophiatown as if reading from a storybook approaching its happily-ever-after, as if he’s beyond the trials of South Africa’s apartheid and marriage’s pitfalls.

The Revealing Queer exhibit at MOHAI seeks to showcase queer — i.e. GSRM (gender, sexual, & romantic minorities) and LGBTQIA+ — history in the greater Seattle area. However, like many queer movements, have they focused too much on the L, G, and B and forgotten the T, I, and A?

The LGB letters in the popular acronym LGBTQIA+ (often erroneously shortened to “LGBT,” an acronym criticized for leaving out multiple gender, sexual, and romantic minorities) stands for lesbian, gay, and bisexual. And the exhibit showcased many issues relating to lesbians, gay people, and bisexual people, with parts of the exhibit including several panels on AIDS and the struggle of lesbian mothers in the Seattle area to historically adopt or even get rights to their biological children.

There’s a spaceship in the rafters.

At least, it looks like one. It’s white and ovate with jagged, tooth-like pieces of metal, conspicuously dangling among the stage lights overhead. I spent fifteen minutes wondering how an alien encounter could possibly fit into my painstaking research on the musical, the entire half paragraph of a Wikipedia synopsis that I skimmed beforehand. Then the house lights went dark, the twisted, purple wall onstage split wide open and a soulful trio of Skid Row Supremes (Nicole Rashida Prothro, Alexandria Henderson, Naomi Morgan) launched into the opening number. From that point forward, I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the stage.

OK, so maybe it’s not the best show ever, but Worst Trip Ever IN ALL CAPS!!1! is certainly a fun and worthwhile way to spend your evening. This improvised show at Jet City Improv asks the audience to pick a place (anywhere in the world) and a category (attractions, restaurants, hotels, etc.), and then proceeds to find some of the worst reviews on TripAdvisor.com with these criteria.

Part of the fun of the show is hearing the actual reviews of bad experiences people post on TripAdvisor.com and the scenarios that ultimately led to the author’s urgent need to share such an experience online in the first place. From a covert mission in a museum in New Zealand to a strange gift of corn at a cathedral in Spain, the actors have the audience jet-setting around the globe with laughter as they experience the various misadventures that could have produced such terrible reviews.

I had the opportunity to visit Seattle Children’s Theatre and watch the newest adaptation of Pinocchio — and a new adaptation it was. The theater is known for it's well-acted plays for children and families. Having had the chance to enjoy several alongside my own family, I was excited to see what they would pull off this time.

As the story goes, Gepetto, a poor woodworker, makes a puppet from said wood and calls it Pinocchio. All Gepetto wants is for his puppet to be alive, to be the son he never had, you know the story. And in a short time that’s just what happens — poof, a live puppet! But what I apparently missed was that there was no magic, no fairy, nothing.

Get a taste of Southern hospitality by joining six women as they embark on a moving journey in Edmonds Driftwood Player’s newest production, Steel Magnolias. Each woman in this production comes with her own unique sass, flair, and outlook on life as they come together in Truvy’s home beauty salon. With secrets bigger than the hair seen in this show, get to know the gossip around town and get a first-hand look into these abstract women’s monumental life moments and the emotions that follow. Shelby, an ambitious Southern belle brings the group closer as she sets off the story on her wedding day when we slowly uncover Shelby’s medical secret, a potentially deadly one. It is Shelby’s constant drive and ambition that inspires and strengthens the group to journey out of their comfort zone and come into their own during the process. Whether you’re out on a girls night, mother-daughter date, or just looking for a quality story, join Shelby, Clairee, Truvy, Annelle, Ouiser, and M’Lynn through weddings, divorce, births, funerals. This touching performance reveals the beauty of friendship, through both prosperity and hardship.

Steel Magnolias Edmonds Driftwood Players February 14 - March 2

5th Avenue Theatre is currently putting on a spectacular rendition of Monty Python’s Spamalot. And after that, it will be done again with their high school-aged students (Go support teens in the arts too!).

Spamalot, written by Eric Idle, is a goofy spoof of the famous movie, Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Even if you’ve never seen Monty Python and The Holy Grail, this spoof is witty, hilarious, and performed amazingly by the 5th Avenue cast. In Spamalot, after King Arthur gathers troops for his round table — well, gambling table — he and his knights are sent by God on an absurd adventure to find the Holy Grail.

At the Sound Off! Semifinals #2 , the entire night built up, transmigrating itself from making one feel like bit of moss on the side of a tree on a warm, breezy spring morning to the hard-rocked, fiery hellfire that the Skychurch was always meant to be. It was fun as all damn. Sound Off! may have just been one of the best, most fun concerts I have ever attended, and, very possibly, one of the best I will ever attend — seriously.

After a late start of more than half an hour, the first act, Manatee Commune, went up to much praise for an act finally starting. Hailing from Bellingham, this electronic artist combines ambience and downtempo, along with some bright, contrapuntal synthesizer action to create a very airy, happy, peaceful, and overall chillaxed feel. Manatee Commune also played both electric guitar and acoustic viola during his live set, which was quite cool.

Picture a stage. Picture a baroque-inspired set with tall pillars and marble sets. Purple, blue, and green lighting illuminates purple, blue, and green-dressed dancers as the curtain rises, giving everything a slightly ethereal look. The music swells. The dance begins.

So starts Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of Tchaikovsky's iconic The Sleeping Beauty. A three-act ballet (with an additional prologue) based on the famous fairy tale, The Sleeping Beauty is a paragon of ballet.