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Ever heard tell of "Old Christmas Day?" I hadn't, either. Apparently it took centuries for the West and East to see eye to eye about the day Christ was born. The Western world settled on Dec. 25, of course, while Eastern churches preferred Jan. 6. (They were both wrong. Historians
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The phrase triple threat, meaning a person who excels at acting, dancing, and singing, is among the most overused in all entertainment. Oh, sure, any number of actors can carry a tune. I've even met trained opera singers who can manage a waltz without requiring emergency
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Snobbery aside, if I wail, "Don't need nothin'! ... but a -" chances are you know the next two words of that lyric. And if I ask what the phrase "every night has its dawn" implies, almost anyone can extend that musical simile to cowboys and roses. Over a quarter-century
Arts
Did you know the 1892 debut of Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker was not a huge success? It was originally paired with Tchaikovsky's final opera, Iolanta, a fictionalized biography of Yolande, Duchess of Lorraine. Critics found The Nutcracker's dancers "amateurish" and "corpulent," then dismissed the piece itself as "insipid"
Stage
Two years ago, my wife and I followed multiple suggestions to see playwright Robert Schenkkan's All the Way at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. They were right; that script's a masterpiece. OSF's production featured actor Jack Willis, riveting as President Lyndon Baines Johnson, plus charismatic Kenajuan Bentley as his sometime partner in
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Blues music is a genre that often hearkens back to the past. So when Billboard magazine proclaims guitarist and singer Michael Powers "the future of the blues," it's saying he's both a virtuoso and an innovator. That's no revelation to anyone who's heard "Murch" Powers chug through the rolling guitar
Stage
In my Stardust review, I cited a line from Ratatouille: "The new needs friends." That line, delivered by "Anton Ego," means the best thing a critic can do is focus attention on quality work that doesn't come with a built-in audience. Often, as in The Head! That Wouldn't Die!, it's
Stage
"What's wrong with the same old thing? "I think that question answers itself." - actual dialogue from The Stardust Christmas Commotion Indeed it does. Coincidentally, my wife and I had just caught the end of Ratatouille on TV. The bloodthirsty critic voiced by Peter O'Toole in that film, Anton Ego, says of
Stage
I recently celebrated my five-year anniversary as a theater critic. As befit this occasion, I noshed on humble pie, sour grapes and cold crow with a snifter of rattlesnake venom. I've already reviewed three different takes on Charles Dickens's beloved 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol. Is there anyone older than
Arts
Winter solstice is big news around these parts. Olympia Family Theater is halfway through its run of How the Slug Stole Solstice, a charming little musical about a gastropod who's scared of the dark. Now Puget Sound Revels and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts present their 22nd annual
Stage
My sister and I once found ourselves pulling into Winslow after 11 p.m. We were shaky from hunger, and the only place open was Denny's. The menu and décor were inviting enough, but I'd rather eat airline food than Denny's. My sister's will prevailed nonetheless. When the food arrived it
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"'Comfort ye, my people,' saith your God." And with that, one of humanity's crowning achievements in inspirational music gets underway. Who couldn't use some comfort as we approach the winter solstice? Maybe that's why Messiah, which was written for Easter and first performed in April, has become so inseparably associated
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Did you know Seattle boasts one of the largest community choruses in America? Did you know that justly revered group is making its way south to Tacoma this week? Better recognize! The Seattle Men's Chorus is celebrating its 35th season, so all 300-plus members are dressed up
Arts
Did you know Seattle boasts one of the largest community choruses in America? Did you know that justly revered group is making its way south to Tacoma this week? Better recognize! The Seattle Men's Chorus is celebrating its 35th season, so all 300-plus members are dressed up with someplace to
