We Recommend
If you're a dedicated Volcano reader or fan of local literature, you've devoured the Southern-fried fiction of our own Mr. Alec Clayton. His fall 2012 release Return to Freedom, a sequel to 2010's The Backside of Nowhere, finds its Mississippian characters reeling from the aftermath of a deadly hurricane. Also,
We Recommend
Continuing this weekend, it's The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), back by popular demand at Tacoma Little Theatre. Fellow Volcano theater critic Joann Varnell and I were taken with the original run; this time around, Blake York grabs one of three collections of challenging and thoroughly
We Recommend
The year was 1938-1939. The minimum wage was first established. Hitler marched into Austria after signing a sketchbook for Indiana Jones. Elliot Gould was born, as were Frank Langella, Tommy Chong ... and the Lakewood Playhouse. Visiting Lakewood Playhouse's current digs, one imagines how lucky the troupe was to find
We Recommend
I've often heard it said, "I'd run only if something were chasing me," most often while listening to myself at the gym. I submit that a killer app for the Kinect would be a game in which if a player doesn't run in place fast enough, he
We Recommend
Neil Simon got his start in TV, where he wrote alongside Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. His material has the familiar exposition, setup, punch line construction of TV comedy. As I watched Olympia Little Theatre's presentation of Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers, I was reminded
Stage
It's my opinion that theater companies in the South Sound, as in most American markets, are not in competition with each other; rather, they're competing with television. TV has become really good these last few years, as fans of Breaking Bad or Modern Family can attest. There's an entire channel
Stage
I was leery of reviewing Hollywood Who Done It, as I had the impression it was one of those "Mystery Nite" dinners. You know the kind: waiters circle the room and try to look interested while diners decide which of a cast of flamboyant characters killed oil baron Tex Arlington.
We Recommend
Pellegrino's commissioned Dennis Rolly, a waiter there for years and one of Oly's most reliable actors, to produce a theatrical event in celebration of the restaurant chain's 10th anniversary. He chose a private-eye parody script, originally written for kids but amusing enough for adults, by fellow Harlequin regular Christian Doyle.
We Recommend
Five Women is every inch a live situation comedy. Its jokes veer from issue to expected social issue. Much of its acting is in expository sitcom style. The first time I saw this script performed was in the Bible Belt, so its impatience with naïve Christianity landed
Stage
Let's get a few questions settled right out of the gate. First, while there are, in fact, five women (and, eventually, one man) in the play Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, they're not actually wearing the same dress. They're wearing five different-sized copies of the same blue dress. Perhaps
Arts
The year was 1938-1939. The minimum wage was first established. Hitler marched into Austria after signing a sketchbook for Indiana Jones. Elliot Gould was born, as were Frank Langella, Tommy Chong ... and the Lakewood Playhouse. Back then, there were two Lakewood Players: a mid-1950s company history identifies them only as
We Recommend
It's been said the quickest way to a geek's heart is through his or her USB 3.0 port, but that's not true. We pop-cultural enthusiasts occasionally do take a break from mainlining second breakfast, Hot Pockets, and fourthmeal to eat real food-by which, of course, we mean
We Recommend
If you're a geek of a certain age or, for that matter, anyone who loves cinematic comedy, you know exactly what happens when someone says the name "Frau Blücher." You know how to bring home the chorus of "Puttin' on the Ritz." You know who made a
Guides
I'll be honest: there are times when Volcano readers and I do not see eye to eye. (Say what?! Yeah, c'est la vie.) Is every "Best of" issue something of a popularity contest? You bet. This year, however, I couldn't agree with your theater picks more. Best Company was a
Stage
In November 1864, an all-star, benefit performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar went up in the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. That one-night show raised funds for a statue of the Bard in Central Park, which stands to this day. Five months later, one of those famous actors snuck into
We Recommend
It's a long play, three hours give or take, even after some numbers were trimmed from the 2009 Broadway revival. On opening night of Tacoma Musical Playhouse's second production (the first was seven years ago), early numbers were plagued by recurring sound issues and the hollow acoustics
Stage
The closer you look at any fractal shape, the more complex and beautiful it gets. In fact, there's a point at which you suddenly find yourself presented with an exact duplicate of the original, albeit at a much smaller scale. So it is with history. Look deeply into any particular
We Recommend
Is there any more vexing wee-hours quandary than "What is art?" According to Teller of Penn & Teller, "Art is anything we do after the chores are done." By that reasoning, most things we do can be art, as long as we enjoy them. (Ideally, someone else
