Arts
This weekend, Olympia gets artsy and wild at the 50th Arts Walk and 21st annual Procession of the Species. The streets of Olympia will be filled with music, street performers and people interested in seeing art and being seen - and, on Saturday afternoon, with a lion, a giraffe, polar bears
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If you've seen A Stardust show before, you know what to expect: a jukebox musical strung around 1940s crooner classics. Think Forever Plaid minus a decade of musical evolution, or a live version of The Lawrence Welk Holiday Special. I'm a fan of several members of the cast, director Linda
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I'm happy to report Capital Playhouse finishes 2010 on a (figuratively) high note with the 2005 Broadway musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic, Little Women. Visiting Illinoisan director Adam Michael Lewis develops vocal and acting performances in equal measure, and Christie Murphy rises to that
Stage
Some families enjoy a tradition of opening Christmas presents before Christmas morning. Apparently South Sound theater does, too; I've already seen two of Olympia's holiday season productions with two more on the way. I'm happy to report Capital Playhouse finishes 2010 on a (figuratively) high note with the 2005 Broadway musical
Online Contests
Once again, the Volcano's readers' poll will be the engine that drives Best of Tacoma 2017. And this year, the results will be in 3-D. Think you know the best band, restaurant, politician, dentist or thrift store? Want to help spread the word about the best museum, micro brewery or
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Tracy Letts' psychodrama Bug has enjoyed a squalidly sexy reputation since its 1996 London premiere. It's sometimes viewed as unstageable due to naturalistic technical demands, nudity, foul language, drug use, violence, and a spiraling level of intensity beyond the tolerance of ordinary theatergoers. I attended an
Stage
Tracy Letts' psychodrama Bug has enjoyed a squalidly sexy reputation since its 1996 London premiere. It's sometimes viewed as unstageable due to naturalistic technical demands, nudity, foul language, drug use, violence, and a spiraling level of intensity beyond the tolerance of ordinary theatergoers. I attended an early tech rehearsal of
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South Puget Sound Community College and Saint Martin's University have allied to mount a new production of Grease, but parents expecting a carbon copy of the beloved Travolta adaptation (1978) are in for a rude awakening. "In crafting our production," director Colleen Powers warns in the program,
Stage
When Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs wrote their first version of Grease (then called Grease Lightning) almost 40 years ago, they wrote from recent experience. The Day the Music Died was just 11 years gone. The T-Birds weren't the T-Birds yet; they were the Burger Palace Boys of Jacobs' Chicago
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Theater folks needing an object lesson in the value of a director can do no better than the University of Puget Sound's production of The Cradle Will Rock, brilliantly micromanaged by Marilyn Bennett. (I'm told Dr. Bennett has been a "visiting" assistant professor for 10 years. Can somebody
Stage
In 1937, Orson Welles directed a production of Marc Blitzstein's Brechtian, pro-union operetta The Cradle Will Rock. It was meant to be an elaborate spectacle that climaxed on a stage that actually rocked back and forth; but after a disastrous dress rehearsal, the Federal Theatre Project (which financed the costly
Archives
Marty McFly was a high school senior in 1985. So was I. Marty's dad wrote science fiction and bought him a sweet pickup. Mine, on the other hand, discouraged me from writing science fiction and borrowed radio parts from my hand-me-down Chevy Malibu, a car that couldn't have achieved 88
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The characters in Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy How I Learned to Drive are so multidimensional and real, it's shocking to learn the play isn't autobiographical. Vogel told PBS's NewsHour she wanted to approach "Lolita from Lolita's point of view," so yes, this is a play about pedophilia. Uncle Peck (Tim
Stage
The characters in Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy How I Learned to Drive are so multidimensional and real, it's shocking to learn the play isn't autobiographical. Vogel told PBS's NewsHour she wanted to approach "Lolita from Lolita's point of view," so yes, this is a play about pedophilia (and yes,
Stage
There's much to admire in the Outfit Theatre Project's The Transylvanian Clockworks, a co-production with Tacoma Little Theatre. The cast, a virtual reunion of Theater Artists Olympia‘s Othello from earlier this year, labors mightily to invigorate Don Nigro's talky script; but, like a 160-pound vampire bat, it never quite gets
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Strangely Alright is more than all right - the band is awesome. Its music is fun, timeless and real. The band can laugh, cry and flip people off all in one album, backed up by talent and experience. Fronted by longtime Tacoma musician Regan Lane (Baby Knockors, Strypes, Groovy Times
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What really gets OLT's Harvey off to its endearing start is Marsha Guilfoyle's nuanced work as Elwood's tortured sister, Veta. The program says this is Guilfoyle's third play after years away from the boards, but aspiring actors would do well to study her adroit marriage of 1940s-style acting with naturalistic
Stage
When people complain about critics - which, come to find out, they do with some regularity - one of their first accusations is usually, "They make up their mind before they ever see the show." Well, perhaps some do. Personally, I haven't been able to make it work. Take, for example,
Stage
Chatting with Miss Lily Verlaine, ballet-trained burlesque artist extraordinaire, two things become instantly clear. First, she and her partner, Jasper McCann, have exceptional phone voices. Seriously, these folks should moonlight (daylight?) on FM radio. Second, they're about to give Oly one hell of a show. They've reimagined Lewis Carroll's 1871 classic,
Stage
Musicals are hard. Let's acknowledge that first. They take so much more work than most "straight plays" (the jargon, by the way, has nothing to do with orientation) that it's impossible not to root for them. We've taken heat here at the Volcano for being less than overwhelmed with recent
