An Abbreviated List of January Performance

Jessie Underhill, Marya Sea Kaminski, Susanna Burney, and Ellen Elizabeth Steves in Electra at Seattle Shakespeare. Photo by Erik Stuhaug.

After the long schmaltzy holiday season, The SunBreak's arts desk is inundated with press releases, production photos, and scheduling conflicts as the entire performing arts community seems to be ramping up for the new year. So as I try to dig myself out of this mess, here's the abbreviated list of what I want to make sure someone is seeing.

Vaud Rats at the Balagan (Jan. 7-16, tickets $12-$15). K. Brian Neel has a reputation around town as a great solo performer (personally, I've only seen his work with Helsinki Syndrome), and I can only assume it's well earned. Vaud Rats is an evening-length solo ukelele operetta about a down-and-out vaudevillian. And everyone who's seen earlier incarnations claims it's genius.

14/48: The World's Quickest Theatre Festival at ACT (Jan. 8-16, tickets $20). Last time I tried to write this out, I got it wrong, so I'm being extra careful this time. Here's how it works: This Thursday night, Jan. 7, a random theme is going to be pulled out of a hat and given to seven playwrights. They're going to go work all night writing up seven 10-minute plays. In the morning, they hand these over to directors, who have until eight at night (when the curtain goes up) to get the actors rehearsed, the props and set built, and everything else ready to go. Then on Friday night, the whole thing starts over for a batch of seven more plays for Saturday. Okay, got it? It's a rollicking good time to be had by all.

Electra at Seattle Shakespeare (Jan. 8-31, tickets $22-$36). Sophocles' story of a daughter pissed at her mom for killing her dad (true, he had a lover, but then so did she) never gets old. Or does it? Normally, I'd say yes, but directed by Sheila Daniels and starring Marya Sea Kaminski in the title role, you're not liable to find a better production anytime soon.

Whim W'Him's 3Seasons at On the Boards (Jan. 15-17, tickets $18). Easily the most anticipated dance event of the month, PNB principal Olivier Wevers' company Whim W'Him is presenting its first evening-length work: a new ballet choreographed by Wevers featuring a score adapted from Vivaldi's Four Seasons by local composer and Cornish prof Byron Au Yong. I caught a preview performance of the work in rehearsal last week, and would love to be the first person to describe Wevers' work without using the word "whimsy." But there was definitely whimsy, as well as wit, bonhomie, drama, a wee bit o' sexy, and everything in between.

Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes at Theatre Schmeater (Jan. 15-Feb. 13, tickets $15-$18). Local playwright Yussef El Guindi got the sort of backhanded attention every artist both fears and craves after Sept. 11. As an Arab-American playwright, he was suddenly relevant in all the worst sorts of ways. So he ran with it, and Jihad Jones is one of the results. Ashraf is an Arab-American actor struggling in Los Angeles. When he scores rave reviews for a production of Hamlet, the calls start coming in from Hollywood. He's got one shot at the big time, opposite his favorite starlet, as long as he can stomach playing a hideously stereotypical terrorist.

Xanadu at the Paramount (Jan. 19-24, tickets $20-$60). You want to hate it, but you know it's awesome: a muse comes to Earth to help someone write an ELO song by working at a roller rink? Come on! Based on one of the worst movies of all time (did anyone ever hear from Olivia Newton-John again--except for when she released one of the most popular hit singles of all time two yearS later?), the musical adaptation is a rollerskating-tastic cheese-fest of the best sort (except for the actors--it's a notoriously dangerous show).

Bruno Beltrão/Grupo de Rua's H3 at On the Boards (Jan. 28-31, tickets $24). Just watch the video for this one--Beltrão's a Brazilian choreographer mixing up modern dance and hip hop for a complex, high-energy performance.

Seattle Dance Project's Project 3 at ACT (Jan. 29-Feb. 6, tickets $25). Okay, so Wevers is getting all the attention, but Julie Tobiason and Timothy Lynch had the idea to start their own company after PNB careers first. Project 3 features three world premieres by Edwaard Liang (NYCB), Kent Stowell (PNB), and the remarkable Mark Haim, as well as selections of SDP's recent work with Simple Measures, choreographer by James Canfield (formerly artistic director of Oregon Ballet Theatre).