A conversation with Seattle
It looks like April is the Month of the Symphony in Seattle. Our calendar is full of concerts featuring some of classical music’s most beloved works of the symphonic genre. Composers represented include Mozart, Mahler, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich. Continue reading What We’re Hearing This Month: Classical Music Picks for April 2012
The other triumph is Handel’s. He composed Il Trionfo in Rome in 1707, at the age of 22. It was his first oratorio, and it contains 24 arias, two duets, and two quartets, each one more gorgeous than the last, some coruscating with florid runs and ornaments, others slower and exquisite, and running the gamut of expression. Continue reading Pacific MusicWorks gives a Triumphal “Il Trionfo del Tempo”
First Date, a 5th Avenue Theatre-ACT co-production (at ACT through May 20), never really achieves the transformation to three dimensions. It’s an infant musical, so there’s plenty of time for tweaks, but at this moment in time, it plays like one of those sketchy TV sitcoms that are based on a funnier, more interesting show on another channel. They only get good when they discover a way to be original. Continue reading “5th ACT’s” New First Date Musical Hits Mostly Middling Notes
Were we close enough to touch the dancers we might notice the changing tension in their muscles or a bead of sweat forming and beginning its own dance. In OtB’s deep proscenium we are more likely to drift from the dancer to notice that the set has changed, the lights have shifted, and the world of this dance is not as it appeared.
How could we have been so blind not to notice these changes? Continue reading Mark Haim Challenges and Charms at On the Boards
Julia Roberts gets to be the evil stepmother, sure, but she sure doesn’t look bad, which I attribute to diet, exercise, and digital wonderment not necessarily in that order. Her mirror alter ego looks like Julia Roberts with absolutely no imperfections whatsoever. And that’s the scariest thing in the whole picture.
Continue reading Mirror, Mirror…Know Thyself!
With tail between my legs, I have no food photos or food stories to share this week. No f***cking brown buttered hedgehog mushrooms, and no Yakima applewood smoked sea salt. Just some cupcake lobster love connection in this already classic “Eat It Don’t Tweet It” video, and a brilliant companion spoof video about foodies. Continue reading Farcically Facing Off Against Foodies
Playwright Hatlo ripped her story from the headlines, in case you’re inclined to cluck at the implausibility of it. But you don’t really need to know that. It’s not a freak-show, but mumblecore-meets-Kafka, where the extreme situation is used to meditate on what makes us wartsy humans. Amy and Dan are, in Hatlo’s hands, that floundering post-collegiate couple that if you weren’t yourself, you know well. Continue reading The Ensemble’s Stuck Strikes Poopy Gold