Recent Stories with tag musical

From left, Dr. Horrible (Eric Ankrim), Captain Hammer (Jake Groshong), and Penny (Annie Jantzer) in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog at Balagan Theatre (Photo: M. Elizabeth Eller)

There's a lot of backstory to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, but I am going to dispense with it on the assumption that if you haven't heard about it by now, it can't possibly be your thing. (That doesn't mean you won't enjoy seeing the show--just go in blindly and let it wash over you.)

A "musical tragicomedy" web series created by the Whedon boys and Maurissa Tancharoen during the writers' strike of 2007-08, it starred Neil "How I Met Your Mother" Patrick Harris and Nathan "Castle" Fillion, as Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer, respectively. (Oh look! A fansite.)

It also clocked in at just 42 minutes, so the Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog that Balagan Theatre is presenting (through September 4) has material that will be new to Dr. Horrible fans, but is delightfully faithful in tone and spirit. My only reservation was that Balagan isn't by trade a musical theatre, so could they come up with the goods? Hell yes. It's wonderfully sung, and leads Eric Ankrim (Dr. Horrible) and Jake Groshong (Captain Hammer) do much more than sub in for NPH and NF.... (more)

For the past week, we've been profiling the artists who've made Contemporary Classics' summer season of three musicals a success. Today, we have Ashley FitzSimmons, who's currently playing one of the leads in the The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, playing at Ballard Underground Theatre through August 14 (tickets $15-$20). In addition to her work with CC, she's worked extensively with the Village Theatre and also teaches at Youth Theatre Northwest.

1. Where did you grow up, and how did you end up where you are now? I grew up in Good Thunder, MN, which is a small town in the southern part of the state, on a farm. Needless to say, I didn't have access to much theatre or arts education. After studying dance from the age of 3, I gained an interest in theatre in high school and decided to make a career of performing. I earned a BFA in Acting from Minnesota State University and moved to Seattle to find work. 

2. Which performance, song, play, movie, painting, or other work of art had the biggest influence on you and why? When I was thirteen, I saw a B-squad tour of Rent in Minneapolis, MN, and was left spellbound. I promptly purchased the cast album and memorized every single song. I can still sing anything from that show on command. It was then that I began to focus more seriously on theatre and vocal work. 

3. What skill, talent, or attribute do you most wish you had and why? I wish I had even a little ability to paint, draw, sculpt, or create anything visual. When I first moved to Seattle, I was bored and decided that I wanted to try painting as a hobby. I went out and bought all sorts of supplies and tried to paint a masterpiece. Unfortunately, I couldn't even paint "happy trees" with Bob Ross. They looked like "angry blobs." That canvas has been hidden away because I'm still a little embarrassed. 

4. What do you do to make a living? Describe a normal day. A normal day for me consists of doing morning office work for a construction company and a real estate company, then teaching musical theatre classes at Youth Theatre Northwest. And, somewhere in between, some walking of my small and feisty dog, Wally. 

5. Have you ever had to make a choice between work and art? What did you choose, why, and what was the outcome? I have had to make the choice between work and art in the past. I decided to quit my day job as a childcare professional and focus on film, commercial, and theatre work. Shortly after, I booked my first show at Village Theatre, Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It seemed that the universe agreed with my decision. Since then, I have been filling my time between shows with office work and classes, which has worked out quite nicely for me.

"Five Questions" was originally developed by Andy Horwitz of Culturebot.org, an NYC-based website covering contemporary performance.

The 2010 Golden Space Needle glassware

This morning at a tasty brunch celebration in the Space Needle's Observation Deck, the Seattle International Film Festival celebrated increased attendance figures, a record number of films presented, and announced the winners of this year's 25 day film marathon.

Some awards were decided by esteemed juries, others were chosen by the people who make this the country's most attended festival. Only a few winners were on hand to claim the blown glass statues; so we have to hope that the fest invested in some quality shipping containers.

Overall, it was a great year for female directors. Audiences loved the Hedgehog most of all the narrative features, split between Waste Land and Ginny Ruffner: A Not So Still Life in the documentary category, and chose Debra Granik as best director for Winter's Bone. 

Full list of winners, runners up, and jury statements after the jump. Congrats to all of the winners and to SIFF's entire team for putting on such an outstanding festival.... (more)

As SIFF marches into its final week, the festival continues pulling out all of the stops as we all barrel toward a manic finale. Tonight a live musical score to Captain Nemo competes with a former Facts of Life star in the Gay-la spotlight. Eastsiders will be pleased to know that festival stays in Kirkland for a few more days. 

Scour these selections for some ideas of filling the remaining slots on your SIFF dance card and let us know if we've missed any highly recommendable films. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (and matinees $8/$7), except for special presentations, which cost more.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Stephin Merritt (of Magnetic Fields fame) and friends (including Daniel Handler, or Lemony Snicket to your kids) composed an original soundtrack to the 1916 film version of Jules Verne's undersea adventure. They'll perform it live tonight in the grandeur of the Paramount with accompaniment on the venue's infamous organ. (7:30 p.m. @ the Paramount)

Violet Tendencies Natalie from Facts of Life all grown up. She's surrounded by loving gays, but needs a little male companionship of her own. Get ready for an exploration of emerging language life "fruit fly" and "fag stag". Tonight's showing is followed by a gay gay gay-la at Re-bar with DJs, cocktails, dancing, and mingletime; you'll have to make your own afterparty for Thursday's showing. (June 9, 7:00 p.m. @ Egyptian; June 10, 4:00 p.m.) ... (more)

I can't say this staging of On the Town (at the 5th Ave through May 2) is a laugh riot--but the sight gags never stop coming and eventually they outpunch you. From the set's giant-poster backdrops of New York to the acting for the back row, this is not a show long on nuance. It's brassy, in your face, and intent on being broad as Broadway gets.

Director Bill Berry and choreographer Bob Richard ride a comedy two-speed: it's either high-speed Keystone Cops up there or outtakes from the Carol Burnett show. But there are also Jerome Robbins dances that are a dream of New York, its hustles and cons, carnival vitality, springtime breezes, and boozy nightclubs. And of course, there's the irrepressible score from a young Leonard Bernstein (this is part of Seattle's Bernstein fest).

While this production plays up what's dated about On the Town (the sailors are G-rated kids, the women kooky), the magic of "shore leave" in New York is immortal--unless you live there, you're always on a schedule, always wide-eyed, and always on a subway to...somewhere, you'll find out. The show's book and lyrics, by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, offer a wit in addition to yucks, but Berry is after low-hanging fruit, not forehead-furrowing double entendres. The acting is mostly delivery.... (more)

The Pulitzer for Drama this year went to Next To Normal ("Everybody’s favorite really-dysfunctional-family rock musical," says Entertainment Weekly), which began life as a staged reading at Village Theatre in March 2002. It's a shocker, because the Pulitzer board ignored the three choices from the nominating committee in favor of the musical about a bipolar mom and her family.

Its creative team (music by Tom Kitt, book/lyrics by Brian Yorkey, a former associate artistic director for Village Theatre) developed the production as a Village Originals workshop in June 2005. Then off-Broadway--and Broadway--called, and Next to Normal picked up three Tony Awards last year. Make some space on the mantle for your Pulitzer, boys.

Next to Normal returns to Seattle for a touring run at the 5th Avenue Theatre in early 2011, and Village Theatre subscribers will be able to add those tickets to their subscription, and see the touring production at a special discounted rate.

Mental illness, coincidentally, may have also played a role in the Seattle Times Pulitzer for Breaking News, "awarded to The Seattle Times Staff for its comprehensive coverage, in print and online, of the shooting deaths of four police officers in a coffee house and the 40-hour manhunt for the suspect." Maurice Clemmons' erratic mental state was the subject of more than one Times article, in the wake of the shootings. For a sense of how much the Times threw at the story, look at this sidebar of Lakewood shooting stories.

(Last-minute Tuesday)

• Early this month, Animal Collective and Danny Perez displayed ODDSAC, a "new synthesis of music and film" at the Guggenheim museum in New York--watch the visual album @ the Egyptian tonight. On Wednesday, Deakin (Josh from Animal Collective) plays a solo set with Jabon & Peppermint Majesty @ Neumo's

Wednesday

• The Low Anthem can go from haunted to hootenanny several times within a tracklisting. Armed with classic (bellows organ), creative (cymbals played with a violin bow), and innovative (spoiler alert: group cell phone experimentation) instrumentation the transitions from the heartbreakingly effective weepers to the upbeat foot stompers provide jarring relief. With the delightfully creepy goth-folk and blues of Timber Timbre @ the Crocodile

Thursday

• Opening: Seattle Opera's Young Artists take on Ariadne auf Naxos (through April 11) @ the Meydenbauer Center
• Gerard Schwarz conducts the Seattle Symphony, a little Janacek and Prokofiev, plus Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (through April 3) @ Benaroya Hall
• The League of Women Voters sorts out how to make democracy work with a panel including Nancy Amidei, director of the Civic Engagement Project; Seattle Times columnist Jerry Large; and author Paul Loeb (Soul of a Citizen) @ Town Hall
• Owl City goes from his parents' basement to playing @ the Paramount
• Citizen Cope and his nappy dreads play his first of three dates @ the Showbox
• FREE: Daniel Atkinson, a doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology at the UW, talks about slavery and the musical legacy of the Louisiana’s Angola State Penitentiary @ the Northwest African American Museum

Friday

• FREE: noir novelist Walter Mosley returns with a Leonard McGill story Known to Evil @ Seattle Public Central Library
• Juno may have introduced you to the Moldy Peaches; half-Peach Adam Green plays from his album Minor Love @ Chop Suey
• The Morning Benders have really come into their own on new album Big Echo.  Tonight, first they play a free all-ages set @ Sonic Boom Capitol Hill, then a 21+ show @ the Croc

Saturday

• Michael Buble seems unable to escape appearing in public without being stalked by a velociraptor or two. The possibility of ferocious dinosaurs at the performance might add extra incentive to the "Crazy Love" arena tour @ Key Arena

Sunday

• FREE: Frances McCue and photographer Mary Randlett give a talk--part travelogue, part memoir, part literary scholarship--called "The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs: Revisiting the Northwest Towns of Richard Hugo" @ Seattle Public Central Library
• California-sounding Florida band Surfer Blood gets the kids riled up @ the Vera Project
• Hugh Cornwell of seminal UK punk band The Stranglers plays a solo show @ the Tractor

Monday

• FREE: David Laskin reads from The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War @ Seattle Public Central Library

Tuesday

• Opening: The musical Dreamgirls runs sassily through April 11 @ the Paramount
• SOLD OUT: Brandi Carlile does her singer/songwriter thing @ the Crocodile
• FREE: PNB education manager and Tudor Choir founder and director Doug Fullington talks with choreographer Mark Morris @ Town Hall