Musicals and Halloween

Arts and cultural picks in the South Sound

By Volcano Staff on October 18, 2007

THE ART

Thursday Art Walk

If it seems like it has been far too long since you sported your beret, parked the SUV and pulled the stret-cred ‘66 Bonneville out of the garage and did a downtown art crawl, you would be right: The gap between Third Thursdays has been a lengthy five weeks, but that only means this month’s will be that much better, what with all that bottled-up creativity and such.

The Weekly Volcano recommends you stop by the Clothesline Project at the Tacoma Art Museum as part of your Third Thursday Art Walk night. In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the Pierce County Commission Against Domestic Violence and its partners have organized the Clothesline Project, a visual display that includes T-shirts designed by abuse survivors, those who have lost loves ones, and others affected by abuse. The Clothesline Project will be on display from 10 am to 8 pm. From 4:30 to 6:30 pm, visitors are invited to create their own T-shirt to add to the clothesline. — Suzy Stump



[Tacoma Art Museum, Thursday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Art Walk is 5-8 p.m. in downtown Tacoma), free, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.272.4181]

THE STAGE

“Damn Yankees”

Tacoma Musical Playhouse is staging a successful run of a Broadway classic that just gets better with age. “Damn Yankees” tells the story an aging baseball fanatic, Joe Boyd, as he trades his soul to the devil for a chance to lead his favorite team — the Washington Senators — to victory in the pennant race against the New York Yankees.  Then he rethinks the whole deal and finds a way out of his agreement with Satan. Between deals with the devil and slides into second base a collection of songs gets heads bobbing and toes tapping with music and lyrics by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler.  It’s based on the novel “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant” by Douglas Wallop. — Steve Dunkelberger



[Narrows Theater, through Oct. 28, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 20 and 27, $16-$23, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565.6867, visit www.tmp.org]

THE EVENT

Sexy Halloween

“Oh, my Gawd. Halloween approaches and I still have so much to do! There’s candy to buy and perverse lawn adornments to arrange, and if I don’t set up a chair in the pumpkin patch right now, there’s no freaking way I’m ever going to see the Great Pumpkin!”

Hey, buddy, why not relieve some of that pre-holiday stress with a trip to the Castle Megastore. No, it’s legit. The adult retail chain hosts a Halloween Costume Show Extravaganza Saturday, Oct. 20, so it’s research. And a celebrity DJ will be there too, which is nice. — Brad Allen



[Castle Megastore, Saturday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m., no cover, 6015 S. Tacoma Mall Blvd., Tacoma, 253.471.0391]

THE MUSICALS

“100 years of Broadway”

Do you have attention deficit disorder? Or maybe just a short attention span? Well, nix the Ritalin for the night and head down to the Pantages Theater Sunday. It’s not a cure, but rather a fix. Neil Berg’s “100 Years of Broadway” is loaded with snippets from “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Les Miserables,” “CATS,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Jekyll & Hyde.” Berg, in the true if-you-can’t-beat-‘em-join-‘em spirit, decided to throw a bone to the MTV/soundbite/ USA Today generation, and anyone else who can’t seem to keep their minds on anything for any amount of time, by offering Chunks of Broadway with itty bitty time frames. Just on the off-chance that you people with short attention spans are still reading this, an all-star New York band is in tow. — SS



[Pantages Theater, Sunday, Oct. 21, 3 p.m., $32-$54, 901 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.591. 5894]

THE SEASON

Great Pumpkin

“Each year the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere,” Linus explains to Sally as they wait together on Halloween night in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” “He’s got to pick this one — he’s got to! I don’t see how a pumpkin patch could be more sincere than this one,” Linus continues. In the end, though, the Great Pumpkin chooses not to grace the Peanuts’ pumpkin patch, and a disappointed Linus is forced to wait another year while an irate Sally laments her lost “tricks or treats.” Alas, the stench of Lucy’s hypocrisy must have been too strong.



Let that be a lesson to any of you hipsters out there thinking of dropping by the W.W. Seymour Conservatory to partake in Pumpkin Patch Photos: Come correct or don’t come at all. We don’t need any snickering from pumpkin haters ruining our chances of seeing the Great Pumpkin. True believers are invited to bring the family and greet the fall with a search for the perfect jack-o’-lantern in the park’s fecund pumpkin patch. Snap photos of your young and old ghouls and goblins — a little pumpkin patch complete with oversize metalwork crows will be set up for a festive backdrop. — SS



[W.W. Seymour Conservatory, Oct. 23-Nov. 4, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, donations are righteous, Wright Park, 316 South G St., Tacoma, 253.591.5330]