Stage
It's my opinion that theater companies in the South Sound, as in most American markets, are not in competition with each other; rather, they're competing with television. TV has become really good these last few years, as fans of Breaking Bad or Modern Family can attest. There's an entire channel
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Pellegrino's commissioned Dennis Rolly, a waiter there for years and one of Oly's most reliable actors, to produce a theatrical event in celebration of the restaurant chain's 10th anniversary. He chose a private-eye parody script, originally written for kids but amusing enough for adults, by fellow Harlequin regular Christian Doyle.
Stage
I was leery of reviewing Hollywood Who Done It, as I had the impression it was one of those "Mystery Nite" dinners. You know the kind: waiters circle the room and try to look interested while diners decide which of a cast of flamboyant characters killed oil baron Tex Arlington.
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Five Women is every inch a live situation comedy. Its jokes veer from issue to expected social issue. Much of its acting is in expository sitcom style. The first time I saw this script performed was in the Bible Belt, so its impatience with naïve Christianity landed
Stage
Let's get a few questions settled right out of the gate. First, while there are, in fact, five women (and, eventually, one man) in the play Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, they're not actually wearing the same dress. They're wearing five different-sized copies of the same blue dress. Perhaps
Arts
The year was 1938-1939. The minimum wage was first established. Hitler marched into Austria after signing a sketchbook for Indiana Jones. Elliot Gould was born, as were Frank Langella, Tommy Chong ... and the Lakewood Playhouse. Back then, there were two Lakewood Players: a mid-1950s company history identifies them only as
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If you're a geek of a certain age or, for that matter, anyone who loves cinematic comedy, you know exactly what happens when someone says the name "Frau Blücher." You know how to bring home the chorus of "Puttin' on the Ritz." You know who made a
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It's been said the quickest way to a geek's heart is through his or her USB 3.0 port, but that's not true. We pop-cultural enthusiasts occasionally do take a break from mainlining second breakfast, Hot Pockets, and fourthmeal to eat real food-by which, of course, we mean
Guides
I'll be honest: there are times when Volcano readers and I do not see eye to eye. (Say what?! Yeah, c'est la vie.) Is every "Best of" issue something of a popularity contest? You bet. This year, however, I couldn't agree with your theater picks more. Best Company was a
Stage
In November 1864, an all-star, benefit performance of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar went up in the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. That one-night show raised funds for a statue of the Bard in Central Park, which stands to this day. Five months later, one of those famous actors snuck into
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It's a long play, three hours give or take, even after some numbers were trimmed from the 2009 Broadway revival. On opening night of Tacoma Musical Playhouse's second production (the first was seven years ago), early numbers were plagued by recurring sound issues and the hollow acoustics
Stage
The closer you look at any fractal shape, the more complex and beautiful it gets. In fact, there's a point at which you suddenly find yourself presented with an exact duplicate of the original, albeit at a much smaller scale. So it is with history. Look deeply into any particular
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Is there any more vexing wee-hours quandary than "What is art?" According to Teller of Penn & Teller, "Art is anything we do after the chores are done." By that reasoning, most things we do can be art, as long as we enjoy them. (Ideally, someone else
Arts
Is there any more vexing wee-hours quandary than "What is art?" According to Teller of Penn & Teller, "Art is anything we do after the chores are done." By that reasoning, most things we do can be art, as long as we enjoy them. (Ideally, someone else enjoys them, too.)
Stage
I had every reason to believe I'd love director Linda Whitney's production of Jesus Christ Superstar. I admire her work, enjoy the play, and spend far more time thinking about Jesus than many hardcore Christians. I was so sure I'd love it that, with my wife at a Salt-N-Pepa show
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On Oct. 6, 1998, two Laramie men, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, offered 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, openly gay, a ride home from a bar called the Fireside Lounge. They drove him outside of town, beat him with fists, pistol-whipped him, tied him to a shake fence and left
Stage
On Oct. 6, 1998, two Laramie men, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney, offered 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, openly gay, a ride home from a bar called the Fireside Lounge. They drove him outside of town, beat him with fists, pistol-whipped him, tied him to a shake fence and left him to
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Olympia Little Theater's production of Same Time, Next Year stars Jeff Hirschberg and Rebecca Lea McCarthy. Director James Patrick cast mature actors and let the script catch up with them. This presents Hirschberg and McCarthy with the challenge of acting 25 while looking, well, not 25, and
Stage
Two-handers are tough. A two-hander, in theater parlance, is a full-length show with only two characters. I performed one a while back, Oleanna by David Mamet, and I can tell you it nearly broke my brain. There's nowhere to hide. You're on stage the whole time, and you have to
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This is a brand-new show, Olympia Family Theater's second premiere of the season (after Wind in the Willows, currently recording its cast album). It derives from Ellen Jackson's 1998 book of the same name, in which Edna, the girl who lives next door to sad sack Cinder Ella, goes
