Seattle Gay News
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Issue 50, Volume 42, December 12, 2014
Edgar Allan Poe
by Doug Hamilton SGN Contributing Writer THE HOURS OF LIFE THEATRE22 CORNISH STUDIO THEATRE Through December 14
I expected to be moved, but I wasn’t expecting to be dazzled, and I was both. Theatre22’s world premiere of their new musical, The Hours of Life, is a triumph of talented people making smart decisions that inform the play from every angle, from set to staging,
a hilarious holiday laugh fest
Chris Bennion
Peggy Platt and D.J. Gommels in Ham for the Holidays
by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer HAM FOR THE HOLIDAYS: FEAR THE BACON ACT THEATRE Through December 21 Every year at this time, those who know funny know to get their asses to wherever Ham for the Holidays will be performed. They know they will grin from beginning to end and laugh almost constantly. They know that they will leave feeling joy at the smart, talented crew and the amazingly punny and astute writing. They know their jaws will hurt.
Every year is different, though there are some reliable old friends to visit, such as the tiny Sequim Gay Men’s Chorus directed by Kenneth Dolman, and probably a “play” written by Mama Euomi Spudd to perform with her daughter Wynotta, who almost surprisingly never quite quits the act. This year, at the comfortable environs of ACT Theatre, Ham for the Holidays: Fear the Bacon not only doesn’t disappoint, it even raises the bar a notch further in funny. You’ll visit The Waiting Womb, your local gynecology see Ham page 6
of the scenes from the cavernous shadows of the theatre. The opening act gives us eight exquisite original songs written by local playwright and composer Paul Lewis, played lushly by a five-piece orchestra including a grand pianist, drummer, cellist, bass and guitar players, who also seamlessly provide the background music at key points during spoken scenes. Act I takes us through the story of Edgar Allan Poe’s life from after the publication of his most famous poem, “The Raven,” to the deathbed of his wife, Sissy (also his cousin, yikes!), who is dying of consumption. Actress Sarah Trowbridge plays Sissy to pull out all our heartstrings. We meet a Poe who while tenderhearted to the ones he loves, is scathingly critical of other poets of the day and humanity in general, drinks to excess, and suffers poverty due to his poor business decisions. The irony is that even while he is famous, he received no more compensation for the publishing rights of “The Raven” than to be able to afford to buy a pair of shoes. We also learn of how he came to meet the poet Sarah Helen Whitman, see Hours page 4
by Paul Torres SGN Contributing Writer
Michael Brunk
Ham for the Holidays Fear the Bacon
script, cast, singing and score. I was hooked from the opening moments when the chorus streamed onstage from all corners for their opening number, singing “The Machinery of Man,” looking and sounding like a Broadway production. While not dancing, the singers
walked and swooped to their points with purpose, as groups of people in musicals do, forming patterns like pinwheels around the center stage. Actually, I was already hooked on the stage before they got there. The set designed by Robin Macartney is striking in its neoclassic simplicity. A two-tiered round platform stands center stage, the top of which is painted as a clock face with Roman numerals. That’s it. It is strong single element that unifies the entire production. The platform allows for theatre in the round (or in this case, three-quarter round, because the orchestra takes up the remaining quarter of the theatre). This made for an unexpected Steampunk feel. The platform makes it so a cast member can take two steps up, stand on top of the clock face, and command center stage for a solo or soliloquy. The chorus uses the steps as bleachers. In one scene it becomes a gazebo in the audience’s imagination. Different corners of the stage were used to represent different places and time in the story. It works splendidly. If the set seems minimal, the period costumes evoke the finely wrought detail of the Dickensian era and leave the mind to fill in the architecture
JUDY’S SCARY LITTLE CHRISTMAS ARTSWEST Through December 28 When an uninvited dark guest comes caroling, the celebrity holiday reveling at July Garland’s Christmas Eve party takes a dark and maudlin tone. This is the other side of a white Christmas. The black comedy/musical Judy’s Scary Little Christmas is a funny, frosty, and even heartrending yuletide tale of fame and mortality. Set up as a Judy Garland live TV show comeback Christmas special in the mid-1950s, this play opens to a lively opening with Judy belting out a Christmas song with three sexy young men dancing back up. Her quick and saucy banter delights the TV show audience. As the real ArtsWest audience plays the studio audience, we become an active part of this story. Cue applause! Our first guest is classic crooner Bing Crosby, followed by pianist Liberace, Broadway singer Ethel Merman, writer Lillian Hellman, future president Richard Nixon, and finally (at her bitchy best), ac-
Lisa Mandelkorn and David Caldwell
tress Joan Crawford. This boozy night of celebrity mocking, cocktail chitchat, and whimsical song twists and turns like the bitter winter winds. While on-camera, these stars are proud and pompous; and when they are off-camera, they are self-
conscious and self-effacing. Even Punch, a sarcastic puppet, trades jibes with the group. When Judy’s door blasts opens by a heavy wind bringing in the dark guest, we commence the blacker see Darkness page 5