Seattle Gay News
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Issue 51, Volume 39, December 23, 2011
BEST OF MOVIES 2011 SGN’s best (and worst) films of 2011
see best of movies page 30
(Clockwise from top left) Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris, Leila Hatami in A Separation, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer in Beginners, Shailene Woodley and George Clooney in The Descendants.
A Jet all the way
An interview with West Side Story’s Ross Lekites
by Eric Andrews-Katz SGN A&E Writer
Photos by Carol Rosegg
West Side Story January 10-15 Paramount Theatre The groundbreaking musical West Side Story burst onto the Great White Way over 50 years ago, and Broadway has never been the same since. The maestro impresario Leonard Bernstein broke from his traditional classical work to write the music for a Broadway musical – a highly debated decision at the time. Arthur Lau-
rents wrote his third Broadway libretto with West Side Story, and the controversial Jerome Robbins not only choreographed the musical, but also is credited as director. A new name made his Broadway debut writing these lyrics – a man named Stephen Sondheim. Taking a new look at Shakespeare’s Romeo see west side story page 33
Evy Ortiz and Ross Lekites in West Side Story
photos: Merie Wallace, sony pictures classics, focus feratures
I’m not sure a case can be made that 2011 was a great year at the movies. But I do think you can make one for it being very, very good, full of strong motion pictures that might not be extraordinary, yet are worthwhile all the same. Trying to come up with a best-of list is surprisingly difficult, with so many well-made and entertaining features vying for spots that trying to put them in a discernable order borders on the impossible. Not that I’m saying this has been a year worthy of remembrance like, say, 2007, 1999, or the ultimate glory year, 1939, were. While filmmakers did a good job of producing a quality product, they didn’t craft features we’re going to be talking about for decades down the line. Sure, chances were taken, risks were
made, and plenty of writers and directors did the unexpected, but the number of them doing it wasn’t exactly huge. I think there are roughly 15 features that truly succeeded, and we’ll be lucky if we’re still waxing poetic about
Burlesque Nutcracker sweetens Seattle’s Christmas season Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker might well be the hottest ticket in the Emerald City this holiday season. Land of the Sweets: Celebrating its sixth year, the The Burlesque merry send-up of the classic Nutcracker ballet and the world-famous The Triple Door Through December 27 music by Tchaikovsky has three remaining performances this season – tonight, tomorrow, and a just-added show on Tuesday, December 27. The production, happily housed at the Triple Door, the historic theater tucked under Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle, is a polished, cheerful mixture of a jazz riff and a not-verynaughty burlesque show. It’s a perfect contrast to the wildly popular Pacific Northwest Ballet production currently on view at McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center and a marvelous antidote to the stereotypically overly sweet typical holiday fare.
by Milton W. Hamlin SGN A&E Writer
courtesy Michelle Sanders Communications
by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Contributing Writer
see burlesque page 32 Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker