Friday
December 09, 2005
SGN.org
Volume 33
Issue 49
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Tuesday, Jan 06, 2009
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Bits & Bytes |
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| PNB's Nutcracker enchants all ages, Mamma Mia! rocks at Paramount,Trial Of Ebenezer Scrooge at Taproot | |
| By Milton W. Hamlin
- SGN A&E Writer
The holiday season is upon us-and that's the good and bad news of the week. Bits&Bytes is just back from a week in New York-so naturally he's writing on the Seattle entertainment scene this week. Read on-and find out how to have a great week in the Emerald City. EBENEZER SCROOGE GOES ON TRIAL AT TAPROOT THEATRE There's a new holiday show in town-and Taproot's got it. A new play by Mark Brown adds a wrinkle to Dickens' classic tale and characters in The Trail Of Ebenezer Scrooge, continuing through Dec. 30 at the intimate theater that makes its welcoming home in the Greenwood district. One Christmas after Dickens' tale, Brown tells us, Ebenezer has hauled everyone into court. A Jewish lawyer defends the rambling characters-talk about cultural diversity. A lot of fun, a lot of jokes (some of them wonderfully bad), a lot of good acting and solid direction from Scott Nolte add up to a delightful new play for the holiday season. It is not a great play, it is not an outstanding production, but it got Bits&Bytes into the holiday spirit-and it should work its low-key theatrical magic on most theater fans. Of course, it ends with a good, solid message for the season. Details at 781-9707. PNB SCORES WITH ANNUAL NUTCRACKER Pacific Northwest Ballet can do no wrong with its annual staging of the Nutcracker, the 1983 extravaganza with choreography by Kent Stowell and incredible costumes and sets by the award-winning Maurice Sendak, fabled children's book author and illustrator. As usual, PNB's Nutcracker is a theatrical highlight of Seattle-and the Northwest's-holiday season. This year's revival, supervised by Kent Stowell, its creator, is sharp and clear. PNB large ballet company seems to know it has a new boss with Peter Boal, in his first months as new artistic director, and the energy on opening night was simply incredible. Tickets start at just $18-and that includes the beautiful music by Tchaikovsky gloriously played by the excellent PNB orchestra. Various soloists rotate in the leading and specialty roles-and all are excellent. The show features a 27-foot mouse king, a 950-pound Christmas tree that "grows" from 14 to 28 feet in height, 200 pounds of "snow" and nearly 200 students from PNB's high respected ballet school who supplement the PNB dancers. PNB also offers about a zillion Nutcracker extras-ask about details when you make reservations at 441-2424. MAMMA MIA! RETURNS-ABBA LIVES @ PARAMOUNT Broadway In Seattle At The Paramount has a lively hit on its hands as Mamma Mia! returns for an Emerald City stay through Dec. 17. The international hit has visited Seattle before on a sold out visit and this encore should do the same. The opening night crowd on Tuesday was clearly going down Memory Lane with "Dancing Queen," "Honey, Honey," "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and nearly two dozen ABBA favorites shoehorned into a plot (of sorts) that's part "family love," part "finding yourself," part Las Vegas glitz. And, for GLBT fans, there's even a "Gay Dad" from the past. Even a wooden stake through its heart couldn't stop this ABBA "Dancing Machine" that has made this rambling narrative a theatrical bonanza (and Bits&Bytes would never try to drive a wooden stake though the heart of any Broadway musical-even one that has no heart). Mamma Mia! plays various weekend matinees and most evenings through Dec. 17. It's a joyous show that adds a little disco sparkle to the Emerald City's holiday season. Budget-minded fans should remember that tickets purchased in person at the Paramount box office have no additional service fees. That can be a considerable savings-extra money for "peace on earth" and good cheer to all men. JAZZ ALLEY HOSTS AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' A touring edition of the Tony Award winning musical, Ain't Misbehavin'-a "stompin', struttin', high hattin' tribute to the music of Fats Waller" and the Harlem heyday of yesteryear-checks into Jazz Alley next week for a Thursday-Sunday stay with six performances to lure Seattle holiday shoppers into the world famous jazz club. Earlier visits by the raucous musical have been total sold out events for Jazz Alley-plan ahead, call for reservations, have a hoot-and-a-half of fun. Reservations at 441-9729. The Dec. 15-18 run of the musical revue is just one of Jazz Alley's many upcoming shows-check the pre-recorded hotline for details. SHAYNEE RAINBOLT CHARMS WITH MADNESS Just in case anyone is heading to New York City this week, Shaynee Rainbolt, one of Bits&Bytes's favorite cabaret performers, is offering her Holiday Madness show on Sunday at a new Gay-owned restaurant and cabaret in Chelsea, one of the predominately Gay districts in the City That Never Sleeps. Holiday Madness, which Bits&Bytes saw on his annual New York trip for SGN last week, is a tongue-in-cheek salute to Christmas, Hanukkah and whatever else music and cabaret fans might want to celebrate. The Sunday brunch show features a wide assortment of very personal holiday favorites that reflect Rainbolt's Jewish and Christian upbringing. While much of the show revolves around holiday titles, a wide assortment of "winter-ish" standards creep into the mix-"My Favorite Things" in an untypical, almost dissent arrangement, "Come To The Supermarket In Old Peking," a Cole Porter rarity from his original late-1950's television musical Aladdin, represents "shopping for the holidays." The highlight of the show for GLBT audiences is the butch-fem faux-Lesbian duet on "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Rainbolt teams with Judy Barnett, a well established New York jazz singer with her own following, for the comic send-up that literally stopped the show. Rainbolt is always a terrific singer, and this Holiday Madness spotlights her vocal talents and comic adeptness. Rainbolt offers Holiday Madness at Helen's, a Gay-owned and operated spot in Chelsea. Brunch seating is at 1 p.m. with Rainbolt's show at 2 p.m. The $15 fixed-price brunch menu is one of the best food bargains in New York. It offers a wide assortment of traditional brunch items (Bits&Bytes had the delicious "pulled pork" hash with poached eggs-a spicy spin off of the usual cornbeef hash) with a choice of a Bloody Mary, Mimosa, champagne or wine plus tea or coffee. Rainbolt-a good cabaret buddy of this scribe-sings each week at a Times Square restaurant and offers periodic cabaret shows in various clubs in town. Watch this space for details in the upcoming two-part SGN Visits New York articles. Check with Helen's at (212) 206-0609 for details. The popular restaurant and cabaret offers dozens of cabarets and music events each week. And, yes, tell 'em Bits&Bytes sent ya. JEWISH BURLESQUE, YIDDISH EROTIKA & HANUKKAH PARTY Who could resist the upcoming trio of performances billed as Seattle's Only Jewish Burlesque Show, Yiddish Erotika & Hanukkah Party in Eight Unorthodox Acts-With Live Klezmer Music! There are enough puns in the title alone to keep Bits&Bytes in stitches for weeks-and to cause a meltdown on SGN's spell check computer program. To top it off, after the Jewish Burlesque Show, et al, there will be a jam session and dance party with the Kosher Red Hots. And the press release promises that "the costume changes alone are worth the price of admission." The revue plays next Thursday, Dec. 15, and Saturday, Dec. 17, at the intimate Cafi Paloma in Pioneer Square and moves to Chop Suey on Capitol Hill for a Dec. 24 show (cultural diversity reminder-Dec. 24 is not a big deal for Jewish entertainment fans). Admission is $10 at the door-such a deal. |
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