Category: Theaters, Performance Spaces, and Production Companies

Book of Mormon – Musical – Paramount Theatre

Attended the sold out run of The Book of Mormon on Broadway. After 6 unsuccessful lottery attempts, I ended up buying on StubHub. Can't go wrong with this show ... but the last 2 national tours were slightly better. "Tomorrow is a latter day!" — attending The Book Of Mormon- Seattle, WA at Paramount Theatre.
Attended the sold out run of The Book of Mormon on Broadway. After 6 unsuccessful lottery attempts, I ended up buying on StubHub. Can’t go wrong with this show … but the last 2 national tours were slightly better. “Tomorrow is a latter day!” — attending The Book Of Mormon- Seattle, WA at Paramount Theatre.

Crime and Punishment – Play – West of Lenin (Akroplois Performance Lab)

Opening night to the stage adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Too serious, deep, and confusing. Not an entertaining piece but very well acted and sung with interesting hurdy-gurdy accompaniment. Great murder scenes.
Opening night to the stage adaptation of Crime and Punishment. Too serious, deep, and confusing. Not an entertaining piece but very well acted and sung with interesting hurdy-gurdy accompaniment. Great murder scenes.

Type: Play with Music

Recommendation: I recommend this for people who like serious, deep plays. Please come early to sit in the first row!

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3 Stars

Negatives: It was too serious, deep, and confusing. When I go to theatre, I want to be entertained. I actually left at intermission.

Story, Script, and Lyrics: Stage adaptation of the novel Crime and Punishment. Some Russian guy down on his luck tries to justify murdering someone and goes crazy.

Cast and Theater Company:  Very well acted. This is the first time I’ve seen anything by Akroplois Performance Lab and despite me leaving during intermission, I was pretty impressed. However, I wasn’t a fan of Matt Sherrill’s interpretation of Dmitri Prokofych Razumikhin. It was a bit too gay for this piece (and I’m gay). But he was really cute!

Venue and Set: Set was minimalist but wasn’t bad for a community theatre production. However, there was a distracting door malfunction a couple of times.

Music and Audio: Easy to hear the performers. Accompaniment was via hurdy-gurdy (a communist sounding instrument), which was really nifty. Sometimes the cast sang acapella and they weren’t off key.

Price: $ (Low Priced at $30)

Dates: January 5-13, 2018

Seating: Tickets are General Admission so come early to get a good seat on the first row. All other seats kind of suck the way the chairs are configured.

Link: http://www.akropolisperformancelab.com/activities/plays/crime/

How to Break – Dance Musical – Village Theatre

Watched a developing hip hop dance musical "How to Break." Urban teen gets leukemia. Very promising piece. But not a fan of stereotypical inner-city teen characters with nobody-understands-me rude attitude.
Watched a developing hip hop dance musical “How to Break.” Urban teen gets leukemia. Very promising piece. But not a fan of stereotypical inner-city teen characters with nobody-understands-me rude attitude.

Type: Dance Musical

Recommendation: It’s worth seeing. But watch out, this isn’t your gay grandpa’s musical.

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3.5 Stars

Negatives: For a dance musical, I didn’t consider it to have enough flashy dance routines. Not a fan of stereotypical inner-city teen characters with nobody-understands-me rude attitude. It’s a tired old annoying role.

Story, Script, and Lyrics: Urban teen who like break dancing (or “hip hop dancing?”) gets leukemia. Surprisingly, writers got a lot of the medical portion accurate (I’m an oncology pharmacist).  Note that this is a Beta Series production, which means it’s a developing musical that will change everyday based on the audience feedback.

Cast and Theater Company: Not much to say. Typical Village Theatre quality theatrical production.

Venue and Set: Minimalist set that’s mostly in a children’s hospital. Had to be minimalist since this is a Beta Series musical in development.

Music and Audio: Music was mostly via guitar, beatboxing (vocal percussion), and synthesizer. While not a fan of beatboxing, I was pretty impressed by the dude’s talent.

Price: $ (Low-priced at $30)

Dates: January 5, 2018 – January 14, 2018

Seating: Assigned Seating

Link: http://villagetheatre.org/issaquah/beta-series-how-to-break.php

Howl’s Moving Castle – Musical – Book-it Repertory Theatre

After waiting 2 hrs for standby tickets (for the 2nd time), I finally got matinee seats to the sold out musical stage adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle. So worth it! Such an intricate story. I'll excuse the fire evacuation interruption in the middle and the liberal use of triple-role casting. — attending Howl's Moving Castle, a new musical at Book-It Repertory Theatre.
After waiting 2 hrs for standby tickets (for the 2nd time), I finally got matinee seats to the sold out musical stage adaptation of Howl’s Moving Castle. So worth it! Such an intricate story. I’ll excuse the fire evacuation interruption in the middle and the liberal use of triple-role casting. — attending Howl’s Moving Castle, a new musical at Book-It Repertory Theatre.