Village Theatre – Page 12 – Shows I've Seen

Crazy for You – Musical – Village Theatre

Attended the last sold out performance of Crazy for You (musical). Despite the distracting mustache malfunction and the small stage, these kids were pretty amazing. Those tap dance skills though ... wow! — attending Crazy for You at Village Theatre. — Attended the last sold out performance of Crazy for You (musical). Despite the distracting mustache malfunction and the small stage, these kids were pretty amazing. Those tap dance skills though … wow! — attending Crazy for You at Village Theatre.

Disney’s Newsies – Musical – Village Theatre

Watched the stage adaptation of Newsies. For a musical that's very dance intensive, they didn't give enough room for the performers. Okay but not amazing. — Watched the stage adaptation of Newsies. For a musical that’s very dance intensive, they didn’t give enough room for the performers. Okay but not amazing.

Type: Musical

Recommendation: It’s worth seeing but like every Disney musical, it usually doesn’t inspire any awards. I’ve seen the official tour and (obviously) it was better than this local production, which was still alright.

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3.75 Stars

Story, Script, and Lyrics: Newsboys strike against “the man” to protest rising newspaper prices back in the day.

Cast and Theater Company: Typical Village Theatre good-quality theatrical production.

Venue and Set: Cramped stage during dance numbers. Great sets and scene changes though.

Music and Audio: Musicals should excel in “musical” quality but this show definitely focuses more on the dance aspect, which was unfortunate since the stage was crowded.

Price: $$ (Moderately Priced at $57-82)

Dates:

Issaquah: NOVEMBER 9 – DECEMBER 31, 2017
Everett: JANUARY 5 – 28, 2018

Seating: Assigned Seating

Link:

Issaquah: https://www.villagetheatre.org/issaquah/newsies.php
Everett: http://villagetheatre.org/everett/newsies.php

String – Village Theatre

Watched the Village Originals Beta Series musical "String." The three Greek Sisters of Fate have been cast out of Mount Olympus and work at the top floor of a skyscraper. Great storytelling. There's good and bad woven into the tapestry of life. — Watched the Village Originals Beta Series musical “String.” The three Greek Sisters of Fate have been cast out of Mount Olympus and work at the top floor of a skyscraper. Great storytelling. There’s good and bad woven into the tapestry of life.

Dreamgirls – Village Theatre

Watched the musical Dreamgirls with Paul and Johnathon. Incredible showstopping voices all throughout! Consistently amazed how little ole' Issaquah houses such a high quality theater company. — Watched the musical Dreamgirls with Paul and Johnathon. Incredible showstopping voices all throughout! Consistently amazed how little ole’ Issaquah houses such a high quality theater company.

Singin’ in the Rain – Musical

Type: Musical

Recommendation: It’s worth seeing. Old timey musicals are not really my preference but this one is a classic. I haven’t seen the movie but the stranger sitting next to me in the theater said she liked the live Village Theater version better than the movie.

Negatives: The story may not be as accessible to millennial like myself (but I’m an old soul) since this is based on the 1951 movie, which is based on the “roaring 1920s.”

Story, Script, and Lyrics: The story was about traditional silent movie Hollywood stars struggling with actually having to act/speak in “talkies” (talking motion pictures). A lot of the comedy was corny, old timey, slapstick, and/or campy but I guess it was a different time back then.

Cast and Theater Company: Village Theater consistently provides quality theatrical productions and this is no exception.

John David Scott: Really, no noteworthy comments. I did detect a lisp on a couple of lines but all around, he did well as the male lead.
Kathy Selden: Like John, I don’t have any noteworthy comments. All around, she played a great female lead.
Gabriel Corey: Provided much of the comic relief. Initially, I found his humor annoying but as the show progressed I warmed up to him. He was not Equity so I was pretty impressed at the quality of his performance. He was probably my favorite performer in this production.
Jessica Skerritt: She was very difficult to assess since her character was supposed to be annoying with a shrill voice. I’m so curious how she really sings/acts/speaks for more traditional roles.

Venue and Set: The audience ended up having to watch pre-recorded video instead of live-action drama during several scenes. It was a little annoying because I paid to watch live-action drama but this was probably a necessity because of the subject matter (silent films vs “talkies”). However, I was impressed with the real water raining on the stage while the main character danced soaking wet! Kudos for that Village Theater!

Music and Audio: Like every Village Theater production, the live music and audio engineering was high quality. I’m still trying to figure out how they were able to preserve the microphones during the rain scene! Despite all this, I was a bit disappointed the actors only pretended to play the piano and violin. This was after I saw “Pump Boys and Dinettes.” But hey, you can’t be everything!

Price: $$ – Moderately Priced at $50-78 from the Village Theater Website

Dates:

November 10 — December 31, 2016 in Issaquah, WA
January 6 — 29, 2017 in Everett, WA

Seating: Assigned Seating

Link: http://www.villagetheatre.org/issaquah/singin-in-the-rain.php