The touring production of the Broadway musical comedy farce Something Rotten opened last night at The 5th Avenue Theatre to uproarious laughter and applause from an audience that was well suited for the show’s greatest strengths. Something Rotten is a somewhat satirical, but mostly ridiculous, silly send-up of the American musical theater genre. It is […]
After watching The 5th Avenue Theatre’s opening night production of The Secret Garden I was reminded of my recent trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. While visiting the tulip festival I was at first overwhelmed by the acres of vibrantly colored tulips in full bloom. From a distance, the rows of flowers looked as […]
Don’t let the rather mundane and boring title fool you, Murder for Two is an innovative, consistently creative, hilarious musical comedy farce. This 5th Avenue Theatre/ACT–A Contemporary Theatre co-production is the Pacific Northwest premiere of what happens when just two gifted actors and one well-tuned grand piano embody the interrogation of a room full of […]
Yesterday, Lin-Manuel Miranda once again introduced something thoroughly unique to the world. The full Hamilton Mixtape finally dropped last night and like pretty much everything else Lin-Manuel touches, this Hamilton Musical inspired multiple song release exists in a world all its own. Miranda has done more than gather big named musicians to croon covers from […]
A.J. Swoboda’s latest book, The Dusty Ones, has a title evocative of a Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western. However, the actual content of The Dusty Ones deals with a different kind of grit, namely the interrelationship between wandering and spiritual maturity. For anyone caught somewhere between Egypt and the Promised Land it is a worthy read. […]
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert launched last week and the first shows demonstrate great promise but some weaknesses as well. As a big Colbert fan, I must admit that I’m rather biased in favor of rooting for his success. Thankfully, there is plenty to root for. – I’m glad to see Colbert has embraced […]
Death Cab For Cutie’s new album Kintsugi is more Death than Cutie, but it still has plenty of Cab to make it a worthwhile journey. The album’s title, Kintsugi, comes from the Japanese art of repairing or transforming broken pottery with gold, silver or platinum lacquer. Instead of hiding the breakage lines of the pot, […]
The Holidays are a whirlwind of busyness. Consequently, I don’t have much spare time to write this review. Thankfully, I don’t really need to write that much to fully communicate what I thought of the 5th Avenue Theatre’s production of A Christmas Story: The Musical. So here I go with as few words as possible… […]
The national touring company version of the recent Tony Award winning revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess has reached the 5th Avenue Theatre. If you desire to hear powerful melodic voices sing haunting harmonies and melodies within a surprisingly complex musical drama, then buy a ticket before Porgy and Bess leave town. The choreography […]
My older brother Jeff gave me Noah Gundersen’s album Ledges as a birthday present. Before I received this gift, I knew nothing about Gundersen’s work. However, when Jeff called to see if I had downloaded the album yet, I began to suspect that I was about to hear something really good. Jeff and I don’t […]