Category: Musicals

Jane Eyre – Musical – Seattle Pacific Theatre

Watched the musical stage adaptation of Jane Eyre. Very dry, dense, and lukewarm ... like most English literature. Would it kill them to lighten up (and do a tap dance routine lol)? Glad to have Paul with me to explain things and make jokes.
Watched the musical stage adaptation of Jane Eyre. Very dry, dense, and lukewarm … like most English literature. Would it kill them to lighten up (and do a tap dance routine lol)? Glad to have Paul with me to explain things and make jokes.

Type: Musical

Recommendation: See this if there’s nothing else playing in the city or if you like dry, dense, lukewarm theatre.

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3 stars

Negatives: The script and music was boring. Would it kill them to lighten up … and possibly do a tap dance routine? Ha!

Story, Script, and Lyrics:  Life deals a bad hand to an Englishwoman but she still manages to stay positive and to persevere.

Cast and Theater Company:  University production. Female lead (Jane Eyre) was pretty decent. Unfortunately, it was hard to gauge the performers’ talent because the musical was so dull. Furthermore, cast was critically low on male performers. I suspect it’s because Seattle Pacific University is a Christian (Methodist) university and therefore cannot attract enough gay students to enroll. In the words of The Producers, “Keep it gay, keep it gay, keep it gay” … in theatre.

Venue and Set: Simple. Interesting angular stage.

Music and Audio: Microphones used (thank you!). Unfortunately, piano was the only accompaniment … so it basically sounded like rehearsal. As a piano player myself, props to the pianist for pressing on (no pun intended) throughout the entire score! His or her hands must have been bleeding. It’s a shame the cast didn’t acknowledge the pianist in the ovations.

Price: $ (Low-priced at $15)

Dates: February 1–10, 2018

Seating: Assigned

Link: http://spu.edu/academics/college-of-arts-sciences/theatre/current-season/current-productions/jane-eyre-the-musical

Vanishing Point – Musical – Seattle Public Theater

Watched the musical "Vanishing Point," which explored the disappearances of Agatha Christie, Amelia Earhart, & Aimee Semple McPherson. When will I ever learn to stay away from historical fiction plays/musicals? So very dry.
Watched the musical “Vanishing Point,” which explored the disappearances of Agatha Christie, Amelia Earhart, & Aimee Semple McPherson. When will I ever learn to stay away from historical fiction plays/musicals? So very dry.

Type: Musical

Recommendation: Only see it if you like dry historical theatre.

Rating (Out of 5 Stars): 3 stars

Negatives: The script and music was boring. Plus, I’m not a huge history fiction buff. So, I left at intermission.

Story, Script, and Lyrics:  Exploration on the events surrounding the disappearances of Agatha Christie, Amelia Earhart, & Aimee Semple McPherson. So very dry.

Cast and Theater Company:  You could tell these were great actors but unfortunately they had a terrible piece to perform.

Venue and Set: Simple

Music and Audio: No microphones but the space is small enough and the performers project loud enough that you’re able to hear okay. Music consisted of bass (or cello?) and a piano.

Price: $ (Low-priced at $17-34)

Dates: January 25, 2018 – February 25, 2018

Seating: Assigned. Make sure you sit in the middle. The left and right arena seats suck.

Link: https://www.seattlepublictheater.org/vanishing-point/

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.

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