FALLTHEATERPREVIEW
photography courtesy of the washington center for performing arts: celtic music fiddler, natalie macmaster
story justin carleton
The treacherous Lady Macbeth. The incurably green Nellie Forbush. The sinister Mack the Knife. Not one, but two Ebeneezer Scrooges, one singing and dancing, one not. The imperiled Susy Hendrix. The boisterous Max Bialystock. The rambling Sissy Hankshaw. These memorable characters, and dozens more will take the stages of the South Sound’s rather impressive roster of theaters this fall. From the Lakewood Playhouse to Washington Center, from the professional to the amateur and all in-between, theatergoers will find themselves a thrill. The season kicks off at the Lakewood Playhouse, celebrating their 70th anniversary. The anniversary presents go to the audience though, in the form of a brand new air conditioning unit and the presentation of the musical Lucky Stiff. This farcical show follows the adventures of the unassuming Harry Witherspoon, an English shoe salesman set to inherit a fortune, providing he survives his week-long vacation in Monte Carlo with his uncle’s corpse. Yes, you read that right. Don’t ask, it’s a farce. After the inspired lunacy of Lucky Stiff, the Playhouse season takes a dark turn, presenting Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This tale of megalomania and betrayal gave the world one of the great characters in the English language, the conniving Lady Macbeth. The South Shound and it’s surroundings are blessed with a group of fine Shakespearean actors, many of whom summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Shakespeare plays are a rare thing in our area, and you can bet that the actors will be chomping at the bit for a part in the supposedly-cursed “Scottish Play”. The Lakewood Playhouse will close 2009 with a production of A Christmas Carol. The Playhouse is keeping the wraps on this one, as it promises an original adaptation of Dickens’ classic staged with the Playhouse in mind. Another surprise for Lakewood Playhouse fans comes hard after the New Year, as Managing Artistic Director Marcus Walker and
Associate Managing Artistic Director Scott Campbell, better known as the brains behind the Playhouse, will direct and star in a a production of Greater Tuna, both an affectionate look at Southern culture and an attack on the same. The trick is that Campbell and Walker will - as is the standard for the Tuna Trilogy - will play all 20 characters themselves. This production will be a treat, as both men are accomplished performers, but typically seen more behind the scenes. The Tacoma Musical Playhouse is celebrating an anniversary as well, as this is the 15th year for the South Sound’s only fulltime musical theater. TMP will kick off the season in October with a production of the Rogers and Hammerstien classic South Pacific. This musical warhorse is a true masterpiece of craft, thrilling audiences for half a century. Songs such as “Some Enchanted Evening” and “There is Nothing Like a Dame” have become standards, and the TMP excels at the classic musical form. To end the year, Tacoma Musical Playhouse is debuting a brand new show. The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella is a retelling of the beloved fairy tale. Based on the British film from 1976, The Slipper and the Rose has been charming English stage audiences for the past few years, and TMP is bringing this lushly romantic musical to the South Sound. Featuring new songs and a fantastical set that brings the faux European land of Euphrania to life this show is a can’t-miss for fans of musical theater. In Olympia there is a daring, a willingness to push boundaries not found in many small communities. The Olympia Little Theater starts the season with I Hate Hamlet, the story of a young actor named Andrew Rally, who finds himself haunted by the ghost of the great John Barrymore, stymied by his girlfriend, and struggling between the stage and the bright lights of Hollywood. I Hate Hamlet is at times uproariously funny, at times darkly bitter, and a gloriously fun show to start the 69th year of the OLT. >> 11
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showcase magazine | fall 08