Friday November 24, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 47 |
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Monday, Oct 13, 2008
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Bits & Bytes |
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| David&Martin entertain stylishly at Cabaret de Paris, Rep's Great Gatsby brings 1920s alive for Seattle fans, Pamm Hanson scores with art shows in Tacoma, Seattle | |
| David&Martin entertain stylishly at Cabaret de Paris, Rep's Great Gatsby brings 1920s alive for Seattle fans, Pamm Hanson scores with art shows in Tacoma, Seattle
By Milton W. Hamlin -
SGN A&E Writer Most of the Thanksgiving leftovers have been gobbled up , shoppers have survived the famous day-after-Turkey Day sales and many Emerald City entertainment fans are ready for some "let's get out of the house" action. The entertainment calendar looks great-with not one turkey on the horizon. It's another great week for Bits&Bytes. Read on: DAVID & MARTIN BRING SOPHISTICATED BROADWAY TO CABARET DE PARIS The stylish new cabaret at Crepe de Paris, Sophisticated Broadway, spotlights David & Martin, a Seattle based duo that seems to have a huge local fan base. For the record, the team is David Skover, a tenor who teaches voice at Seattle University, and Martin Buff, pianist, who teaches keyboard at several high schools in Seattle and to private students. The two make an entertaining pair, and their Sophisticated Broadway is a welcome addition to the long line of hits shows at the Cabaret de Paris, which makes its home at Crepe de Paris, downtown in Rainier Square. The duo divides the show into four parts. Tributes to openly Gay composer Stephen Sondheim and Duke Ellington take the first half. After intermission, a rare tribute to Harold Arlen and a salute to "modern musical theatre" share the spotlight. Highlights of the show are many. "Our Time," a pairing of "Loving You" and "Losing My Mind," and "No One Is Alone" highlight the Sondheim set. "Take The 'A' Train," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" delight in the Ellington section. Arlen's "I've Got The World On A String," "Anywhere I Hang My Hat Is Home," "Get Happy" and "Blues In The Night" are all classics and a delight to hear again. The modern Broadway composers section was another highlight-introducing many in the cheering crowd to the new voices of Broadway. Sophisticated Broadway plays its third and final weekend this Friday and Saturday. Hopefully, the duo will return in the New Year with another hit show. Details and reservations at 623-4111. Next up at Cabaret de Paris is the annual holiday show. This year, it's The Wicked Xmas-Dorothy Doesn't Live Here Anymore, a new comedy/cabaret holiday revue written and directed by Bob Dedea. The show-with obvious appeal to "Friends Of Dorothy" and the whole GLBT community--runs Nov. 30-Dec. 26. Plan ahead-the Crepe's holiday shows often sell out weeks ahead of time for key dates. ARTIST PAMM HANSON STAGES SHOWS IN TACOMA, SEATTLE Pamm (spelling is correct) O. Hanson, a talented Seattle-based artist, has two---make that three--current shows well worth a look. Hanson, who just completed her MFA in October at Vermont's Johnson State College, painted her large, over-scale canvasses here in her SoDo studio and shipped the works back east in specially built crates. Her MFA show, Corporeal Terrain, ran through Nov. 4. The works were shipped back here and form the basis for her Tacoma show, Visage, at Primo Grill in Tacoma's north end. The popular Italian restaurant always hosts an art show. Hanson's show, running through December, was an obvious success on opening night--four works sold in the first 15 minutes. Hanson' strong, bold paintings-almost always using self-images as her inspiration and launching point-will be on view in Seattle for one day only when Hanson hosts an open house in her studio building in SoDo. The Sunday, Dec. 3 open-to-the-public event will be at 111 S. Lander from 3-7 p.m. "Look for the doorman," Hanson laughingly told Bits&Bytes. While Hanson tends to paint large-scale works, three "tiny" works are on display at Some Space Gallery in Pioneer Square. "They're only 2x3 inches," Hanson said. The oversized canvasses from Primo will be part of the Seattle studio show. A "mad dash" to Tacoma with replacement works will bring the triptych to SoDo. It will be returned the next day. (Actually, only two panels of the three-part work are on view at Primo-"the center section was just too big for the space we planned to hang it," Hanson said.) Full details are available at (206) 604-3612. Information on the Primo showing is available at (253) 383-7000. (Full Disclosure: Pamm Hanson and her partner, Pam Weeks, are new personal friends of Bits&Bytes-who has great taste in art and new friends.) DREAMGIRLS SNEAK PACKS PACIFIC PLACE The new Hollywood adaptation of Broadway's Dreamgirls, opening Christmas Day nationally and in Seattle, had a packed crowd filling Pacific Place for a very special sneak peek at the all-star musical last week. While reviews cannot appear before the opening date, the musical is creating its own buzz with a series of great PR events. Last week's screening was packed with Seattle International Film Festival season pass holders, who are often on the special preview lists, film fans in general and the Seattle press corps. Turns out that last week's Dreamgirls sneak preview (held on the same night all over the country) is the only screening planned--locally and nationally-before the film's holiday release. The film also returns Tinsel Town to the glamour days of the 1960s and '70s by opening the musical as a reserved seat event in three major markets a week before the Christmas Day debut. Fans in Los Angeles and New York can buy reserved seats for special showings-at $20 a seat with a special commemorative program. Film fans of "a certain age" remember when prestige films--Ben Hur, Doctor Zhivago, Porgy And Bess, The Sound Of Music-opened on a reserved seat basis with only one screening each evening and some matinees. An emotional highlight of the Dreamgirls preview for many GLBT stage and film fans was the spontaneous applause when the screen credit for Michael Bennett, the original Broadway director, appeared. The openly Gay director and creator was an early loss in the AIDS epidemic. NUDE FLOGGING & BOND IN BONDAGE IN NEW CASINO ROYALE The new Casino Royale, the latest James Bond film and the third screen version of the first 007 title, is cleaning up in the U.S. and internationally. Endless press has described the success of the new Bond, the harder, grittier look of the film, the lack of clever one-liners, etc. But, Bits&Bytes had no idea the film had its first full nude scene for James Bond-a flogging/torture scene late in the film when 007 is tied naked to a chair and flogged in an attempt to get a secret password for a high stakes bank account. Funny that none of the mainstream papers mentioned the nude/flogging sequence and that SGN and Bits&Bytes did. SEATTLE REP SCORES WITH GREAT GATSBY, GLBT NIGHT GROWS By now, most serious Emerald City theater fans have heard that the Seattle Repertory Theatre's stylish production of The Great Gatsby is a winner in every department. Directed by David Esbjornson, in his second year as artistic director of the Rep, the production continues through Dec. 10 and should not get lost in the holiday flurry of activity. Tickets start at just $15 and are only $10 for audience members under 25. The Rep's new G.A.L.A. group for Gay and Lesbian theater fans met after the performance on Nov. 14. GLBT stage buffs have a chance to mix and mingle with other GLBT patrons on this special night. The free post-show "mixer" offers complimentary drinks and snacks. The Rep reported an "active" and "growing" turnout from GLBT stage fans. The next G.A.L.A. event is set for mid-January when Edward Albee's The Lady From Dubuque gets a rare, rare mounting. The combination of a rare staging of a major work from the openly Gay playwright and the new GLBT social group should prove irresistible for many. For ticket discounts, call the Rep's box office at 443-2222 and mention G.A.L.A. The Rep also has a toll-free number for out-of-area patrons-(877) 900-9285. |
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