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| New Car, Last Five Years, & Chaperone | |
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by Milton W. Hamlin -
SGN A&E Writer A new hit comedy at ACT, the final performances of the stunning Elektra at Seattle Opera, a new program of mixed works at Pacific Northwest Ballet, a revival of a revival at ReAct, the toe-tapping fun of the touring The Drowsy Chaperone at the 5th Avenue Theatre - it's another great week for Seattle entertainment fans. Read on: ACT SCORES WITH BECKY'S NEW CAR BY STEVEN DIETZ The opening night audience at ACT - A Contemporary Theatre - was ready for a hit comedy last week when Steven Dietz's new comedy, Becky's New Car, received its world-premiere performance. The buzz was great; preview audiences loved the show. The playwright lives in Seattle, the play was commissioned by a Seattle couple as a birthday gift to the wife, the cast included Seattle favorites and New York and regional theater actors new to the local stage scene. And, miracles of miracles, the stars aligned, and ACT delivered a rollicking new hit comedy, a play with a wistful look at midlife marriage that puts farce front and center. The premise is simple. Becky works as a title clerk at an auto dealership. She's been married, "forever," to a nice guy, Joe, a roofer, but there's little excitement in the marriage at this point. There's also a late-20s son living in the basement and working on his college degree in psychology. Chris is "the eternal freeloader - my son is loaded and the dishwasher is not." She doesn't mind her life, but she is open to a little excitement. Becky narrates much of the play - talking to the audience, asking audience "volunteers" to collate various forms, scolding them when they don't complete the job. She also involves the stage crew with prompts light cues, scene shifts, etc. It's a dangerous gimmick by Dietz, and Kurt Beattie, ACT's artistic director, pull it off. Kimberly King, a veteran of regional theaters and New York productions (and two recent shows at Intiman), is a delight as the kooky Betsy. "When a woman buys a new car," she informs us, "she really wants a new life." Working late at night, a multimillionaire stumbles in, hoping to buy "nine new cars" for office gifts the next morning. Becky cannot believe he is real. A recent widower, Walter Flood (wonderfully brought to life by Seattle's Michael Winters) is flooded by grief regarding his wife's death. She helps him, gift-wraps the keys, rings up the sale, and inadvertently creates the impression that she, too, has recently lost a spouse. "What the hell," she shrugs, "I'll never see him again." Wrong. He starts to court her, invites her to an exclusive dinner party at his very private mansion. "Might as well go," she convinces herself. And that's when the farce hits the fan. Delightful performances from R. Hamilton Wright and Suzanne Bouchard in supporting roles brighten the show. Bouchard gets huge laughs from the simplest lines. When Walter drones on and on about his late wife's memorial service, he cries, "they even had candles." Bouchard stops the show when she deadpans, "Everybody has candles." Charles Leggett, another Seattle favorite, walks away with all of his scenes with his matter-of-fact creation of Joe, the husband who knows something is amiss but cannot imagine what it can be. "Oh, Beck," he replies at her request to talk things out, "it's been a great day ... why ruin it with talk." Another insight: "Nobody on earth wants to hear about how hard you work, how tired you are, or what happened at the airport." Today's financial crisis gets a working-over. The rich friends of Walter, who is the self-made "Billboard King" of America, moan about their disappearing wealth. Most of them are "Trust Fund Kids" - "We always thought that the money we never made could never run out." Insights, clever staging, terrific performances all make Becky's New Car a delightful hit. It continues through November 16 and is simply a "must." Ticket information at (206) 292-7676. Ask about various discounts, special events, etc. (Full Disclosure Time: The Seattle couple who commissioned Becky's New Car are personal friends of this writer. Charles Staadecker commissioned the play for his wife Benita, a Trustee of ACT. It commemorates a special birthday for the vivacious theater lover. This scribe was so pleased that the play was a hit & and it is. Happy Birthday, Benita.) The commission launched ACT's New Works for the American Stage program. NEW THEATRE GROUP PRESENTS ORIGINAL ONE-ACTS ON SUNDAY The new Theatre 9/12, a group of Equity actors who have gathered together to produce four original one-act plays on Sunday afternoons through the next two Sundays, are well worth a look. The four new one-act plays, ranging from a serious examination of the effects of the war in Iraq to an absurd comedy about a dog in a post office, are offered on a pay-what-you-will basis. That's a great attention getting device in the current times of economic uncertainty. $1 will get you in. PC Panic, the first play, is more of a skit about a customer who insists on bringing his dog into the local post office, creating a "PC" moment - politically correct behavior goes out the window in this out-and-out farce. Laura Kenny (truth be told, a good theater friend of this scribe) is hysterical as the post office worker who knows a dog when she sees one. Her performance is a standout in the afternoon collection. Ninko, the dog who plays "himself," is another scene-stealer. Act One, Six Sundays uses the intimate Buster's Lounge area at ACT Theatre in downtown Seattle. Performances are at 2 p.m. Check it out. OPERA'S Elektra CLOSES, 5th HOSTS CHAPERONE, PNB READIES MIXED REP Openings and closing dominate the Emerald City entertainment scene: Seattle Opera's mesmerizing production of Richard Strauss' rarely performed Elektra, an operatic reworking of the Greek tragedy, ends its October run with performances tonight and tomorrow at McCaw Hall. Opera fans who show up tonight in Halloween costumes get half-price seats at the box office. (Intiman Theatre, with its ongoing All The King's Men, is offering the same half-price deal for patrons costumes as their favorite political figure. Bits&Bytes cannot tell a lie and might go as George Washington and a downed cherry tree.) The Drowsy Chaperone, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical that delighted audiences in New York and now on tour, officially opens tonight at the 5th Avenue Theatre for a three-week run through November 16. Be prepared for a fun, fun evening. Look for a detailed review in next week's SGN. Pacific Northwest Ballet opens its second mixed rep program with four works, three of them premieres. One PNB premiere, Mark Morris' A Garden, two world premieres, and a revival of William Forsythe's very controversial One Flat Thing, Reproduced make up the New Works program, running November 6-16. (Mark Morris, of course, is the openly Gay native of Renton who went on to international acclaim as a flamboyant choreographer. He is a frequent Seattle visitor.) PNB's tickets start at just $25 - just over $6 a ballet. Details at (206) 441-2416. ReACT ENCORES HIT CHAMBER MUSICAL LAST FIVE YEARS The third time is the obvious charm for ReAct's delightful mini-musical, The Last Five Years. The talented company had a hit staging several seasons back and encored the show for a September to October run. The show drew raves reviews (see SGN's rave in the archives) this fall and returns for a November 1-9 revival, moving to the Broadway Performance Hall for the November performances. Ticket information and reservations are available at (206) 364-3283. The off-Broadway hit has a clever structure - the two-character musical goes forward in time for one of the married pair but the musical plays in reverse for the other. The only "real" time is the central scene where both husband and wife are in the same time and place. Well worth a look. Jessica Skerritt is radiant as the young wife, and Jason Kappus is fine as the husband. |
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