Seattle Spotlight: April 2011

April is “busting out all over” with theater. The workin’ women’s musical, 9 to 5: The Musical hauls itself to the 5th Avenue Theatre (April 5-24). American Idol finalist Diana DeGarmo plays Doralee, the role made famous in the movie by Dolly Parton, who has written the music and lyrics for the new musical. The touring production co-stars Dee Hoty and Mamie Parris.

Seattle Musical Theatre traipses Into The Woods (April 29-May 21), finding an ambivalent Cinderella, blood-thirsty Little Red Riding Hood, and other fractured fairy tale characters in this tuner by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. In another fairy tale twist, StoryBook Theater wakes up Sleeping Beauty by Lani Brockman and Susan Bardsley (April 23-May 15), in which the story’s heroine yearns to slay dragons and find adventure.

Seattle Repertory offers This, by Melissa James Gibson (April 8-May 15). Hans Altweis and Cheyenne Casebier star in this decidedly un-romantic comedy about four friends testing the boundaries of their relationships. Seattle Rep also brings master storyteller Mike Daisey to town with The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs (April 22-May 22).

Seattle Shakespeare Company opens The Merry Wives of Windsor (April 19-May 15) as John Patrick Lowrie plays the lovable rogue John Falstaff who attempts to seduce and swindle Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. ACT Theatre conjures summer a little early with Neil Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue (April 29-May 29), with an all-star Seattle cast including R. Hamilton Wright and Ann Allgood.

ArtsWest premieres Shipwrecked! An Entertainment! The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougemont (As Told By Himself), by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies (April 27-May 21). Doug Fahl will play Louis De Rougemont, who hoaxed people with adventures as a castaway in the South Pacific.

New Century Theatre Company chews on O Lovely Glowworm (April 13-May 14), by former Seattleite Glen Berger (co-book writer of Broadway’s already infamous Spider Man – Turn Off The Dark). In a small corner of Ireland circa 1918, a stuffed goat living atop a garbage heap concocts a magical inner world to escape the reality of its bleak existence. In show-must-go-on tradition, Michael Patten replaces beloved and recently deceased Seattle stalwart Mark Chamberlin in the production.

SiS Productions premieres Sex In Seattle Episode 19: The One That Got Away (April 1-30), as Tess, Chloe, Elizabeth and Jenna have finally found true love. Or have they? It’s the country’s longest running theater soap opera about contemporary Asian American women. Stone Soup Theatre presents a first-ever Double XX Festival (April 7-24), a short-play festival featuring women playwrights, women directors, an all female 24 Hour Fest, and workshops.

UMO Ensemble opens Red Tiger Tales (April 14-23) as red-nose monk clowns weave Buddhist, Zen and Sufi stories with mask, puppets, music, and breathtaking physical skill. New City Theatre presents Sick (April 8-30), written and performed by Seattle monologist Elizabeth Kenny, exploring her two-year odyssey inside the most advanced healthcare system in the world that almost killed her.

New company Arouet presents Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune by Terrence McNally (April 29-May 15). The Market Theatre opens My Time with the Lady (April 7-30), an original play about the now-closed Lusty Lady Peepshow, through the eyes of a young man who worked the front desk.

Ghost Light Theatricals world premieres The Clouds, A Reality Play (April 15-May 1), local writer Alexis Holzer’s humorous adaptation of Aristophanes, where aging reality star Stephanie Stophanes is deep in debt, in the midst of a messy divorce, and facing cancellation. Phoenix Theatre mounts Drinking Alone by Norm Foster (April 1-23), in which Joe hires Renee to pose as his fiancé during a dysfunctional family reunion. Puppet This presents Manos – The Hands of Felt (April 1-16) which tells the story of Harold P. Warren’s dream of filming a low budget horror film.

SecondStory Repertory presents The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (April 1-30). The Edmonds Driftwood Players romps with Nunsense by Dan Goggin (April 1-24). Rest Stop opens at Renton Civic Theater (April 10-April 18) where a teenage daughter and father clash. Also at the venue is Here on the Flight Path, by Norman Foster (April 8-23) about a man and the women who move in next door.

Some great moral lessons for children will go down easily as Seattle Children’s Theater presents The Man Who Planted Trees, created by Puppet State Theatre Company of Scotland (April 7-May 1) where a French shepherd sets out with his dog to plant a forest and transform a barren wasteland one acorn at a time. Later this month, SCT presents Jackie and Me by Steven Dietz (April 21-June 5), in which young Joey time travels to meet Jackie Robinson and experiences African-American segregation in 1947.