Seattle Spotlight: October 2007

Productions are flying around like bats this Halloween month. The national tour of Tony Award-winning musical Monty Python’s Spamalot plops into The Paramount Theatre October 10-28, while the 5th Avenue Theatre continues its to commitment to producing the works of Stephen Sondheim with Into The Woods (October 19-November 10). Also on the musical front, Showtunes! Theatre Company presents a world premiere revue Rodgers &… (October 6-7) by Annie creator Martin Charnin (wrote the musical Two by Two with Richard Rodgers).

Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Murderers (October 4-November 4) is about three senior residents of a retirement community who have blood on their hands. Bat Boy The Musical (ArtsWest, October 3-November 10) is a story about a strange boy with pointy ears trying to find acceptance. Annex Theatre experiments with a collaborative, company-designed performance they call I Feel Fine (October 12-November 10), which uses found objects, dance, music, and lots of food.

Ira Levin’s thriller Deathtrap (October 19-November 4) mysteriously appears at Renton Civic Theater, and Dracula: A Case Study (October 11-November 3) uses puppeteers from Theatre Off Jackson/Monkey Wrench Puppet Labs to relive the Bram Stoker novel. More horror is brought by Open Circle Theater’s Dreams in the Witch House (October 12-November 10). Jekyll & Hyde fractures at Bainbridge Performing Arts (October 11-28). Mystery Madness: A Trilogy of Terror (October 17-November 10) comes to Stone Soup Theatre with three suspense classics. Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest (October 12-27) at Redwood Theatre is filled with suspense, intrigue, and surprise twists. And you can choose two productions of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, one at Driftwood Players (October 19-28) and one at Renton Civic Theater (October 28-November 5).

ACT serves up The Women, a venomously funny 1930s comedy by Clare Boothe Luce (October 5-November 11) and Tania Katan’s touching memoir of her struggle with breast cancer, My One Night Stand with Cancer (October 11-November 11). Seattle Shakespeare Company produces Pericles (October 26-November 18). Theater Schmeater presents David Mamet’s American Buffalo (October 25-December 1), about three crooks in a junk shop. Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and Trial By Jury are sung by Northwest Savoyards Musical Theater Society (October 19-November 4). The life of writer Hunter Thompson is remembered in Gonzo, a Brutal Chrysalis (October 4-6) at CHAC. Life of Galileo is explored by Strawberry Theatre Workshop (October 25-November 18).

Rebecca Gilman’s Blue Surge (October 4-20), produced by Bad Monkey Productions, tells the story of a small-town Midwestern cop and the 18-year-old prostitute he meets in a massage parlor. Macha Monkey Productions premieres Franklin and Figaro, a revolutionary farce by Kristina Sutherland. Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center shows the life of singer Dinah Washington in Dinah Was (October 6-November 18). Cloud 9, by Caryl Churchill, is performed at Balagan Theatre Co. (October 18-November 10). What Have We Done To Baby Jane?, played by two of Seattle’s funniest actors, Imogen Love and Lisa Sanphillippo, recaps the novel at Re-bar (October 12-November 10).

Then, Eclectic Theatre Company gives us St. Nicholas, about an aging theater critic obsessed with a young actress (October 12-November 3). Hair flows in the New Everett Theatre Company (October 5-28). 12 Minutes Max (October 7-8), curated by Brangien Davis and Nancy Guppy, presents at On The Boards. Rush Limbaugh in Night School (October 13-14) is skewered at Broadway Center for the Performing Arts in a one-man show by Charlie Varon. SIS Productions offers another episode of Seattle’s longest running, original episodic series, Sex in Seattle! (October 18-November 10) at Richard Hugo House.

Families have much to choose from. Hansel & Gretel is at SecondStory Repertory (October 12-28 ). Chicken Little (October 13-December 2) pecks around Storybook Theatre, with a brand new musical adaptation by Lani Brockman and Susan Bardsley. And, Seattle Children’s Theatre offers Roald Dahl’s gentle The Big Friendly Giant (October 19-December 30), recommended for ages 5 and up.