Staff Picks
Whether you go to the theater to escape or engage, to be entertained, inspired or provoked, Seattle theater will provide. Here are a handful of our theatrical highlights in the month ahead.
‘Topdog/Underdog’
Where to begin with this incredible but hard-to-describe play? Not only did the darkly funny piece by Suzan-Lori Parks earn a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, in 2018 The New York Times named it the best play of the last 25 years. “As in so much of Ms. Parks’s work,” wrote Ben Brantley, then the Times’ chief theater critic, “‘Topdog/Underdog’ plies the fine theatrical art of deception to convey the dangers of role-playing in a society in which race is a performance and prison.” At ArtsWest, Valerie Curtis-Newton directs the two-hander starring top-flight local actors ML Roberts and Yusef Seevers as brothers Lincoln, a former three-card monte dealer-turned-Abraham Lincoln impersonator, and Booth, an aspiring con man.
Through March 1; ArtsWest, 4711 California Ave. S.W., Seattle; $43-$48; 206-938-0339, artswest.org
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
Springtime always feels like the right time for this Shakespeare comedy, with its warring fairies, love potions, floral motifs and two young couples capering through a forest in pursuit of love. Done well, the play is a frothy, funny romp, and it’s in good hands with Desdemona Chiang, whose delicacy and specificity with comedy pulls the very best out of a script without bogging it down. Anne Allgood as fairy queen Titania and Nathaniel Tenenbaum as her (mistaken) donkey-headed lover are just two of the performers I’m looking forward to seeing in this play, which has been a reliable delight for generations for a reason.
Feb. 14-March 8; Union Arts Center, 700 Union St., Seattle; $5-$84; 206-292-7676, unionartscenter.org
‘Rose: You Are Who You Eat’
On the Boards fans may remember the stunning Philadelphia-based artist Rose Jarboe from her 2024 appearance in the performance extravaganza “Threesome,” an On the Boards production presented in a Sodo auto shop. Now she returns to OtB proper for a show described by the theater as “a feast of gender through song, storytelling and a full plate of wordplay.” Created in partnership with The Bearded Ladies cabaret (where Jarboe is artistic director), this “musical shrine” to a twin consumed in utero features original music written by Jarboe, Emily Bate and Pax Ressler. Here’s what we know from OtB’s content transparency section: “This performance includes themes of fetal mortality and growing up queer in Michigan in the ’90s, some graphic eating imagery and cannibal humor.” Consider yourself warned.
Feb. 19-21; On the Boards, 100 W. Roy St., Seattle; $3.50-$272.50; 206-217-9886, ontheboards.org
‘A Mirror’
Thalia’s Umbrella presents this nesting-doll of a play by Sam Holcroft, set at a wedding that is not a wedding. Well, is it a wedding? Maybe, but it’s also a dystopian satire that sets things up with the following phrase: “This performance is being staged without a license from the Ministry. We recognize the risk that each and every one of you is taking by attending and we salute your courage.” And it only gets more Daedalian from there. In a review of the show’s 2023 world premiere in London, the critic wrote, “At one moment, by my maths, we are watching a play within a play within a play within a fake wedding.”
Feb. 26-March 14; 12th Avenue Arts, 1620 12th Ave., Seattle; $21.40-$53.02; 206-313-0257, thaliasumbrella.org
‘The Notebook’
When this romance starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams as two mismatched, midcentury lovers came out in 2004, I was, demographically, a sitting duck. So, I’ll admit: I love that movie, which has nothing to do with whether I think it’s good. Your mileage (and schmaltz tolerance) may vary. I was also squarely in the cultural crosshairs of singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson’s indie-folk breakout hit “The Way I Am” in 2006. This is all to say: I’m excited to see the musical adaptation of “The Notebook,” with a score by Michaelson and a book by playwright Bekah Brunstetter, even though its critical reception was decidedly mixed when it debuted on Broadway in 2024. It’s apparently been bumped ahead in time, from World War II-era to the Vietnam War-era, but I have it on good authority that the rain scene remains a showstopper.
March 3-8; Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle; tickets start at $55.60; 206-682-1414, stgpresents.org
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