Staff Picks
It’s an emotional roller coaster out here in Seattle theater, so buckle up for everything from a high-energy jazz revue and a story of dangerous tech journalism to a candy-colored, hand-jiving musical and an intimate look at the vicissitudes of the American health care system.
‘I Will Miss You When You’re Gone’
This play by Jessica Moss and produced by The Shattered Glass Project, which celebrates work by women, nonbinary and transgender artists, is billed as both “a comedy about sad things” and a “lonesome country song about grief and bureaucracy.” Here’s the story: “Celeste tries to contact her dead mother, Theresa, but instead is haunted by Evelyn. Evelyn jumped off the top of her office building, run by Robin. Robin just wants to get these files in order, until the spirit of Theresa shows up.” As someone who loves theater and fully agrees that we need to have a better cultural relationship with grieving and isolation, color me intrigued.
Through March 21; Theatre Off Jackson, 409 Seventh Ave. S., Seattle; $5-$75; shatteredglassproject.org
‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’
This “immersive musical revue” that celebrates the life and art of jazz legend Fats Waller has a lot to recommend it, not least of which is the music. Expect to hear jazz hits including “Honeysuckle Rose,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and, of course, the title song in this joyful show, which opened on Broadway in 1978 and went on to win the Tony Award for best musical. Another major selling point here is the cast, which features some truly excellent local voices, including Yusef Seevers, Alexandria J. Henderson and Sarah Russell.
March 18-April 25; Taproot Theatre, 204 N. 85th St., Seattle; $35-$74; 206-781-9707, taproottheatre.org
Moisture Festival
This long-running variety show takes over Broadway Performance Hall for a few weeks, filling the space with music and dance, clowns and comedians, jugglers, jump-ropers, acrobats, aerialists, burlesque artists and more. Each show contains a wide range of acts, so check out the lineup and see what sounds like the most fun for you — and bear in mind that Friday night shows (aka Frisky Fridays) are heavier on the burlesque side of things, and only open to audience members 18 and older.
March 19-April 12; Broadway Performance Hall, 1625 Broadway, Seattle; $23.31-$49.89; 206-297-1405, moisturefestival.org
‘Mary Jane’
Allison Narver directs this beautiful, semi-autobiographical play by Amy Herzog, which centers on a woman who becomes a caregiver for her medically fragile toddler son. Seattle’s Brenda Joyner joins the growing list of excellent actors to tackle this title role: The 2017 off-Broadway premiere of “Mary Jane” starred Carrie Coon, and a Tony-nominated 2024 Broadway production starred Rachel McAdams in her Broadway debut. Joyner isn’t telling this story alone; she’ll have fellow local talents Amy Thone, Andi Alhadeff, Shaunyce Omar and Anteia Delaney helping her share this tale of community and navigating the brutal American health care system.
March 19-April 19; Seattle Rep, 155 Mercer St., Seattle; $52-$108; 206-443-2222, seattlerep.org
‘Grease’
What makes this satirical, 1970s musical about 1950s American high schoolers such a perennial favorite among musical lovers? Is it the hand jive? The cutesy song “Summer Nights”? The fun game of listening for cleanups of the original dirty lyrics to “Greased Lightnin’”? All of the above and so much more. It’s a great “boy and girl meet” story filled with singing, dancing and issues like sex, rebellion and teenage pregnancy, which skyrockets the stakes up in the way that only teenage angst can. Bonus: This Village Theatre production is directed and choreographed by Lisa Shriver, a gifted shaper of musical theater.
March 24-May 3 at Village Theatre Issaquah, 303 Front St. N., Issaquah. May 9-June 7 at Village Theatre Everett, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett. Tickets start at $47; 425-392-2202, villagetheatre.org
‘Wife of Headless Man Investigates Her Own Disappearance’
Fans of local playwright Yussef el Guindi, whose many locally produced works include “Back of the Throat” at Theater Schmeater as well as “Threesome” and “Hotter Than Egypt” at ACT Contemporary Theatre (now Union Arts Center), should mark their calendars for his latest world premiere play, called “Wife of Headless Man Investigates Her Own Disappearance.” Here’s the gist: After interviewing a tech billionaire about whom she’s written some unflattering articles, a reporter wakes up following a chunk of time she can’t remember. The big question is: “If she was drugged, is that why, when she returns home, her husband appears as fully alive and functioning and headless?”
March 26-April 11; Annex Theatre, 1100 E. Pike St., Seattle; $5-$39; 206-728-0933, annextheatre.org
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