By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL On June 2, Harlequin Productions will offer one performance, the name of which all but dares critics to slam it. That show, concocted by Aaron Lamb, is entitled Miscast! (The exclamation mark is very much Harlequin’s.) Usually when actors are accused of having been miscast, it’s no compliment. Consider, for example, the …
By CHRISTIAN CARVAJAL Fun Home, a musical based on the 2006 graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel, is coming to South Puget Sound Community Theater (SPSCC). The musical tells the story of Bechdel’s tumultuous relationship with her parents and her process of coming out, to herself and others, in college. It opened off-Broadway in 2013, then …
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Henrik Ibsen’s controversial classic A Doll’s House as presented at Harlequin Productions is stunning, and as relevant now as it was when it shocked theater-goers in 1879. Director Aaron Lamb has updated it with modern sets, costumes, music, and a highly stylized opening and closing that are …
By NOAH SHACHAR Cinema and music have been intertwined since the debut of moving pictures. With the invention of sound cinema, however, we lost the combination of a live orchestra playing alongside the silver screen. Starting in May, Olympia Film Society (OFS) introduces an all-new film program series, Screen Scores. The program attaches live ensembles …
By LUCY VOLKER Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia (SOGO) provides musical education, technical training and performance opportunities for aspiring, young musicians. The group offers a variety of intensive classes and training programs for elementary, middle and high-school-aged youth. SOGO aims to prepare students for careers in classical music. Its programs focus on artistic development, ear …
By Alec Clayton Washington State’s Poet Laureate Claudia Castro Luna offered up a fitting end to a glittering night of art at the Washington Center‘s “Center Salon” on Friday, April 12. Castro Luna called her suite of poems “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” as inspired by the Tina Turner song of the same …
By Todd B. Gruel Rise Up is a tribute band with a purpose. The Seattle-based ensemble performs music from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s acclaimed Hamilton, a Broadway musical which has scored 11 Tony’s, a Grammy and even a Pulitzer. Not bad for hip-hop theater performance about one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Alexander Hamilton. …
By LUCY VOLKER This spring Olympia Family Theater will revisit the playful musical production Go, Dog. Go! “Eight colorful dogs will bustle, frolic, dance, scoot, work, sleep, play, sing and party across the stage as they move through their days,” says artistic director Jen Ryle. “Whether working, picnicking or preparing for bed, their playful antics will …
By TODD B. GRUEL Julia Shapiro, guitarist and singer for Chastity Belt, considers what feminism means in the 21st century for an all-female band. “To me,” she decides, “it just means being a person with multiple identities, one of them being female, and not having to really think about the fact that I’m a woman …
By MELINDA MINTON Henry Ibsen wrote the play A Doll’s House as a daring portrait of a man who loves his wife as an equal. While that concept remains fresh in the #MeToo era, 150 years ago the thought of an equal partnership between man and wife was shocking. Ibsen himself said, as he was writing it …