by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTS There aren’t many popular musical institutions more respected or longer lasting than Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They’d already been around for over 20 years before they found an international audience through their contributions to Paul Simon’s genre-mixing masterpiece Graceland, and they’ve continued to amass gold and platinum albums since. Their …
by Karen Lunde for OLY ARTS Two accomplished musicians, their acoustic guitars, and some front-porch tales—that’s what audiences can expect during An Evening with Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen on The Washington Center Main Stage, Saturday, Jan. 27. Lovett and Keen, both singer-songwriters with impressive discographies spanning decades, will provide an evening of down-home songs …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Harlequin Productions will bring Doug Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play I Am My Own Wife to Olympia for their first play of 2018. It is the true life story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, an eccentric and elegant German transvestite who hid from the Nazis in plain sight by presenting as a …
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Harlequin Productions’ The Stardust Christmas Fandango is the 22nd show in the series of locally written and produced holiday musicals that has been thrilling audiences for decades. Harlequin co-founder Linda Whitney calls it a Christmas card to Olympia. The series started in 1994, and Harlequin has done …
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Olympia Family Theater has never done a bad play. Their performances are professionally produced with top-notch adult actors and crew, sometimes with child actors thrown into the mix, and they range in quality from good to very good to knock-your-socks-off excellence. That is to say, some of …
by Tom Simpson for OLY ARTS South Sound children’s theater group Apple Tree Productions will open Annie for a limited run in mid-December. Annie is the first full-scale holiday musical for Apple Tree, in their new home in the historic Capitol Theater, owned by the Olympia Film Society. Heidi Fredericks, founder and artistic director of Apple Tree, …
by Adam McKinney for OLY ARTs As the winter months descend on the world, the cold and darkness is met with a combination of reverie and revelry. Nights get quieter, and the solitude is countered with companionship and sacred celebration. A singular holiday celebration is the annual singing of Handel’s Messiah, an oratorio from the …
by Karen Lunde for OLY ARTS The Masterworks Choral Ensemble will brighten the Washington Center Main Stage on Saturday, December 2, with its annual holiday concert. This year’s performance, entitled Season of Light: A Christmas Celebration, will include familiar carols (some with new arrangements), medleys and four audience sing-alongs. The choir will even keep up …
by Jonah Barrett for OLY ARTS Olympia meets the Hundred Acre Wood this fall season at Olympia Family Theater. The family production company will perform a theatrical rendition of Winnie the Pooh from November through December. Heading this play is one of OFT’s co-founders and regular directors, Samantha Chandler. Pooh Bear, created by English author …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS This season’s The Stardust Christmas Fandango at Harlequin Productions is a Christmas card of comedy, nostalgia and great ’60s music. This year will mark the 22nd installment of this locally written and produced entertainment, centered around the Stardust nightclub in New York at Christmastime. “It’s a great alternative holiday …