(OUTview NW) RE-view: This Year's HAM for the HOLIDAYS is One of the Bitchiest Ever!

Domenico dominated the SGMC sketch!     (Bennion)

By MK Scott

It is that time of year again that we get to Check IN with the Spudds and the Drama queens of the Sequim Gay Men's Chorus and more at Ham for the Holidays: Who's Afraid of Virginia Ham?  Always performed by Seattle comedy legends of Lisa Koch and Peggy Platt! Also last but not least the supporting talents of DJ Gommels and Michael Oaks, newcomer, Abbie Drake and the ripping beefcake of Joel Domenico (Judy's Scary Christmas, Robbie Turner Revue).

Once again (For 3 years in a row) with a larger budget at ACT Theater and a Full house, this comedy masterminds went from sketch after sketch with professional ease.

(OUTscene NW) RE-view: Falls' A Christmas Carol' at ACT celebrates 40 years as the Abbreviated Dickens Classic!

Beattie as Scrooge      (Bennion)

by MK Scott

I enjoyed ACT theater's production of the Dickens' Classic, a Christmas Carol, so much last year that I wanted to see it again to prove a theory that I have that this classic is rich with gay overtones and I am more convinced than ever that Dickens had an secret Gay agenda.

The adaptation into a ONE Act, 90 min. version now in its 40th year by ACT Founder, Gregory Falls and Directed by new Artistic Director, John Langs has cleverly woven this classic story and staged it in the ROUND, with lots of trap doors and projected images on tapestry. The Dickens Carolers set the mood and the tone as we meet Ebenezer Scrooge (Outgoing Artistic Director, Kurt Beattie and alternating with our pal, Charles Leggett) and Bob Cratchit (Mathew Floyd Miller) as he is forced to work on Christmas Eve.

As Scrooge prepares for bed, he is visited by the ghost of his late 'Partner', Jacob Marley (G. Valmont Thomas) with a warning of 3 spirits, Past (Hillary Clemons), Present (David Drummond) and Future (Connor Neddersen).

(OUTview NW) RE-view: ACT's Threesome Goes from Bedroom Farce to Political Statement for Gender Equality!

Someone is Hiding Something BIG!          Scandiuzzi

by MK Scott


When I first heard about ACT's new production of Threesome, I was curious especially since it was written by a Muslim and the 2 main characters are from Egypt and their mission is to have a Threesome. OK, a Rare Sex Comedy with Muslim twist? What we get is 2 Genres for the price of one. 

As the lights rise on Yussef  El Guindi's play at Seattle's ACT Theater, this past weekend, we see Rashid (Karan Oberoi), an Egyptian-American photographer, and his Girlfriend, Leila (Alia Attallah), a westernized Egyptian writer now living in America. Leila has written a book on Sexual Politics during the Egyptian Revolution, and so she pushes Rashid to go along with this experiment. A Threesome.

Soon they are joined by the somewhat annoying, American, Doug (Quinn Franzen), who is appropriately attired  (Full Frontal of course).. So Doug gets in the Middle of the Bed, with a still clothed, Leila, on one side as she forces Rashid to get into the other side with Doug. Rashid is clearly uncomfortable and slowly takes his shirt off and his boxers off and fold them neatly on the Night stand. Doug truly starts to initiate. But Rashid Panics and both are stunned that Doug has read the book and his the Publishing company's official Photographer to take the official cover of the book.

(OUTscene NW) Theater RE-view: 'Seven Ways to Get There' or Be Square at Seattle's ACT!

Michelle (Potter) couldn't keep her hands off Nick and Vince!  / Truman Buffett

by MK Scott

Back in my teens and twenties, my shrink tried to get me to join Group Therapy, so I tried it once and realized it just wasn't for me. It wasn't crazy as the antics of  the fact I couldn't find any type of the characters from the 'Bob Newhart Show', it was just that you could never talk or get any word in. I did much better when it was one on one and latter a very small group of 4 or 5. (Less than 6).

“Seven Ways to Get There,” a new play (Directed by John Langs) debuting at Seattle's ACT Theatre, was about group therapy with one or two many loons in a Therapy Group. What I discovered was there were either all sides of me or all the different types of men I have dated through the years.

But poking fun at dysfunction and caricaturing the therapeutic experience is not all co-authors Dwayne J. Clark (whose experiences inspired the play) and Bryan Willis have set out to do.

We  have Anthony (Darragh Kennan) the Bully; Mark (Bradford Farwell) the Artist; Nick (James DeVita); the Workaholic; Mel, the only African American member (Bob Williams; the shy supportive friend; Vince (Ty Boice) the sex addict; Peter (Charles Legget) the social/quiet conservative, and  Richard (Jim Lapan), the loud talkative Buffoon. They all have their hangups and refuse to work together.

(OUTscene NW) RE-view: Falls' A Christmas Carol' at ACT celebrates 39 years as the Abbreviated Dickens Classic!

Wright as Scrooge              P: Bennion

by MK Scott

It is hard to fathom that I had never seen a stage version of a Christmas Carol, until now. Seattle's ACT theater stages this production of the Dickens' Classic Adaptation into a ONE Act, 90 min. version now in its 39th year by ACT Founder, Gregory Falls and Directed by the associate Artistic Director, John Langs has cleverly woven this classic story and staged it in the ROUND, with lots of trap doors and projected images on tapestry. The Dickens Carolers set the mood and the tone as we meet Ebenezer Scrooge (Seattle's Best Theater Actor, R. Hamilton Wright) and Bob Cratchit (James Lapan) as he is forced to work on Christmas Eve.

As Scrooge prepares for bed, he is visited by the ghost of his late 'Partner', Jacob Marley (David Foubert) with a warning of 3 spirits, Past (Sydney Andrews), Present (Charles Leggett) and Future (Scott Abernethy).

(OUTscene NW) RE-view: ACT and 5th Ave's 'Grey Gardens' Sparkles!

by MK Scott

Finally saw 'Grey Gardens' the Musical, the Joint-Production of Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater and A.C.T. and was blown away the production, not necessary the show itself, but I do get where they were coming from. More Later.

Grey Gardens is a musical with book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel, and lyrics by Michael Korie, based on the 1975 documentary of the same title about the lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale ("Big Edie") and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") by Albert and David Maysles. The Beales were Jacqueline Kennedy's aunt and cousin, respectively. Set at Grey Gardens, the Bouviers' mansion in East Hampton, New York, the musical tracks the progression of the two women's lives from their original status as rich and socially polished aristocrats to their eventual largely isolated existence in a home overrun by cats and cited for repeated health code violations. However, its more central purpose is to untangle the complicated dynamics of their dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship.

The show feel like 2 different shows, with 2nd act as 180 degree turn.