(OUTscene NW) Theater RE-view: Artswest's Chinglish doesn't get lost in Translation!

Hsieh (Xi Yan) and Whitfield (Daniel)             /Brunk

by MK Scott

As a fan of both the film and play of Hwang's M. Butterfly, I was curious to see any of his other works, and of course Artswest, who are in the middle of one of their best seasons in years, has brought Hwang's latest, Chinglish,  to thier latest production.

Chinglish is a play by Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang. It is a comedy about an American businessman desperate to launch a new enterprise in China, which opened on Broadway October 2011 for a short run through January 2012.

Like with M. Butterfly, Chinglish has international intrigue and deception, and is operatic but is more of a comedy. Like Opera, it is 40% Subtitled and the translations alone is what makes the play funny.

An American businessman, Daniel Cavanaugh (the Fab, Evan Whitfield) arrives in a bustling Chinese province looking to score a lucrative contract for his family’s sign-making firm. He soon finds that the complexities of such a venture far outstrip the expected differences in language, customs and manners – and calls into questions even the most basic assumptions of human conduct.

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Chappie, Salvation, and Everly!

 

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Chappie

Rating: R
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Ambitious Chappie a Robotic Misfire!

 
The Salvation

Rating: R
Distributor: IFC Films

Salvation a Powerfully Austere Western!





 
Everly

Rating: R
Distributor: Radius TWC

Messy Everly Expertly Crafted Exploitation Cinema!

(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.

(OSCARS 2015) Academy Awards - Recap!

PHOTO: Mark Suban / ©A.M.P.A.S.

by Sara Michelle Fetters

During last Sunday’s 87th annual Academy Awards telecast, Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Broadway-set dramatic comedy Birdman starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis proved to be the night’s big winner. The film was an obvious favorite of the Academy, nominated in nine categories and taking home Oscars in four of them for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and for Emmanuel Lubezki’s memorable cinematography (his second in row, winning last year for Gravity as well).


“All the people that were behind this film was really heroes because the idea was really crazy,” said an obviously emotional Iñárritu. “A script that started with a middle-aged man, interior dressing room, cross-legged, floating, can go anywhere, and we are here. I don’t know how that happened but it happened. And, anyway, I just really want to thank everybody.”

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Focus and Lazarus Effect!

Warner Bros

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Focus

Rating: R
Distributor: Warner Bros

Dispiriting Focus Lacking Its Titular Trait!

Relativity Media

The Lazarus Effect

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Relativity Media

Deathly Bland Lazarus Beyond Resuscitation!

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of McFarland, USA; The DUFF; Hot Tub Time Machine 2!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

McFarland, USA

Rating: PG
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

Powerful McFarland Wins a Hard-Fought Victory!

The DUFF

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: CBS Films

Charming DUFF a Funny High School Jaunt!

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Fifty Shades of Grey and Kingsman: The Secret Service!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Fifty Shades of Grey

Rating: R
Distributor: Focus Features

Timid Grey Fifty Shades of Terrible!

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Rating: R
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Gleefully Anarchic Kingsman Confidently Subversive!

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Jupiter Ascending and SpongeBob!

by Sara Michelle Fetters


Jupiter Ascending

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Warner Bros

High-Flying Jupiter an Ambitious, Imaginative Mess!

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Rating: PG
Distributor: Paramount Pictures

SpongeBob’s Return Strictly for Fans!

(OUTscene NW) INTER-view: Raja brings her Moja Back to Seattle for Battle of the Seasons Tour!

/WOW

by MK Scott

Rupaul's Drag Race Tour is back in Seattle next week and we get to chat with a few of the stars. One of my Favorites is Raja (aka..Sutan Amrull) who won Season 3 and is the oldest and first Asian winner. I met Raja in Seattle at an Event in 2011. I emailed Raja some questions about the Tour and what he thinks of some of other Queens. 

(OUTscene NW) RE-view: Edison Meets Freak Show in Cirque Du Soleil's "Kurios", playing at Seattle's Marymoor!

The Seeker                                                     /Cirque du Soleil

by MK Scott

Last week I caught American Experience on PBS, which focused on the life and accomplishments of Thomas Edison. A few months back, FX had American Horror Story: Freak Show. So, on Saturday I caught Cirque Du Soleil's "Kurios" at Marymoor Park, not too far from the Microsoft World Headquarters, of where both of those TV shows are combined in quite an impressive show!

Kurios is a Cirque du Soleil touring production under the full title of Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities. Created and directed by Michel Laprise, it looks at a late-19th century world inventor who invents a machine that defies the laws of time, space and dimension in order to reinvent everything around him with steampunk elements featuring characters from another dimension that interact with him and a tribute to the power of the human imagination. For the Homage AHS: Freak Show, you have machines (Most invented by Edison from the Light bulb to the Electric Chair to the Movie Camera ) come to life. There were Siamese twins, contortionists, and a 3 foot tall woman, dressed like AHS:FS' Elsa. 

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of Still Alice and Match!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

Still Alice

Rating: PG-13
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Moore’s Star Turn Allows Alice to Resonate!

Match

Rating: R
Distributor: IFC Films

Stewart’s Brilliance Makes Match Worth Celebrating!

(OUscene NW) Re-view: 4000 miles is a Journey and proves you can always count on Grandma!

Michael Brunk

by MK Scott

I could completely relate with characters of 4000 Miles, currently at Seattle's Artswest Theater, because in my early 20's I traveled great distances to find myself, but I could always count on my Grandmother for a place to come back to. After her death in 2006, I have just started to recover this past year. 

4000 Miles is a dramatic comedy by Amy Herzog. The play ran Off-Broadway in 2011, and again in 2012 and was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

When 21 year-old Leo ( the scruffy,  Adam Standley) suffers a major loss while he was on a cross-country bike trip (starting in Seattle), he seeks solace from his feisty 91 year-old grandmother Vera (the FAB and Legendary, Susan Corzatte) in her West Village apartment. Over the course of a single month, these roommates infuriate, bewilder, and ultimately reach each other.

(MOVIE FREAK) RE-views of A Most Violent Year and The Boy Next Door!

by Sara Michelle Fetters

A Most Violent Year

Rating: R
Distributor: A24

Violent Year a Most Excellent Motion Picture!

(OUTscene NW) RE-view: The Legend of Dame Edna Sparkles at Seattle's Moore!

by MK Scott

It isn't often when Seattle welcomes a True icon (besides Cher) but when it does, all of Seattle's LGBTQA communities rushes to see it. Dame Edna is an Icon that is still going strong after 50 plus years.

Dame Edna is NOT a Drag queen in the sense of NW Treasure, Darcelle XV, (There are some similarities), but a Male (and 'Straight') Comedian from across the pond (Australia native and London presence), that just happens to be a caricature of the prim and proper royalty of yesteryear, as Seattle's Moore Theater was packed for Night One of of three night appearance. 

The similarities with Darcelle, is the fact they still are working in their 80's (Edna is 81, and Darcelle is 84) and they both wear flats, (Edna's shoes have at least a 1/2 inch heal) but their longevity is the envy of so many.

(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: The Legend(s) of Ham for the Holidays Continues!

Platt as Euomi as Mary w/Gommels as God as Tony  P: Chris 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: Fear the Bacon.  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 and the beefcake of James Knoll.

Once again 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: ARTSwest's 'Judy's SCARY Little Christmas' is Holiday Camp, Eye-candy FUN at its BEST!

Photo: Michael Brunk

by MK Scott

Judy Garland and Christmas go Hand in Hand, but Judy's SCARY Little Christmas got my interest. Just from the title alone you know you are in for some CAMPY Fun.

Our friends at ARTSwest just opened Judy’s Scary Little Christmas (directed by OUTview Pal, Troy Wageman, who most recently directed the Robbie Turner Revue), an original musical written by James Webber and David Church, with music and lyrics by Joe Patrick Ward. It is a spoof on television variety shows of the 1950s, satirizing celebrities’ public images and private lives. The fictional story employs a metaphysical plot twist (as in the television series, The Twilight Zone) and spiritual redemption through a ghost (as in Charles Dickens’ novel, A Christmas Carol.) The show contains campy humor based on the sensationalized personal lives of the celebrities, with satirical references to pop culture and politics of the 1950s.

The first stage reading was directed by Leonard Foglia in January 2000 at the John Houseman Theatre Center in New York City, with Isabel Keating as “Judy Garland,” and continued when the play was staged that December, in fact, I saw Keating playing Judy again in the 'Boy from OZ' in 2004 and sounds like she could have been discovered from the show to play Judy again in 'OZ'.

(OUTscene NW) RE-view: SMC's 'Our Gay Apparel' is one of their GAYEST in YEARS!

Facebook

by MK Scott

The Seattle Holiday Season has started in High Gear and of course one of the biggest traditions is of the Seattle Men's Chorus' Holiday Concert cleverly titled, Our Gay Apparel, and it lives up to the name and makes this the BEST and GAYEST Concert in Years. Not since 2012's Baby, It's Cold Outside concert and 2012's Boy Band concert have I enjoyed it more.

The problems in the past came from the lack of Balance of the 2 acts, but not the case in this one.

Act ONE shined with their traditional and favorite, God Rest ye Merry Gentleman, followed by a hilarious tune about Holiday Sweaters. From traditional, Fum, Fum, Fum to a parody of Sugar Plum Fairies with the Black swan and dancers in pink tutus. The audience loved it. Another the audience loved was Special Guest, Linda Eder (a Bonafide Broadway Star). If you listen to the Broadway Radio on Sirus or pay attention to her CDs, you know her. Most of the audience did not prior, but now will never forget her. Eder's range is similar from Streisand and Idina Menzel to Kristin Chenoweth, a voice you never forget as she belted out Broadway show tunes from Evita's Don't Cry for me Argentina, and title song from Man from La Mancha.

The First Act had everything except for Kevin Gallagher, the ALS interpreter, who has left the chorus after 30 plus years. I did see Kevin during intermission and told him how he will be missed.

(OUTscene NW) RE-view: USHER oozes Sex Appeal and a New Audience at Seattle's Key Arena!

SCOTT

by MK Scott

I first saw Usher (Raymond) about 16 years ago, not just music, but as an actor on the CBS Soap, "The Bold and the Beautiful". His Character hooked up with Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz) as a one night stand and after Amber got pregnant she worried if the Baby was Raymond's or (her white and rich) Boyfriend's by the time the story had wrapped up, Usher had moved on and the character was recast. Usher was too busy with his music career that was skyrocketing fast!

His Album, 'My way' hit the charts and was opening for Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope Tour. You see Usher dance and Perform you instantly go back to Michael Jackson and know he was a Major influence. You also see a little of Elvis and currently the look and sex appeal of Marvin Gaye.

When I saw the Seattle stop of his UR Experience Tour this past Wednesday at Key Arena, I knew ticket sells were low, but I had no idea that his core audience had shifted. A Majority of the audience were Asian and White with a small Minority of Black (mostly women). That isn't that bad, because Usher, like Michael Buble' is carrying on a legacy of musical influences (Sinatra/Como) as mentioned the influences of MJ and Gaye. Those Fans will never go away.

(OUTscene NW) Music RE-view: The Ageless Fleetwood MAC Rocks Tacoma Dome!

Scott

by MK Scott

Some of my best music memories was riding with my mom in the mid to late 1970's hearing a variety of different music genre's from Elvis to Disco to Pop and Classic. When I first heard Fleetwood Mac's 'You Make Loving Fun" the music and Beat reminded be of 'I Dream of Jeannie' and could imagine Barbara Eden in her Jeannie costume singing it. Years later, I realized that was sung by the songstress, Christine McVie, 71, who is now back after being away from Fleetward Mac since 1998. 

Then we have the legendary (and Ageless) Stevie Nicks 66, who I remember singing Gypsy as well several over Hits, plus from her latter solo career that started in the mid-80's for 'Stand Back'. .

Lindsey Buckingham, 65, I remember for his soulful voice, good looks. I had forgotten he is also an incredible Guitarist.

Mick Fleetwood, 67, the creator of those beats and John McVie, 68, is in the background, and who Mick calls the Backbone of the Mac.

Back in the 90's, I remember how excited I was watching one of their concerts on TV, I think it was 1997's The Dance, I remember I even got the CD.

So one of my items on my Bucket List was fulfilled this past Thursday at the Tacoma Dome and that was actually seeing the Full Mac back together Live.