Jay Irwin

Jay Irwin

         Born and raised in Seattle, WA, Jay has been a theater geek for years.  He attends as many shows as he can around the country and loves taking in new exciting works.  

Three-letter rating system on each review is as follows.  They range from best to worst as WOW (A can’t miss), YAY (Too damn good), MEH+ (Good, with some great things going for it), MEH (Just OK), NAH (You can miss this one) and WTF (I think you can figure out my complex code there).

Jay is also an actor in the local Seattle scene.  Follow me on Twitter @SeattleBdwyGeek. .  You can also check me out in my web series "The Gamers: The Shadow Menace" available on Amazon Prime.




LEARN MORE ABOUT Jay Irwin

First Show:

First big show I saw here in Seattle was either 42nd Street or Hello Dolly with Carol Channing. Not sure which one was first. First Broadway show on Broadway was the original cast of Spamalot. Great way to start off my Broadway experiences especially since I hung by theb stage door (back when we could do that) and meet the entire cast.

Favorite Show:

Little Shop of Horrors

Favorite Stories:



MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

Review: THE MOORS at Seattle Public Theater
Review: THE MOORS at Seattle Public Theater
March 23, 2024

We’ve had a recent spate of the murderous, dark comedies, Dear Reader. First there was “Blood Countess” from MAP Theatre and then the 5th Avenue gave us “Something’s Afoot” and is soon to give us “Clue”. And now Seattle Public Theater has joined in with Jen Silverman’s “The Moors”. And like the others, this one has a tendency to dwell on its own joke a touch too long. But luckily for us it also has a killer cast (pun intended) to keep us giggling.

Review: STEW at ACT Theatre
Review: STEW at ACT Theatre
March 22, 2024

I like to think, Dear Reader, that I don’t need to have the meaning/plot/message of a show spoon fed to me. But sometimes, as with Zora Howard’s “Stew” currently playing at ACT, I could use a bit of clarity. I’m not saying the show was completely confusing, not by a long shot, just a few elements in it as well as that ending that left me questioning what I just saw. Then again, sometimes those shows can be the most fun afterwards, as my theater companion and I got to try and decipher what it meant to us.

Review: THE FANTASTICKS at Village Theatre
Review: THE FANTASTICKS at Village Theatre
March 16, 2024

Pop quiz, Dear Readers. What is the world’s longest running musical? No, it’s not “Phantom”, that’s the longest running Broadway musical. But if we include Off-Broadway we get the longest run of 42 years and 17,162 performances with Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s “The Fantasticks”. And while the current production at Village Theatre dragged a bit at times, this enduring classic still has some fun to offer.

Review: NOIR at The Can Can
Review: NOIR at The Can Can
March 11, 2024

Dear Readers, I cannot imagine a time when anyone, let alone me, would have a bad time at The Can Can. I honestly am not even certain what that show would look like. They’d need to change up everything they are by having bad and out of shape singers and dancers, performing a lame story and songs, while keeping all their clothes on. Luckily for us, the Can Can, including their current offering “Noir”, is the exact opposite of all that.

Review: SOMETHING'S AFOOT at The 5th Avenue Theatre
Review: SOMETHING'S AFOOT at The 5th Avenue Theatre
March 9, 2024

Curating a season is not an easy thing, especially for a large, professional theater. You want to strike that delicate balance of diversity, entertainment, cutting edge, and most of all audience appeal. But when the 5th Avenue Theater announced they were doing “Something’s Afoot”, an old show often done by community theaters, I was perplexed. But maybe it’s good, I mean, I’ve never seen it. Sadly, it’s not.

Review: SANCTUARY CITY at The Seattle Rep
Review: SANCTUARY CITY at The Seattle Rep
March 7, 2024

Dear Readers, I want to share with you one of the issues I come up against while writing these reviews. How much of the story to tell you. Especially with shows such as “Sanctuary City” by Martyna Majok, currently playing at the Seattle Rep, I want you to experience it somewhat blind, and let this brilliantly layered show unfold and wash over you the same way it did for me. But I want to tell you what it’s about. So, I’ll do my best and still try to avoid the spoilers.

Review: SUNSET BOULEVARD at Showtunes Theatre
Review: SUNSET BOULEVARD at Showtunes Theatre
February 11, 2024

Dear Readers, if you know me at all you know my disdain for most things Andrew Lloyd Webber. With so much repetition and borrowing from other’s works, I just don’t see the appeal. But many love him and so it should come as no surprise that Showtunes Theatre would choose to dust off one of his grander works, “Sunset Boulevard” for their latest concert. And while the leads certainly got to show off their talents, I question the choice of this one and the presentation, beyond it being an ALW work.

Review: BLOOD COUNTESS at MAP Theatre
Review: BLOOD COUNTESS at MAP Theatre
February 10, 2024

The MAP Theatre gang is back, Dear Readers, and as usual they’re not ones to shy away from the bizarre with their latest offering, “Blood Countess” by Kelleen Conway Blanchard. This gothic, horror, sex, comedy doesn’t pull any punches. I just question if it needed all the punches it landed.

Review: A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD at ACT
Review: A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD at ACT
February 9, 2024

If you’re unfamiliar with the playwright Samuel D. Hunter, Dear Readers, you shouldn’t be. His latest, “A Case for the Existence of God”, currently playing at ACT, isn’t the first of his we’ve seen in the area. We were blessed with his “A Great Wilderness” back in 2014, plus his “The Whale” which first got a workshop at the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival, not to mention it’s latest life as an Oscar winning film in 2022. His raw takes on modern lives are exhilarating and his current production at ACT is no different.

Review: HOUSE OF HEARTS at The Can Can
Review: HOUSE OF HEARTS at The Can Can
January 19, 2024

Come with me, Dear Readers, for a little trip down the rabbit hole to “House of Hearts”, the latest offering at The Can Can. If you’ve read my previous reviews of The Can Can shows, you know of my love for these folks. And if you’ve seen any of their shows, you know they consistently put on the good stuff. But if you haven’t partaken in the hilarious debauchery of The Can Can, what are you waiting for?!

Review: THE BOOK OF MORMON at The Paramount Theatre
Review: THE BOOK OF MORMON at The Paramount Theatre
January 10, 2024

Dear Readers, I hope you already have your tickets to “The Book of Mormon”, currently playing at the Paramount Theatre, because it’s pretty much sold out. And with good reason as it’s a near perfect show.

Review: THE DINA MARTINA CHRISTMAS SHOW at ACT
Review: THE DINA MARTINA CHRISTMAS SHOW at ACT
December 9, 2023

Dear Readers, I am loathed to admit that I’ve never seen one of Dina Martina’s Christmas shows. Hey, I’ve only had 25 years to catch one. I have seen her perform before, way back when at Thumpers on Capitol Hill (back when that existed). Well, she’s back at ACT this year with “The Dina Martina Christmas Show” and I had to ask myself, “Why did I wait so long?”

Review: MJ at The Paramount Theatre
Review: MJ at The Paramount Theatre
December 8, 2023

Dear Readers, you know I’m not a fan of the bio musical. Very few get it right with jamming too many songs in or a bad book. Unfortunately, “MJ” the Michael Jackson bio musical currently playing at the Paramount suffers from both of those things, and more.

Review: FELLOW PASSENGERS from Strawberry Theatre Workshop
Review: FELLOW PASSENGERS from Strawberry Theatre Workshop
December 4, 2023

It’s the holiday season, Dear Readers, and you know what that means. Myriad productions of “A Christmas Carol” in the area. Just to name a few, there’s the old, trusty standby production out at ACT. And last week I saw an amazing one man “Christmas Carol” performed by the incredible Allen Fitzpatrick. But today we’re going to talk about “Fellow Passengers” from Strawberry Theatre Workshop currently performing at 12th Avenue Arts. Yes, it’s “A Christmas Carol”, but this adaptation by Greg Carter is so much more, and absolutely blew me away.

Review: IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS at The 5th Avenue Theatre
Review: IRVING BERLIN'S WHITE CHRISTMAS at The 5th Avenue Theatre
December 2, 2023

Dear Readers, you know I love a good rousing tap number as much as the rest of you. So those old musicals on stage such as “Singing in the Rain”, or “Holiday Inn” are right up my alley.

Review: BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at Village Theatre
Review: BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at Village Theatre
November 18, 2023

First off, Dear Readers, I need to put it out there that “Beautiful: The Carole King Story” is one of the few bio-musicals that gets it right. Sure, it’s got killer music from an icon but the book from Douglas McGrath is, in a word, beautiful. But beyond my affinity for this show, I also need to put it out there that the current production from Village Theatre is also a thing of beauty in the efforts from both the cast and crew, and amounts to one of my favorite things, theatrical alchemy. All the parts come together to form magic.

Review: LITTLE WOMEN at The Seattle Rep
Review: LITTLE WOMEN at The Seattle Rep
November 16, 2023

First off, Dear Readers, I want to wish the Seattle Rep a Happy 60th Birthday this week. They’ve had an impressive run. Having said that I wish I had a better Birthday gift for them as their current production of Louisa May Alcott’s classic “Little Women”, as adapted by Kate Hamill, was not all I hoped it would be. It’s a cute show with some good performances but an incomplete telling of this iconic tale.

Review: HADESTOWN at The Paramount Theatre
Review: HADESTOWN at The Paramount Theatre
November 1, 2023

I know what you’re thinking, Dear Readers. “Didn’t you just review this one?” Yes, it’s only been a little over a year since “Hadestown” came through town. But with the number of people I know personally alone who just could not get tickets last time, I’m not surprised it’s back playing at the Paramount. So here we are again. “But why see it again? And what more could you have to say?” First, I would see this show a thousand times and love every minute. And second, I could talk about this masterpiece from Anaïs Mitchell forever. But I’ll try and focus on this production.

Review: ISLANDER at The Seattle Rep
Review: ISLANDER at The Seattle Rep
October 26, 2023

The Seattle Rep is certainly known for bringing in some rare gems over the years. I still geek out over shows like “The Brothers Size”, “An Iliad”, and of course “Come From Away”. And this season is kicking off brilliantly, in no small part to the shimmering, magical jewel currently playing, “Islander”.

Review: MISS YOU LIKE HELL from Strawberry Theatre Workshop
Review: MISS YOU LIKE HELL from Strawberry Theatre Workshop
October 20, 2023

Dear Readers, I firmly believe that the smaller theaters in the area can accomplish anything that the bigger budget theaters can. Strawberry Theatre Workshop is a prime example of this as I’ve seen some stellar things from them over the years. Unfortunately, their current production of the musical “Miss You Like Hell” feels like maybe they bit off a little more than they could chew.



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