DeSean Halley

Before any theater company even considers attempting Elton John and Tim Rice's rock musical "Aida", they need to have, at the very least, four things in place. An awesome band to back up the amazing ensemble. A dashing Radames and a larger than life Amneris, both with fantastic pipes of their own, and of course a killer Aida who can handle the powerful, belt your face off in the back-row songs she has to sing throughout. Enter Seattle Musical Theatre who has had a rocky time of it as of late but has been struggling to make a comeback. And with their current production of "Aida" and I'm thrilled to report from that list; check, check, check, and CHECK!!! Now before we move on I must inform you that thanks to Snowmageddon 2019, Seattle Musical Theatre had to cancel their entire opening weekend of this production, and by the time this is up after me seeing it over the second weekend you'll only have one weekend left. Start making plans for seeing it during that weekend while you read the rest of this.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Seattle Musical Theatre presents Elton John & Tim Rice's AIDA.  Based on Verdi's beloved 19th century opera, AIDA is a story of forbidden love set on the banks of the Nile. Conflict between Egypt and Nubia gives birth to star-crossed lovers Aida and Radames. Together they must decide to follow their hearts or lead their people

Dear Readers, we're about to enter the realm of my favorite show of all time, that of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's musical masterpiece "Little Shop of Horrors". I tell you this in advance so you'll understand the gravitas of my critique of anyone attempting this particular show and I've seen many. I've seen touring productions, local productions both large and small, and even one production set in an actual skid row. I even managed to see a certain Encores production with a certain movie star and the original Audrey (sigh). And now comes Reboot Theatre Company with their affinity for non-traditional casting/staging/etc. Add into that the fact that they're performing this at the Slate theater where the stage is about the size of the full-grown plant and this could be a recipe for disaster. And while I may have had a technical qualm or two, what I also saw was a company that understands the show and a production that has more heart in one tentacle than some productions have in their whole plant.

After spending six months fundraising, Reboot Theatre Company is celebrating spring by unleashing the hysterically campy and delightfully dark cult classic LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS on the unsuspecting public. Award-winning director Harry Turpin (The Who's Tommy at SMT, Fly By Night) helms this floral fantasy with music direction by Joel Kurzynski (Fly By Night), running May 4-19, 2018 at Slate Theater (815 Seattle Blvd S). Tickets ($15-$25) are now on sale at rebootlittleshop.brownpapertickets.com  For more information, visit www.reboottheatre.org

Seattle Musical Theatre (SMT) is proud to announce its upcoming production of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'.

In any given show you usually have the good guys and the bad guys. The people you identify with as being in the right and those in the wrong. But even when some people are clearly wrong it's possible to see why they react the way they do if the performances are strong enough. Such is the case with Sound Theatre Company's current production of “Parade” as the performances throughout are so clear and so strong that even those doing despicable and abhorrent things can seem reasonable, at least within their own ideologies.

Seattle Musical Theatre's 2015/2016 season roars to life with the high-voltage rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Seattle superstar Billie Wildrick makes her SMT directorial debut as director and will be joined by SMT Associate Music Consultant Brandon Peck as music director and BroadwayWorld Award-winning Troy Wageman as choreographer.

How do you put on an autobiographical show, known to be performed by its author, without that author? It's like "700 Sundays" without Billy Crystal or "Elaine Stritch at Liberty" without Elaine Stritch. Well, fledgling theater company Sidecountry Theatre has done just that with their production of "Passing Strange" by Stew and Heidi Rodewald without Stew narrating his own story. And while it's a little odd at first, narrator LeRoy Bell embraces the part and that oddness melts away as his charisma and talent takes center stage.