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| Christopher Valcho as Mark Rothko and John Tuttle as Ken in Red at Olympia Little Theatre, photo by Jim Patrick. |
From
a loveable bear to a loveable transvestite
By
Alec Clayton
Published in the Weekly Volcano, Sept. 6, 2018
I
know it’s the oldest cliché in the book, but Olympia’s fall theater scene has
something for everyone, from mystery to comedy to children’s fare to musicals,
and various mixtures of all that.
Harlequin Productions’ season runs later than
other theaters, meaning as the fall season opens everywhere else, they are
still running the last show in their 2018 season with a continuation of Ruthless, through Sept. 15, followed by Dry Powder Oct. 4-27, and finally the
2018-2019 season opens with Stardust
Christmas Groove, the 24th installment in the Stardust series of
Christmas musicals, Nov. 29.
Ruthless is a wonderful campy
musical about a young girl who is willing to kill to be a star. A parody of
such shows about show business as Gypsy,
in this one it is the kid, not the stage mother, who is ruthless. But then
everything changes and we discover people are not who they seem to be. Directed
by Aaron Lamb and starring Charlotte Darling, Aubrey Thomas and Gregory Conn, Ruthless is the funniest musical you’re
likely to see this year.
Olympia
Family Theater starts their season with the delightful children’s show Corduroy. Follow the popular bear on his
delightfully destructive chase through every section of the department store in
search of his missing button. OFT says, “Will the night watchperson find
him and return him to his shelf before he can find his important button? Will
Lisa ever convince her mother to let her give the bear a home? This enduring
story stirs up the stage with a bustling rumpus of action and a tender tale of
true friendship.” Adapted for the Stage by Barry Kornhauser and
directed by Jon Tallman, Corduroy
opens Sept. 28.
From
light hearted and silly to the most intense of dramas, we go to Red at Olympia Little Theatre. This
two-man show is the story of the great Abstract Expressionist painter Mark
Rothko as he takes on the biggest challenge of his life, a group of large
paintings for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York. In bad health and
wracked with self-doubt, Rothko (Christopher Valcho) is locked in a battle over
his artistic visions with his assistant, Ken (John Tuttle). Red is directed by Jim Patrick. It opens
Sept. 20.
Following Red
will be Clockwork, a wacky comedy musical
directed by Robert McConkey, Oct. 26-Nov. 11.
Finally we come to the
next offering from Olympia’s newest theater company, Broadway Olympia
Productions: the one, the only, The Rocky Horror Show.
Join innocent and naïve Brad and Janet as they stumble into the castle of Dr. Frank ’N’ Furter, an alien, transvestite
scientist with a manic genius and insatiable libido. It’s an evening or horror,
sci-fi and rock and roll.
Ruthless!, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m.
Sunday, through Sept. 15, State Theater, 202 4th Ave. E., Olympia,
$42 general. $38 senior/military, $25 student/youth, 360.786.0151,
http://www.harlequinproductions.org/
Corduroy, 7
p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Sept.
28 to Oct. 21, with one Thursday show Oct. 4 at 7 p.m., $19 adults, $16,
Olympia Family Theater, 612 4th Ave E, Olympia,
http://olyft.org/tickets, 360.570.1638.
Red, 7:25 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 1:55 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 20-30, $9-$15, Olympia Little Theatre, 1925 Miller Ave NE,
Olympia, 360.786.9484, http://olympialittletheater.org
The
Rocky Horror Show, 8 p.m., Oct.
31 to Nov. 4, 2 p.m. matinee and midnight show Nov. 3, $20, The Capitol Theater, 206 5th Ave
SE, https://www.broadwayolympia.com/.
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