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Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
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Bits & Bytes |
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| Cabaret Magnifique charms, Swansong at Seattle Shakespeare,Pamm Hanson scores at SAM's Autobiography | |
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by Milton W. Hamlin -
SGN A&E Writer Experimental programming at the Seattle Shakespeare Company, (literally) underground art at Can Can in the Pike Place Market, "A Musical Journey" at Crepe de Paris and a powerful new group show at the SAM Gallery kept Bits&Bytes busy all week. It's a terrific time for offbeat entertainment in the Emerald City. Read on: CABARET MAGNIFIQUE HOSTS GUEST STARS EVERY WEEK AT CREPE The Cabaret At The Crepe, the popular entertainment series at the Crepe de Paris restaurant in downtown Seattle, has another winner with its new Cabaret Magnifique, a weekend show that changes each week. Subtitled "A Musical Journey," Cabaret Magnifique uses jazz accordionist Bonnie Birch and her house band as an anchor with a series of guest stars every weekend. It's a wonderful, winning format that allows Crepe Cabaret regulars to return each week and see a slightly different show. Birch, who plays each week at the Gay-owned Martin's Off Madison as part of that restaurant's nightly "piano bar" series, fronts a winning combination of musicians at the Crepe - guitar, bass, tuba, clarinet and violin - who recreate the "European" cabaret style of the 1930s. Rotating artists - usually vocalists - add a sense of excitement to the weekly show. On opening weekend, Fathia Atallah (who headlined another show at the Crepe this summer) dropped in for an Edith Piaf tribute with a haunting "La Vie en Rose" and other French classics. The basic show makes a geographical tour of the world. Bizet's "Toreador Song" from his immortal Carmen, opened the set - and sounded great with an accordion lead. Kander & Ebb's "Cabaret" followed - a tune that bridges the authentic cabarets of the pre-World War II era and the more recent cabaret revival. A stop in France delivered Cole Porter's haunting "I Love Paris" and "La Mer" in its swinging "Somewhere Beyond The Sea" reincarnation. A visit to Italy brought "La Danza" stage center, and a tuba turn in Northern Europe showcased the delightful "Clarinet Polka," Sunny Spain spotlighted "Espana" and "Tico Tico" (with hints of the Latin bombshell Carmen Miranda and her Brazilian bounce). "Under Paris Skies" closed the first set - with more (and more guest artists) to come. Act Two brought more French classics and French Gypsy pieces to the Crepe's intimate stage. Fathia scored again with "C'est Si Bon." Other delightful and classic instrumentals and a Russian opera sequence with baritone Chai Ahrenius (in full costume and full voice) built up to swinging "New York, New York." "The Starbucks Polka" - new to this scribe - was great fun. A powerhouse ending - "Take The 'A' Train," "I Wish You Love," "All Of Me" and "Those Were The Days" left the crowd cheering for more. While the opening show had a few rough edges (one narrative transition went, "Now, we're back in New York&"), the ramshackle format only added to the fun of the evening. Cabaret Magnifique continues this weekend and next, both Friday and Saturday, ending January 26. Like all shows in the Cabaret At The Crepe series, the revue is available on and dinner-and-theater package or on a "show only" basis. (Several budget-minded music fans buy the show-only tickets and splurge on the ala carte menu or the incredible dessert crepes the restaurant - celebrating its 40th anniversary this year - is famous for.) Tickets, reservations and full details are all available at 623-4111. CAN CAN OPENS NEW BREAKING CABARET AT PIKE PLACE SPOT Another new cabaret "In The European Style" opens an open-ended run next week at Can Can, the lively club that is literally underground in the Pike Place Market. A new show in the "Subterranean Cabaret!" series, The Breaking continues previews this Saturday and Sunday. Watch this space for full details. Can Can, approaching its second anniversary, is in the location where pianist Patti Summers held court for more than two decades. Bits&Bytes loved the raw-edged show - more details next week, when the show officially opens. PAMM HANSON SCORES WITH NEW EXHIBIT AT SAM'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY The Seattle Art Museum Gallery Art Sales and Rental has a stunning new exhibit, Autobiography, which opened last week and continues through February 9. Ten artists are featured in the show - which features works that explore each artist's own identity - but only one is a personal friend of this writer. Pamm O. Hanson and her life partner, Pam Weeks, are close friends and (full disclosure time) part of an extended family of Bits&Bytes and his LTR. Hanson had two exhibits last year that B&B and SGN featured. Her work - all of it autobiographical - is strong and powerful. Both Hanson and Weeks are popular in the GLBT circle, and opening night found Pam&Pamm (as they are lovingly known) surrounded by family and friends from Seattle's diverse Lesbian community. Three paintings and two etchings by Hanson are in the current SAM show, and, amazingly, the Artist Proofs of each etching sold in the first minutes of the opening night gala. "No other artist sold two-thirds of the works that fast," one SAM staff member cheerfully told this writer. The three oil paintings and other etchings in the edition will be available at SAM for three month rentals starting after the show closes. The SAM rental gallery at 1220 Third Avenue - "up from the museum, down from the Olympic" - is well worth a visit. Check out all 10 artists - Bits&Bytes can't wait to return for a leisurely look at the full exhibit. A funny thing happened on opening night - a first for this scribe. The gallery ran out of cups for the wine. There were dozens of bottles of wine and bottled waters ready to be served, even late in the reception, but there were no cups. Ingenuity - and a quick run to a nearby coffee shop - saved the day. SEATTLE SHAKESPEARE HOSTS WEST COAST PREMIERE OF SWANSONG The Seattle Shakespeare Company, celebrating its 50th production in its 17-year history, is offering the West Coast premiere of the new Swansong by Northwest native - now Broadway actor - Patrick Page. There is much to delight in with Swansong, the tale of the friendship and rivalry between William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. There are also long stretches of dialog and storyline that need extensive rewriting - and/or a stronger production with a stronger cast. Swansong has already appeared off-Broadway, where it was a modest hit. Seattle Shakespeare, mounting its first Counter Season, offers Swansong for performances four nights a week - usually Sunday through Wednesday - and runs Shakespeare's Julius Caesar on its usual weekend schedule. Seattle Shakespeare deserves a resounding "Bravo!" for its creative programming. Seven nights a week is an incredible (and probably unprecedented) repertoire for any Seattle theater. Swansong has much to offer - check out the extensive preview/interview in last week's SGN (and a full review of the new Caesar). As a new script with an intriguing premise - and by a Northwest playwright - Swansong deserves a look by serious Seattle theater fans. Both Tim Gouran as Shakespeare and Brandon Whitehead as Jonson have strong scenes, but both overact shamelessly in the play's first act. After intermission (and a "tone it down" pep talk with the director, one suspects), the play settled into a more compelling work. Ian Bell provides solid support in a minor role. Gouran's brief sequence of crossdressing - he wraps an Elizabethan cloak around himself as a billowing skirt for a snippet of a drag scene - found the audience in uproarious laughter. Swansong works best for an audience of Shakespeare fanatics - and Ashland regulars. It's a play made for English majors - the irritating types "who laugh at the footnotes" in a Shakespeare production. Worth a look. Would have been, should have been, could have been better. Ticket information for both productions is available at 733-8222. Seattle Shakespeare makes its home in the Center House Theatre at the Seattle Center. |
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