45 Adorable Cats and Kittens — Live on Stage this Weekend Only!

The musical "CATS" will be presented by MPAA's Musical Theatre Program Students Friday, April 18 at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 19 at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 20 at 3 p.m. All performance take place at the Washburn Performing Arts Center, 1201 39th Street, Washougal, Wash.

Click for Directions to the Theatre

The show is based on the universally popular poetry of T.S. Eliot, CATS tells the story, in song and dance, of the annual gathering of Jellicle cats at which time one special cat is selected to ascend to the Heaviside layer. A true musical theatre phenomenon, "CATS" opened at London's New London Theatre on May 11, 1981 and ran for a record-setting 21 years. The show's London success was nearly matched on Broadway where it ran at the Wintergarden Theatre for just over 18 years. The show's most memorable song is "Memory."

Music by Andrew Lloyd Weber, Lyrics by T.S. Eliot, Directed by Noah Scott, Vocal Direction by Barbara Richardson, Choreographed by Jayla Rose Sullivan and Tod Alan.

Tickets can be purchased in advance here or at the Washburn Performing Arts Center box office. The box office will open one hour prior to each performance. All seats $10 in advance or $13 at the door.

MPAA to Present "CATS" Junior

I would have never imagined a CATS, Jr., but here it is presented by MPAA.

The musical is based on T.S. Eliot’s "Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats" and is one of the longest running musicals in Broadway and West End history. The Jellicle cats are celebrating at the Jellicle Ball, awaiting Old Deuteronomy’s choice of which cat will be reborn into a new life. One by one, the cats step forward to introduce themselves, auditioning for the chance to take the journey to the Heaviside layer.

Presented by MPAA’s Musical Theatre Program students , one weekend only!

Show Info: Friday, April 18, 7 p.m.; Saturday, April 19, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday, April 20, 3 p.m. only. Tickets are $10, all seats. Showing at the Washburn Performing Arts Center, 1201 39th Street, Washougal, Wash. For tickets click here.

Metropolitan Performing Arts Academy Musical Theatre Workshop

Now Enrolling for Broadway Jr. Workshop — A Musical Theatre Adventure for Beginners!

This popular one-day-a-week musical theatre workshop allows beginner students an opportunity to act, sing and dance. Their Broadway Jr. workshop is the perfect place for kids looking to gain experience in performing or just try it out. 

Each session has a different curriculum that builds technical skills and performance experience.

Ages 6-13
January 24-June 6
Fridays 5:30-7:30pm
$50 per month

Kids will sing, act and dance their way through fun Disney numbers in a special review performed in early June 2014. Visit the MPAA website for more information and to register.

Oliver! Oliver! Oliver!

Prairie Ground Drama opens the musical Oliver! November 7. And right on its heels, the show will be presented by Metropolitan Theater Arts Association. Why not see both productions?

The PGD run is November 7,8,9 and 14,15,16 at the Prairie High School Auditorium and features Skyler Verity as the Artful Dodger, introducing Micah Foster as Oliver and starrring Ashlee Waldbauer, Austin Foley and Tristan Decker.

Directed by Claire Verity, it's sure to be a treat. The students always do a bang up job. AND we are especially excited to see Ashlee Waldbauer again, not to mention Skyler Verity and Austin Foley, too.

The primary cast of PGD's "Oliver." Photo provided.

The show, based on the Dicken's novel, is slightly depressing for a musical, but has several rousing songs. After running away from the orphanage run by the heartless Mr. Bumble, Oliver meets the Artful Dodger and is recruited to pick pockets for Fagin. There, Oliver finds a friend in Nancy, but neither she nor the boy are fit for a life of crime.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., Show starts promptly at 7 p.m. Adults $10, Seniors $8, Students $5. Ticket may be purchased at prairiehighschool.org.

Since the show opens on a Thursday our review will be live here by noon Friday, Nov. 8.

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The MPAA show runs November 15-17, 2013 at Portland's Winningstad Theater (where director Noah Scott says its cheaper than renting a space in Vancouver). Presented by MPAA’s Musical Theatre Program students, all ages. There are three shows only! Friday, November 15, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 16, 7:30 p.m.  and Sunday, November 17, 2 p.m.

Tickets: $14.25 Children (12+ under and Seniors 62+), $16.25 Adults online booking and service fees will be applied using PCPA's secure seat selector.

Winningstad Theatre, Antoinette Hatfield Hall, 1111 SW Broadway, Portland, Oregon

Get Directions >

Creativity and Commerce Event Was Eyeopening

I have to say that tonight's Creativity and Commerce event at Kiggins Theater was eyeopening in many ways.

First of all, the CVI (Creative Vitality Index) information was encouraging and interesting. The presenters and panelists, too, enthralling and encouraging.

Second, more people should have been there. And the fact that there weren't many also says something. Probably less than 100 people in attendance and none of them, to my knowledge, were our local politicians (again).

Thirdly, it was stated that we have been talking about a Performing Arts Center here in Vancouver for twenty-five years now and it doesn't look any closer to me now than it did then. It is going to take more than talk and lobbying--someone's going to have to come forth with the money.

Fourthly, there were some awesome performances--a clarinet duet and some soloist singing bits form MPAA's Le Miz.

All in all a good evening of mixed thoughts.

SW Washington Fall Theater Line-Up Heads-Up

The Great American Trailer Park Musical, music and lyrics by David Nehls, book by Betsy Kelso September 6th-29th 2013; Friday and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sundays at 2 p.m.

There's a new tenant at Armadillo Acres—and she's wreaking havoc all over Florida's most exclusive trailer park. When Pippi, the stripper on the run, comes between the Dr. Phil–loving, agoraphobic Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband—the storms begin to brew.http://www.stageworksnorthwest.org/   

The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde, September 20-October 5, 2013. Director: Curtis Hope. Production Manager: Jaynie Roberts. A humorous romp through London’s high society. Part satire, part comedy of manners, this is his most enduring and popular play. Wilde, the consummate darling of London society, provides an inside look at the Victorian self-righteous moralism and hypocrisy. It is fun to see how the costumes have changed but the fashions endure. http://magentatheater.com/

Arsenic and Old Lace, Love Street Playhouse, October 11-27, 2013. When two old biddies take it upon themselves to put lonely old men out of their misery by poisening them with arsenic in their homemade elderberry wine, craziness ensues and the laughter never ends. Directed by Melinda Leuthold. http://www.lovestreetplayhouse.com/

A Musical Double-Header! Two fun children's stories turned into musicals. Pinkalicious is a little girl who loves pink so much that she develops a serious case of pinkatitus. Come and find out what will cure her! October 11, 19 (matinee), 25 and 26, 2013.  http://www.risingstarproductions.org/newseason.html

How I Became a Pirate. Jeremy Jacobs is minding his own business on the beach when suddenly a group of lost pirates turns up and recruits him to help them dig for buried treasure. Come join us for Jeremy's high-seas adventures. October 12, 18, 19, and 26 (matinee), 2013.

http://www.risingstarproductions.org/newseason.html

Serendipity Playhouse has yet to confirm their season. Clark College and Lower Columbia College have not yet released their season information. Prairie Ground Drama and other high school theater departments have not yet released information to us, though we know that PGD will open with the musical, Oliver. We also have yet to officially hear from Pacific Stageworks, MPAA, Journey and CYT.

THANKFUL for THEATER

Many of us were introduced to drama through grade school or
church productions that reenacted historical holiday events.

Oscar Wilde said:

          

"I regard the theatre as the greatest of art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being." 

I didn't know he said that until recently, but I've always felt that way. (The quote was on the playbill for "White Christmas" presented by Rising Star Productions.)

Theater, for me, has always been the place where all art forms converge. It has been the place where I pour out who I am, and best expressed what makes me feel alive. I love making theater. I love seeing live theater. And I love supporting theater.

I'd like to thank those of you who participate in the theater arts here in SW Washington. I know you do it because you enjoy it, but I hope that you also realize that you are giving patrons a gift. Sharing your time, energy and talent--the human quality of artistic expression--brings us joy and helps us discover who we are, too.

There's nothing like the inspiration I feel in my heart as I leave the theater at the end of a great show!

A special thank-you goes out to those extra hardworking visionaries who head up theater companies and venues to make it happen. Thank you to the leaders and supporters of Magenta, Slocum, Serendipity, Love Street, Rising Star Productions, Stageworks NW, Pacific Stageworks and others.

Special appreciation must also be made for the instructors at educational institutions like Lower Columbia College and Clark College, the local high schools, MPAA and CYT (now Journey) who train and encourage rising talent.

Thank you all for allowing us access to your productions.

It has been my privilege to host the SW WA STAR blog with my wife Ruth over the past year. Since we began in late March of 2012, we have witnessed exponential growth every month. We garnered 500 hits in our first thirty days and a thousand in the next. What took us thirty days to do in April now takes us just a weekend.

I could go on, but all I really wanted to do is simply say...

THANK YOU!                                                            Greg & Ruth

UPCOMING REVIEWS:

• Magenta's "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and then some)" [post date Nov. 30]
• Serendipity's "Christmas Belles" [post date Dec. 1]
• Love Street's "A Christmas Carol" (radio show) [post date Dec. 2]
• 1st Church of God 40th annual "Singing Christmas Tree" [post date Dec. 6]
• Living Hope Church 4th annual "Living Nativity" [post date Dec. 18]