Culture Fiend

5 Mother’s Day Weekend Outings

Thank that lovely lady by taking her out on the town.

Posted by: Laura Dannen and Seth Sommerfeld on May 08, 2012 at 03:00PM 0 Comments

Treat mom to a screening of The Artist.

Mom has always been a chief source of entertainment. In the early days, she delivered a little peekaboo (still not sure where she went) and jangling keys. Eventually she moved on to bedtime stories and trips to the Pacific Science Center. And when bratty teens became too cool for their mother, she could still be counted on for a ride to the movies. Wouldn’t it be nice to provide her with entertainment for a change?

For the Film Fan

Mom always patiently watched kids’ movies—and in hindsight, repeated viewings of The Care Bears Movie was an awful thing to do to her. To make up for it, take her to see this year’s best picture winner, The Artist, rereleased May 11 for one more theatrical run. Check online for showtimes.

For the Soccer Mom

Whether she was the queen of orange slices or the minivan maven, drive her down to CenturyLink Field this Saturday to cheer on the Sounders as they take on Real Salt Lake. May 12 at 7. $30–$115.

For the Mom Who’s Perpetually Cold

It’s always tea time. To celebrate Mother’s Day, Choice Organic Teas in Georgetown will host a Fair Trade Teas from Around the World event that includes a tour of its factory and a guided tea tasting. Admission includes a complimentary mug and three boxes of tea. Choice Organic Teas, May 12 at 11am. $50.

For the Foodie

She gave us sustenance; we give her dinner-theater. For its latest culinary wild ride, Cafe Nordo’s Cabinet of Curiosities serve up five courses in five different rooms in Washington Hall, each with its own theme—French culinary history, or herbal and medicinal uses for food. Tickets are still available for the Friday “show.” $60–$80. Washington Hall, May 11 at 8.

For the Drama Mama

In The Pitmen Painters, a play by Billy Elliot scribe Lee Hall, paintbrush-wielding miners in Northern England debate the meaning of art in an adult ed class. Dirty faces? Creative critiques of art projects? Sounds like familiar mom territory. ACT Theatre, May 11 at 8, May 12 at 2 & 8, May 13 at 2 & 7. $15–$50.

PS. Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13. Just in case.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Holiday Events, Mother's Day, Mother's Day 2012

A Great Reason to Rewatch Elf

Add some syrup to your pasta at Central Cinema.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Dec 14, 2011 at 04:00PM 0 Comments

Catch your favorite holiday films on the big screen all week:

Will Ferrell takes on Manhattan in green tights and Zooey Deschanel saves the day with a round of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” in the Elf screening at Central Cinema. The best part about watching it here, though, is that you can order a full meal (plus beer or wine) and they might, just might, have some syrup to add to your pasta. Dec 16–23.

Central Cinema will also host a TV Dinner: Holiday Specials screening of A Charlie Brown Christmas, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original cartoon, not that Jim Carrey schlock), and Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special. Dec 19.

Join George Bailey in a rousing “Merry Christmas, Movie House!” during Grand Illusion Cinema’s annual screening of It’s a Wonderful Life. Thru Dec 29.

Nosh Pit reports that High 5 Pie on Capitol Hill is serving up movie nights on Monday evenings from 7 to 10. Recently, they had It’s a Wonderful Life with a side of caramel pecan.

And don’t miss Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s holiday tradition: a screening of Auntie Mame on December 15. Because nothing says “Happy Holidays” like caviar, cocktails, and a glittering Rosalind Russell.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Holiday Events, Film

Holiday Bizarre: A Jewish Christmas! Now a New Musical

The wholly unholy Christmas parody Wisemen opens December 13.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Dec 05, 2011 at 09:45AM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy Ish Ishmael

Bad Santa.

The lovable schmendriks behind Tractor Tavern’s annual Holiday Bizarre: A Jewish Christmas! have turned their unholy Christmas parody into a fully formed musical this year, complete with equity actors and a klezmer/hip-hop/mariachi score. Opening December 13 at ACT, Wisemen follows three lawyers—Goldberg, Frankenstein, and Murray—hired to represent Joseph in a paternity trial over Mary’s pregnancy. An anti-Semitic Santa, gangsta-rapping Easter Bunny, and God preside, and the pope gets his own slow jam. “It’s very absurdist,” says cocreator Eli Rosenblatt. You don’t say.

Wisemen is at ACT Theatre Dec 13–22.

Read on for more of our top holiday season picks.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Theater, Holiday Events, ACT

’Tis the Season: 10 Holiday Events to Plan For

Concerts, caroling competitions, tree lightings, and more.

Posted by: Seattle Met Staff on Nov 23, 2011 at 10:00AM 0 Comments

Start the holiday celebration at the Seattle tree lighting and parade on Nov 25.

Whether you prefer caroling competitions, tree-lighting ceremonies, A Christmas Carol, or the Nutcracker, we’ve found something for everyone this holiday season. Here are our favorites:

Tree Lighting Celebration and Holiday Parade
Seattle starts the season right with the Macy’s holiday parade in the morning followed by live entertainment, festive music, and the tree lighting in the early evening. Fireworks to follow, weather permitting. Free. Parade at 8:45am; tree lighting at 5pm. Nov 25.

Great Figgy Pudding Street Corner Caroling Competition
Wassailing gets serious in this annual (friendly) competition, as 40-plus caroling teams compete for bragging rights. All proceeds benefit the Pike Market Senior Center and Downtown Food Bank. Team registration $75. Dec 2 at 5.

The Snowman Performed by the Seattle Symphony
Watch the cartoon adaptation of Raymond Brigg’s beautifully illustrated children’s book on the big screen as the symphony plays the score live. $15–$20. Dec 3 at 11am.

Jose Gonzales Trio Performs A Charlie Brown Christmas
Strawberry Theatre Workshop convinced vocalist/guitarist Jose Gonzales and gang to perform our favorite Christmas soundtrack in its entirety, for one night at Erickson Theatre Off Broadway. Thanks, Strawshop. $15–$20, Dec 5 at 7:30.

Owen Meany’s Christmas Pageant
Book-It adapts a chapter of John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, when the child-size hero plays baby Jesus in the most disastrous Nativity play his small town’s ever seen. $22–$44. Nov 29–Dec 23.

A Christmas Carol
For 36 years, ACT’s production of the Dickens tale has been the most reliable yuletide entertainment in Seattle, especially when Marley’s ghost rises, clanking, from beneath the stage. Gets us every time. $27–$49. Nov 25–Dec 24.

Black Nativity
Though Intiman is on hiatus, its holiday show goes on. Spectrum dancers interpret Langston Hughes’s vibrant retelling of the Christmas story, while Pastor Patrinell Wright and her gospel choir raise the rafters at the Moore. $25–$55. Dec 8–24.

Brandi Carlile
The singing, songwriting pride of Ravensdale, Washington, plays a special New Year’s Eve set: just Brandi, her guitar and piano, and a midnight champagne toast for all. $124. Dec 31 at 9.

And of course, a couple Nutcrackers:

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Nutcracker
Of all the regional Nutcrackers, this is the most storied thanks to Maurice Sendak’s elaborate sets; the touchstone is a Boeing-engineered Christmas tree that grows to twice its height in the first act. $28–$123. Nov 25–Dec 27.

Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker
Find out what sugarplum fairies do on their days off. It’s a blur of burlesque, ballet, and swing—with Waxie Moon as the Rat King—in this racy rendition of the wintertime show. $28–$45. Dec 14–Dec 24.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Culture Fiend will be back on Monday, Nov 28.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Holiday Events, Ticket Alerts, Christmas 2011

Give Mom a Night On the Town

Five ways to thank that lovely lady—and get her out of the house.

Posted by: Allyson Marrs on May 04, 2011 at 02:00PM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy John Ulman.

Giggle, giggle, gossip, gossip. Candace Vance and Leslie Law star in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Skip the brunch line (we hear the eggs are cold and the mimosas are weak) and consider giving Mom a little culture for Mother’s Day. It’s the least you can do after all those years of teen angst you put her through.

For the Original Desperate Housewife
Before Wisteria Lane, there was the village of Windsor, where Mistresses Ford and Page had their fun with the foolish Falstaff. Mom will get a kick out of The Merry Wives of Windsor, a Seattle Shakespeare production on at Center House. $22–$38. May 7 & 8 at 2 & 7:30.

For the Well-Read Lady
All you have to do is whisper three little words (“Joyce. Carol. Oates.”) and her interest will be piqued. At Town Hall on Sunday, local actors will do dramatic readings of female-centric literature for Short Stories Live!, including Joyce Carol Oates’s “Upholstery,” Sarah Orne Jewett’s “A White Heron,” and Mary McCarthy’s “Cye.” $10–$15. May 8 at 4.

For the Mom Who Sings in the Shower
Seattle Opera’s production of The Magic Flute, which opens Saturday, has it all: a score by Mozart, a fairytale love story, and high fashion (the costumer is famed designer Zandra Rhodes). Mom will be humming arias on the ride home. $25–$192. May 7 at 7:30, May 8 at 2.

For the Mom Who Tipples at Noon
Sample Matthews Estate’s new wines during this special Mother’s Day event. Not only will Mom appreciate her surroundings—the boutique winery’s sprawling eight-acre property in Woodinville—but she’ll also get a free tasting just by showing off photos of you. May 8 from 1–6. Matthews Estate House, 16116 140th PI NE, Woodinville.

For the Mom Who Needs a Nap
Northwest Film Forum will screen the best short films from the past six years of the Seattle Children’s Film Festival, and give out mimosas for moms and goodies for the kids. Mimosas? A dark room? Sounds lovely to us. $6–$9. May 8 at 5.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Holiday Events, Mother's Day, Weekend Events

5 Seattle-Area Easter Egg Hunts

That bunny gets around. He’s hidden them in Redmond, Beacon Hill, at the zoo, on a boat…

Posted by: Allyson Marrs on Apr 21, 2011 at 09:00AM 0 Comments

Children’s Museum Egg Hunt
April 21–24, 8:30–10am
Scour the entire museum for plastic eggs—around the clay sculpting table in the Imagination Studio, under rocks in the Mountain Forest. There are prizes for the little guys and a Golden Egg scavenger hunt for the older kids. $3–$7.50, 305 Harrison St, thechildrensmuseum.org

Easter Brunch Aboard the Royal Argosy
April 24, noon–2
Enjoy a hefty brunch buffet (prawn cocktails, ham carving station) and live music while the kids explore the arts and crafts zone or take part in the on-board egg hunt. Rumor has it a special bunny will be available for photos. $20–$60. 1101 Alaskan Way, Pier 56, argosycruises.com

Eggstravaganza
April 23, 8–noon
After the free egg hunt (10am sharp), you could swing by the face-painting table or have your picture taken with that camera-hungry Easter Bunny, but we all know why we’re really there. Pancakes. Breakfast $8–$10. Redmond Senior Center, 15670 NE 85th St, 425-556-2300; redmond.gov

Jefferson Spring Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast
April 23, 9–noon
Gourmet Your Way caters a meal of eggs, sausage and pancakes while kids enjoy a free egg hunt. It’s BYOB (Bring Your Own Basket). $3–$5. Jefferson Community Center, 3801 Beacon Ave S, 206-684-7481; seattle.gov/parks/calendar/

Woodland Park Zoo’s Bunny Bounce
April 23, 9:30–2
It’s the 10th annual free-for-all on the zoo’s North Meadow, where kids ages 1 to 8 can scoop up plastic eggs (to exchange for treats when they leave) and enjoy bunny encounters—real bunnies this time. Keep an eye out for zoo animals enjoying their own Easter baskets. $8.50–$11.50. 601 N 59th St, 206-548-2590; zoo.org

Add a Comment »

Tags: Holiday Events, Easter , Family Friendly

Met Picks: Moisture Festival, PNB’s Contemporary 4, St. Pat’s Day Parties

The top 10 things to see or do this weekend.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Mar 17, 2011 at 03:00PM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy Angela Sterling.

Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers perform Mark Morris’ Pacific as part of Contemporary 4, March 18–27.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Photo courtesy Angela Sterling.

Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers perform Mark Morris’ Pacific as part of Contemporary 4, March 18–27.

DANCE Tucked in between cozy classics Cinderella and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Pacific Northwest Ballet is Contemporary 4, a showcase of four modern works, including a world premiere by Marco Goecke of Mopey fame and the PNB debut of Concerto DSCH by former Bolshoi director and balletic wunderkind Alexei Ratmansky. Mar 18–27.

EXHIBIT Meet R2-D2 and behold Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder in Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, a traveling exhibit of props and costumes from all six Star Wars flicks opening this weekend at Pac Sci. Mar 19–May 8.

VISUAL ART Starting Friday at the Frye, you’ll be able to find oil paintings to the right, and “whimsically disturbing” performance art to the left. It’s the first museum show for Seattle-based troupe Degenerate Art Ensemble, and the topic of our March feature Fantasy Frye-land. Mar 19–June 19.

The Redmond Digital Arts Festival celebrates tech-enhanced design: motion capture, video game graphics, digital graffiti. Lectures and workshops are free, and Saturday’s keynote speaker is Bay Raitt, creator of computer-animated Gollum from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Mar 18 & 19.

THEATER Village Theatre’s new musical Iron Curtain is a Soviet “commie-dy” (groan) about two down-and-out NYC playwrights who are kidnapped and brought to Moscow to fix the worst musical ever written. “Springtime for Stalin,” anyone? Thru May 22.

SPECIAL EVENT Moisture Festival —the citywide showcase of comedy, burlesque, jugglers, strong men, cancan dancers, and dizzying aerial acts—is back for its eighth year. Mar 17–Apr 10.

Cirque du Soleil Quidam is in Everett through March 20.

FILM The AJC Jewish Film Festival at SIFF closes March 20 with 100 Voices: A Journey Home but if you’re looking for something to do tonight (that doesn’t involve green beer), check out The Round Up (La Rafle), starring Jean “Leon the Professional” Reno.

BOOKS & TALKS It’s the start of the second annual Seattle Small Press Festival, which celebrates the local indie book scene with lectures, bookmaking parties, and the requisite schmoozing and boozing. Mar 19–Apr 16.

DRINKING HOLIDAY Green beer, limericks, Pogues cover bands (and March Madness!)…it all happens today. Here’s where to go green for St Patrick’s Day. Mar 17.

And now, how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness, complete with that heady shamrock. Happy St. Pat’s Day!

Add a Comment »

Tags: Met Picks, Holiday Events, Weekend

5 Ways to Keep Busy on Valentine’s Day

There’s the obvious way, but we’re talking about going out on the town.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Feb 08, 2011 at 01:00PM 1 Comments

Celebrate love—and all its highs and lows—with Bushwick Book Club’s performance of work inspired by High Fidelity.

Valentine’s Day on a Monday is tricky. Yes, you have the preceding weekend to fulfill celebration duties (aren’t I romantic?). But you know … you just know that when Sunday night rolls around, your lady will have flashbacks to school days and construction paper hearts full of Disney valentines that say “I’m Goofy For You!” and will start staring wistfully at the place on the table where a vase of flowers should be. Face it: You have to keep her busy through Monday, and restaurants are filling up quickly.

But we found five V-Day outings that both entertain and hint at love, lust, and romance. For your consideration:

Michael Feinstein: The Sinatra Project
Feb 14, 7:30pm
Benaroya Hall

Swoon-inducing crooner and pianist Michael Feinstein brings his 17-piece band to Benaroya to cover standards by Ol’ Blue Eyes and his contemporaries Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. Tickets ($50-$96) are on sale.

Laugh Lover’s Ball
Feb. 14, 6 and 8:30pm
Moore Theatre

Laughter is a highly underrated aphrodisiac. This year’s V-Day stand-up comedy showcase—the 17th annual—features top talent from past performances: Comedy Central regular Maria Bamford, science guy Tim Lee Ph.D, Boston Comedy Fest winner Dwight Slade and Seattle’s David Crowe. Tickets ($27.40-$48) are on sale for both shows.

The Bushwick Book Club Presents: Original Music Inspired by Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity
Feb. 14, 8pm
Century Ballroom

Top five reasons why you should go to this show: 1. The “book club” is made up of local singer-songwriters. 2. They don’t talk about the book—they sing about it. 3. You don’t have to sing; you don’t even have to read the book. You can just watch. 4. Comedy-acoustic-funk duo Bucket of Honey will be there. 5. They’re playing original work inspired by one of our favorite love-hate-love stories, Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. Tickets ($10-$15) are on sale, and a portion of proceeds supports the Seattle Public Library.

Noir City at SIFF
Feb. 14, 7 and 9pm
McCaw Hall

SIFF continues its film noir fest on V-Day with a stellar double feature: Ronald Coleman delivers an Oscar-winning performance in A Double Life (7pm) and a psychopath stirs up trouble in the 1941 horror noir Among the Living. Plenty of lust, fear, and insanity—just like the average relationship! Tickets ($7-$12) are on sale.

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Cinderella
Feb. 13, 6:30pm
McCaw Hall

We’re cheating a little with this one. It’s on Valentine’s Eve, but the effect should hold over till Monday with the help of PNB’s complimentary Freixenet sparkling wine toast. Plus, it’s a beautiful ballet with a Prokofiev score based on Charles Perrault’s original French fairy tale—happy ending included.

Bonus! Seattle’s Cinerama is screening three Valentine’s-friendly romances through Feb 17: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Roman Holiday, and The African Queen. Tickets ($9) are on sale at cinerama.com.

Looking for a gift you can wrap? Find six great ideas on our Wear What When blog.

Add a Comment »

Tags: Moore Theatre, Benaroya Hall, Holiday Events, SIFF