Theatre: Freak Out

 Freak the Mighty - Book and Lyrics by Anthony Drewe, Music by Ryan Fielding Garrett, based on the novel by Rodman Philbrick, Directed by Michael Barakiva, Choreographed by Patrick McCollum, Seattle Rep through 6 September 

The Rep launches its season with a big-hearted, big-cast, big charactered musical. The Come From Away  revival last year was a hit (so much so that they brought it back during the summer for another run), so they tapped the same producers - Junkyard Dog Productions - in a co-development with the Cleveland Play House for this new work. And despite the fact that it has already opened in Cleveland, the Rep is crediting this as a World Premiere. OK, fine. 

Here's the overview: Max at 15 is a big soul in an overlarge body. Traumatized at a early age by the loss of his mother, he is developmentally challenged, a slow, oversized cowardly lion. He is distant from his grandparents, has been left behind a couple grades at school, bullied by the tough kids, and has no real friends. That is, until Kevin moves next door with his mother. Kevin is physically disabled, on crutches, and has Morquio syndrome, where his organs are growing faster than his diminutive body. Brainy, acerbic, hopelessly optimistic and a know-it-all, Kevin, who takes the name Freak and is unashamed of his appearance, adopts Max as his best friend. Kevin is a big fan of King Arthur, and an imaginative sequence set in the court of the King is one of the highlights of the show. Together they are adventurers in the town of Portsmouth, Maine. Together they become Freak the Mighty, brains and brawn.

This is a full-fledged, Broadway-bound musical. A large cast with great voices and solid dancing. Big production numbers combine with small spotlight moments. The live orchestra is based in the adjacent Poncho Theater (didn't realize this until after the show). Coming of age. Big-hearted themes. The REP tends overdo its staging, but it works oh-so-well here as background fly in from above, sets skate onto the stage, and everything moves with a clockwork precision. A lot of the numbers feel like they have Come From Away in their DNA, and it has a lot of structure of a modern musical - the initial "I want" song, the sad lament, and the big production number right before the intermission, the reprise of an earlier song in a darker key, and the big Finale. Its a musical, so my writer's brain can identify the plot points as I go along, but it is so well done that I really don't mind. And yeah, I got emotional about it.

Netza Jimenez is a beautiful ogre as Max, who starts to heal his trauma and inertness. Cornelius Kittrell is the dynamic, unstoppable Kevin, undaunted by his physical limitations. Both have great pipes - there is a lot of great singing here, but a particularly call-out goes to Kanoa Sims as Gwen, Kevin's mom, who brings an innate warmth to all her songs. But they're all good, and their characters earn their moments.

And I should note that this is based on a young adult novel of the same name, and that was made into a movie about 25 years ago. And the plotline holds in all the versions. But this is its own animal, adapted to the stage with all its advantages and challenges. And the result is this world premiere, the test run, the out-of-town opening, and it is so heartful and engaging and well worth it that I actually hope that it makes it, and that in ten years we see it come back as a revival. 

Good start to the season. More later, 

Political Desk: Primary Colors

 So, why are you taking so long to report this? 

Well, a big part of it is our mail-in ballot system. While we have strict limitations (the ballot has to postmarked or in a voting box by the 8 PM election day), it usually takes a couple days for the smoke to clear and results finalized. Plus, there are usually one or two results that a so close you have to wait to find out who wins. Older and conservative voters tend to vote early in the process, while more progressive types and young folk vote later, which can really swing results. And I think that this lack of instant gratification is a reason some folk don't care much for mail-ins, but I'm willing to wait for final results (I tend to look askance at exit polls, by the way).

In any event, there were few surprises out here. The big one is one I didn't talk about - a levy to support the Seattle Public Library system. It wasn't on my hyper-local ballot, so I didn't talk about it. The Seattle Times did talk about it, and said, "No Thanks".  Everyone else gave it an overwhelming "Yes" with 75% of the vote in favor. My only problem with all this - Why do we have to vote to raise money for overwhelmingly popular items for the greater good, while other budgetary matters (Like, oh, salaries of our elected officials) slip through without a second thought?

Anyway, here's the results from Grubb Street

US Representative District 9: Adam Smith (48%) vs Doug Basler.(29%). The more progressive candidates split the vote and the Republican talk-show host gets through for the third time. He's about topped out his final numbers from the last two runs, and there is little doubt it with tri-peat here. 

State Representative, District 11: David Hackney (43%) vs Ashley Fedan (31%). Both are Democrats. The third candidate in this race was a Republican, so it is likely those votes will swing to Hackney.

King County Assessor: Robert Foxcurran (47%) vs ....? At the time of this writing, Dominique Scarimbolo is at 19.17% and Christopher Roberts is at 18.69%. This one will continue to hang fire for a while, but it is worth noting that Scarimbolo got no endorsements, raised no funds, did little active campaigning, and was running on a platform of "Property Taxes Suck". So it is interesting to see how this one will play out. 

Washington State Supreme Court:

Position 1: Colleen Melody (53%) vs Scott Edwards (29%)

Position 3: David Stevens (35%) vs Jaime Michael Hawk (33%)

Position 5: Theo Angelis (36%) vs. Sharonda Amamilo (32%)

Position 7: Debra Stephens (54%) vs Todd Bloom (27%)

The only note I have on the above is that 50%+ for a nonpartisan position is pretty solid for the upcoming general election. 

And with that we close the rolltop on the Political Desk for a few weeks until things heat up for the general, and go back to talking about games, books, and theater. 

More later,