Summer is often seen as a time for escape. You might take the day off work to hike a local trail or leave town altogether on a weeklong vacation. Theater's live performances can give us that sense of escape, too, transporting us not only to different places but to entirely different eras and experiences. For two or three hours we can carouse with pirates in Cornwall, battle the outsized French army at Agincourt or rub shoulders with Greek gods in the underworld. Now if only they sold postcards in the lobby.
SVST TURNS 10
Spokane Valley Summer Theatre is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year — a milestone that might very well prompt a double take. The organization has become such a force in seasonal theater that it's hard to remember a time before it existed.
Interestingly, the 2025 season opens not with a modern Broadway blockbuster but a celebrated forerunner of the musical that premiered all the way back in 1879: Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance (June 20 to July 6). Directed by Yvonne A.K. Johnson, this comic opera recounts the adventures of the orphan Frederic, who's disappointed to find that his leap-year birthday has indentured him to a hapless pirate clan until he's an old man. It's a lighthearted take on themes of duty, love and forgiveness, augmented by memorable songs like "Pour, oh pour the pirate sherry" and the tongue-twisting "I am the very model of a modern Major-General."
Pirates' choreographer, Andrea Olsen, will then hop into the director's chair for the regional premiere of A Grand Night for Singing (July 11-19), a nonstop hit parade of songs from Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals like Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Carousel and The King & I. But it's not just about revisiting the familiar favorites. There are also tunes from Rodgers & Hammerstein's lesser-known shows like Allegro, Pipe Dream and State Fair that deserve to be better known.
SVST wraps up a season of shows by dynamic creative duos with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Aug. 1-17), an epic sung-though musical by yet another powerhouse theatrical pairing, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Drawing on the biblical book of Genesis and its story of Joseph, a favorite son who's sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, the musical is as famous for its earworms ("Any Dream Will Do," "Go Go Joseph") as the sartorial splendor of the titular coat. Collin J. Pittmann, who oversaw Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story last year, directs. Tickets and showtimes are at svsummertheatre.com along with info on SVST's annual Rising Stars revue (June 28-29) that showcases up-and-coming talent.
GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
On the Idaho side of the state border, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is also featuring three crowd-pleasers of its own. It starts by exclaiming Hello, Dolly! (June 27-July 6) with the massively popular musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's farce The Matchmaker. This perennial Broadway hit sees the charismatic Dolly Gallagher Levi — a self-professed meddler — arriving in Yonkers, New York, with a view to finding a mate for Horace Vandergelder, a well-known but curmudgeonly "half-a-millionaire."
Anastasia the Musical (July 18-27) follows yet another strong female lead, one who might very well be an amnesiac Russian duchess who managed to escape the Bolsheviks' execution of her family. Anya — or is she Anastasia? — joins forces with some colorful rogues to rediscover her past. The show is based on the eponymous 1997 film that was praised by critics for its charm and engaging characters. Likewise, you might know She Loves Me (Aug. 8-17) as the classic holiday film The Shop Around the Corner starring Jimmy Stewart. But each adaptation is actually inspired by the same Hungarian play, Parfumerie. It's an atypical love story in which the central couple, Amalia and Georg, are bickering co-workers who think they've fallen for other people. Head to cstidaho.com for tickets and show info.
ONE-ACT WONDERS
The Bryan Harnetiaux Playwrights' Forum Festival (June 19-22) at the Spokane Civic Theatre has been shining a spotlight on new and noteworthy one-act plays from around the region since 1983. The format groups the 12 winning plays into two rotations (A and B) that run alternately over the festival's four-day span, so you don't have to try to catch every single offering in one marathon sitting.
This year, rotation A includes Intro to Greek Theater by Burcu eyben of Twin Falls, Idaho; Sex in the Middle Ages by Barbara Lindsay of Shoreline; and Goodbye Cecile by Spokane's own Molly Allen and Steven Wylie. Among Rotation B's lineup are Bryan Harnetiaux's playwright-in-residence entry The Note, along with local Abby Burlingame's Brain by Committee, and TEOTWAWKI (an apocalyptic acronym) by Aleks Merilo of Tacoma.
In both rotations it's safe to expect a mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and poignant drama, all in the succinct format of one-acters that are directed and performed by homegrown talent. Best of all, perhaps, there are talkback sessions where you can offer feedback and even speak directly with the playwrights themselves. The Civic's website at spokanecivictheatre.com has details on the plays, writers, rotation times and more.
SIBLING RIVALRY
Directed by Malcolm Pelles, who previously helmed Stage Left Theater's multiple-award-winning production of Pass Over, Topdog/Underdog is — not unlike Pass Over — a dark comedy that tackles themes like racism, poverty and existential searching through the dynamic between two young Black men. Here, it's the portentously named brothers Lincoln and Booth. Abandoned by their parents and feeling increasingly marginalized by society, they start to direct their frustration and resentment inward. Topdog/Underdog won playwright Suzan-Lori Parks the Pulitzer for Drama in 2002. It runs June 13 to 29; details and tickets are available at stagelefttheater.org.
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Also at Stage Left — but produced by Bright Comet Theatre — is Carrie (July 18-27). Based on the original Stephen King thriller as well as the subsequent film adaptation, this gives the musical treatment to a story about a shy, bullied young teenager who has the dubious gift of telekinesis. The events build to what has become an iconic scene of retribution and redemption. Part revenge fantasy, part high school soap opera, this is what happens when a coming-of-age tale is processed through a horror writer's imagination. Celeste Bidwell Williams stars. Visit brightcomettheatre.com or, better yet, Bright Comet's social media for details.
CARRYING THE TORCH
Theater on the Verge is relatively new to the regional scene, but its creative team brings decades of experience to its productions. Following an enthusiastically received debut with Every Brilliant Thing back in February, the troupe returns to Hamilton Studio with Torch Song (July 17-Aug. 2) under the direction of Troy Nickerson. This condensed two-act revival of Harvey Fierstein's acclaimed Torch Song Trilogy centers on Arnold Beckoff, a drag queen and torch singer who's looking for contentment in 1970s New York. Just the staging alone is significant, as this marks the very first time that Torch Song has been performed in Spokane. Check out theaterontheverge.com for info.
A DEEP DIVE
If you missed Bright Comet Theatre's recent production of Hadestown: Teen Edition, you have another opportunity to catch the show, thanks to the Waldorf-inspired Nova High School. Their staging runs at Sandpoint's historic Panida Theater from June 13 to 15. This is the pared-down version of Anaïs Mitchell's modern musical retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, which has racked up a mantel's worth of Broadway awards. The two lovers end up separated by circumstance and must contend with the fickle will of the gods as well as their own self-doubt to escape the depths of the underworld. Happy ending not guaranteed. For more info, visit panida.org.
ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE
Seeing a play or musical in an air-conditioned theater certainly has its advantages, yet there's something special about experiencing a show outdoors — especially when that show happens to be one of Shakespeare's timeless works. And free to boot. Montana Shakespeare in the Parks will bring the Bard's comedy As You Like It to Sandpoint's Lakeview Park (Aug. 19) and Liberty Lake's Pavillion Park (Aug. 20), giving you the chance to hear the famous "All the world's a stage" speech in the pastoral setting where it was meant to be heard. Lakeview Park will get the further bonus of Henry V on Aug. 17. That historically informed play has the titular King of England fighting the French with the odds stacked against him. The full touring schedule and more is at shakespeareintheparks.org.
BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE
MJ (July 8-13) is a jukebox musical that imagines Michael Jackson prepping for the massive world tour to promote his 1991 album, Dangerous. This nationally touring Broadway show at the First Interstate Center for the Performing Arts is therefore a behind-the-scenes look at King of Pop's creative process and an homage to the complex and troubled superstar who seemed to effortlessly knock out hits like "Billie Jean," "Beat It," "Thriller," "Smooth Criminal" and "Man in the Mirror" — all of which (and many more besides) make an appearance, paired with the kind of choreography for which Jackson was renowned. Still, one question remains: Will we ever learn the true meaning of shamone? The Best of Broadway website at broadwayspokane.com has showtimes and ticket info. ♦
