March is a month of change, cautious hope and anticipation for what’s to bloom soon. It’s a prime opportunity to fill those calendars with theater and the live arts that make Seattle the vibrant city it is. Lucky for you, I’m here to give you a heads up on some of the best upcoming shows that will kick-start your theater-going experience for the month of March.
Looking for a wild but true story? “Broken Wide Open,” at West of Lenin Mar. 7 to 10, is the kind of story that is stranger than fiction and even more compelling because it’s true. As terrifying as the story is (a harrowing account of the heroine’s experience in Ireland, where she almost died of aortic dissection, 5,000 miles from her home in Seattle), it’s told with humor and familiarity. If the rave reviews from its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year are anything to go by, this show is unmissable. Local band Dréos will bring their signature Celtic magic to the Seattle run of the show, so the music is also a pretty big draw with this production.
In the mood for a Stephen Sondheim musical this spring? While shows like “West Side Story,” “Follies” and “Company” usually come to mind first when thinking of the master of the theatrical musical, one of his most wonderful and catchy shows, “Anyone Can Whistle,” doesn’t get talked about enough. The musical, which Reboot Theatre is breathing fresh life into, is a satire centered on a fraud and the romance that blossoms between a nurse and doctor with very different sentiments about it. Reboot has also invited Real Change vendors to see the show for free! You can join them Mar. 8 to 23 at Theatre Off Jackson.
If you’re like me, you may have spent much of the winter months reading, so carrying that literary enthusiasm into the warmer months only seems right. Enter Dacha Theatre’s new show: “The Master & Margarita.” If you’re familiar with the classic — or better said, essential — Russian novel of the same name by Mikhail Bulgakov, you’ll be excited to learn that it’s being adapted for the stage by director Mike Lion. The production will bring the tale to life using puppetry, clowning, movement sequences and physical theater. This literary masterpiece — outside of the fantastical elements — so accurately parodied Soviet life that it was banned from publication while Bulgakov was still alive, only for a censored version to be released in the ’60s. The audacious story tells of the devil’s arrival in Moscow, the Master (a writer ridiculed for his novel’s subject matter, which includes the characters of Christ and Pontius Pilate) and Margarita, who is willing to go to the depths of hell for her ardent devotion to the Master, all under the shimmer of magical realism. See “The Master & Margarita” come to life at 12th Ave. Arts from Mar. 22 to Apr. 13.
Johannes Saca is an actor and writer based in Seattle. Connect with him on Instagram @JohannesSaca.
Read more of the March 6–12, 2024 issue.