I celebrate 10 years at The 5th!

10 Years Today!

It is amazing and nearly unbelievable to me that I started work here as The 5th Avenue Theatre’s Artistic Director exactly 10 years ago today. This means that I have been around for 1/3 of The 5th’s thirty-year history! This makes me feel very proud, and slightly old.

It has been a wonderful decade for me. As I knew at the time that I took the job, this would be an amazing opportunity that could not be passed up. Rarely does anyone have the chance to become the leader of a large, successful, well regarded and attended theatre company and yet still have the opportunity to be able to shape it’s artistic profile in a significant way.

The mission of this theater, and my personal mission have always been the same – to champion our great indigenous American Art Form – The Musical. And I can think of no greater ambition in life. The Musical is only one of three performing art forms invented in America and it is our legacy to world culture.

My major goals for this theater have been:

1. To establish The 5th one of Seattle’s leading arts organizations

2. To establish The 5th as one of the America’s leading regional theaters

3. To celebrate and gainfully employ our world class Puget Sound based artists and craftspeople – actors, singers, dancers, directors, choreographers, musical directors, designers, musicians and backstage workers of all kinds.

4. To have a strong commitment to the production of New Works.

5. To share with our audience my love and passion for the great musicals from Broadway’s “Golden Age” including lesser-known shows that are seldom produced.

6. To integrate the theater into the fabric of the community in as many ways as possible.

I think we have done pretty well in this regard. Never has our profile been higher here in the Northwest, and we still enjoy the largest audience base in the region. Sending four musicals to Broadway -- including two Tony Award winning hits -- has certainly put us on the national map. We are now the largest arts employer in Washington State offering over 800 jobs each season. We have produced 10 new musicals in 10 years with 2 more in the upcoming season – and we have developed an audience that loves being part of the birth of a new show. With the Bernstein Festival, our ongoing Sondheim series, and memorable productions of shows like 1776, The Most Happy Fella, and Wonderful Town we are constantly reinvestigating and reinvigorating the brilliant shows of the past, and celebrating the great geniuses who invented them. The incredible growth of our many educational programs for children and adults has really had an impact on the community in the Puget Sound and across the state.

None of this would have been possible without the incredibly talented people who have worked so hard and so creatively to make this happen: our Administrative, Production and Front of House staffs, all of the spectacularly talented artists and technicians who created the productions and educations programs, our wonderfully supportive Board of Directors, and most importantly our Patrons who love what we do and demonstrate that love by buying the tickets and donating the funds that allow all of this to happen.

My sincere thanks to all of you for 10 memorable and rewarding years -- and I look forward to 10, 20 or who knows how many more!

Starting Now - All tickets on sale all at the same time!

Starting today —for the first time in our history all tickets to all shows in our season will be on sale at the same time! This is a major change for us and we are very excited about the possibilities. There is also some significant casting news about several of the season's upcoming musicals:

My old friend and noted Broadway actor John Bolton (Spamalot, Curtains) will star as The Old Man in A Christmas Story: The Musical. He will be joined by the wonderful Anne Allgood (Candide) playing Mom, in our premiere of this hilarious new musical adapted from the perennial holiday TV classic.

The touring production of Brian Yorkey’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal will star Alice Ripley, the Broadway actress whose Tony winning performance in the Broadway production blew me and everyone else away!

9 to 5: The Musical will have a powerhouse cast that includes 5th Avenue favorite Dee Hoty as beleaguered office secretary Violet. Hoty has an extensive Broadway career and was last seen on the stage of The 5th in the title role of Mame. The cast also features American Idol’s Diana DeGarmo and Seattle-based performer Ryah Nixon who was a nominee for a 5th Avenue High School Musical Award in 2004!


Our production of the classic Guys and Dolls will star 5th Avenue favorites Brandon O’Neill as Sky Masterton (last seen here in Candide) and Billie Wildrick as the beautiful but sneezy chorine Miss Adelaide. Billie has appeared in On The Town and Candide as well as nearly 20 other shows at The 5th!

Get your tickets now!!!

South Pacific Live on PBS

You saw it here at The 5th last year, now experience it again on Wednesday, August 18 at 8:00 pm for a Live From Lincoln Center (PBS) broadcast, hosted by Alan Alda, of Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, one of the landmark accomplishments in the history of American musical theater. Kelli O’Hara and Paulo Szot will reprise their acclaimed portrayals of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque.

5th Ave Favorites across the Continent

Several of Seattle's favorite performers are starring in a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the North Shore Theatre outside of Boston.

This production is an in-the-round version of the production that originated here at The 5th last fall. Recreating their 5th Avenue performances are Anthony Federov as Joseph, Jenifer Paz as The Narrator, Brandon O'Neill as Asher and Daniel Levine as Napthalie. Also in the cast is 5th Ave favorite Matt Owen, who was last seen as Chip in On The Town.

The show is

directed by Jamie McDaniel (who choreographed our production) based on the original staging by James Rocco. Check out the great reviews at the Taunton Daily and the Boston Globe.

Last month many Seattle based actors participated in a workshop of a new musical called Lulu at the Banff Center for the Performing Arts in Canada including David Pichette, Brandon O’Neil, Billie Wildrick, Peter Crook, Anne Eisendrath, Aaron Finley with musical direction by our own Ian Eisendrath and Chris Monroe on guitar.

I am so happy that audience across the continent are falling in love with our amazing Seattle actors.

Byrd to Fly on 5th Avenue Stage!

The director and choreographer for Oklahoma!, the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical have been announced. The will be directed by The 5th's Producing Director Bill Berry (On The Town) and choreographed by Donald Byrd, the Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Company.

Byrd has created more than 80 works for modern dance companies including Spectrum, the Ailey Company, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco). He has choreographed for classical companies such as Pacific North­west Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Aterballetto, MaggioDanza diFirenze, and Oregon Ballet Theater. He has also worked extensively with theater and opera companies including New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Intiman Theater, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera and New York City Opera. In 2006, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his choreography of the Broadway production of The Color Purple.

Byrd has led Spectrum Dance Company since 2002. “This season at Spectrum Dance Theater I have been exploring the theme of relationships, love and obsession,” says Byrd. “I was excited to be approached by The 5th Avenue Theatre to work on Oklahoma!

The Rogers and Hammerstein classic offers a unique perspective on these themes and provides fertile ground for fresh interpretations.”

Byrd also has a personal connection to the original choreographer of Oklahoma, Agnes de Mille. “I met Agnes de Mille when I was a student at the Harvard Summer Dance Program. She was there giving a talk and observing classes. I was speaking with her one evening after she had observed me in class earlier in the day and she said to me, ‘You, young man, should go to New York!..Go to Ballet Arts at Carnegie Hall and tell them I sent you.’ So I did.”

While this is the first time that Byrd has worked with The 5th as a choreographer, the Spectrum company has previously collaborated with The 5th Avenue on West Side Story and most recently On The Town, both also directed by Berry. “Using the Spectrum Company in our productions brought such depth and emotional power to the dancing that I am excited to be able to continue this collaboration,” says Berry. “Working with Donald as a choreographer is exciting to me as an artist, as his work is so emotionally rich and dense. It’s a natural fit for Oklahoma.”

TODAY ONLY! A Christmas Story on sale for just $30.

Don’t miss out on our ONE DAY only 30th Anniversary sale!

Today only, tickets for select performances of A Christmas Story: The Musical are only $30. The special pricing is available online at http://www.blogger.com/www.5thavenue.org, in person at the box office or over the phone at 206-625-1900.
They are lined up at the box office and the phones are ringing off of the hook — so don’t wait — get your tickets now!

Christmas in July this Friday!