Seattle Theater Scene

If you live in the Seattle area, or if you’re visiting any time from now until August 13th, do yourself a favor and see The Crossing. This is a fabulous, original musical making its debut at Theater Schmeater in ultra-hip Belltown. Yes, that’s the real name!! Those in the know just call it “The Schme.”

Before divulging the charms of this production, it’s only fitting to reveal what led me to the tiny playhouse tucked in an art gallery. When people ask what I like to do for fun, one of the activities I list is indulging in the arts. Now, I’m not talking about buying art objects that cost a fortune. I don’t have that kind of budget. I’m not even talking about a steady diet of major theater productions. I love them, but I can’t afford to indulge every weekend. That is why I like to go hunting for hole-in-the-wall venues with top-flight productions made on a shoe string.

Some of these have reasonable ticket prices while others merely say, “pay what you can.” Yet within these tiny theaters, if you’re lucky you can find the kind of productions that would fill a much-larger house nightly off-Broadway. That’s the Schme. Once inside, you’re welcomed as though you’re a guest in someone’s residence. I felt right at home taking my mom there for a Girl’s Night. Almost everyone in the audience had a connection to someone on the stage.

The Crossing is a cleverly written and staged musical relating the story behind the story of Amelia Earhart’s historic solo flight across the Atlantic. From start to finish, Amelia is spunky, courageous, and vulnerable—all at once. It is always easy to love her. The surprise is that as the play unfolds, the audience grows to understand and care about the other characters. Although history focuses on Amelia, each of them is critical to the crossing—from the hilarious cub reporter to the mysteriously insecure meteorologist whose forecasts gave the pilot faith.

The play, brilliantly written by Paul Lewis, deserves to be on the big stage, and I hope it gets there. https://www.schmeater.org/season/2016/thecrossing