Gutenberg impressive

Weisenheimer and my Sweetie, the official scorer, were founding subscribers to West Seattle's ArtsWest theater, and our names are carved on the facility's wall in recognition of our contributions to the capital campaign that made the gallery and performance space a reality. It had been several years since we'd taken in a show at the theater, but the blurb for the company's current production caught my eye:

GUTENBERG! THE MUSICAL! is a loving spoof in which two aspiring playwrights perform a backers’ audition for their new project: A big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johann Gutenberg (not Steve Guttenberg from the cinema classic Short Circuit).

Who could resist that? Gutenberg! The Musical! was written by Scott Brown and Anthony King, directed by Stephanie Farhood, and stars Chris Shea and Evan Woltz (at right) with Kim Dare on piano. Shea and Woltz play Doug and Bud, the playwrights who perform the entire show for all of the "Broadway producers" who may be in the audience.

The show is hilarious and Shea and Woltz do a great job wearing the hats -- literally -- of multiple characters. One thing scared me a little, and that was when Woltz was portraying the evil monk who didn't want everyone to learn to read. I swear he was channeling Wayne Knight's character Newman from the television series Seinfeld.

Sweetie and I really busted a gut at this one. It's worth a look, but there's only a week left in the run. Go see it in West Seattle!