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Fall Theater Picks

Autumn is just about here, and it’s time to scan the local theater scene for must-see productions. As always, there are plenty to choose from, and this year the emphasis is on comedies, mysteries and musicals. Here are some that promise to transport you to a new and, hopefully, magical place for a couple of hours.

Rock ‘n’ Roll
October 9 – November 8
ACT Theatre
Tom Stoppard’s play encompasses a compelling political story, a family drama and great rock music, sure to enlighten and entertain. Set in Prague in the spring of 1968, the play explores, among other things, the relationship between one’s self and the state, with the help of Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground and many other classic bands. www.acttheatre.org

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
October 10 – November 1
5th Avenue Theatre
This revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical theatre show jumps from calypso to rock, disco and country in the comic retelling of the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. www.5thavenue.org

Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps
September 25 – October 18
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Straight from Broadway, this production mixes Hitchcock’s masterpiece with a juicy spy novel and a bit of Monty Python humor. www.seattlerep.org

A Confederacy of Dunces
September 16 – October 11
Book-It Theatre
Book-It Theatre kicks off its new season with the cult classic by John Kennedy Toole that follows the purposefully unemployed Ignatius J. Reilly, writer and cultural critic, on his journey into the working world of the Big Easy to support his distraught mother. Published in 1980 after his death in 1969, the picaresque novel earned Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Literature. www.book-it.org

Emma
October 20 – November 22
Book-it Theatre
Jane Austen’s novels are Book-It fans favorites, and this comedy of 19th-century manners is sure to delight.
www.book-it.org

Tryst
October 1 – October 25
Seattle Public Theatre
Set in Edwardian England, this psychological thriller by Karoline Leach twists and turns as a handsome con man sets out to woo Adelaide Pinchon, a very lonely spinster desperately dreaming of a life beyond the millinery store. A Northwest premiere. www.seattlepublictheater.org

Dead Man’s Cell Phone
September 9 – October 3
ArtsWest
In this imaginative new work by local playwright Sarah Ruhl, we follow Jean on a quirky odyssey after she answers the cell phone of a corpse. Traveling through grief to the black market and the afterlife, Jean ultimately goes about righting the dead man’s bizarre life and her own. www.artswest.org

Chasing Nicolette
September 17 – November 22
Village Theatre
This lighthearted, yet touching new musical charts the love of a Christian and a Muslim in a time of war and prejudice. Contemporary themes, perhaps, but this rollicking romantic comedy is set in 1224. www.villagetheatre.org

Enchanted April
September 25 – October 24
Taproot Theatre
Another journey back in time, in this case to 1922 and a Mediterranean villa, where an unlikely group of British women gather for an Italian holiday. Their desire for an enchanting vacation turns into a quest for much more. www.taproottheatre.org

The Year of Magical Thinking
August 21 – September 20
Intiman Theatre
Adapted from Joan Didion’s award-winning memoir of loss and grief, this one-woman play stars Judith Roberts and is directed by Sarna Lapine, who steps into the director’s chair for the first time at Intiman after working as assistant director to Barlett Sher on the Tony-award-winning productions of South Pacific, Awake and Sing! and The Light in the Piazza. The play chronicles Didion’s process of mourning the loss of her husband and daughter, but despite these tragedies includes surprising moments of humor. www.intiman.org

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