Have you ever ever wished to see Seattle’s famed mobsters dance, jive, and sing in bellbottoms? Nicely, you’re in luck.
The most recent present on the Triple Door, Seattle Vice ’76: The Saga of Sin, is a cabaret musical specializing in the seediest of Seattle’s historical past: Seattle crime godfather, Frank Colacurcio, and his strip-club monopoly. The present—the mind baby of Triple Door producers Mark Siano and Opal Peachey—options quite a lot of performances, from burlesque and jaw-dropping pole dance to aerial rope acts.
Colacurcio, you’ll recall, operated strip golf equipment throughout Washington together with Rick’s in Lake Metropolis. He and his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr., have been massive gamers in the Strippergate scandal of 2003 the place three Seattle Metropolis Council members received caught up in a zoning conflict of strip membership car parking zone spots and will have taken some bribe cash.
Nothing is extra Seattle than making a bizarre selection present about area of interest native historical past. Any Seattleite who is aware of a factor or two about our metropolis will get a kick out of the references. Come for the “fuck Tacoma” shout outs and keep for the late-second-act former-mayor Jenny Durkan reveal. (Durkan, after all, was the U.S. Lawyer who prosecuted Colacurcio.) I liked it.
Seattle Vice takes place in 1976, a yr after the Liquor Management Board banned liquor licenses anyplace staff flashed their areolas. So, strip golf equipment. Our narrator for the night, who we’re first launched to as he croons soulfully on the mic, is Gil Conte, Colacurcio’s bag man performed by a pleasant Mark Siano. Siano’s Conte units the scene and guides us via the historical past. “If you happen to noticed a woman dance with no garments on, chances are high Frank Colacurcio was within the image,” Conte says. Quickly, a swaggering fresh-from-the-clink Colacurcio, performed by a charismatic Ray Tagavilla, enters and the plot will get transferring.
Interspersed with steamy burlesque acts from the likes of native performer Nox Falls, and head-spinning pole routines from performers Meg Austin and Akrasia Arbogast, Conte tells the story of the altering strip-club scene (“Everybody was slutty within the ’70s!”) and Colacurcio’s imminent downfall. The story isn’t the strongest a part of the present, however it’s sufficient to get us to benefit from the sense of place, and a second in time we’ve forgotten.
“It is our historical past, however it’s the seedy facet, not part of the underground tour,” Peachey mentioned. “It is enjoyable for audiences to see simply how wild this metropolis was.”
Seattle Vice facilities us squarely within the metropolis. The music “Pike Pine Zipper” reveals the characters partying and downing Olympia Beer via acquainted streets. They bop from Belltown to Lake Metropolis (there’s a enjoyable debate about taking Aurora Avenue vs. I-5). One of many golf equipment, the New Paris Theater, is centered in Pioneer Sq., which was a homosexual neighborhood within the occasions earlier than the Kingdome. Plus, who could make a joke just like the faux headline “Parking Pervs Wreck Lake Shitty Manner” aside from a plugged-in native? And who else would discover it humorous aside from us, territorial and proud Seattleites? It’s refreshing to see artwork about Seattle by Seattleites in a time when a not-quite-right model of Seattle is depicted within the zeitgeist increasingly. (Taking a look at you The Final of Us and likewise that Valentine’s Day slasher film Coronary heart Eyes.)
“Seeing that historical past is a pleasure for audiences,” Peachey says. “And it makes for a horny evening out in town,” she mentioned. “Who would not want that proper now?”
This isn’t the primary Seattle Vice present Siano and Peachey have produced. They’re hoping it isn’t the final, both—there’s nonetheless plenty of floor to cowl.
Siano first received the concept whereas working at ACT Theatre when his boss gave him the 2010 ebook Seattle Vice by Seattle Weekly reporter Rick Anderson and recommended Siano adapt it. “Opal Peachey and I went and met Rick Anderson and he liked the concept of a cabaret musical, gave us his blessing, and he actually loved the present that got here out of it,” Siano mentioned. The primary iteration was set within the Nineteen Sixties and ran in 2014 and 2016. A decade later for Siano and Peachey (and for the cabaret model of Colacurcio), Siano and Peachey wished to focus extra on the dancer expertise. “The pole got here into prominence within the ’70s so we wished to characteristic that,” Peachey mentioned. They labored in different ’70s staples like rampant Godfather references, and songs by Coronary heart and Led Zeppelin. If the present is a success, they’ll work on a Nineteen Eighties model—which might be fascinating because the strip-club moratorium hit in that decade.
That moratorium (which prevented the opening of latest strip golf equipment from 1988–2007), spawned by the strip-club increase Colacurcio contributed to, stagnated the membership scene in Seattle for a technology Solely within the final yr are strip golf equipment in Seattle shaking off the results of Colacurcio’s affect because of the “Strippers Invoice of Rights” laws former-Gov. Jay Inslee signed into regulation final yr, which successfully permits alcohol in strip golf equipment and repeals lewd conduct codes.
That timing resonates. Seattle Vice asks us to sit down again and revel in, but in addition to consider whether or not the present as it’s would exist at this time with out the strip membership moratorium or the strip-club alcohol ban. Burlesque and circus, artforms pivotal to Seattle Vice, might not have boomed domestically if strip golf equipment weren’t so sanitized. It’s principally a foolish time, but in addition surprisingly instructional.
Seattle Vice ’76: The Saga of Sin runs Might 8–Might 18 on the Triple Door.
