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The Must List: Sweet Honey in the Rock, Menorah Mania, Buttcracker II
Must Listen
Sweet Honey in the Rock
(12/15-12/18, 7:30 p.m.) Since 1973, this Grammy-nominated female a cappella quartet has delivered positive, socially conscious and relevant music: gospel, blues and spoken word. jazzalley.com
Must Celebrate
Menorah Mania
(12/17, 5:30-7:30 p.m.) A Hanukkah party with all kinds of festivities: cookie decorating, make your own menorah, a life-sized dreidel game, food trucks and performances from the Klezmatics and Shul of Rock. sjcc.org
Must Crack Up
Buttcracker II
(Through 12/18, 7:30 p.m.) Tchaikovsky meets Def Leppard, Ozzy and Aerosmith, and Clairol turns jailbird in this much-demanded reboot of the irreverent parody of the classic by serious local choreographers Diana Cardiff, Sara Jinks, Jana Hill and Matt Mulkerin. facebook.com/ericksontheatre
Must Hear
Seattle Men’s Chorus
(Through 12/22, times vary) In Silver & Soul, 250 melodious voices offer holiday favorites (“Sleigh Ride,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful”), a tender David Bowie tribute, a crowd-rousing karaoke sing-along, soulful gospel harmonies and a strong closer with a disco Santa finale. seattlechoruses.org
Must Watch
Holiday Stage Events at Bathhouse Theatre
Christmastown: A Holiday Noir (Through 12/24, 7:30 p.m.) A hardboiled gumshoe dreamed up by Seattle playwright Wayne Rawley encounters a sexy elf, a nosy reporter, a used-Christmas-tree salesman and a sharp cabbie in a show that’s as crazy as a pair of waltzing mice.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Through 12/24, times vary) The Herdmans’ annual family church pageant invasion is as chaotic as a pack of actual children and grown-up pro actors can possibly make it. seattlepublictheater.org
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Rearview Mirror: Godzilla, Cork, and a New Sushi Spot
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
POPPING OUR SENSES I don’t think I’ve ever given much thought to a wine cork beyond the satisfying pop it makes when opening a bottle, but after spending a morning at DeLille Cellars in Woodinville with about 50 other people, I have a new appreciation for it. The occasion was “(Pop) Open Your Senses,” a…
Best Bookstore: Beguiled Books
This Pioneer Square darling is easy to spot: pink doors and candy-striped details mark its home near Occidental Square. Beguiled Books started in 2024 as a mobile bookstore, making its way from table to tent to trailer, and finally to its current brick-and-mortar space. Labelling itself as “Seattle’s Original Romance Bookstore,” Beguiled specializes in just…
Best Art Gallery: Foster/White Gallery
A pillar in Pioneer Square’s arts ecosystem, Foster/White Gallery opened in 1966 (then called Richard White Gallery) as the first space of its kind in the neighborhood. It soon gained notoriety for showing preeminent Northwest artists such as Morris Graves, William Morris, George Tsutakawa, and Dale Chihuly. In the decades after founding the gallery, its…
Best Museum: Seattle Art Museum
A vote for Seattle Art Museum is really a vote for three different art outings. The downtown museum pairs ambitious exhibitions with a global collection; the Seattle Asian Art Museum occupies SAM’s original 1933 Art Deco home amid the 43 acres of Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park; and the Olympic Sculpture Park puts art out in…