Theater Criticism
Gemma Wilson
Versatile writer and editor with15 years of experience covering theater, arts and culture, lifestyle, travel and entertainment in print and online.
United States
United States
Theater Criticism
If you like pop music hits and girl power vibes, this national musical tour visiting Seattle’s Paramount Theatre is made for you.
The Tony-winning musical tells the true story of Lucille and Leo Frank, a Jewish man killed in 1913 Georgia
Seattle playwright Andrew Lee Creech’s “Golden” sets its sights on the aftermath of the Great Recession.
Lauren Yee’s world premiere play under-delivers on its historical premise and promise.
This jaw-droppingly popular musical about the Founding Fathers has been on stages around the world for a decade. Does it feel different?
There's an abundance of talent on and offstage, as well as a sparkly Noël Coward script. Do they add up to fizzy holiday fun?
When “Spring Awakening” debuted on Broadway in 2006, it felt new. How does it fare now, nearly 20 years later, on The 5th Avenue Theatre stage?
If, in 2018, the idea that America was built on a foundation of slavery and genocide is new to you: Welcome! For generations, this country has fed its citizens a diet of revisionist history lionizing oppressors rather than honoring the oppressed.
The nostalgia-filled, musical biopic is a fitting tribute to the American troubadour.
Village Theatre’s pleasant, hesitant production of Sondheim’s fairy tale mashup.
From the moment the thumping bodhran first fills the theatre, the folk-rock, Celtic-influenced score of 'Come From Away' sets the room's energy level on high, and keeps it there.
In Nick Payne’s two-character play, the science of love is much more romantic than it sounds.
Deborah Cox sounds incredible in 'The Bodyguard,' a stage adaptation of the movie and one of the weirdest theatrical experiences of my life.
David Grimm’s world premiere play is a gorgeously executed, head-scratchingly pointless piece of theatre, now running at Seattle Repertory Theatre.
This feel-good Disney reboot about unionizing newsboys in 1899 New York is so ridiculous you just have to go with it.
Kirsten Greenidge's vibrant, provocative play arrives at ArtsWest.
This 5th Avenue Theatre production of the musical boasts excellent lead performances, but can we just let Esmerelda live?
Film Criticism
Margaret Qualley grounds this convoluted mystery, the second installation in Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s lesbian B-movie trilogy.
A new generation gets freaky in this sequel to the 2003 body-swap comedy.
Alison Brie and Dave Franco deliver excellent, unsettlingly comic performances in a new body-horror movie that doubles as a treatise on codependency.
The new “I Know What You Did Last Summer” is a silly, satisfying entry in the latest nostalgia-riffic slasher empire.
A theory of why “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” an excellent show about terrible people, has stayed successful throughout 20 years of changing cultural appetites.
A 7-year-old’s stunning lead performance grounds this moving film about a childhood spent in an African civil war.
Shark horror movies are a summer classic with an enduring impact on issues cinematic and ecological, and my love for them runs deep.
Arts and Culture
Oregon Shakespeare Festival hits a milestone anniversary and a bump in the road, as the venerable theater company continues to recover from COVID-era setbacks.
Ease on down to Benaroya Hall to see “The Wiz,” the Teen Summer Musical’s latest production.
The 5th Avenue Theatre and Seattle Theatre Group have forged a strategic alliance.
The entire town of Langley goes all out for its annual mystery weekend
Megan Hilty, born and raised in Bellevue, got her second Tony nod for her starring role in “Death Becomes Her.”
We have a ton of excellent early music in Seattle. Learn how digging into music’s ancient past can expand our understanding of its present and future.
From paintings and sculptures to overhead installations, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s impressive art collection can soothe holiday travel weariness.
The college's Kerry Hall venue will have a new life under another Seattle arts nonprofit.
Why am I telling this total stranger about my tattoo?
Ahamefule J. Oluo brings his melancholic jazz-comedy memoir 'Susan' back to Seattle.
How Kitten LaRue and Lou Henry Hoover are making a living—and a life—as modern-day vaudevillians.
That introductory stage direction from Jéhan Òsanyìn’s autobiographical play Yankee Pickney parallels an interesting challenge for a journalist: How do you write about someone who won’t be defined by the world around them?
Paying theater artists fair wages is hard. But why do we consider it optional?
Hometown drag hero BenDeLaCreme slays assumptions to remain free.
The Race and Climate Change Festival is "rooted in a belief that human beings will find a way to survive."
In addition to the front-page programming, many companies offer smaller-scale shows that are just as good as the mainstage fare.
Writer Lindy West on her best-selling memoir, getting kinda famous and maybe leaving the Internet for good.
Great cabaret is hard to define and impossible to forget. Seattle artists tap the form’s expansive intimacy and seductive, subversive power.
Robert Schenkkan asks what we can—and should—learn from the tumultuous presidency of LBJ.
As Lady Rizo, actress, singer and comedian Amelia Zirin-Brown turns the ridiculous into the sublime.
After 31 years, Pacific Northwest Ballet is retiring its beloved Maurice Sendak/Kent Stowell production of 'The Nutcracker.' What does it mean for the company?
Stuntman Alex Terzieff is the biggest local film star you’ve never heard of.
Markeith Wiley exposes dimensions of himself in a new dance-talk show that puts audiences on the hook.
Frank Boyd, Libby King and Maya Flory-Barnes Salas’ American experiment.
Access for All, formerly known as Cultural Access Washington, would fund area arts, heritage and science organizations to the tune of some $65 million a year for seven years.
Chef Melissa Miranda doesn’t just make killer food, she’s a force for good in the Seattle restaurant scene.
A new experience with an old play is rare, but sitting on this concrete back porch for 'Proof,' that’s exactly what I’m having.
Theater director Malika Oyetimein builds the career she wants by telling stories the world needs.
The insatiable curiosity of theatre director Desdemona Chiang
Four weeks after giving birth to her second baby in March, Garbes and I sat down to talk about her new book, Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy.
Travel, Design and Lifestyle
This outdoor conversation pit infuses a classic design element with contemporary functionality.
Before our excursion with Captain Chad and Blue Dolphin Charters , intermittent rain (Kauai's rainy season generally lasts from November to March) had relegated us to indoor exploration.
With an immensely satisfying thunk and a whoosh, a secret panel in the wall slides open, to the very audible delight of the five 30-somethings who've spent the last quarter-hour searching this library for an exit.
A practical, tech-minded homeowner focused on light, lifestyle and seamless design.
Layered with notes of leather, burnt rubber and spice, Moto Oud smells, according to its maker, “like a broken down motorcycle in the desert.” It’s intoxicating.
In a world where all five senses are constantly assaulted with artificial stimuli, the scents and sensations of Herbivore Botanicals are an olfactory revelation.
There are two types of people in the world: those who know kringle and those who don't.
Which do you post first, your Banksy photo or your bear pic?
When the time is right, these local travel experts will be waiting to help you unleash your pent-up inner adventurer
'Real Change' celebrates a quarter-century of making a meaningful difference.
Plus: The Tri-Cities wineries just west of there.
Done right, a quick trip to Southern California can be just the thing for sun-starved Seattleites
Today, broadband is as necessary as roads or electricity. Yet a 2014 report by the City found that nearly 20 percent of Seattle residents don’t have Internet access.
Moving the bones was the easy part.
A new culinary pop-up, led by chef Melissa Miranda, honors its collective past.