DANCE
If they’d only had evite.com back in the day, Carabosse would never have been left out of Aurora’s christening and all this whole The Sleeping Beauty mess could have been avoided. Pacific Northwest’s version of the ballet features Ronald Hynd’s choreography and Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous music. GAVIN BORCHERT McCaw Hall, pnb.org. $37–$189. 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9; 1 p.m. Feb. 2, 9, 10; 7 p.m. Feb. 10.
Kinesis Project Dance Theatre joins with the Fithy FemCorps marching band to present the site-specific dance piece Wake, which celebrates the end of the viaduct. GB Pier 58, between the Great Wheel and the Aquarium, 2 & 4 p.m., Sat., Feb. 2.
BOOKS & SPEAKERS
Explore local history this week through a couple of book readings: Mary Ann Gwinn, Jim Lynch, and Lane Morgan discuss Murray Morgan’s classic 1946 history of Seattle, Skid Road at Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum (7 p.m. Wed., Jan. 30, elliottbaybook.com.), while James N. Gregory looks ahead at the centennial of The Seattle General Strike (Feb. 6–11, 1919) with the paperback version of his directly-titled book, The Seattle General Strike. GB University Book Store, ubookstore.com. 6 p.m. Mon., Feb. 4.
Indie rock fans have long adored Sadie Dupuis and her knack for clever lyrical wordplay while fronting Speedy Ortiz and Sad13, but her actual literary chops are not to be slept on. Armed with an MFA from UMass Amherst, she released her first book of poetry, Mouthguard, in 2018 via the now-(sadly)-defunct Seattle-based Gramma Press. It isn’t some songwriter trying to put together quick and easy book, it’s a poet with a musical day job putting together her debut collection. The spiraling syntax challenges readers as Dupuis toes the lines between raw emotionality, caustic wit, and acceptance of the dark and decay of the world. SETH SOMMERFELD Third Place Books Ravenna, thirdplacebooks.com, 7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 4; University Book Store, ubookstore.com, 6 p.m. Tues., Feb. 5.
SPORTING EVENTS
With KeyArena out of commission, WWE Smackdown heads to Everett for a TV taping. The pro wrestling spectacle has a local tie as current WWE Champion Daniel Bryan is an Aberdeen native, and currently presents himself as “the Planet’s Champion” while preaching about eco-friendly lifestyles, how consumerist Baby Boomers are parasites, and even made a new sustainable title belt out of hemp and wood (also, pro wrestling is messed up, so he’s the bad guy). The show will also feature Becky Lynch, who’s so white hot at the moment that she may become the first woman to headline WrestleMania (in a match against Ronda Rousey). SS Angel of the Winds Arena (Everett), angelofthewindsarena.com. $23–$113. 4:45 p.m. Tue., Feb. 5.
CLASSICAL, ETC.
Composers since the dawn of composing have used existing music as raw material for their own—at once enshrining the older music in a canon while laying claim to their own part in the ongoing tradition. Very few composers do this as deftly or satisfyingly as Caroline Shaw. Whereas music in postmodernism’s early days sometimes found it difficult to shake a feeling of self-consciousness—quite often you can, so to speak, hear the quotation marks in their borrowings—Shaw makes her every note, no matter the source or influence, sound as freely personal and unstudied as birdsong. Shaw’s latest, Watermark for piano and orchestra, takes Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto as a source. At the work’s Seattle Symphony world premiere this weekend, the SSO and pianist Jonathan Biss will play the two side by side. (For more, read our interview with Shaw.) GB Benaroya Hall, seattlesymphony.org. $22–$122. Jan 31—Feb. 2.
UW faculty musicians Craig Sheppard and Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir perform cello/piano works by Beethoven: the Sonata in A Major (the most popular of Beethoven’s five sonatas, probably because it’s the most richly whistleable, offering floods of Schubertian tunes) and three sets of variations. GB Meany Center, UW campus, music.washington.edu. $10–$20. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 31.
If the Seattle Symphony’s dose of Caroline Shaw wasn’t enough, “Cheating, Lying, Stealing” presents more of her work in concert (along with compositions by Marc Mellits, David Lang, Anna Clyne, and Carla Kihlstedt). The night will also feature a sound and light show, curated by new-music performers/impresarios Rose Bellini and Erin Jorgensen. GB Washington Hall, cheatinglyingstealing.com. $20. 8 p.m. Sun., Feb. 3.
MUSIC
Interpol’s 2018 album Marauder stands in stark contrast to the bands first couple breakout albums. It’s not a reinvention as much as the way the band harnesses it’s power. While cold, sleek, controlled efficiency defined the group’s early era, the new songs strive for a more noisy wall of cacophonist guitars. It might not be for everyone, but the contrast when switching between the styles live could be fruitful. SS The Moore, stgpresent.org. Sold out. 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 2.
STAGE
The Faust figure is a singer/songwriter in Anthea Carns and Lauren Freman’s new musical, The Devil and Sarah Blackwater. GB Annex Theatre, annextheatre.org. $10–$20. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.–Sat. plus Mon., Feb. 11 & 18. Feb. 1–Mar. 2.
The revue Dark Divas salutes African-American performers from Bessie Smith to Whitney Houston. GB Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, langstonseattle.org. $25. 1 & 7 p.m. Sun., Feb. 3.
We may have already had our first female president. For more, check out a staged reading of Timothy Andrew McIntosh’s play Edith: President of the United States about Edith Galt Wilson, who became de facto president after her husband Woodrow had a stroke. GB West of Lenin, machatheatreworks.com. Free. 7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 4.
COMEDY
As an acclaimed stand-up and writer for shows like The Simpsons, Dana Gould knows comedy. GB The Triple Door, thetripledoor.net. $25–$30. 7 p.m. Fri., Feb. 1.
