Seattle Theatre Group’s season is full of variety

Seattle Theatre Group has announced its 2008-09 performance season with 37 extraordinary engagements at the historic Paramount and Moore theaters.

There’s something for everyone, including African Modern dancers Cie Heddy Maalem; Early Music Guild’s opera “La Favola d’Orfeo;” comedy shows including Carlos Mencia and Whose Live Anyway (starring Seattle’s Ryan Stiles); and NPR favorites Garison Keillor, Stuart McLean and Terry Gross. Families will enjoy “Bob the Builder Live!” and “The Backyardigans Live! Tale of the Mighty Knights!”

Providing a broad range of performing arts, the season includes several series packages. Patrons may choose from a full series subscription or the popular build-your-own subscription, which allows subscribers to select the shows and dates that fit their interests and needs.

Subscriptions are available online at www.theparamount.com, through the subscriber hotline at 206-812-1114 (from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays), and at Paramount and Moore box offices.

Paramount Theatre is located at 911 Pine St., Moore Theatre at 1932 Second Ave., both in downtown Seattle.

In chronological order, the season includes:

“Avenue Q”: June 10–22, Paramount. Broadway’s smash-hit 2004 Tony winner for best musical, “Avenue Q” is about trying to make it in New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account.

“A Chorus Line”: Aug. 5–10, Paramount. Winner of nine Tonys, including best musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for drama, this singular sensation is the longest-running American Broadway musical ever.

“The Phantom of the Opera”: Sept. 10–Oct. 4, Paramount. With some of the most lavish sets, costumes and special effects ever to have been created for the stage, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom” traces the tragic love story of a beautiful opera singer and a young composer shamed by his physical appearance into a shadowy existence beneath the majestic Paris Opera House.

“Whose Live Anyway”: Sept. 27, Moore. Join cast members of the hit TV show “Whose Line is it Anyway” with Seattle’s Ryan Stiles plus Greg Proops, Chip Esten and Jeff Davis for a night of unforgettable improv comedy and song that will leave you laughing days later.

The Comedy Addiction Tour: Oct. 3, Moore. Featuring four comedians who reveal their stories of excess and addiction, this hilarious performance is different from other themed theatrical comedy shows. The humor is carefully written to appeal to those in recovery and those who know someone who should be.

Cie Heddy Maalem: Oct. 11, Moore. Fourteen dancers from Mali, Benin, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Mozambique have come together for this explosive interpretation of Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps.”

Stuart McLean &The Vinyl Café, Live On Stage: Oct. 10, Paramount. After last year’s sold out show at the Moore, McLean, one of Canada’s most beloved storytellers and a best-selling author, returns to Seattle to take the Paramount stage for his first time with new stories and music.

Carlos Mencia: Oct. 11, Paramount. Mencia takes comedy one step further as he combines unrelenting provocative nature with caustic, unabashed humor.

“Spring Awakening”: Oct. 14–19, Paramount. Broadway’s most talked about new musical is now the biggest Tony winner in years. “Spring Awakening” is the groundbreaking fusion of morality, sexuality and rock ‘n’ roll that has awakened Broadway like no other musical in years.

Laurie Anderson: Oct. 16, Moore. Legendary performing artist Anderson returns to the Moore with “Homeland,” a series of songs and stories that creates a poetic and political portrait of contemporary American culture.

Linda Ronstadt featuring Los Camperos De Nati Cano: Oct. 23, Paramount. Ronstadt has established one of the most impressive careers in the history of contemporary music. Arguably the most versatile vocalist of the modern era, she has broadened the latitudes of the pop singer, expanding her vocalist’s canvas to include country, rock ‘n’ roll, big band, jazz, opera, Broadway standards, and music with Mexican and Afro-Cuban influences. She leaves no stone unturned in the pursuit of the ultimate song.

“The Backyardigans Live! Tale of the Mighty Knights!”: Oct. 25–26, Paramount. Nickelodeon’s backyard friends, The Backyardigans, come to life for preschoolers in their new live show. Join knights Uniqua and Tyrone as they embark on a quest to protect King Pablo’s unpredictable egg.

McCoy Tyner Trio: Nov. 14, Moore. It isn’t an overstatement to say that modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner, a four-time Grammy Award winner and NEA Jazz Master recipient. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand, has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music.

Paula Poundstone: Nov. 15, Moore. Known for her honesty, and an off-kilter view of the world, Poundstone’s ability to create humor on the spot is legendary.

Spectrum Dance Theater: Nov. 21–22, Moore. “A Chekhovian Resolution” represents a full collaborative work by an Israeli guest choreographer, Palestinian composer and Iraqi musician inspired by the on-going Middle-East tensions and conflicts.

Dan Zanes Holiday Show: Dec. 6–7, Moore.

Oprah Winfrey Presents “The Color Purple”: Dec. 16–28, Paramount. A soul-stirring musical based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the moving film by Steven Spielberg is a landmark theatrical event.

Blue Note Records 70th Anniversary on Tour: Jan. 8, Paramount. To mark the anniversary of the jazz label, artists Bill Charlap (music director), Ravi Coltrane, Pat Martino, Lewis Nash, Nicholas Payton, Peter Washington and Steve Wilson will travel the world celebrating the label’s rich catalog of music.

“The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley”: Jan. 16–18, Moore. One night, the bulletin board on the wall above Stanley’s bed comes loose and falls on Stanley; the next morning, Stanley Lambchop wakes up flat. Putting himself in a big envelope, he travels the world as a human letter.

An Evening with Garrison Keillor: Jan. 22, Paramount. True to his radio form, Keillor spits out hilarious anecdotes about growing up in the American Midwest, the aging process, and “late-life fatherhood.”

Video Games Live: Jan. 24, Paramount. Video Games Live features music from the greatest video games of all time.

Savion Glover’s “Bare Soundz”: Jan. 31, Moore. Using tap as song, Glover merges acoustical vibrations including beats from jazz, Caribbean and other contemporary musical genres.

Silent Movie Mondays—“Oh The Horror”: Paramount. Series includes “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1923), Jan. 5; “The Magician” (1926), Jan. 12; “The Bells” (1926), Jan. 19; “The Golem” (1920), Jan. 26.

Early Music Guild Baroque Opera “L’Orfeo”: Feb. 6–8, Moore. The world renowned Italian opera company La Venexiana in a staged and costumed opera performance of Monteverdi’s masterpiece, “La Favola d’Orfeo.”

David Crowe’s Laugh Lovers Ball: Feb. 14, Moore. Celebrating its 14th year, this “evening of sophisticated silliness” presents the classier side of comedy.

Locust and Cruz Control: Feb. 27, Moore. Seattle-based dance crews locust and Cruz Control share the stage in an evening of music, video, hip hop and modern dance.

Degenerate Art Ensemble: March 7, Moore. “Sonic Tales” is DAE’s latest brew of music-rich visionary performance. This work sets performer/dancer/vocalist Haruko Nishimura’s signature movement style and hallucinatory visuals against a band of fierce musicians. “Sonic Tales” is both rock concert and dance spectacle.

“Bob the Builder Live!”: March 20–22, 2009, Paramount. See Bob and his team embark on “Spud’s Big Mess” a new adventure featuring the favorite characters in a fun-packed show.

Kungfu Theatre: “Tales from the Beijing Opera”: April 17, 2009, Paramount. A series of short stories drawn from Chinese history, mythology and folklore. In spite of the high art connotations of its name, Beijing Opera is loud and colorful. Accessible and entertaining to non-Chinese speaking audiences, the show has been a hit nationwide.

Spectrum Dance Theater: April 25–26, 2009, Moore. Works by three generations of American Iconoclasts: Merce Cunningham, Gus Solomon and Donald Byrd.

“Girls Night: The Musical”: May 1–2, 2009, Moore. The show follows five friends as they re-live their past, celebrate the present and look to the future during a wild and outrageous girls night out at a karaoke bar. You’ll recognize many of the characters and all the songs, including “I’m Every Woman,” “I Will Survive,” “We are Family,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and “Man, I Feel Like a Woman.”

Mark Morris Dance Group: May 1–3, 2009, Paramount. “Mozart Dances” offers a visually stimulating, elegant, and often tender display of movement and technique.

More Music @ The Moore: May 8, 2009, Moore. Local teen musicians mix up diverse music styles.

Silent Movie Mondays Women Series: Paramount. Includes “Seventh Heaven” (1927), June 1, 2009; “Flesh and the Devil” (1926), June 8, 2009; “Romola” (1924), June 15, 2009; and “The Godless Girl” (1929), June 22, 2009.

An Evening with Terry Gross: June 5, 2009, Paramount. As the host of Fresh Air, NPR’s weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, Terry Gross’ interviews are heard by more than 4.5 million people on nearly 500 public radio stations. At the Paramount, Gross will play sound bites from interviews that went especially well and especially badly. And she’ll talk about her own life and career, giving the audience a chance to interview her.

Moore Inside Out: June 24, 2009, Moore. Performance and installation artists take over the Moore for one unforgettable night.

Dance This: July 10–11, 2009, Paramount. The program brings together teen performers from diverse communities for collaboration and to share their culture through the art of dance.