Captain Smartypants' A PANTY LINE Plays Erickson Theatre, Now thru 5/26

For over a hundred years, Broadway has been delighting, inspiring, and irritating people all over the world. No subset of humanity has been more attuned to the songs, stars, hits and flops than gay men. Beginning tonight, May 18, for four performances only, Captain Smartypants (CSP) a small ensemble of Seattle Men's Chorus, will take this premise to task with A Panty Line: their twisted take on some of the best, worst, and funniest moments from The Great White Way.

Songs from Cabaret, Into the Woods, The Music Man, Gypsy, Mame, Oklahoma, Company, Sweeney Todd, TOMMY, Chicago, Spamalot, Wicked, Jersey Boys, Rent, Hairspray and a dozen more will be featured, each in their own particular Smartypants style. In addition they will present never-before-seen Broadway hybrids: Sweeney Poppins, The Lion King and I, and My Fair Lady Gaga; world premiere mini-musicals: Exorcist! and Downton!; and parodies of "The Ladies Who Lunch," "I Put a Little More Mascara On," and "All I Care About is Love."

A Panty Line is directed by Seattle Men's Chorus' assistant artistic director and CSP director Eric Lane Barnes, and the cast includes the eight members ofCaptain Smartypants; David Caldwell, Jeffrey Erickson, Joshua Herrington, Joel Kimmel-Staebler, Rad Milosavljevic, David Nilsson, Paul Rosenberg, and Tyler Smith.

The two Late Night Cabarets (11:00pm) on May 19 and 26, are most definitely R-rated (R for ribald, and nudity). This late-night cabaret showcases some of their naughtier repertoire and features comedian Lisa Koch, the musical styling's of Sensible Shoes, and a number of well-formed burlesque performers.

Tickets are on sale now. A Panty Line tickets are $25 Late Night Cabaret tickets are $15, for Saturday performances: buy both shows for $40.The Box Office is (206) 388-1400, and open Mon-Fri, Noon-7:00pm. Tickets available online at www.CaptainSmartypants.org. The Erickson Theatre is at 1524 Harvard Ave. in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. The Erickson Theatre features a full bar, and snacks.

Captain Smartypants is a homosexual vocal comedy group. They have performed all over the Pacific Northwest and beyond, thrilling, delighting and alarming audiences from Washington DC to San Francisco. Since their inception in 2000 Captain Smartypants has performed with Ann Wilson, Jennifer Holliday, Kelli O'Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, Melissa Manchester, American Idol finalist Blake Lewis and was Seattle's warm-up act for Margaret Cho when she filmed "The Notorious C.H.O." in 2002. Captain Smartypants all live together in a tree house in Yelm, where they weave their own clothing out of wild vines. Their favorite color is 'plaid' and they eat nothing but circus peanuts and fiddlehead ferns. Eric Lane Barnes, Flying House Productions' Assistant Artistic Director, is their trepid leader.

Photo credit: Conrado Tapado