Search All That Chat

Menu
Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: Seattle

The Love Markets
Are One of a Kind Seattle Super-talents

Also see David's review of The Blue Man Group



One night in mid-August, the Bullitt Cabaret in Seattle's ACT Theatre might have been mistaken for 1920's Berlin, as an increasingly popular mix of singers and musicians known as The Love Markets wowed a sell-out crowd on the summer nacht, with an evening of their own special mélange of music by Kurt Weill, Kander and Ebb, Friedrich Hollander, Edith Piaf, Janice Ian and Love Markets' own chanteuse du jour, Angie Louise. The sultry and sassy Ms. Louise and sensational actor/singer Nick Garrison were memorably teamed in 5th Avenue Theatre's Cabaret a few seasons back (as Fraulein Kost and the Emcee respectively) and The Love Markets reunited the pair, along with an engagingly eclectic group of musicians (Rob Witmer on accordion, Dave Marriott on trombone, Pascal on bass, and Chris Monroe on drums). The group books its gigs as possible when they are not involved in other projects, or on nights off from those projects. At the Bullitt the audience was treated to a sort of a Love Markets mega-show, and three hours melted away as they wove their spell.

Angie Louise is an alto belter of some renown, and her musical compositions more than held their own with the big names on the song list. The titles tell all, from the ironic "Ballad of the Housing Bubble" to the haunting "Banks of the Lake Wannsee," and truth to tell it is hard to imagine another entertainer serving them as well as the lady herself. Nick Garrison is an entertainer's entertainer, always daring and vocally haunting as on "To the Little Radio", and as expected with his own take on "La Vie En Rose." But there were lighter moments as well, as when the pair and the band teamed for Louise's plucky and easy to sing along with "My Little Weiner Schnitzel." With their sporadic engagement schedule a Love Markets performance almost invariably sells out. Once you see them you will see why!

Last year the Love Markets' music and banter were the hit of the Gregory Awards (for excellence in Seattle theatre) and they return in that capacity Monday October 17 at 7:30 pm (www.gregoryawards.org). For more on their upcoming gigs go to www.thelovemarkets.com.


Photo: Von Piglet Productions

- David Edward Hughes