BROADWAY AT THE PARAMOUNT "Stereophonic" October 7 - 12, 2025 Review
STEREOPHONIC
Written by David Adjmi
Original Music by Will Butler
Directed by Daniel Aukin
Premera Blue Cross Broadway At The Paramount
Seattle, WA
Review: Wednesday October 8, 2025 - 7:30pm Performance
The latest Broadway At The Paramount production is the first national tour for the Tony Award winning play, “Stereophonic”. In addition, the tour kicked off right here in Seattle, WA.
As always, I tend to leave the plot details to each patron meaning I encourage people to get out to the Paramount Theatre to judge any show I review for themselves.
I loved the concept of the show. It came across as unique and something I had never seen before. It was straight out of a music documentary about a band in the 1970’s making a new album after having a successful previous release.
The staging of a recording studio was great, complete with the band booth area up top. For those of us that are musicians (like myself), we’ve been in studios before and the set up was spot on.
The performances from the touring cast were great - both in acting and in performing the music from the show. I can’t emphasize this enough.
But, for me, the show came up short in a few different categories.
For any play or musical that I review, I at some point need to care about a character's story arc (or arcs). If I don’t care about any of the characters then things get difficult for the rest of the show. In “Stereophonic” I honestly didn’t care about any of the characters or what they proclaimed to be going through. It was highly reminiscent of a reality TV show (think MTV’s “The Real World” set in a recording studio). By the end of the show, there were a few moments that got me to perk up a bit but by then it was too late.
This is really a shame because when music was actually performed as full songs, I was highly interested in what was going on. But, full songs were in short supply. There were more short takes of recordings that were stopped to illustrate the ongoing issues getting the new album recorded.
I would also add that if you’ve ever been in a band situation - whether that was only one other member or several, band drama always exists on some level. I know this from personal experience and also from the media coverage I’ve done for over ten years with bands. I didn’t want to see a show about band drama. It gets old quick and I so wanted some other sub plot to take over to bring my attention back around. But, it never happened.
As a side note, the levels of the mics (particularly the character of Holly on the keyboards) were a bit high. I wasn’t expecting the level of sound when the tunes were played to be as loud as they were. I almost needed earplugs when Holly hit certain notes on her mic in the recording studio (not when she was speaking). For some in the audience it was probably fine but my plus one noted the same thing at intermission.
Overall, “Stereophonic” has a tremendously talented cast with a cool concept but it just fell short for me in other areas. Perhaps you’ll feel differently after you see a performance.
“STEREOPHONIC” runs through October 12th. Purchase tickets: HERE!
Best,
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts Media
Connect with Eclectic Arts Media: Social Media and Email Links
Written by David Adjmi
Original Music by Will Butler
Directed by Daniel Aukin
Premera Blue Cross Broadway At The Paramount
Seattle, WA
Review: Wednesday October 8, 2025 - 7:30pm Performance
(Jack Barrett as 'Grover' in the First National Tour of Stereophonic. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.)
The latest Broadway At The Paramount production is the first national tour for the Tony Award winning play, “Stereophonic”. In addition, the tour kicked off right here in Seattle, WA.
As always, I tend to leave the plot details to each patron meaning I encourage people to get out to the Paramount Theatre to judge any show I review for themselves.
I loved the concept of the show. It came across as unique and something I had never seen before. It was straight out of a music documentary about a band in the 1970’s making a new album after having a successful previous release.
The staging of a recording studio was great, complete with the band booth area up top. For those of us that are musicians (like myself), we’ve been in studios before and the set up was spot on.
The performances from the touring cast were great - both in acting and in performing the music from the show. I can’t emphasize this enough.
But, for me, the show came up short in a few different categories.
(The First National Tour Cast of Stereophonic. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.)
This is really a shame because when music was actually performed as full songs, I was highly interested in what was going on. But, full songs were in short supply. There were more short takes of recordings that were stopped to illustrate the ongoing issues getting the new album recorded.
I would also add that if you’ve ever been in a band situation - whether that was only one other member or several, band drama always exists on some level. I know this from personal experience and also from the media coverage I’ve done for over ten years with bands. I didn’t want to see a show about band drama. It gets old quick and I so wanted some other sub plot to take over to bring my attention back around. But, it never happened.
As a side note, the levels of the mics (particularly the character of Holly on the keyboards) were a bit high. I wasn’t expecting the level of sound when the tunes were played to be as loud as they were. I almost needed earplugs when Holly hit certain notes on her mic in the recording studio (not when she was speaking). For some in the audience it was probably fine but my plus one noted the same thing at intermission.
Overall, “Stereophonic” has a tremendously talented cast with a cool concept but it just fell short for me in other areas. Perhaps you’ll feel differently after you see a performance.
“STEREOPHONIC” runs through October 12th. Purchase tickets: HERE!
Best,
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts Media
Connect with Eclectic Arts Media: Social Media and Email Links
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