Want more? Here’s everything we recommend this month: Music, Visual Art, Literature, Performance, Film, Food, and This That. Jesus Christ Superstar Through May 17  Theater can be a hard sell in a failing economy, so how does director Bill Berry lure people through the door when present ing such a well-worn production like Jesus Christ Superstar? He fills the cast with rock stars. In the 5th Avenue Theatre’s take on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic, King Youngblood guitarist Cameron Lavi-Jones will play Judas, and Thunderpussy vocalist Molly Sides portrays Mary Magdalene. In their respective bands, Lavi-Jones and Sides command the audience with the kind of confidence that can only come from knowing they are very good at what they’re doing. Sides writhes around the stage, singing big, classic-rock songs in fringe and feathers; Lavi-Jones shreds through guitar-driven alt-rock with such fervor you expect to see blood pouring from his fingers. I can’t speak to their acting chops, but I’m intrigued enough to find out, recession be damned. (5th Avenue Theatre, times vary) MEGAN SELING Fauxnique: How Do I Look? May 7–9 How Do I Look? is the latest stage show of performance artist Fauxnique (aka Monique Jenkinson), who made waves in 2003 when she was the first cisgender woman to win a drag pageant. With her unique physical language that combines Marina Abramović–style performance art with drag, ballet, feminist philosophy, and stand-up, her work will make you laugh just as much as it’ll make you question your mortality. Fauxnique will tackle the seemingly vain, yet philosophical question “How do I look?” by asking what it means to see and be seen. If you’ve never been to the Lower Queen Anne theater, don’t let its cutting-edge acts scare you away. The theater is incredibly welcoming and suited with comfy seats and a great drink/snack bar, and they have fancy Aesop hand soap in the bathroom (IYKYK). (On the Boards, 8 pm) AUDREY VANN American Gold: Stars on Ice 2026 Tour May 23 I’ll cop to getting misty when I encounter music or art that moves me, which luckily is not infrequently, but watching Alysa Liu’s Olympic gold-medal free-skate routine in Milan earlier this year had me outright sobbing. And apparently everyone else, too. And no wonder—her joy-filled performance (skating to Donna fucking Summers) is the most genuinely inspiring displays of talent I’ve ever seen; there is nothing like watching someone do what they are so obviously meant to do. The Olympics can seem like a freaky discipline factory where all their rigor-maxxing sounds pretty life-minning, but Liu’s story is uncompromising in the right way—she reserved the right to have a life outside of the grind. See our halo-haired champion take to the ice with other greats like Ilia Malinin (the “Quad God”) and Amber Glenn, who also won my heart during the Winter Games by stating “I am on my period right now.” (Climate Pledge Arena, 7 pm, all ages) EMILY NOKES More Las Alucines May 7, Moore Theatre, 8:30 pm, all ages Shenaniganza May 8–10, Theater Puget Sound, times vary Seattle Rep Presents: Appropriate Through May 10, Bagley Wright Theater, times vary, all ages Scrambling the Goose II Through May 10, 12th Avenue Arts, times vary Seattle Opera Presents: Carmen Through May 17, McCaw Hall, times vary Can Can’s Carnival of Curiosities Through June 7, Can Can, times vary, 21+ Neil deGrasse Tyson May 5–6, Paramount Theatre, 7:30 pm, all ages Feat: Velocity Bash 2026 May 6, Washington Hall, 6 pm The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans 2 May 7, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Bess Wohl’s Continuity May 7–23, 12th Avenue Arts, times vary Not Another Isekai May 7–30, West of Lenin, times vary Seattle Rep Presents: Alex Edelman: What Are You Going to Do May 8–10, Leo K. Theater, times vary, 13+ Whim W’Him Spring ‘26 May 8–16, Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center, 8 pm Zakir Khan May 9, Climate Pledge Arena, 7 pm Adam Ray as Dr. Phil with Marshawn Lynch May 12, Neptune Theatre, 8 pm, all ages Joketellers Union May 13, Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm, 21+ Gus Constantellis May 13, Laughs Comedy Club, 7 pm, 21+ Barefoot in the Park May 13–June 20, Taproot Theatre, times vary The Phantom of the Opera May 13–24, Paramount Theatre, times vary Tush: Amora Namor, Angel Baby Kill Kill Kill, Betty Wetter, Pussy Willow, and more May 14, Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm, 21+ Fussy Cloud Puppet Slam: Monster of the Week—Resurrection May 15–16, Theatre Off Jackson, 7:30 pm, 18+ Aviatrix May 15–June 7, Seattle Public Theater,times vary Monét X Change: High Heels, Bad Knees May 16, Neptune Theatre, 7:30 pm, 18+ Corey O’Brien May 18, Emerald City Comedy Club, 7:30 pm, 21+ The Vanishing Seattle Variety Show: Cookie Couture, Martin Douglas, Dusty Henry, Shannon Koyano May 20, Clock-Out Lounge, 8 pm, 21+ The Insidious Trilogy May 20–24, On the Boards, times vary Strange Fruit May 20–24, On the Boards, times vary Kitty Kat Ball: Nini Coco, Darlene Mitchell, Myki Meeks, Juicy Love Dion May 21, Showbox, 8:15 pm, 18+ Mortem—The After Death May 21–23, Freehold Theatre, 7: 3pm, 16+ Chicken Tinders May 22–31, Taproot Theatre, times vary, 16+ Pacific Northwest Ballet Presents: All Lang May 29–June 7, McCaw Hall, times vary My Straight Friends May 27, Emerald City Comedy Club, 7:30 pm, 21+ The Circus of Second Chances May 29–June 14, 12th Avenue Arts, times vary Early Warning Yoni Ki Baat June 4, Tasveer Film Center, 7:30 pm NW New Works 2026 June 4–6, On the Boards, 7 pm Disappearance at the Rocky Mountain Leatherdyke Snowpicnic June 5–20, Annex Theatre, times vary Robby Hoffman June 6, Neptune Theatre, 7 pm and 9:35 pm, all ages Frida… A Self-Portrait June 6–28, Union Arts Center, times vary Seattle Rep Presents: The Play That Goes Wrong June 11–28, Bagley Wright Theater, times vary Leslie Jones July 10–12 Emerald City Comedy Club, times vary, 21+ Jack Bensinger Aug 16, Rabbit Box Theatre, 8 pm, 21+ The post May Things to Do: Performance appeared first on The Stranger. ...read more read less