As If 9/11 Weren't Enough

End Days

Seattle Public Theater, 7312 W. Green Lake Ave. N., 524-1300, www.seattlepublictheater.org. $15–$25. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.–Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends Feb. 22.

If I could option a script, I would pounce on this newest piece from Deborah Zoe Laufer, getting its first Northwest production at Seattle Public Theater (with an off-Broadway premiere next month). Call it the formula that launched a thousand sitcoms: Take a gaggle of mismatched principals, each deeply invested in his or her own skewed worldview, and force them together. Hijinks and hilarity ensue, of course, but eventually common humanity trumps individual quirks, and the inevitable lovefest leads to the happiest of endings. Trite, perhaps. Winning? Bet on it.

End Days details the slow rapprochement of the family Stein, each shaken to the core on September 11, 2001. Dad Arthur (Keith Dahlgren) lost all 65 of his co-workers that day, and now has no appetite and no ability to sleep until sunrise. Momma Sylvia (Heather Hawkins) has given her life to Jesus. Daughter Rachel (Carolyn Marie Monroe) is now a black, bow-lipped Goth of the highest order, making Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice look like Hannah Montana. Once the family relocates to the suburbs, there's also a schoolmate determined to win Rachel's heart: Nelson Steinberg (Anthony Duckett), a fellow who's been wearing the same Elvis costume since losing a parent. He's King all right—King of the Nerds—yet it's his irrepressible optimism that turns the family around. When Mom gets word from On High that the Apocalypse will be arriving sometime after midnight Wednesday, she pulls her gaggle of nonbelievers close and they wait out the storm together.

Director Carol Roscoe keeps the mood and pace light and fast—despite the play's herky-jerky episodic nature. Still, it's the relationships that make or break a show like this, and she and her superbly chosen performers nail that effortlessly. In watching End Days, you can't help but be reminded of the best-cast TV shows and the way so much of their humor and warmth derives from the interaction of well-written characters rather than punchlines. Although this show does have the feel of someone learning to drive stick rather than cruising through the gears on automatic, what's well done is so much so that it's also possible to feel where the tumblers all fall into place: Lights (Sean P. Begley), sets (Dan Schuy), and costumes (Mandy Mueller) are as sturdy as a '50s pinball machine, allowing for maximum fun when the characters begin ricocheting off one another. KEVIN PHINNEY

Jewels

Pacific Northwest Ballet at McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., 441-2424, www.pnb.org. $25–$155. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.–Sat. Ends Feb. 7.

This is only the second time PNB has presented a full production of George Balanchine's neoclassic masterpiece, but you couldn't tell that from the performance's opening weekend. Balanchine created three stylistically distinct sections using three different composers—and PNB does ample justice to each.

In "Emeralds," the dreaminess of the Gabriel Fauré excerpts is translated into the airy pointework and curving arms of the French Romantic era—it's like Giselle with the storyline removed, leaving the perfume of love and loss. The lead role fits the natural style of principal dancer Louise Nadeau, who recently announced her upcoming retirement. Although she (supposedly) has only the standard number of joints in her arms, she looks as though she might have more while she undulates gently, giving an underwater look to the sea-green setting. In the same part on another night, Carla Körbes has a different sense of the air around her, emphasizing the light and flirtatious nature of her solo.

Ariana Lallone and Maria Chapman are a similar study in contrasts. On the same program as Körbes, Lallone's performance has a more settled and regal feeling. In an unusual sequence, she ticks through a series of staccato gestures, breaking a single smooth lift of the arm or leg into tiny parts, like a set of royal commands. Chapman has a more liquid quality, hitting all the right spots without the same edge.

"Rubies" is set to Igor Stravinsky at his splashy, raucous best. For him, Balanchine has made a fast-moving, athletic romp—bold and blatant like the American style it represents. In the solo woman's role, Lindsi Dec looks like the best cheerleader around, giving a bright and zesty performance with extra-high kicks and an extra-bright smile. In the same part, Lallone is more Weimar than Broadway, exuding a kind of drop-them-in-their-tracks sexuality that owes as much to her performances as the Siren in Balanchine's Prodigal Son as to his Stars and Stripes.

In the duet, Jodie Thomas and Jonathan Porretta have really settled into their roles since the last time PNB did this work. Their physical banter, spiked with images from horse racing and boxing, contrast with some ultra-stretchy partnering; he pulls her as far off her center as she can go without entering another dimension. Their motor is constantly running—even when he holds her close there's a little pulse underneath, so that they're gently bouncing in time.

"Diamonds" is a pocket example of the Russian classical tradition with its formal deliberation. Balanchine returned to Tchaikovsky again and again, and it's easy to understand why—he composed the scores for most of the significant Russian classics in the repertory, like Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, which were the jumping-off points for Balanchine's neoclassic developments. "Diamonds" clearly evokes those earlier ballets, quoting signature phrases and borrowing from their structures.