A calendar of Winter, 2013 Cleveland, Ohio theater offerings
Don’t just hunker down during Cleveland’s season of discontent and snow, support the local theatres. BTW…tickets to local theatres make great holiday presents!
CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE
216-241-6000 or go to www.clevelandplayhouse.com
January 11-February 3
BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE
A classic comedy centering on Gillian Holroyd, a beautiful and sexy witch, who is frustrated by a lack of romance in her life and is smitten by her handsome neighbor.
February 15-March 10
THE DEVIL’S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH
This soulful musical takes place in a private parlor in Memphis, circa 1930, where sexy and sassy Bessie Smith takes center stage.
February 27-March 9
IDENTITY THEFT
(A CPH/CWRU MFA Acting program production)
Asks, “who am I” by examining seven lives filtered through the ideas of August Strindberg.
March 22-April 14
GOOD PEOPLE
Margie Walsh, in this funny 2011 Tony nominee, wants to escape from Southie, a Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo and lots of beer. She may have found her exit route when an old flame, now a big success, comes back.
April 19-May 22
RICH GIRL
A take on THE HEIRESS, this comedy about women and their relationships finds a sheltered girl falling in love with a starving artist, but, her mother, a celebrated tough-talking financial guru, doesn’t approve.
DOBAMA
216-932-3396 or dobama.org
December 7 - January 6
4000 MILES
A drama concerning 21 year-old Leon, who comes to his feisty, 91 year-old grandmother (portrayed by Dorothy Silver, the Grande dame of Cleveland Theatre) for solace. In a single month they infuriate, bewilder, and ultimately reach each other.
February 22-March 17
SONS OF THE PROPHET
In this comedy/tragedy, Joseph, a distant relative of Kahlil Gibran, author of THE PROPHET, desperately tries to keep his Pennsylvania Lebanese-American family from breaking apart.
PLAYHOUSESQUARE
216-241-6000 or go to www.playhousesquare.org.
January 15-27
PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT
An outrageous tune-filled musical which tells the story of a trio of uninhibited friends who find themselves on a battered old bus searching for love and friendship in the middle of the Australian outback.
February 5-17
YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SHUT UP, A LOVE STORY
Real life partners/actors/comedians/writers Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn probe what happens when two people in a thirteen-year marriage suddenly decide that “we’re just not that into us.” (This show is not recommended for children.)
February 5-10
LES MISERABLES
A return visit of the 25th anniversary production of the legendary smash musical based on the Victor Hugo novel.
February 12-17
THE BLUE MAN GROUP
The wildly popular show, appropriate for all ages, combines makeup, comedy, music and technology.
February 22-March 22
JOSHUA SETH’S BEYOND BELIEF
Award winning Joshua Seth returns for a one-man show, called “amazingly captivating,” featuring laughter, mind-reading and magic.
March 5-17
SISTER ACT
A musical based on the movie SISTER ACT, tells the story of a wannabe diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a crime and hides out in a convent!
April 9-21
WAR HORSE
The amazingly staged World War I story of a horse, a boy and the meaning of loyalty. A must see experience! The puppetry and special effects are breathtaking.
BECK CENTER FOR THE ARTS
216-521-2540 or http://www.beckcenter.org
December 7 - January 6
ANNIE
The comic book inspired musical of a spunky Depression-era orphan determined to find the parents who abandoned her on the doorstep of a New York City orphanage.
March 1-April 21
NEXT TO NORMAL
The Tony Award-winning pop rock musical that examines a suburban family dealing with the traumatic effects of mental illness.
March 22-April 21
THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES
John Guare’s Drama Critics’ and Obie Award winning play about an aspiring songwriter who wants to escape the life he despises and pursue a musical career.
ACTORS' SUMMIT
330-374-7568 or go to www.actorssummit.org
January 17-February 3
FICTION
A drama which centers on two successful writers who are sharp-tongued intellectuals whose passion for life, literature and artful prose leads to asking, “What is real?” and “What is the meaning of truth?”.
February 21-March 10
FREUD’S LAST SESSION
Investigates a fictional London meeting, on the day England enters WWII, between Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis and C.S. Lewis, the author of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, which cleverly probes God, love, sex, and the meaning of life!
May 16-June 2
MANNING UP
A comedy probing male bonding which finds two men hunkered in a man cave preparing for a manimar (seminar), while fearing that they are becoming too sensitive as they practice their tales of manliness.
CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE
216-631-2727 or go on line to www.cptonline.org
January 4-February 4
WATERWAYS (PART 1 OF THE ELEMENTS CYCLE)
Focuses on humans’ deep connection to water and the local proximity to Lake Erie. Developed through the partnership with Oberlin College, the production incorporates music, dance and other performance forms.
February 21-March 9
EARTH PLAYS (PART 2 OF THE ELEMENTS CYCLE)
Explores past, current movements, and future dreams, in order to highlight the relationship of humans to the ground on which they walk.
March 21-April 6
NICK & JEREMY
Reveals secrets of the universe by way of conspiracy theories, group hypnosis, coin flips, narcotic cocktails, idealistic propaganda, cynical detachment, desperate hope, and puppets.
March 21-April 6
STRUCK
The moving tale of one woman’s journey into her own mind and its recovery after a stroke.
May 2-May 18
TENDER NAPALM
A portrait of passion, destruction and examination of how love leaves a person shipwrecked, deeply burned and unquenchable.
May 9-25
THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS
After engaging in an extreme display of public affection on the lawn of a college campus, two professors must apologize or justify their behavior to students and the college administration.
My 23-June 8
RUSTED HEART BROADCAST
After a pandemic destroys most human life on the planet, one group of Clevelanders look for the way to stay alive.
LAKELAND THEATRE
440-525-7526 or http://www.lakelandcc.edu
February 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16
NEXT TO NORMAL
The 2008 Tony Award-winning musical addresses grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse, and ethics in modern psychiatry as a mother struggles with her worsening bipolar disorder.
ENSEMBLE THEATRE
216-321-2930 or http://www.ensemble-theatre.com
January 25-February 17
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JAMES
Probes the tensions between memorIes as two adult African Americans recount their experiences regarding the 1930 racial crimes in Marion, Indiana.
March 7-24 (performed in repertoire)
THE COLUMBI NEW PLAY FESTIVAL
(COCOPELLI by Stuart Hoffman, LIZARD PLAY by Carol Laursen and ONE ON ONE by Ed Walsh & Robert Noll)
April 19-May 12
THE ICEMAN COMETH
Eugene O’Neill’s monumental morbidly funny drama about the homecoming of Hickey, a charismatic traveling salesman, by a group of drunks and dreamers.
GREAT LAKES THEATRE
http://www.greatlakestheater.org or 216-241-6000
February 22-March 10
BLITHE SPIRIT
A spook-tacular comedy classic about the aftermath of a “spirited” séance gone wrong resulting in a writer coming face-to-face with his dead wife and her disdain for his present wife.
March 29-April 14
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Shakespeare’s comic battle of wits and wills which centers on a scorching exchange of insults, and an attempt to save true love.
May 1-19
GUYS AND DOLLS
The American classic musical, based on the “New Yawk” stories of Damon Runyon, with a score by Frank Loesser, that concerns gamblers, the Salvation Army, showgirls, and lots of toe-tapping fun and romance. (Produced by Great Lakes Theatre as part of the Key Bank Broadway series)
To see a composite of the reviews of members of the Cleveland Critics Circle, go to www.clevelandtheaterreviews.com
