Welcome to the Renaissance—SOMETHING ROTTEN! @ CVLT

 

SOMETHING ROTTEN!, now on stage at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, has been seen locally in a Broadway touring production, as well as professional staging, and now is on the community theatre circuit.

 

It is getting a very creditable production at CVLT under the adept direction and choreography of Marc C. Howard.

 

History books refer to THE BLACK CROOK, which opened in 1866 in New York, as the first musical.  However, according to Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, the conceivers of SOMETHING ROTTEN!, that honor should go to OMELETTE.

 

Never heard of OMELETTE? Unless you’ve seen the delightfully funny SOMETHING ROTTEN! you don’t realize that OMELETTE is an in-joke at the center of a farcical plot that exposes how the Bottom brothers outsmarted the Elizabethan era’s literary rock star (insert horn-tribute), William Shakespeare, in producing the world’s first musical. 

 

Nick and Nigel Bottom, an ego-centric actor and his naïve playwright-poet brother, live in the theatrical shadow of the Bard of Avon.  They desire to take some of the attention away from (insert horn-tribute) Will. 

 

How to do it?  (Easy), they pay a soothsayer, a maybe-nephew of the famous soothsayer, Nostradamus, to look into the future.  His prediction?  Shakespeare’s greatest hit is going to be OMELETTE and the next big trend in theatre is going to be musicals, where the actors sing many of their lines.   So (of course) the duo starts to one-up Will by writing a musical play about fried eggs.

  

We observe Shakespeare as "a hack with a knack for stealing anything he can,” who swipes not only the title, but plot devices and lines from the naïve Nigel, which turn out to be “Will’s” HAMLET. (Oh, HAMLET, not OMLETTE.)  As the soothsayer says, to audible groans, laughter and applause at the final curtain, “Well, I was close!”

 

From its opening, the creative “Welcome to the Renaissance,” to the “Finale,” the musical is classical theater gone awry, complete with show-stoppers, encore after encore, ridiculous sight gags, double entendres, cross-dressing, and sexual allusions.

 

There are numerous references to the Bard’s plays and Broadway musicals. Anyone not familiar with either of these topics might not get all the subtext.  

 

Too bad the director couldn’t find some way to let those less-informed members of the audience the illusions by using vaudeville inter-act signs or some other device to help them.  Also, the “omelette” dance number, the highlight of most of the stagings of the show, is rather uncreative in costumes and development.

    

In the highlight performance, George Bailey is excellent as the up-tight obsessive Nick Bottom whose mission in life is to out-bard the Bard.   This guy can sing, dance and develop a clear and consistent character.

 

Joshua Budd amuses as Shakespeare, flitting around the stage, the obvious superstar of the Renaissance, (and, confusingly, the only one with a heavy British accent).

 

Ev Brodsky is charming, as the shy poet-writer, Nigel Bottom.  

 

Emily Sedmak is lovely and sings well as Portia, the Disney-like princess, Nigel’s’ lady love.

 

Abby Longshore is women’s lib-correct as Nick’s put-upon wife. 

 

Tom Jones (in spite of a horrible wig) delights as the bumbling Nostradamus.  

 

David Coxe musical direction is right on key.  The songs are well interpreted and the large, well-tuned orchestra, doesn’t drown out the performers.

 

The costumes leave much to be desired!

  

The supporting performers all dance and sing with enthusiasm.

  

Capsule judgment: The ultimate test of the worth of a production, is the audience’s reaction.  In the case of CVLT’s SOMETHING ROTTEN!, the in-production laughing, applause and after-the final curtain comments by the audience, were positive feedback.  If you like musical theater, and want to experience a nicely conceived community theatre production this is it!

 

For tickets, for the show which runs until April 15, 2023, go to:  440-247-8955 or https://cvlt.org/  June 2-18.

 

Next up:    THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG.  The farcical play within a play on which on opening night everything that could go wrong, does go wrong!

 

Script and performances make THE OTHER PLACE a must-see at Dobama

 

Nathan Motta, the Artistic Director of Dobama says of the play which is now on that theatre’s stage, “THE OTHER PLACE took a long way to arrive on the Dobama stage.  I first read this script way back in 2010 and was immediately taken with its unique structure, suspenseful narrative and complex characters.” The Dobama’s leadership team wanted to produce the script, but before they could get licensing rights, an Off-Broadway production starring Laurie Metcalf was announced.  Nope, the CLE theatre couldn’t do it.   When the Big Apple show closed, they thought, “This is our chance.”   Again, they were thwarted.  The production was transferred to Broadway.  It went on to garner a Tony nomination for Metcalf and major kudos from the critics. The Broadway show finally closed.   Now, was the chance for Cleveland’s off-Broadway theatre, to get the rights.  Right? Wrong!  The play was being produced regionally, but for a variety of reasons Dobama wasn’t able to program it.  In Spring of 2019 the local theatre announced it was going to close its season with THE OTHER PLACE.  Hurrah!  Finally, it would be seen in 440/216.  Guess what?  “Casting was finalized, a creative team was finalized, marketing begun, and production designs were well underway when the world shut down due to the COVID pandemic.”   No go, again!  Flash forward to March 11, 2023…the curtain finally came up on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights.   Was it worth the wait!  Yes, oh yes! What’s it about?  “THE OTHER PLACE begins with the feeling of a suspense-filled thriller and evolves into a character drama that is surprising, thought-provoking, and moving.”  It’s a script full of “twists and turns.” More specifically, “The play centers around Juliana Smithton - a successful neurologist whose life seems to be coming unhinged. Her husband has filed for divorce, her daughter has eloped with a much older man and her own health is in jeopardy. But in this brilliantly crafted work, nothing is as it seems. Piece by piece, a mystery unfolds as fact blurs with fiction, past collides with present, and the elusive truth about Juliana boils to the surface.” And, so dear readers, that’s about all I can tell you about the plot as the theatre management sent this notice to the sage local reviewers: “We ask that in your reviews you do not describe vital plot points as this play is in large part a mystery with various reveals. Thank you.” I can state that I agree the New York and west coast reviewers who called the play, “mesmerizing,” “compelling,” “puzzle-like intriguing,” and “spectacular.” It’s not only the script that deserves hurrahs, but it is the wise direction by Nathan Motta and the emotion shattering performance by Tracee Patterson, who proves once again why she is considered to be one of the best actors on local stages. Patterson’s scarily intense performance as Juliana, grabs the audience in her first speech and carries them through a series of captivating experiences which leaves not only the performer, but the viewer emotionally exhausted.  It, like the role of Martha in WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF and Blanche in STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE requires a superb actress to make the person real and the performance emotion-shattering.  Patterson has all the acting chops to pull it off!   She is standing “O” worthy! Doug Sutherland also commands as Ian, Juliana’s husband.  Welcome, to the Cleveland area, newbie.  We look forward to seeing this talented performer in many upcoming local productions. Mary Werntz and Prophet Seay are excellent in a variety of roles. Jill Davis’s scenic design, Jeremy Paul’s projections and Angie Hayes’s sound designs, all aid in making this a well-conceived production. Capsule judgment:  If you are a comedy and/or a musical theater junky who is reluctant to see a “serious” play, make an exception and get thee to Dobama to experience an important and well-written script, experience a well-conceived production, with an award-winning performance.  THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY MUST-SEE PRODUCTION! For tickets to THE OTHER PLACE, which runs through April 2, 2023, call 216.932.3396 or go to https://www.dobama.org/ Next up at Dobama:  WHAT WE LOOK LIKE (April 21-May 14).  The story of the Hodges...a black family that has recently moved to a suburban white neighborhood.  When the youngest is asked to draw a family picture at school, he creates an imaginary white family!

“Aladdin” takes audience on a less than dynamic magic carpet ride

 Disney, whether it’s their theme parks, cruises or Broadway-style shows, has a special approach that excites kids as well as adults.  

 
Disney’s “Aladdin” as it has done several times, is again attempting to take CLE on a magic carpet ride at the Connor Palace as part of the Huntington Featured Performance Series.
 
The musical, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Menken, is based on the 1992 Disney film “Aladdin.”  
 
The stage version basically sticks to the cinema’s story line, but instead of the film’s animals, Aladdin is blessed with three buddies to help him through his exploits, and add delight through their Three Stooges-like shenanigans.  Jasmine gets three handmaidens, and Aladdin's second wish is used to free him and his friends from capture, not to stop him from drowning, as it is in the movie.

In addition, the stage version, while including five cherished songs from the Academy Award-winning soundtrack, adds some new tunes written especially for the live presentation.

The story follows the young orphaned Aladdin, who, with the help of his three amigos, does petty stealing in a marketplace in the Arabian city of Agrabah, someplace in the Middle East. 
 
Bad guy Jafar, (Boo!) Grand Vizier and assistant to the King, finds out there is a magic lamp which encases a Genie who can grant three wishes to its possessor.  
Getting that lamp is a great way for the scheming Jafar (Boo!) to become King.  Unfortunately, the cave can only be entered by the “chosen one.”  The chosen one?  Aladdin, of course.  (Hey, this is a fairytale.)  
 
Meanwhile, Princess Jasmine is in a tizzy because the law of the land says she must marry a prince.  She’s not interested, but she has a three-day window of time and every prince that she’s offered isn’t to her liking.  (We all know where this plot device is going!)
 
She sneaks out of the palace and goes to the bazaar. Aladdin and his friends are being chased by the royal guards after our hero stole a loaf of bread (you think the guys at Disney got a little mixed up and stole some of the plot from LES MIZ?).  
 
Jaz and ‘Ladin lock eyes and they are smitten.
 
And, so, the plot is laid for the Genie to grant Aladdin his wish to become a prince, thus being eligible to marry Jasmine.  (Of course, there are stumbles along the way, as well as lots of singing and dancing and a magic carpet ride.)  
 
In the end, as is the case with all good tales of this ilk, guy gets girl, villain gets his just just-punishment, and the audience goes home happy, (after stopping at the concession stand in the lobby to buy lots of Disneyesque “stuff”).
 
The touring company is a visual delight of Arabian night costumes, sets and music. However, the cast, who mostly are making their professional tour appearances, is either tired from a long tour, doesn’t have the needed experience, or just doesn’t have the singing and acting chops to carry the show to its potential dynamics.

 
Akron native and BW Music Theatre grad, Marcus M. Martin, is delightful as the wise-cracking, ad-libbing, bedeviling Genie.  His cast-involving opening number sets what should be a perfect delightful tone for the show, and “Friend Like Me,” sung with Aladdin and the Ensemble, evoked extended cheering (there was a large BW and Akron contingent in the audience.)
 
Adi Roy, he of handsome face, dark hair, nice singing voice, and expressive eyes, was acceptable as Aladdin.  He lacked the special charming quality needed to make the audience fall in love with him.
 
His sidekicks, Babkak (delightful Jake Letts), Omar (stand-in Joshua Kenneth Allen Johnson) and Kassim (gym-toned Colt Pratts), were perfect foils.  (Side note:  Baldwin Wallace Musical Theatre grad, Steel Burkhardt, played Kassim on Broadway).  
 
Pretty Senzel Ahmady had the right spunk as Jasmine, one of the few Disney princesses with a backbone. Her nicely sung “These Palace Walls” gave a clear picture of her desire to be her own person.  However, there appeared to be no emotional connection, a plot necessity, between her and Adi Roy (Aladdin).  “A Whole New World,” a Tony Winner for Best Song, a duet between the two, needed more dynamics. 

Anand Nagraj was evil-light as Jafar, not engendering enough real melodramatic scary.  Just moving your eyes upward and scowling, does not evil make.  As Iago, his bumbling side-kick, Iago, Ohio bred, Aaron Choi, feigned being a duffus.  At times he delighted, other instances, he was surface playing put-upon, not being real enough to be believable.

 Cody Hernández (Razoul) is making his homecoming with this Cleveland tour stop.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: “Aladdin” is a family-friendly, escapist musical that gets an adequate production, by a cast of mostly newbies to professional theatre.
 
“Aladdin” will play Wednesday through Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available now by calling at 216-241-6000, or via the Internet at playhousesquare.org. 

Mitsuko Uchida captivates Severance audience with Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas

The final notes of “Piano Sonata No. 32” still hung in the air of the hushed Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center as pianist Mitsuko Uchida held her pose and slowly raised her hands from the Steinway piano’s keys.  As she relaxed her body the packed house rose as one, yelling praise and clapping madly.  Three curtain calls later, Uchida left the stage with the audience still applauding! 
 
Yes, they had just witnessed a master pianist present an impressive and long-to-be-remembered concert!
 
One of the most revered artists of our time, Dame Mitsuko Uchida is known as a peerless interpreter of the works of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven.  
 
Musical America’s 2022 Artist of the Year, and a Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist across the 2022/3, 2023/4 and 2024/5 seasons, she has been nominated for a Grammy® Award, and won the 2022 Gramophone Piano Award.
 
Born in  Japan, Uchida moved to Vienna, Austria, with her diplomat parents when she was 12 years old, after her father was named the Japanese ambassador to Austria.  She was enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music and  gave her first Viennese recital at the age of 14.  

She went on to a much-acclaimed career, much of it with the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra. 

Her 2009 recording of the Mozart piano concertos nos. 23 and 24, in which she conducted the Cleveland Orchestra as well as playing the solo part, won the Grammy Award in 2011.  

From 2002 to 2007 she was artist-in-residence for the Cleveland Orchestra.  “Her 2015 performance with the Cleveland Orchestra elicited this review from the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Call it the mark of a master. Just when Mitsuko Uchida was starting to seem predictable, the goddess of purity, the pianist goes and exhibits another persona altogether.

Performing Mozart again with the Cleveland Orchestra Thursday, the pianist-conductor treated listeners to a heartier, more robust version of her art.”

Each of Beethoven’s Sonatas 30, 31, and 32 have been described as “a haiku, beautifully formed, not wasting a note, making a very significant point.”

“In 1820 Beethoven had started work on not only the Ninth Symphony and the Diabelli Variations, but the Missa Solemnis as well.  During this period of creative magnificence, he also produced his three final piano sonatas, each an experiment in form.”

Sonata 30 has been described as opening in a sweeping exhalation, like a speaker encountered in mid-sentence.  Sounding like an improvisation, it ends as it begins, on the wing (when has a vivace sounded so calm?), and is followed immediately by an angry, prickly, minor-key prestissimo — briefer even than its predecessor. The final movement is a kind of balm. Technically a theme with six variations, the movement opens and ends in the warmth of serenity, daring not to conclude with a bang, but with a sigh.”

It was obvious to anyone who knows Beethoven’s piano music that Sonata 30 was quite different than his earlier pieces.  Much more sounding like “modern” music, part of this change was due to the transition of the piano and piano technique.  

“In the period from about 1790 to 1860, the piano underwent tremendous changes that led to the modern structure of the instrument.  This revolution was in response to a preference by composers and pianists for a more powerful, sustained sound.  This was made possible by the ongoing Industrial Revolution, with resources such as high-quality piano wire for strings, and precision casting for the production of massive iron frames that could withstand the tremendous tension of the strings.”

“Piano technique evolved during the transition from harpsichord/clavichord to fortepiano playing, and continued through the development of the modern piano.  Changes in musical styles and audience preferences over the Classical and Romantic periods, as well as the emergence of virtuoso pianists, contributed to the evolution of the piano and the various ‘schools’ of piano playing.”

Sonata 31 was met with critical raves when it was first presented.  The reaction can best be understood by a modern program note which stated, "In none of the other 31 piano sonatas does Beethoven cover as much emotional territory: it goes from the absolute depths of despair to utter euphoria ... it is unbelievably compact given its emotional richness, and its philosophical opening idea acts as the work’s thesis statement, permeating the work, and reaching its apotheosis in its final moments.”

Mitsuko Uchida presented all that emotional richness.

The obvious favorite segment of the program was Sonata 32 which had elements that sounded like the jazzy and melodic compositions of Scott Joplin and George Gershwin.  

The last of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, the work was written between 1821 and 1822.  It is one of the most famous compositions of the composer's "late period" and is widely performed and recorded.

The work is in two movements, which breaks the traditional pattern of the three-movement sonata.  Each is highly contrasting.  The first movement is stormy and impassioned, “majestic” and brisk.”    “The second movement is filled with drama and transcendence ... the triumph of order over chaos, of optimism over anguish.”

Capsule judgment:  Mitsuko Uchida’s recent Severance Hall all Beethoven concert proved once again that she is one of today’s premiere classic pianist!  
 
Upcoming events of the Cleveland Orchestra:
Tickets:  https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION, MARCH 2-5
Beloved conductor Herbert Blomstedt returns to Cleveland for a program of Beethoven and Mozart favorites. “What he offers, above all, is a kind of preternatural rightness: no gesture feels out of place, no gesture feels routine,” The New Yorker’s Alex Ross wrote of Blomstedt, who he also described as “the most vital conductor of Beethoven.” Beethoven’s Seventh is the composer’s greatest demonstration of the compelling power of rhythm, and it’s paired with Mozart’s “Paradis” Piano Concerto.

MOTZART REQUIEM, MARCH 9-12
Legends swirl around the creation of Mozart’s Requiem, written on his deathbed and left unfinished: Who was the mysterious figure who commissioned the composer? What parts of the work were truly his own? And was Mozart composing his own funeral mass with this final artistic statement? Many of these questions were explored hauntingly (albeit suspiciously) in the movie Amadeus. We are nevertheless left with a work of overwhelming power — at once intensely dramatic and deeply personal — that touches the core of our humanity.

WEST SIDE STORY IN CONCERT, MARCH 17-19
BERNSTEIN, complete film with Cleveland Orchestra, Brett Mitchell, conductor

THE TEMPEST STYMPHONY, MARCH 30 & APRIL 1
Shakespeare’s plays have provided a limitless source of inspiration, and this evening pairs two particularly evocative responses to his comedy The Tempest. First Thomas Adès, in his Cleveland Orchestra conducting debut, leads the world premiere of his Tempest Symphony, based upon the music from his 2012 opera. This is followed by Jean Sibelius’s Prelude and Suite that was assembled from incidental music he wrote for a Danish production of the play. Through this pairing, Adès explores the boundless nature of creativity and vast range of ingenuity.