Seat Of The Pants Productions examines BACH AT LEIPZIG

Itamar Moses, the American playwright, author and of BACH AT LEIZIG, now being staged by Seat of the Pants Productions, is best known for his 2018 Tony Award winning book for the Broadway musical THE BAND’S VISIT.

BACH AT LEIPZIG, which was first presented at Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY, in 2002, was subsequently presented Off Broadway.  It is a tale of aging, betrayal, death, politics, and religion.  

The two-act, over two-hour long historical comedy is, according to the author, based on a 1722 true story, set in Leipzig, Germany, precipitated by the death of Johannn Kuhnau, the local cathedral’s revered organist. This is a prestigious position and questions arise as to not only who will replace him and but the kind of antics the candidates will undertake, including blackmail, bribery, and lying, to win the position.

Written in a fugue-like, structured format, though he never speaks a line, and we never see him, per se, Bach is the play’s central character.  

Interestingly, though he was finally hired, in an interview the play’s author, states, “Absurd that anyone was hired over Bach for a musician’s job, but, in reality, he was the 3^rd choice.”  Some of this may be due to the fact that “Bach's St. John Passion was considered controversial and rarely performed because its libretto — the words Bach set to music — come from Martin Luther's idiosyncratic translation of the Gospel of John, which characterizes Jews as enemies of Jesus (conveniently overlooking that Jesus was a Jew).”

The Seat of the Pants production has moments of humor, though not as fun-filled as reviews from other productions advertise.  Filled with some overacting, and farce rather than comedic line interpretations, the cast at times didn’t seem completely sure how to interpret some of the lines.

Though written for an all-male cast, this production is composed of five females and 2 males.  

Interestingly, the word “he” is used to describe all the candidates in dialogue.  In reality, though by societal prescription of the time required it, there would be no reason for all the candidates be male.  

The cast, Heidi Harris, (Cleveland Critics Circle and Broadwayworld.com-Cleveland Outstanding Actor) Scott Esposito, Kadijah Wingo, Luke Wehner, Molly McFadden and Carolyn Demanelis each develops a consistent character. 

Director Michael Glavan has added some creative staging touches.  George McCarty II’s costumes are era correct.  

Franklin Circle Christian Church’s facility adds an intimacy and “holy” presence to the production.

Capsule judgment:  Seat of the Pants Productions has a purpose of “selecting plays which raise potent questions - some specific to today and others that speak to human nature across the ages.” BACH AT LEIPZIG fulfills that mission. Though it makes for a long sit, the play will be of interest for those interested in historical biographies, classic music and unusual play scripts. 

March 22 - April 7, 2024
Fridays and Saturdays--7:30 PM / Sundays-2:30 PM
NO PERFORMANCE on Sunday, March 31st Additional 2:30 PM Matinee on April 6^th

Franklin Circle Christian Church
1688 Fulton Road
Cleveland, OH 44113

For tickets go to www.seatofthepants.org.

 

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR is a farcical delight at Great Lakes Theater

Sir John Falstaff is at it again!  Yes, the chubby delightful bumbler, who was in the Bard’s HENRY IV, Parts 1 and 2, is now lighting up the stage in Great Lakes Theater’s THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, thanks to Elizabeth I.  The Queen was so infatuated with the character that, according to rumor, she asked Shakespeare to write another play with Falstaff, this time depicting the rogue in love.  
 
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR was first published in 1602.  It takes place in the town of Windsor, the location of the famed Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England, thus the title.    
 
“Key themes of Merry Wives include love and marriage, jealousy and revenge, social class and wealth.”

In brief, we watch as “Falstaff arrives in Windsor very short on money. He decides that, to obtain financial advantage, he will court two wealthy married women, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. Falstaff decides to send the women identical love letters and asks his servants to deliver them to the wives. When they refuse, Falstaff sacks them, and, in revenge, the men tell the husbands Ford and Page of Falstaff's intentions. Page is not concerned, but the jealous Ford persuades the Host of the Garter Inn to introduce him to Falstaff as a 'Master Brook' so that he can find out Falstaff's plans.”

Thus, we are off on a merry farce with lots of pratfalls, double-takes, over-acting, bad accents, misguided love, jealousy, revenge, blackmail, mayhem and a happy ending!

Every aspect of the GLT production is sublime.  

Farce is hard to perform…the timing, the controlled overacting, the unrealistic realism must be precise.  In this production, it is!

The playful set (a Jeff Hermann conception) of lime green outlined houses of Tudor design, creative costumes (Daniele Tyler Mathews creations) with hand-painted flower patterns that mimic the vertical stage curtains, sprightly music (Matthew Webb compositions) and attempts at dancing, all add to this smile-along.

GLT newcomer, Daniel T. Parker, was seemingly born to play Falstaff, the knight of mischief.  He is delightful and perfectly villain-light, making us cheer each time he gets embarrassed and maimed!

Jessie Cope Miller (Mrs. Ford) and Jodi Dominick (Mrs. Page) cavort with glee as Falstaff’s tormentors.  

Jeffrey C. Hawkins, over-acts with positive effect as the up-tight Mr. Ford.  Anthony Michael Martinez (Dr. Caius) and Nick Steen (Sir Hugh Evans), use overdone accents to enhance their over-blown characterizations.

The rest of the cast walks the difficult rail of being farcical without over doing it.

Congrats to director Terri McMahon for keeping the whole production light and fun and engaging.
 
Capsule judgment:  Though generally described as a lesser work, with the right production, the tale of Falstaff, the rotund rascal who attempts, unsuccessfully, to woo and con the two wealthiest married ladies in the town of Windsor, can be a delight.  GLT’s staging, with its glorious set, entrancing costumes, and wonderful acting is so good, that even if you aren’t a Bardophile, it’s a must-see 
 
Next up at GLT:  ALWAYS PATSY CLINE, a musical celebration of the country legend, April 26-May 19, 2024.
 

For tickets https://www.greatlakestheater.org  (216) 241-6000. 

Existential REQUIEM probes the meaning of life at Cleveland Public Theatre

 

Hanoch Levin is considered by many to be the most successful of Israeli playwrights.    REQUIEM, which is now on stage at Cleveland Public Theatre, with support from Cleveland-Israel Arts Connection and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, is one of the most well-known of Levin’s plays.  He wrote the script after receiving a diagnosis of terminal cancer.     The work premiered at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv in 1999 and is the longest running play for adults in Israel.   Based on three short stories by Anton Chekhov, REQUIEM (“ASHKAVA” in Hebrew) was woven by Levin into one story.   As is true of existential plays, yes, Levin, as was Edward Albee, Samuel Becket and Jean-Paul Sartre, a question-asker.  His play asks such questions as why do we exist?, what is the purpose of life?, and what is the best way to live that life?   As perceived by Levin, the tale centers on an elderly couple, a mother trying to save her dying baby, as well as wagon drivers, drunks and prostitutes, all of whom are seeking answers to the reasons for their existence.  Ironically, that is probably the same question that Levin asked himself when he received his death sentence diagnosis.   Shimrit Ron, the Director of the Hanoch Levin Institute of Israeli Drama, in his CPT program notes, indicates that the script has been translated into twenty-seven languages, toured all over the world, yet this is the first production of REQUIEM in the US.  As excited as it is to have a national premiere of an important script, the question as to why has it taken almost 25 years for this masterpiece to land in America, must be asked.   Ron states, regarding this era and this production, “I hope that all the elderly couple, all the mothers who carried their babies and all who have traveled on life’s wagons (including the 134 hostages who were transported in white pickup trucks on October 7 [the date the Hamas terrorists invaded Israel] will return safely to their homes very soon.”   The CPT production, under the adept direction of Raymond Bobgan, the theatre’s Executive Artistic Director, is creatively staged.     Using the philosophical view that Levin’s “plays spring from a wild imagination and prioritized theatricality over realism,” Bobgan demands the audience use their imaginations to not only understand the play’s inner message, but accept that what is taking place is symbolic, not realistic.     Bobgan comes to the play well prepared. He travelled to Israeli to research the project and availed himself of the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection and the Cleveland Jewish Community Federation to gain understanding of the playwright, as well as the religious and ethnic foundation on which the script was written.   The cast, headed by Peter Lawson Jones as the Old Man, the fulcrum of the story, is excellent.  It is difficult to create characters whose lines are not always not easily understood by the audience, and which are often symbolic, not literal in meaning.      Lawson clearly develops a character struggling to understand life and death.  He confronts his wives and his impending death asking questions, getting no answers, yet continuing on.  He is aptly accompanied on the journey by Venetia Whatley, as the Old Lady.   Underlying meanings have been keyed by Ryan Charles Ramer’s original compositions. Catherine Anne Pace’s video scenery help create the proper moods.  Cameron Caley Michalak has created scenery that allows for the breaking of the realistic third wall centering on a center-stage turntable and abstract set pieces.   Capsule judgment:  REQUIEM is a play that is neither easy to understand nor to immediately grasp its meaning.  It takes a while of after-thought and some mulling over what one has just experienced to gain self-awareness.  It is not a play for anyone who goes to the theatre for pure entertainment.  This script and production are not entertaining in the normal sense.  As with all existential theatrical experiences, it takes work to not only sit through the production, but allow yourself time to gain its message.   REQUIEM continues at CPT, in the Gordon Square neighborhood, through April 6, 2024.  For tickets call 216.631.2727 ext. 501 or go to https://www.cptonline.org/get-tickets/   For other Cleveland-Israel Arts Connection activities go to https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/programs/jewish-federation-of-cleveland-israel-arts-connection/

ORDINARY DAYS--Creative script, inventive staging and impressive performances

 
Adam Gwon, who wrote the music and lyrics for ORDINARY DAYS, which recently finished its run as part of the Playhouse Square/Baldwin Wallace annual collaboration, was in attendance at the brief 3-day run.  In fact, he has been a part of the production since an early rehearsal when he visited with the cast and creative team.  He also did a talkback after the Saturday evening performance. 

Gwon was selected as one of The Dramatist magazine's "50 to Watch" and praised by The New York Timesas "a promising newcomer to our talent-hungry musical theater with songs that are funny, urbane, with a sweetness that doesn't cloy." 

ORDINARY DAYS is a 1 hour 25-minute original musical, that “follows the contemporary and intimate experiences of four young New Yorkers as they navigate the complexities of love, loss, and self-discovery in the bustling city.  The characters grapple with personal challenges, relationships, and the pursuit of meaning and love, creating a touching and relatable narrative.”
 
The play, much like the new trend in dramatic musicals, doesn’t follow the traditional format of two-act, Golden Age of the American scripts.  It is a series of interconnected scenes, in which the characters and plot unfold through songs and no dialogue.  Think of it as an opera without the arias, overblown characters or overly dramatic plots. 
 
In ORDINARY DAYS we meet two young New York couples, Warren and Deb and Jason and Claire.  The former become acquainted when Claire, a college student loses her diary, which contains notes for her dissertation.  Jason, a free-spirited artist, with a secret to hide, who distributes square pieces of colored-paper adorned with affirmation phrases on the streets of the Big Apple.
 
After an exhausting search through the galleries of the New York Museum of Art, the duo finally gets-together to exchange the diary.  The meeting is in front of Warren’s favorite painting, a piece of art that Deb doesn’t appreciate.  Conflictual attraction takes place.  We all know where this storyline is going to go!
 
Danny BÓ, he of owl eyes, mobile face and Shirley Temple curls, is delightful as Warren.  The diminutive BW senior, who has been seen on-stage at such venues as Great Lakes Theater, Beck Center and The Idaho Shakespeare Center, has a wonderful touch for comedy and farce, and his magnetism lights up the stage.  He is definitely Broadway ready and we should see him on NY stages in a short time.
 
Jaedynn Latter, who portrays Deb, is a charming Southern California BW Musical Arts student, and a perfect match for BÓ.  She, too, knows how to play comedy and captivate an audience.  She has a fine singing voice, as evidenced in “Calm,” one of the shows highlights.  “Beautiful,” a Warren and Deb duo was captivating.
 
In contrast to the quirky Warren and Deb, Jason (Dario Alvarez) and Claire (Maggie Solimine) are the tales serious duo.  He is in love and carries an engagement ring, just waiting for the opportune moment to pop the question.  She has a deep secret that is stopping her from making a complete commitment to Jason or, as it turns out, anyone.  Their “Fine” is cute and a score standout.  
 
Both Alvarez and Solimine, as should be expected from students enrolled in one of the finest musical theater programs in the country and being trained by the likes of Victoria Bussert, the multi-Cleveland Critics Circle and BroadwayWorld-Cleveland best director awards winner and the Director of the BW Musical Theatre program, have fine singing voices and performed well. 
 
The Helen’s black box intimate theatre, Matthew Webb’s music (though I would have preferred a small orchestra to soften sound of the harshness of a single piano), and Russ Borski’s scenic, costume and lighting designs, all added to the quality of the production.
 
Gwon, says of Bussert and Baldwin Wallace, “I've always admired Vicky, for being really invested and investing her students in the process of new work...one of the things I love about writing shows is that you're really you…let other people bring their point of view and put their own stamp on it, and that to me is something that's so exciting about theatre is that every production is going to be different, because every team of people is bringing something new to the piece.

He continues, “The show is built to have that kind of openness to interpretation. It's not meant to be replicated exactly the same way every time. The script is the same, the songs are the same, but the interpretation is always so different, so, I'm particularly excited to see how Vicky's interpretation and my reaction to it will have evolved as we've evolved as people since the show came into our lives.”
 
He also stated, “One of the reasons I find Baldwin Wallace's Music Theater program so exciting is that they are…invested in what's coming down the pike, the new writers, the new musicals, which I think is such a vital part of not only the theatre community that the students are going to enter…but just the lifeblood of theatre as an art form. If we're not introducing audiences and introducing new artists to new work, we're just recycling the same old thing, and that's not how art moves forward.”

Capsule judgement:  It’s a shame that the show only ran four performances.  It is the type of production that develops a cult following and could have run on and on in an open-ended -format.  Personally, I was enamored by the script, found the members of the Downtown cast wonderful (the show is double cast, with Anthony Maja, Kenna Wilson, Luke Henson and Jessi Kirtey being the Uptown cast), and not only would I have liked to see that cast, but would have excitedly encouraged everyone to see the show!

To experience the BW Musical Theatre program students, consider attending:

Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre –A benefit in memory of Kyle Jean Baptiste
Thursday March 21, 7:30 pm
$20 Tickets HERE
 
Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre - Junior Class—A Sondheim Celebration!!
Thursday March 28 @ 7:30 pm
$20 Tickets HERE
  
Both of these programs will be @ Market Garden Brewery
1947 W. 25th Street. (In Ohio City immediately north of West Side Market)
www.marketgardenbrewery.com

Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre - Senior Showcase (the performances that students did in New Yorkfor casting directors and agents)
Monday April 29@ 7:00 pm
$20 Tickets HERE
@ Beaumont School Theater in Cleveland Heights
 

  

SOMETHING CLEAN is compelling in its Regional Premiere at Dobama!

 

Northwestern grad, Selina Fillinger, was the first Judith Barlow Prize winner, an annual student award given to work inspired by a historic female playwright.  “In 2019, her play SOMETHING CLEAN received the Laurents/Hatcher Award.”  “Her play POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM  ALIVE,  premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre in 2022, making Fillinger, at 28, one of the youngest playwrights to be produced on Broadway.”  She is one of the new bright lights in the world of contemporary playwriting.   In his well-written program notes Dobama’s Artistic Director Nathan Motta states, in regard to female and male rape, that the spotlight is usually placed on the victim or perpetuator.  But, “what are the ripple effects on the families of both the survivor and perpetrator? What warning signs or behavior did those close to the offender miss? While it might be natural to worry about an act of violence happening to someone you love, how often do we consider the thought of someone we’re close to committing such an appalling act?”   At the start of SOMETHING CLEAN, now on stage at Dobama, we find Charlotte (Derdriu Ring) and Doug (Robert Ellis) center stage in a pin-spot light.  They stand emotionless.  Doug reaches tentatively to hold Charlotte’s hand.  She pulls away.     As we find out through a number of quick-enfolding scenes, the respectable lives of Charlotte and Doug have been in free-fall due to the emotional fallout caused by their college-age son’s imprisonment for a sex crime.  It appears, from the reaction of their friends and the community, that this will forever taint them.   To add to the angst, a recent trial and conviction of a black young man resulted in a prison sentence much longer than that assigned to their white son, is causing public outcry.   As the play speeds through scenes of Charlotte and Doug’s strained bedroom routines, Doug’s long absences to be “at work,” her volunteering at an inner-city sexual assault counseling center, where she is reluctant to reveal her name and qualifications other than that she is “really good at tackling stains … any stains,” to her developing into a mother figure for gay employee Joey, to his revealing that he was a survivor of assault by a neighbor beginning when he was 9 years old, to her finally telling Joey who she is, to her attempts to clean the dumpster, near the fraternity house, where her son’s crime occurred, we are taken on a speeding train heading for either a possible safe arrival at the station of resolve or a resounding crash destined to destroy the lives or two people.   Fillinger has etched clear characters, in a focused plot, interspersed with dark ideas and even darker comic dialogue.  She well deserves the awards the script has garnered.   Sindelar’s directing is laser-sharp.  The pace, the character development, the humor and the angst, is clearly developed.   Derdriu Ring, the four-time award winner for best local actress from The Cleveland Critics Circle and BroadwayWorld-Cleveland, gives another superb performance as Charlotte, a woman struggling to make sense of her own grief and culpability.  She doesn’t portray the role, she is Charlotte.  Her pain, is our pain.  Her angst is our angst.  Bravo!   Robert Ellis matches Ring as Doug, a suffering father trying to both confront his role in his son’s fall and his failure to be emotionally present when his wife needs him.    Isaiah Betts makes his Dobama premier in fine fashion as Joey.  He has a nice touch for both drama and comedy, and displays solid acting chops.     It is always difficult to design a set in Dobama’s long narrow stage space.  Naoko Skala has succeeded in fitting three unique settings into the space.  Jeremy Paul’s lighting and Angie Hayes’ sound designs helps the rapid-fire scenes in perspective.     Capsule judgment:  Combine the fine writing by Selina Fillinger, with the focused directing of Shannon Sindelar, add in the excellent technical aspects of the Dobama staff, and three finely-etched realistic portrayals, and the result is a superb evening of must-see theatre.   SOMETHING CLEAN runs through March 30, 2024 at Dobama on Lee road in Cleveland Heights.  For tickets: call 216.932.3396 or go to https://www.dobama.org/