MEAN GIRLS opens opportunities for future Broadway stars to strut their talent in a like-level production

Think back to high school, specifically the cafeteria, at lunch time.  Depending on the institution you attended there was probably the table of math geeks, another of drama kids.  The testosterone-laden jocks hung out over there and the cheerleaders were right next to them.  Then there was the hive of “Plastics,” the “mean girls,” headed by the queen bee and her small swarm of drones.  They were perfectly coiffed, expensively dressed, spoiled, and lacking in empathy. 

MEAN GIRLS is a rock musical with a book by Tina Fey, lyrics by Nell Benjamin, and music by Jeff Richmond. It is based on the 2004 film by Mark Waters, which was also written by Fey and was in-turn inspired by Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes. 

The musical focuses on Cady Heron, a teenage girl who transfers to a public high school after being home-schooled while living in Africa. She knows little of the US popularity competition of teen-life and the resulting bullying.

Cady is taken on a tour of her new educational institution, an Illinois high school, and exposed to the ways of its pecking order, by Janis and Damian.  

 

The J and D duo have taken the attitude of not being affected by the Plastics.  They caution Cady to be careful in deciding where she belongs in the school’s social fabric. (This is a Tina Fey satirical farce, so, of course ridiculous and angst breaks loose.)

 

And, wonder of wonders, for an unexplained reason, Cady is invited to sit with the Plastics on a one-week trial.  (Hmm…what do the terrible trio have in mind?)

 

Fans of the movie should be relieved that nothing important has been purged from the story. 

Those who went through the horrors of slam/shame books, hazing, verbal abuse and general “hell” at the hands of the mean girls at their high schools will be happy to know that, in this musical, the queen and her swarm get their stingers removed.  (Yeah! Revenge for the high school “nerds.”) 

 

Everything goes well for Cady until she meets “dreamy” Aaron in honors math class.  She falls for him.  But, horror of horrors, Aaron has recently broken up with Queen Regina.  (You know this is going to make life for Cady a shock show.)

 

In order to “keep” Aaron’s interest Cady plays dumb, turning to him for unneeded “extra” help. 

 

 A bus accident, a Burn Book which slams students by commenting on their weight (“hips like a Hippo”), parents’ infidelities (“the only reason he made the team is that his mother slept with the coach”) and eating habits (“Vegan freak”), Cady taking over Regina’s place as Queen of the Plastics, Cady being elected Spring Fling Queen and her surprising act of sharing the crown, all lead to a happy-ever-after feel-good ending.  (Hey, this is a Tina Fey written Broadway musical, what did you expect?)

 

Though it received 15 Tony nominations, MEAN GIRLS, as evidenced by the fact that it won no statues, it is not a great musical.  This is definitely not DEAR EVAN HANSEN or NEXT TO NORMAL quality. 

 

It can be, however, enjoyable and, it has developed a cult following.

 

The serviceable score, the Tina Fey sharp tongued satire and one-liners gave a general positive vibe to the goings on.

MEAN GIRLS premiered on Broadway in 2018. The show received positive to mixed reviews from critics. 

The show closed after 833 performances on Broadway on March 11, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A film adaptation was released in theaters in January 2024.

The score contains such unmemorable songs as "Where Do You Belong,”  "Stupid with Love", "What's Wrong With Me?," “Whose House is This?," "More is Better," "I'd Rather Be Me,” "Fearless," "Do This Thing," and “I See Stars.”  The delightful score from GREASE, another teen-centric show, this is not.

 

The script can be misleading.  Because it is populated by a cast of young people, if you find the right singers, dancers and actors it appears to be easy to perform.  Nope.  Not true.  This is farce, and farce is hard to achieve.  The characters have to be real, yet exaggerated.  The audience should be laughing with them, not at them.  

 

The Beck production proves that point.  The cast is composed of Baldwin Wallace and Oberlin musical theatre majors.  Most have their sights on Broadway and are very talented.  What they need most to make this show work, is a production team, especially a director, which understands the concept of farce and guides the thespians in this direction. 

 

Though basically entertaining, this staging falls somewhat short of the level it should be considering the talent-level of the cast.

 

Bryan Bird’s musical direction is fine.  The orchestra plays well.  The cast all sings well, intoning meaning, just not singing words. 

  

SPONGEBOB, farce-lite at Beck Center

 

When I reviewed it on Broadway, several year ago, my capsule judgment stated: “SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS THE BROADWAY MUSICAL” is a wonder of neon psychedelic delight starring a character-perfect lead surrounded by a fun-centered cast which should delight adults and children of all ages!”  Therefore, my expectations for the Beck Center production of the script were sky-high, especially when I found out that many of the cast are from the newly founded musical theater program at Oberlin College.   The musical was conceived by Tina Landau.  It has songs by such artists as Sara Bareilles, Cindy Lauper and Rob Hyman, Lady Antebellum, John Legend, David Bowie and Brian Eno, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.   It is based on the characters and themes of the “SpongeBob SquarePants” animated children’s television show, which was created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg.  It takes place in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom.    SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS has its own vision…to entertain in a psychedelic underwater world of neon colors.  No strong message, but there are child-friendly hints of the value of friendship and of overcoming fear!       The stage version opens as SpongeBob SquarePants wakes up, in his usual wide-eyed happy mood, ready to face another wonderful day with his pet snail, Gary.  He wanders through Bikini Bottom, greeting various people including his best friend, Patrick (a squid) and Sandy Cheeks (a human who lives in a bubble-like dome and possesses great scientific skills).     As the day progresses a violent tremor rocks the town.  A television news report relates that a nearby volcano is about to erupt.  Oh, what to do?  Stay and be destroyed?  Flee?  Find a way to save the city by neutralizing the danger.    Hey, this is an escapist farce.  There has to be a plot device that contains danger, a bad guy and a happy ending to fulfill the formulaic story requirements.      So, off to climb the volcano, get rid of the danger (thanks to an invention by Sandy), and defeat an evil villain.  And, of course, our hero has to be the title character—SpongeBob.   The process of saving the town is filled with lots of singing and dancing, climbing the walls of the volcano, skateboarding rockers, and ideally lots of overdone farcical acting.  Donald Bianchi, the creative genius and founder of Dobama Theatre had many pet phrases that he used when directing.  Among his “Donisms” was his saying that to be successful, a production had to have “ziztfleish,” the Yiddish/German word which implies "the ability of the performance to grab and hold the audience’s attention, thus getting the viewers to focus on the stage.  The test of this was to watch the audience members and be aware what they were doing.  Shuffling in their seats, rattling the programs and whispering to others, were signs of negative ziztfleish.     Though the Beck cast puts out full effort, a combination of the difficulty of doing farce, and a lack of directing creativity, left the Beck production lacking in the fantasy factor, thus the audience, primarily young kids, had difficult sitting still.  The parade of youngsters up and down the aisle, jumping around in their seats and asking questions of their adult companions, was of a high level.     These kids are used to action loaded and farcical schticks.  They obviously didn’t find it in this performance.  As the restless four-year-old blond cutie sitting in front of me, who was using her chair alternately as a bed and trampoline said to her father at intermission, “This isn’t fun like tv SpongeBob.”  Nope, no ziztfleish!   The show needs a farcical, quirky set, creative costumes, goofy and over-the-top acting.  In-other-words, everything that would make for escapist enjoyment.  The cast needs to have the direction that allows them to excite the viewer and hold their attention.     The Beck staging has some of those things.  It just doesn’t have all of them, or enough to come close to duplicating the wonderful Broadway version.     The set needed more Rube Goldberg gimmicks and fantasy graphics.  The volcano needed to be more treacherous and hold more potential danger.  The actors needed to be more playful.  Be bigger than life!  The lighting, the sound effects, the costumes need to excite.    Kudos to Lauren Marousek for her creative choreography.  The high points of the show were the wonderful tap dancing and kick-line sequences.   Probably, of interest to Beck patrons is that SPONGEBOB was produced in New York by the Araca Group, Cleveland natives Matthew Rego, Michael Rego, and Hank Unger, who are members of Beck’s Alumni Hall of Fame.  The show added to the group’s ever-expanding list of Broadway hits, which include such smashes as URINETOWN, WICKED, ’ NIGHT MOTHER, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, ROCK OF AGES, and THE OUTSIDERS, last year’s Tony winner for best musical.   Capsule judgment: “Spongebob Squarepants The Broadway Musical” delighted on Broadway.  The Beck production is an acceptable, if underwhelming version!   For tickets to SPONGEBOB, call 216-521-2540 or go on line to beckcenter.org.

Dynamic, A CHORUS LINE excites at Beck Center

 

A CHORUS LINE is considered by many theatre experts to be one of the shows that set the pattern for what is labeled the American Musical Theater.    First came THE BLACK CROOK (a smash-together of a melodrama and ballet).  Some of the other significant shows include SHOW BOAT (a story musical), OF THEE I SING (first musical to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama),  OKLAHOMA (the recognized model for the “book musical,” a musical in which the songs and dances are fully integrated into a well-made story), RENT (the script which many credit as the catalyst for the development of the serious dramatic musical), and A CHORUS LINE, (the show which stressed dance as the foundation for developing a musical theater production). A CHORUS LINE is a 1975 musical conceived by Michael Bennett with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by Nicholas Dante and Elyria’s James Kirkwood, Jr.. A CHORUS LINE had a different path to Broadway than most musicals.  It started out as a series of interviews of dancers of past and present Broadway shows conducted by director and choreographer Michael Bennett.    From the many hours of personal and professional information, a script was developed providing a glimpse into the personalities of the performers, as they describe the events that shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. The original Broadway production ran for 6,137 performances, becoming, at that time, the longest-running production in Broadway history.  It received twelve Tony Award nominations and won nine, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The show opens during an audition for a fictional upcoming Broadway production. The director and his assistant are putting the dancers through their paces. Every dancer, expresses their individual and collective hopes in "I Hope I Get It” their individual “I want song.”    After a round of cuts, 17 dancers remain.    Zach tells them he is looking for a dancing chorus of four boys and four girls, wants to learn more about them, wants each to introduce themselves. Reluctantly, they reveal their pasts with stories and songs of hope, pursuing of dreams, picking one’s self up and starting over again.   What is different in this show than the book musical format that Rodgers and Hammerstein laid out in OKLAHOMA?  Among other factors, there is no overture, no single structured story, and the curtain call is a choreographed dance number that is integrated into the production.     Little known facts about the development of the script are that the dancers who participated in the story-telling collection meetings originally received only $1 for their stories, and that some whose personal tales are told had to try out for the show.  Some of those were not cast.   A CHORUS LINE is a difficult show to stage.  The cast each has to dance, sing and act, all on a high level.  It is also an intense show to perform as the cast members are on-stage most of the time and are tasked with numerous exhausting routines.   Beck’s director and choreographer, Christopher Chase Carter’s cast is excellent in all aspects of their performances, though several of the males preened and “posed” at being, rather than actually “being” their characters.     Most of the performers are present or past students of the Baldwin Wallace’s Musical Theatre program or Oberlin’s Conservatory of Music.   Memorable moments were rendered by Jimmy Metz (Paul), whose tale of being a pony dancer in a sleezy theater evoked a spelling-binding hold on the audience, Julia Martin’s (Cassie) compelling dancing in “The Music and the Mirror,” the trio of Eilana Taub (Sheila), Bebe Moss (Bebe), and Andi Brooke Keller (Maggie) who sang “At the Ballet,” the wistful melody, whose harmonies grow and build, Dakota Krouse (Mike) who sings the delightful “I Can Do That,” and Abigail Sanford (Val) who teasingly belts the provocative “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three.”   Kudos also to Scott Sumerak (Zach) and Nic Rhew (Larry), the entire cast for their vocal blending and fine solo work, as well as Orchestra Director David Robinson and his finely tuned orchestra and the lighting and scenic designs of Cheri Prough DeVol, as well as Christopher Case Carter’s choreography, which nicely duplicated and enhanced Michael Bennett’s original dance movements.     The only technical flaw was the poorly balanced sound system of the Senney Theater which continually makes it difficult to hear performers placed extreme stage right and left.   Capsule judgement:  The Beck show is a fine example of what happens when a fine script is staged by a talented director/choreographer, who has the fortune of finding a well-trained and talented cast.  The enthusiastic audience left on an emotional high, humming and singing one of the many memorable songs of the score, realizing that there are those in the world of theater who constantly illustrate, “What I Did for Love!”     A CHORUS LINE runs through August 10, 2025.  For tickets go to beckcenter.org or call 216-521-2540.

 

Beck’s THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM encapsulates pseudo-violence, desire, innocence in blue-grass and farce    Like the old tale, my lord: "it is not so, nor `t was not so; but, indeed, God forbid it should be so."   The intimate Beck’s Studio Theatre is a perfect venue for meeting and greeting THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM a blue-grass, farcical musical with a book and lyrics by Alfred Uhry and music by Robert Waldman.    The story is based on the 1942 novella by Eudora Welty, which is based on a German fairy tale by the Brother Grimm.      This is a tale of a wealthy businessman, his shrewish second-wife, his beautiful spoiled daughter, a handsome but dastardly polite bandit and a bunch of legendary figures, some real and some invented by Eudora Welty, that takes place in the Natchez Trace.  (Yippie, do-da day!) The first Broadway production, which was directed by Lorain, Ohio native Gerald Freedman, who later headed the Great Lakes Theater, opened in a limited engagement on October 7, 1975.   It ran for 14 performances and 1 preview before setting out on a one-year US national tour. Its success on the road convinced the producers to mount a revamped Big Apple production with an extended book and expanded, heavily bluegrass-tinged score. The music, deemed "country and southern" was arranged for guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass and banjo. (Yah, that there twangy sound!) This second Broadway production opened on October 9, 1976 where it ran for 145 performances and 12 previews.  The tale starts with Clemment Musgrove, the wealthiest planter on the Natchez Trace arriving in town only to have all of the townsfolk trying to steal his money. He finally makes it to a hotel. Little Harp, a largely unsuccessful robber, plots with his brother, Big Harp, who is only a head that he keeps in a briefcase, about how they can steal Musgrove's money.  (You think two heads are better than one?) The duo eventually devisies a plan in which they will  kill him in his sleep. (Owww...scary!) Jamie Lockhart, rescues Musgrove from the Harps by tricking Little Harp into thinking that he killed them and their ghosts attack him. Grateful, Musgrove invites Jamie to his home for dinner and for the chance to meet and woo his greatest treasure, his daughter, Rosamund. (Daddy...the matchmaker.) Farce is difficult to do.  Many parts of the Beck production, directed by Scott Spence, which has great choreography and musical staging by Lauren Marousek, are nicely set up for the telling of the ridiculous, melodramatic tale of overwrought and unbelievable love and lust.  Others are missing.  It features a fine, though, at times overly loud enthusiastic orchestra (Evan Kleve, David Nicholson, Jesse Hogson, Michael Simile and Jason Stebelton), which sometimes drowns out the words of the songs, under the direction of Larry Goodpaster.   Standout cast members are Nic Rhew as Jamie Lockhart, the Gentleman Robber, who possesses a fine singing voice, and, as required, is tall, dark and handsome, Izzy Baker, as the blonde, beautiful, air-headed femme-fatale Rosamund, the daughter of the wealthy Clemment Musgrove, and Jordan Potter, as Musgrove, the wealthy planter.  Seth Crawford, he of slight body and puppy-dog eyes, over-does, much to the audience’s delight, the roll of Goat, the “dumb boy” who is enlisted by her step-mother Salome (Ruby Moncrief-Karten) to carry out her ill-planned scheme to kill Rosamund.  Too bad others didn’t take Crawford’s lead, or weren’t directed to let totally loose. Trad A Burns must have cleaned out all of the antique shops in Lakewood in order to build the marvelously ambitious rustic set! Capsule judgement:  THE ROBBERBRIDGE GROOM is a farcical, nonsensical piece of blue-grass musical theatre fluff, which gets a” funish” production at Beck. The show runs through June 29, 2025.  For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org Next up at Beck:  7/11-8/10—CHORUS LINE—The dance centric musical that changed the American musical theatre.  Picture a bare stage, and all the dreams of Broadway performers lay before you. This time, you “gotta get it,” in honor of the 50th anniversary of this Broadway favorite.   (A classic that must be seen and reseen!)   A BELATED CONGRATULATIONS TO EDWARD GALLLAHER ON HIS APPOINTMENT AS PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LARRY GOODPASTER AS VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS, and JULIE GILLILAND, VICE PRESIDENT OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCMENT AT BECK CENTER FOR THE ARTS.

BECK stages Neil Simon’s comic THE SUNSHINE BOYS

 

Broadway Theatre, from the mid-1950s through almost the end of the 1960s, went through a period in which the values, morals and attitudes of the post-World War II population were examined.  
 
Dramas by such luminaries as Arthur Miller, who asked, What is the best way to live?” in his  DEATH OF A SALESMAN, THE CRUCIBLE and ALL MY SONS. Tennessee Williams probed, “What is it like to live in a society that doesn’t understand you and you don’t understand it? in STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and GLASS MENAGERIE.  While, William Inge whose solitary protagonists were encumbered with strained sexual relations asked, “What are our hidden secrets?” in DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, PICNIC and BUS STOP.
 
Neil Simon emerged as one of the most popular playwrights with his comedy scripts.
 
Simon was New York through-and-through.  He was born there (1927), lived his life and died (2018) in the area, and based most of his plays in Big Apple. 
 
His life was filled with conflict.  His parents fought a great deal and his own marriage was filled with angst.  In fact, he “blamed” his writing style on this.  He once said, “I think part of what made me a comedy writer is the blocking out of some of the really ugly, painful things in my childhood and covering it up with a humorous attitude ... do something to laugh at until I was able to forget why I was hurting.”
 
His productivity and success were unrivaled.  He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays.  He won a Pulitzer Prize, had 17 Tony nominations, four Tony Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.   
 
In 1966, he had four successful productions running on Broadway at the same time and, in 1983, he became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre named in his honor. 
 
His play, The Sunshine Boys, now on stage at Beck Center, opened in 1972 and starred Jack Alberton and Sam Levine.  It was met with strong positive reviews.
 
The script’s protagonists, Al Lewis and Willie Clark (supposedly based on the real-life team of Gallagher and Shean), were once a major vaudeville comedy duo known as the Sunshine Boys. 
 
Their 43-year run was filled with conflict and when it ended, with Al retiring from show business, leaving Willie, bitter and frustrated.  The duo stopped speaking to each other.
 
It’s now eleven years later and we find Willie, struggling with memory loss living alone in the same apartment he had occupied most of his marriage-less life, being cared after by his nephew and “agent,” Ben.  
 
CBS wants the Lewis and Clark duo to recreate their famous “The Doctor Will See You” sketch as part of their history of comedy special.  This, of course, would require the cranky old men to speak to each other.  
 
When they reluctantly meet to rehearse, the reunion goes badly with the “boys” entering into heated arguments over the words they will use, the arrangement of the furniture, and the elimination of chest poking and spitted out words which started with a “t.”
 
The conflicts continue in the television studio.  
 
The ending--this is a comedy which requires that it have a happy ending--is endearing!
 
It is eye-opening that almost all of the famous comic vaudeville duos, such as Abbot and Costello, Gallagher and Sheen, Martin and Lewis, and Smith and Dale, all had tumultuous endings.

Beck’s production, under the direction of William Roudebush, works adequately well.  For this play to succeed requires that the audience warm up to the duo as, underneath their bluster, each is a teddy bear and that the comedy sketch be done with raucous abandonment, bridging on farce.

Doing Borscht Belt comedy is difficult, almost impossible for modern day actors.  It is not their fault.  It takes years to hone the skills of listening, reacting and recreating movements that bring the needed laughs.  That type of vaudeville is not something that someone who has not observed and practiced for years, can accomplish.

Rohn Thomas succeeds in making Al Lewis loveable, but Alan Safier’s Willie is sometimes so over-done that he becomes irritating and we lose our “love” for him.  

They try hard in the “The Doctor is In,” skit, but just don’t produce the perfection of farce comedy needed.  Not bad, (drum roll) but just not quite good enough.

Carolyn Demanelis is physically right for the role of the zaftig Vaudeville Nurse and Joyce Bell Linzy adds delight as the sarcastic Registered Nurse.

Capsule judgment:  It is enjoyable when a theatre reprises a Neal Simon comedy.  THE SUNSHINE BOYS, because of the requirement of enacting the classic comic routine is probably the most difficult Simon play to stage well.  The cast and crew give full effort, but don’t completely hit the bullseye!

THE SUNSHINE BOYS runs through October 6, 2024 at the Senney Theatre in the Beck Center of the Arts Complex.  For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org
 

Audience-pleasing BEAUTIFUL, THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, lights up Beck Center stage!

 

 
BEAUTIFUL, now on stage at Beck Center for the Arts, is a Juke Box musical loosely based on the life of Carol King (aka Carol Joan Klein), one of America’s most prolific songs writers, arrangers and entertainers.
 
As with all musicals of that classification (e.g., MAMMA MIA!, JERSEY BOYS, MJ THE MUSICAL), the songs, which were not written specifically for the show, are shoe-horned into a script.  The music doesn’t always fit smoothly, but the importance is not the literary development of the tale, but the fact that the character, performer or person, who is the center-piece of story, has connection to the songs.  
 
BEAUTIFUL, shows the development of King, a young Jewish Brooklyn girl, with a dominating divorced mother, who has little self-confidence, but a strong drive to write music and succeed in the stressful business, growing from a modest song scribe to a popular and confident writer and performer of songs.  It spotlights a conflicted person within the reluctant star, who emerged as a leader in her field and also in politics and the women’s movement.
 
The audience is taken on a journey of her relationship with her husband, and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, to her career’s development, divorce and close friendship and playful rivalry with fellow song-writing duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.
 
The musical opened on Broadway on January 12, 2014 and ran through October 27, 2019.  The 60 previews and 2,418 performances made it, at that time, the 27th longest-running musical in Broadway history.
 
One of the highlights of the run was that King attended the April 3, 2014 performance and appeared on stage at the curtain call, singing "You've Got a Friend" with the cast. 

As is often the case with Juke Box musicals, when the show opened on Broadway, it was criticized for the weakness of the book.  As one reviewer stated, the musical does not have the "dramatic coherence of book bio-musicals.”  Another stated, while the musical "doesn't hang its songs on the greatest or most suspenseful story ever told, it has enough bounce and Broadway show glitz to keep you in your seat."

The near sold-out Beck audience, however, wasn’t in their seats.   At the conclusion, they leapt to their feet, clapping and yelling their appreciation. 

BEAUTIFUL is a difficult musical to produce.  Not only do you have the “Carole King” sound that is familiar to many, but there are also the groups, The Shirelles, Drifters, Righteous Brothers, each of whom has a recognizable sound and movements.  To do the script service means for the director, choreographer, music director and cast to be familiar with all of these elements, or the authenticity of the show is lost.

In the main, the Beck production, which is the local premiere of the piece, is on track.  While some of the acting was superficial, most of the material was well-conceived. 

Reese Henrick (as Cynthia Well) and Jordan Potter (as Barry Mann) were delightful.  They had a wonderful physical and emotional connection, displaying a keen sense of comic timing.  Her “Happy Days” and their duet “He Sure the Boy I Love,” were show highlights.

Elsie Carlisle displayed a fine singing voice and an understanding of Carole King, while Mikhail Roberts was appropriately tortured as Gerry Goffin.

There are well-known synchronized movements identified with each boy or girl group.  In some, in this staging, the choreographic timing was off.   It was especially obvious in “On Broadway,” the song made famous by the Drifters.   More time was need for each of the quartets to watch videos and getting the styles down pat, with fine tuning by choreographer Lauren Tidmore Marousek.

Chris Richards, he of dead-pan comic face, developed a fine Donny Kirshner.

Cheri Proguh Devol’s juke box set was ingenious.  Inda Blatch Geib effectively used yards and yards of fabric to create the era-correct costumes.

Capsule judgment:  BEAUTIFUL, THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, though there were some acting and choreographic stumbles, and the script is more soap-opera than quality musical theater writing, gets an audience pleasing production at Beck.  The music is wonderful. The cast sings with gusto. There is lots of dancing. It is well-worth a look-see!

BEAUTIFUL runs through August 11 at Beck Center’s Senney Theater.  For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org.

Compelling A DOLL’S HOUSE: PART II impressively asks questions about life and the choices we make

 

Western culture was struck by numerous changes in the late twentieth century.  Many monarchs fell, Socialism, Communism and Democracy made in-roads, the social sciences developed the concepts of psychology and sociology, the industrial revolution changed manufacturing, and the way the middle class would live was drastically altered.     In the theatre, escapist and melodramatic plays were replaced by dramas that reflected the issues of the era.  The modernists, such as Anton Chekov, illustrated the flailing role of the aristocracy and was a voice in the prediction of Russian Revolution.  George Bernard Shaw challenged the influences of education and the role of religion.  Henrik Ibsen championed the cause against women being considered second class citizens.   One of Ibsen's classic works is A DOLL’S HOUSE.  “The play concerns the fate of a married woman, who lacked reasonable opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male-dominated world. Despite the fact that Ibsen denied it was his intent to write a feminist play, it was a great sensation at the time and caused a storm of outraged controversy.”    At the conclusion of the epic, Nora tells her husband, Torvald, that she is leaving him and, in a confrontational scene, expresses her sense of betrayal and disillusionment.  She says that she has been treated like a doll to play with, first by her father and then by him.   Leaving her keys and wedding ring, Nora walks out of their home.  Leaving behind her husband and children and a way of life she doesn’t want.   At the start of A DOLLS HOUSE--PART TWO, which is now on-stage at Beck Center, a knock is heard at the door — the same door that Nora slammed behind her fifteen years earlier when she exited at the end of Ibsen’s play.   The door closing which has been termed by theatrical experts and feminists as “the door slam heard around the world.”   Nora is now a woman who has become a free-thinking human being!  It is this “new” Nora who is knocking.      After leaving her husband and children, she has become a successful feminist novelist. The reason for her return is to finalize the divorce which she thought had been executed many years before, but which she has recently found out, Torvald had never signed the papers.   Thus, we are thrown into a series of scenes in which both Nora and the audience are forced to examine what it is that she/we want from life.  Questions arise as to what does it mean to have developed one’s own voice and what is the price we each pay for the decisions we make.   The 2028 Broadway production of Part 2, which was to have a limited 16-week run, was extended well-beyond its limited engagement as the production won numerous awards and audiences continued flowing into the theatre.    As Beck’s director, Don Carrier, wrote in his program notes, “Lucas Hnath (the playwright) is one of our most creative contemporary writers and wisely chose to explore the character and subject matter though a comedic lens.  But even that comedic lens can’t help but pick away at the scabs of the past and get to the roots of why Nora left.  It’s a play with a lot of questions and hopefully answers that allow closure.”   Anjanette Hall is superb as the conflicted Nora.  She creates a character that is so real it is hard to believe that she is only portraying a person, and is not the person, herself.   Nanna Ingvaresson breaths Anne Marie, the housekeeper who was left with the task of caretaker and child-raiser when Nora left.   Tabitha Raithel effectively develops the role of Emmy, Nora’s abandoned daughter.   David Vegh endows an honesty into Torvald which leaves the feeling that he is, under the surface, a person who understands the conflict between Nora and himself, but is powerless to do anything about it.   Jill Davis’s stark set, Adam Ditzel’s lighting and Angie Hays’ sound effects add to create an appropriate space for the production.  Jenniver Sparano’s women’s costumes are both era-correct and beautifully designed and executed.   Capsule judgment:  Beck’s production, under the focused direction of Don Carrier, is a model of the right play, the right cast and the right presentation.  It is a perfect model of the “thinking person’s play.”  Though filled with ironic humor, it is the drama of the script that makes it work so well.   A DOLL’S HOUSE-PART 2 runs through June 30, 2024 in the Senney Theater of Beck Center for the Arts.  For tickets go to beckcenter.org or call 216-521-2540.

Audience pleasing JOSEPH @ Beck Center

My first exposure to JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT was ironically at Beck Center, where I recently saw their newest edition of that play.  

That show, many years ago starred Rob Gibbs, now a local director and actor, was a fine introduction to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical, which had an unusual path to being one of the oft-produced musicals of all time.  It has been estimated that world-wide, over 20,000 school, community and professional theaters have produced the work.
 
As its creation story goes, in 1967, when Webber was 19 years-old, he was asked to write a pop cantata for the school choir to sing at their Easter end-of-term concert.   He asked his friend, Tim Rice, to write lyrics for the project.  They decided to base the work on the story of Joseph from the Biblical book of Genesis. 
 
JOSEPH started as a twenty-minute choral piece.  The show gradually developed into what is now a full script.  It is, however, a different type of script than most musicals.  In fact, it is not a script at all, just a collection of twenty songs arranged in chronological order, with no narrative and no stage directions.  This is why each production of the show takes on a different approach.
 
Sometimes the presentation is done in two acts, sometimes in one.  It has been staged as a bedtime story in pajamas, a Biblical epic complete with clothing of the time of Jacob, a fantasy costumed in out-of-this world clothing, and with and without a chorus.  
 
The Narrator explains, in the “Prologue,” that this is a tale of Joseph, whose clairvoyant powers, intelligence and charm lead to both his being his father’s favorite and the wrath of his 11 brothers (“Jacob and Sons”).   The envy increases when Jacob gives Joseph, a symbol of respect (“Joseph’s Coat”).   His “bros” get rid of him by planning fratricide, but change their minds and  sell him to some passing Ishmaelites (“Poor, Poor Joseph”), who take him to Egypt.  They explain his “death” to their father in “One More Angel in Heaven.”
 
Joseph eventually becomes the Pharaoh’s favorite when he successfully enciphers the leader’s nightmares (“Pharaoh’s Dreams Explained”), saves Egypt from famine, becomes the second in command, eventually forgives his brothers when they come to beg for food (“Grovel/Grovel”) and, in an emotional climax, reunites with his father (“Jacob in Egypt” ).
 
The play concludes with the audience on its feet clapping as the cast sings ‘Any Dream Will Do” and “Give Me My Colored Coat".
 
Like many of Andrew Lloyd Webber conceptions, which includes CATS, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, EVITA, ASPECTS OF LOVE, AND SUNSET BOULEVARD, much of the music is infectious.  There are parodies of French ballads ("Those Canaan Days"), rock and roll ("Song of the King"), western ("One More Angel In Heaven"), 1920s Charleston ("Potiphar"), Calypso ("Benjamin Calypso"), and go-go music ("Go, Go, Go Joseph").
 
Like most British musicals, there is no dialogue, just musical lyrics which tells the tale.
 
Tim Rice, the lyricist and Webber’s longtime collaborator, not only has written for Broadway, but for such Disney films as ALADDIN, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and THE LION KING.
 
Broadway Tony nominee, Mary Bridgett Davies, the Narrator, has a fine voice and the ability to sing meanings, not just words.  Her “Prologue” set a perfect tone to start the show and introduced us to the story and let the chorus of kids enter.  
 
Jess Markowitz has a pleasant voice and stage presence, but misses the undefinable special quality that makes Joseph into a charmer.  His “Close Every Door” was nicely interpreted and sung.  
 
Jimmy Helms does an Elvis-light interpretation in “Song of the King.”  Maybe not wearing a traditional Elvis white body-hugging onesie was issue.  But more relevant were directorial decisions.  As in other parts of the show the words being sung are ignored as clues to the visuals being created on stage, so the audience is left with conflict between what they are hearing and what they are seeing.  
 
The children’s chorus is excellent in both their vocal abilities, staying in character and reacting appropriately throughout.
 
All of the brothers do a nice job of creating individual different personalities into their characterizations, and nicely singing solos and choral sounds.
 
Lauren Tidmore’s choreography was creative and well interpreted, fitting the changing moods of the music into the style of each segment of the show.
 
Brittany Merenda’s projections enhanced the liveliness and visual aspects. 
 
The musicians did a nice job of supporting, rather than drowning out the performers, especially in the solos.  Some of the musical arrangements, which changed the intent of some songs, might be questioned by JOSEPH traditionalists.
 
Capsule judgement:  Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a fun show for audiences of all ages.  As evidenced by the extended applause at the end of the show, and the many instances of audience delight displayed during the production, despite some questionable directorial decisions, the cast and crews efforts were appreciated. 
 
Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat runs through December 30 at Beck Center for the Arts. For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org
 

Angst-inducing CAT’S-PAW effectively performed and staged at Beck

 

William Mastrosimone, the author of CAT’S-PAW, now on stage in the Studio Theatre at Beck Center, states, “In the early 80s I was shocked by the questionable methods of some activists who called themselves environmentalists. At a protest in the Northwest, so-called environmentalists drove 12-inch nails in trees scheduled to be felled so that a logger’s chainsaw would be snagged and the logger injured. That nasty tactic cost a man his arm. A good cause was vitiated. When a car bomb exploded by mistake under misguided activists in California, I saw a clear demarcation between passionate activism and criminality. That was the inspiration for the play.  The ends never justify the means— or do they?”   Director Bill Roudebush in his program notes relates, “CAT’S-PAW, written in 1984, is a play conceived forty years ahead of its time. We weren’t listening back then. Today, even with the most recent events in Flint, Michigan, and East Palestine, Ohio, surrounding our consciousness, so many are still denying the reality of pumping poisons into our environment.”   He adds, “This play, unnoticed in its own time, predicts . . . our present dilemma, as well as the toxic politics, threats and media that engulf and amplify our continued lack of action to address the problems we still continue to ignore…Of course I want to direct one of the most impactful plays I have ever read!!”   The play focuses on Victor, the head of a group called Earth Now!, responsible for a bomb attack at the EPA in which 27 people have been killed. He, along with a confederate, has kidnapped an EPA official and is holding him hostage in a DC warehouse. He has a television news reporter led to his lair so she can tell the world why he has done what he has done.   “Victor's obsession is the destruction of the world's water supply and, with it, the final destruction of the human race by pollution.  When the reporter asks if he feels any guilt about the death of the 27 innocent people, he replies that hundreds of innocent people die every hour because of what mankind is doing to its water supply and do the people responsible feel guilt for this?” The Beck casts includes local talents.   Christ Richards plays Victor Lara Mielcarek, as the reporter, Jessica, Michael Dempsey is Darling, who is being held hostage, and Grace Favarro who portrays Cathy, Victor's naive loyalist. Each is excellent in developing a realistic character.  Richards, especially. He is spooky.  His eyes glint, he is maniac in his obsession to his convictions.  His nervous twitches and intense body language are downright scary, as is his explosive temper.  I would not like to meet him in a dark alley or have a disagreement with him!   Director William Roudebush displays laser-focus instincts.  The pace is fast, the stress-inducing action is intense.  He creates a drama with high angst.   (Note the theatre recommended CAT’S-PAW for ages 16 and older due to subject matter, onstage violence, and substantial adult language.   Capsule judgment:  CAT’S PAW is a powerful script, filled with tension and angst.  It gets a very well-conceived and developed production at Beck.  It’s definitely a “go see!”   Dates:  September 22 to October 22, 2023.  For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org

Brilliantly conceived and performed ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at Beck Center

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, a musical based on the award-winning novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy.  

Set on an island in the Caribbean Sea, the musical explores theme the power of community in the face of adversity. With echoes of THE LITTLE MERMAID and the struggle of young love in WEST SIDE STORY, this production blends elements of folk and fairy tales with modern storytelling techniques.

The music by composer Stephen Flaherty with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, which has no well-known pop tunes, contains many authentic sounding calypso tunes, intermixed with contemporary sounds, creates a combination of body moving moments, as well as emotional involvement. 

The original Broadway production which ran from 1990 to 1991, gained little strong reviews.  The London production, on-the-other hand, won the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Musical, which encouraged a “redo” on Broadway in 2017.

That staging was showered with critical acclaim.  Comments included "ravishing" and "an aesthetic experience unlike anything seen on Broadway." It won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

When I saw the revival production at the Circle in the Square in New York, I was impressed by the music and the production qualities.  The set for the stage-in-the round staging area consisted of tons of beach sand, trucked into the theatre, creating a real Caribbean island.  

The authenticity was further enhanced by live animals wandering the stage and aisles before and during the show. Yes, a live goat and other livestock helped set the visual tone.  

I had some difficulty with the NY production’s sound system, which couldn’t overcome the theatre-in-the-round problem of having occasional actors’ backs-to-the audience, which made difficulty hearing all the words.  Since the lines create the meaning, I lost some of the story.

The Beck production, under the brilliant staging and equally impressive choreography of Christopher Chase Carter, had none of the “lack of clarity” problems.  The theater’s once finicky audio system worked to perfection and musical director Larry Goodpaster’s orchestra not only had the right island attitude, but underscored, rather than drowning out the performer’s speaking and singing.

Carter, the Artistic Director of Mercury Theater Chicago, has been recognized for his outstanding work as a director and choreographer in the Windy City.  His reputation, if this production is typical of his work, is well deserved.  It can only be hoped that we will see more of Carter’s magic in 216/440.  

The tale takes place on a fictional island in which the peasants, "black as night," live on one side of the island, and the grand hommes, the lighter-skinned descendants of the original French planters, live on the other.  

One night, a storm hits the island, wiping out many villages. The gods save the life of a little orphan, Ti Moune, by placing her in a tree above the flood's waves. She is found and subsequently adopted by several of the peasants. 

Years later, a grown-up Ti Moune prays to the gods to let her know her purpose.  Hearing her plea, the gods decide to give her her wish.  

A car crash during the storm, Ti Moune’s finding the broken body of Daniel, a young grand homme, and her restoring him to health, allows Ti Moune to fall in love with him and imagine he loves her too. Thus, we find ourselves involved in a tale of pain, grief, faith, and, maybe, hope.

Edith Foley, a fourth grader, shows stage presence well beyond her years as Little Ti Moune.  She is totally involved in her character, displays a fine singing voice and physical presence.  She is heading for stardom!

Israeljah Reign, a recent Kent State grad, is on-point as Ti Moune.  She shows that right levels of compassion, passion and emotional energy in creating a real peasant girl.  Her emotional connection with JT Snow is strong. 

Baldwin Wallace rising Junior, JT Snow, has an aristocratic air that makes him actor-right for playing the grand hommes, Daniel.  He has a pleasant singing voice and develops a meaningful character.

Tina Stump, one of the reigning queens of Cleveland theatre, does what Tina Stump does…sing and act the hell of her role as Ti Moune’s adoptive mother.  

The rest of the cast is exceptional.  They act, sing and dance at the most professional of levels and form a company that has no weak links.

Cheri Prough-Devol’s realistic island set is award worthy, as are Inda Blatch-Geib’s costume designs.  Carlton Guc’s sound design, complete with water, wind, bird and animal sounds, helps create a real feel of the Caribbean.  Emma Hansen’s lighting develops all the right moods.

Capsule judgment:  The stage was constantly displaying well-conceived stage pictures, the choreography was not only creative, but visually encapsulating, and the entire production was a master class in how to create an audience pleasing show that developed the intent and purpose of the author. In fact, it actually made more of the storyline than Lynn Ahrens created.  This is musical theatre at its finest!  Bravo!

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND runs July 7 to August 6, 2023 in the Senney Theater of Beck Center.  For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org

Superlative script, expert directing and compelling acting make for spellbinding Beck production

DOUBT:  A PARABLE, which is now on stage at Beck Center for the Arts, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play.  It ran for 525 performances in its Broadway run.  It was adapted into a much-heralded feature film.  The plot centers on the conflict between Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the head nun and principal of St. Nicholas School and Father Brendan Flynn.  She is a rigid, former married women, who has a strong sense of duty, formed by her very conservative principles, who seemingly glories because she terrifies both her students and faculty. He is articulate, personable, popular with the students as he is liberal and reaches out and befriends them.  The script, to some degree, is based on Shanley’s experiences as an Irish-American whose family lived in the Bronx district of New York City.   In his program bio for the Broadway production of DOUBT, the author, who was a NYU honors graduate, mentions that he was "thrown out of St. Helena's kindergarten, banned from St. Anthony's hot lunch program and expelled from Cardinal Spellman High School.”  He also indicates that he was heavily influenced by one of his first teachers, Sister Margaret McEntee, on whom he based the character of Sister James. The play is set in a fictional church school, in the Bronx, during the fall of 1964.  It opens with a sermon by Father Flynn, addressing the importance of uncertainty.  He states, "Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty."  Thus, he sets up not only the title of the play, but the major concept of the plot. Sister Aloysius, insists upon constant vigilance. During a meeting with a young nun, Sister James, Aloysius reveals a deep mistrust toward her students, her fellow teachers, and society in general. Naïve and impressionable, James is upset by Aloysius’s severe manner and harsh criticism and seems to question the negative evaluations that the older nun has given her over her joy of teaching, the love of her students, and creative educational methods. Aloysius and Father Flynn are put into direct conflict when she learns that the priest had a one-to-one befriending meeting with Donald Muller, St. Nicholas’s only African-American student.  Mysterious circumstances lead her to believe that sexual misconduct occurred.  In a private meeting, purportedly regarding the up-coming Christmas pageant Aloysius, in the presence of James, openly confronts Flynn with her suspicions. Flynn leaves the meeting quickly indicating that he has been ambushed! Flynn's next sermon is on the evils of gossip. Sister Aloysius meets with Donald's mother, Mrs. Muller.  Much to the Sister’s frustration, Mrs. Muller says she supports her son's relationship with Flynn.  Before departing, she hints that Donald may be “that way" which may cause her husband to be beating him. Conflicts between Flynn and Aloysius continue.  After a lie, inuendoes and accusations are exchanged, the play comes to a startling conclusion, leaving the audience with its own doubts.  Director Don Carrier, the play’s director states, “I saw the original production of DOUBT: A PARABLE a number of years ago and was taken by its ambivalence, suspense and element of mystery. The central question about truth and certainty is something we all experience. I hope our audience will experience that doubt as the play unfolds. Where does truth live?"   The Beck production is spell-binding.  The focused direction, quality of the acting and the technical aspects are all superb!   Derdriu Ring, one of our area’s finest actresses, is perfection.  The multi-Cleveland Critics Circle and Broadwayworld award winner, doesn’t act Sister Aloysius, she is the sister! Bravo!    Christopher Bohan, another Cleveland Critics and Broadwayworld award recipient, is compelling as Father Flynn. Another Bravo!   Gabriella O’Fallon perfectly underplays the roll of Sister James. The character’s doubts are created as reality.  The actress’s creation of the role is real!  Still another Bravo!   Tamara French, making her Cleveland debut on the Beck Center Stage, clearly shows, as her bio indicates, what “true grit and love means,” in her short, but fulcrum role as Mrs. Muller, a mother who will do anything to defend her son.  And, still another Bravo!   Jill Davis’s set, aided by Adam Ditzel’s lighting, moves the scenes along smoothly and develops all the right moods.  Angie Hayes’s sound design carries us perfectly from religious feelings to being out-of-doors.  Wow!   Capsule judgment: What a joy to attend a theatrical production which is based on a well-selected, thought-provoking script, that gets the highest quality of directing, acting and technical aspects.  There is no doubt that this is one of the best local theatrical experiences of this or any season!  Bravo!!!   DOUBT:  A PARABLE which runs in the Studio Theatre through June 25, 2003 at Beck Center, 17801 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood.  For tickets call 216-521-2540 or go to beckcenter.org   Up next at Beck:  ONCE ON THIS ISLAND (July 7-August 6).