“Merrily” proves a flop can become a hit @ Lakeland Civic Theatre

In its initial run on Broadway, Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” was met with negative reactions.  Fortunately, that hasn’t discouraged some theatrical artistic directors to shun producing the musical.  A case in point is Lakeland Civic Theatre’s staging the script with wonderful results.

 “Merrily We Roll Along” is a musical adaptation of legendary George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s comedy of the same name.   The book is by George Furth and the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the same duo who gave us “Company.”

The story centers around Franklin Shepard, a talented composer of Broadway musicals, who, through egotism, greed, and a series of bad choices in relationships, has abandoned his friends and profession to become a shallow Hollywood producer.

The musical, like the play, is presented in a backwards order.  This initially confused many a critic and audience member.  The score also uses the unusual device of the chorus singing reprises of the title song to transition the scenes (and remind us of the year of the segment).  The musical sound of these reprises mirrors the moods of Shepard’s life, a creative device which some construed as making the song redundant and over-used. 

After 52 preview performances, the Broadway show ran only 16 performances, thus creating one of few Sondheim “flops.”

The initial production had problems from the start.  The cast consisted of unknown teenagers with little performance experience. Changes in the choreographer, the leading man, moving back of the opening night and the backward to forward plot line resulted in audience members walking out and bad reviews.

The story of the problems encountered in the original production is related in a documentary, “Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened.” It is directed by Lonny Price, who played a major role in the original musical.

Fortunately, for local audiences, Lakeland director, Martin Friedman, a Sondheim expert and devotee, has chosen a talented cast and staged an engaging production.

Handsome Eric Fancher charms as Franklin.  His strong vocalizations and effective acting make the character live.  Trey Gilpin gives the right balance to his portrayal of Charley, Franklin’s best friend and writing partner.  He does comedy and “put-upon” with nice ease and balance.  Amiee Collier, Franklin and Charley’s closet female friend, is convincing as a woman with a life-long crush on Franklin. In spite of becoming a successful writer, she turns to alcohol as an escape from her emotionally pain from unrequited love.

Highlight musical numbers include “Old Friends,” “Franklin Shepard, Inc.,” and such classics as “Not a Day Goes By,” “Good Thing Going” and “Our Time.”

From Austin Kilpatrick’s setting, consisting of a back wall of crumpled sheets of play scripts and movable set pieces, to lighting designer Adam Ditzel’s mood setting lighting, to Jordan Cooper’s musical direction, almost everything works.  The exceptions are the uncreative choreography and confusing costume designs where some performers wear the same clothing during all the transitional years, while others are in and out of numerous costumes.

Capsule judgment:  It may have been a flop on Broadway, but “Merrily We Roll Along” is a hit at Lakeland Civic Theatre.  It’s definitely a must see!!!

“Merrily We Roll Along” runs Friday and Saturdays at 7:30 and 2 on Sundays through February 18 at Lakeland Community College, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland. For tickets call 440-525-7134.  (The college is only 10 minutes from the 90-271 split and worth the short drive!)

Well-conceived The Bridges of Madison County @ Lakeland Civic Theatre

The capsule judgement of my review of the Broadway production of The Bridges of Madison County stated, ““The Bridges of Madison County” is one of those special, intimate, meaningful, well-conceived and performed shows that deserved a longer shelf-life than it is getting.”

The show opened to tepid reviews.  Why?  It’s not “filled with flash, glitter, large production numbers and massive choruses.  It is a well-conceived, tender, and low-keyed experience.”  It is a “little” musical, much in the realm of “She Loves Me.”  Those qualities are not the elements of which present day Broadway shows are made.

As I predicted, the show closed its Broadway run quickly.  Now it is released for hinterlands’ productions. 

Fortunately for Cleveland area theatre patrons, Lakeland Civic Theater, located on the campus of Lakeland Community College, acquired production rights, and under the adept direction of Martin Friedman, it had a healthy run.  (Disclosure:  I was out of the country during much of the show’s staging and returned just in time to see the last performance, thus this late review.)

The musical is adapted from Robert James Waller’s best-selling “The Bridges of Madison County.”  It, as was the book, is based on Waller’s homey belief that “some people experience a special love that happens just once in a lifetime—if you’re lucky.”

The score, which won the Tony Award, is beautiful.  It is filled with tender ballads, country twanging and good old fashioned 1950-60’s sentimentality.  It would have made Rodgers and Hammerstein proud.

The story, which some will think is way too Harlequin romance novel sentimental, centers on Francesca Johnson (Trinidad Snider), an Italian who was brought to Iowa after World War II by nice guy, low-keyed “Bud” Johnson (Scott Esposito).  She leads a quiet life on a desolate farm with one close neighbor, Marge (Amiee Collier) with whom she can share her homesickness for Italy, and discuss issues of her marriage and children, Michael (Frank Ivancic) and Carolyn (Anna Barrett).

It’s 1965, and into Francesca’s life comes Robert Kincaid (Shane Patrick O’Neill), a “National Geographic” photographer, who has come to take pictures of the famed covered bridges of Madison county.  He stops for directions to find a bridge he can’t locate, Francesca’s family is at the state fair, they quickly fill a need in each other, a love affair results and he offers to take her away from her “unfulfilled” life.

It’s a tender tale of infidelity, love, unfulfilled experiences, and then the inevitable need to make a pivotal decision that will not only affect the lives of Francesca and Robert, but her family. 

Friedman’s direction is spot on.  The show is well-paced, the human interactions real, and the overall effect is emotionally wrenching.  (The woman sitting next to me sobbingly used two packets of Kleenex during the closing scenes.)

The cement of this production is the totally convincing relationship developed by Snider and O’Neill.  Every touch, kiss, and extended eye contact screamed, “this is real love.”  Very seldom do you see such real interconnectedness on stage.  Bravo!

The rest of the cast, Scott Esposito, Frank Ivancic, Anna Barrett, Aimee Collier, Brain Altman and Amanda Tidwell, all develop real people.

Jordan Cooper’s musical direction, Trad A Burns set design, and Tesia Benson’s lighting design were all well-conceived and helped make this a special production.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT:  It may be cliché and overly dramatic, but The Bridges of Madison County makes for a fine evening of theatre.  The Lakeland production was stellar.  Applause, applause, applause! 

The Bridges of Madison County ran from February 2-19 at the Lakeland Civic Theatre located on the campus of Lakeland Community College.

THE LAST FIVE YEARS has an endearing musical score and a wonderful cast

As the lights come up on The Last Five Years, a musical by Jason Robert Brown, we find Catherine Hiatt (Neely Gevaart) sitting alone.  She sings “Still Hurting” in which she reveals the end of her five year marriage to Jamie. 

At the conclusion of that number, Jamie Wellerstein (Jason Leupold) bursts forth with “Shiksa Goddess,” the story of how a nice Jewish boy has fallen in love with Catherine, a beautiful non-Jewish girl.

Wait, these two are telling the same story, but from different times.  Yes, one of the most intriguing aspects of The Last Five Years, which is now on stage at Lakeland Civic Theatre, is that we are watching a relationship develop and disintegrate at the same time.  Also, this musical is told entirely in song. Yes, there are no spoken words.  In addition, the male and female in the relationship interact only once. 

Cathy tells the story in backward time, while Jamie relates the tale from the beginning to the end.

Though it may sound like the tale is hard to follow, it isn’t.  Once the audience catches on to the counter order, it becomes interesting to watch what happens and what happened, and why love crashes and burns in this emotionally fraught tale.  We realize that infatuation, new love, real life experiences, wants and needs grow and fade, frustration sets in, cross experiences emerge, and the pair each needs to move on.

Cathy and Jamie’s stories intersect halfway through at their wedding, which is the only time when the two characters interact.  

The tale, to a degree, actually follows Jason Robert Brown’s own life and failed marriage to Theresa O’Neill.  Interestingly, O’Neill threatened legal action on the grounds the story of the musical represented her relationship with Brown too closely.  Brown changed some of the script as a result.

In the stage story, the five-year relationship comes apart when the mid-20 year old Jamie’s first novel is published and he becomes an overnight sensation.  (Brown’s first Off-Broadway show was produced when he was 25.)   As Jamie’s fortunes soar, Cathy’s theatrical career never takes off.   

Through fourteen songs we see the coming together and problems arising (“See I’m Smiling”); the emergence of Jamie as a writing sensation (“Moving Too Fast”); an expression of love even in frustration (“I’m a Part of That”); a promise of support as each follows their dreams (“The Schmuel Song”);  a possibility of Cathy equalling Jamie’s success (“A Summer in Ohio”); a proposal and marriage (“The Next Ten Minutes”); Jamie’s almost giving in to temptation (“A Miracle Would Happen”); Cathy’s frustration (“Climbing Uphill”); marital squabbles and attempts to deal with them (“If I Didn’t Believe in You”); Jamie’s infidelity (“Nobody Needs to Know”); the lamenting of the now lost relationship (“I Could Never Rescue You”).

Brown wrote the Tony Award winning score for The Bridges of Madison County, Like Bridges, the score for The Last Five Years is outstanding.  Combining a number of musical genres, including folk, Latin, rock, Klemzer, classical, pop, and jazz, the sounds vary to fit the necessary changing moods.

Fortunately for Lakeland audiences, Jason Leupold (Jamie) and Neely Gevaart (Cathy) are not only wonderful vocalists, but are talented actors.  Without their abilities, the production could have been a disaster.  There is little action on stage, other than costume changes and the moving of large bookcase/closets around to indicate settings.  Bravo to Leupold and Gevaart!

Director Martin Friedman does a good job of keeping the ninety minute intermissionless show moving along.  He is aided by Jordan Cooper’s orchestra (Rachel Gante, Olivia Clark and Tim Keo).  Cooper is a solid pianist, but at times he gets too carried away with the louder passages and drowns out the singers.

The show is intimate and would have been better served by a smaller production space, something that the Lakeland Community College auditorium definitely is not.
Christina Pierce’s lighting design aids in developing the moods.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT:  The Last Five Years is a musical which many audience members, including myself, will like due to its structure, exquisite music, and the talent of the cast.   Don’t’ go expecting large production show stoppers and dance numbers as they are not part of this script or concept.

The Last Five Years runs through October 2, 2016  at the Lakeland Civic Theatre located on the campus of Lakeland Community College.  For tickets call 440-5256-7526 or go to http://lakelandcc.edu/web/about/lakeland-civic-theatre

Lakeland Civic Theatre journeys INTO THE WOODS for wishes, choices and consequences

Most fairy tales start with “Once upon a time,” and end with “And they lived happily ever after.”  Ever wonder if “happily ever after” is really true? 

What really happened to Cinderella after she was whisked away from her wicked step-mother and became the wife of the prince?  Does Jack, of beanstalk fame, live a life of pleasure and riches after he climbed the stalk, stole the hen who laid golden eggs and the precious harp?  Was life a lark for Rapunzel after she was freed from her tower of imprisonment by her prince? 

Leave it to Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Lapine (book), who penned SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, MERRILY WE ROLE ALONG and PASSION to take audiences deep into the woods to find the “truth” of what happens to those “happily ever after stories,” and alerts that there are consequences for the wishes and choices we make.

The creators have interwoven the plots of many fairy tales, and incorporated the wishes of the characters into a thought-provoking musical, INTO THE WOODS.  Cinderella wishes to escape from the clutches of her wicked step-mother and go to the fair.  Jack wishes for wealth so his mother won’t make him sell his “best friend,” his cow, Milky White.  The baker and his wife want to have a child, but are thwarted in their desire by a curse placed upon them by their neighbor, a witch.

Through the first act, all of the wishes become reality.

The second act finds each of the character’s hopes rendering consequences.  Cinderella, now a princess, finds life in the castle, especially with the philandering prince, less than pleasurable.  Jack, who has climbed the beanstalk and found the Giant’s treasure trove, is seemingly happy after chopping down the stalk and killing the Giant, but now is being pursued by the Giant’s angry wife.  The baker finds that the much wanted child cries each time he is touched and the dynamics of the once happy relationship with his wife has changed. 

Destruction, death, and chaos.  Ecstasy, “Agony!, Misery! Woe!”

After finally killing off the Giant’s Wife, the survivors band together and rebuild their world.  The Baker’s Wife, who was killed by a falling tree, appears to comfort her grief-stricken husband, advising him to tell their child their story, but the Witch appears to remind him, “Careful the things you say. Children will listen.” 

The moral:  We all must venture into the woods but must remember that the things we wish for, and the choices we make, have consequences.

The memorable score includes “I Guess This is Goodbye,” “I Know Things Now,” “A Very Nice Prince,” “Agony,” “It Takes Two,” “On the Steps of the Palace,” Any Moment,” ”No More,” and “No One Is Alone.”

INTO THE WOODS opened on Broadway in 1987 to positive reviews and won several Tony Awards.  It has been revived several times, is one of the most produced musicals,  and  was made into an award-winning musical in 2014.

Martin Friedman, the Artistic Director of Lakeland Community College Civic Theatre, is a Sondheim aficionado.  He has directed many Sondheim scripts and has a depth of knowledge about the man and his writing. 

In general, the staging works.  However, there should have been a more sprightly pace and playfulness in the first act, with more emphasis on the humor, leading to a transition to the darker, serious tone of the second act.   Wisely, Trad Burns and Benjamin Gantose’s lighting, was brighter in the first act, more solemn in the second.  Too bad the pacing didn’t follow that lead.

The cast sings well, the musical vocal blends are nicely developed.  Musical director Jordan Cooper and his orchestra are well-tuned.

The cast was generally excellent.  Standout performers included Trinidad Snider as the Baker’s Wife.  She has a wonderful sense of dramatic and comic timing, a nice singing voice, and nicely textured the characterization. 

Neely Gevaart (Cinderella) followed her award winning performance in Lakeland’s VIOLET with another stellar portrayal.  Her “On the Steps of the Palace” was delightful and “No One is Alone,” sung with several other cast members, was emotionally moving.

Brian Altman nicely developed the Baker, showing changes in character as needed.  Jade McGee was cute as “Little Red Ridinghood.”  Amiee Collier’s final version of “Children Will Listen” was emotionally moving.  Frank Ivancic (Jack) did nice vocal interpretations of “I Guess This is Goodbye” and “Giants in the Sky.”

Trad Burns scenic design is creatively unique.  The play is about ideas, descriptions, and emotions, so Burns has created a “woods” composed of large black cutout words that convey the various emotions, descriptions and desires of the characters.  These include:  “scary,” “charming,” “dark,” “happy,” “agony,” and “wish.”  As the show progresses, the “word-trees” of the woods are moved.  The concept is excellent.  Too bad the movements didn’t parallel to the thoughts of the speakers or the intent of the scene to come.  As is, after a while, all the moving became a distraction.

Eric Simna’s sound design was problematic.  The Narrator was generally difficult to hear and anyone sitting in the side sections had difficulty hearing much of the dialogue.

Capsule judgment: INTO THE WOODS, which is yet another of Stephen Sondheim’s creative and challenging shows, gets a very credible performance at Lakeland Civic Theatre.  A lighter and more playful first act would have helped make the deep and thought-provoking second act more meaningful.  As is, the production should please those who like Sondheim’s works and appreciate the difficulty of staging one of his creations.

INTO THE WOODS runs Friday through Sunday from February 5-28, 2016, at Lakeland Community College, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland. For tickets call 440-525-7134.

The Theatre of the Absurd…WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF @ Lakeland Civic Theatre

Edward Albee, author of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF,  now in production at The Lakeland Civic Theatre, is one of the best known Theatre of the Absurd American writers.  This form of theatre, which was at its apex shortly following World War II is based, in part on existentialism, and asks “what is the purpose of existence?”  

Absurdist playwrights create situations in which the characters are caught in hopeless situations and repeat meaningless actions.  The plots may go beyond realism.  The stories often highlight individuals who seem to have no purpose in life and are caught in situations where their communication breaks down.  Any hope for rationalism gives way to illogical speech and leads to the highest form of dysfunction, silence.

Albee, who was adopted at an early age, led a life of luxury, but was seemingly denied love by parents who didn’t really know how to raise a child.  They gave him the opportunity to go to the finest schools, but never bonded with him.  His background is often credited with creating in him a hostile view of society and relationships.

Albee’s writing career has been filled with highlights.  He received three Pulitzer Prizes for drama—A DELICATE BALANCE (1967), SEASCAPE (1975), and THREE TALL WOMEN (1994).   Interestingly, his WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF, considered by many theatre historians to be his greatest work, was not honored with a Pulitzer.  It was selected for the award by the drama jury, but the advisory committee, with no explanation, overruled the selection and gave no award that year.  Rumors for the action centered on Albee’s being openly gay, which was repugnant to the conservative board.   It is interesting that Albee, himself, states “I am not a gay writer.  I am a writer that happens to be gay.”

Albee’s WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF is a classic example of absurdist writing which probes the modern condition.  It contains biting dialogue by highlighting the dysfunctional relationship between two people who seemingly have only one purpose…the psychological destruction of each other.

The play centers on Martha and George.  He is a seemingly inept professor at the small New England college whose President is Martha’s father.  The duo has been married for many years, use alcohol to escape from their miserable existence and play word games to torture not only themselves, but anyone else who enters their chaotic home. 

One evening, after a faculty party, a young couple, Nick, a new Biology instructor, and his wife, Honey, are invited by Martha, to come over for drinks.  Little do they know the verbal torture session that is about to take place. 

Alcohol flows freely, secrets are exposed, and the end result is an emotional bloodbath.  Each horrific episode is keyed or ended with George and/or Martha’s repetition of the words, “who is afraid of Virginia Woolf” chanted to the tune of “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,” from Disney’s THREE LITTLE PIGS.  

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF has three acts.   “Fun and Games” lays the foundation for what is to come through a series of verbal, physical and emotional expository revelations.  “The writing of the first act is often hailed as some of the greatest in all of the American theatre.”  The second act, “Walpurgisnacht,” takes its theme from the night that witches meet and Satan appears.  In “The Exorcism,” the evicting of demons and other spiritual entities from a person or area through elaborate ritual, take place..

The Lakeland production, under the direction of Martin Friedman, is compelling.  The acting is excellent, the tension often gets unbearable.  The audience laughs and wonders why they would be expressing such a positive emotion to such terrible verbal destruction of others.  The ending leaves both the audience and the actors exhausted. 

The Lakeland cast is not alone in their high fatigue level.  Uta Hagen, who played Martha in the original Broadway production, indicated that playing the role of Martha was like having a nervous breakdown every night.  In fact, the strain was so much on the actors, a separate cast played the matinees.  Having seen the original production, I can attest to not only the brilliance of Hagen, and her costar, Arthur Hill, but to the utter exhaustion of the experience.

Greg Violand’s take on George is fascinating to watch.  The role often engenders ranting and raving.   Violand’s George is almost laid back.  He seldom raises his voice.  Instead, he thrusts and hits his target through textured underplay.  He puts on the role of George and never takes it off.

Molly McGinnis does a consistent interpretation of the sexy boozed Martha.   She does not spew the venom of Hagen, nor Elizabeth Taylor, who was in the movie version with Richard Burton, but McGinnis does create a Martha to be reckoned with.

Studly Daniel Simpson is excellent as Nick, the young professor who has been coerced into marriage by a “pregnant” Honey, she of wealth and beauty. Katie Nabors well develops Honey, the  hypochondriac with psychological issues.

Friedman, in the program notes, explains that the multi-level open platform setting, covered with what looks like dulled-down aluminum foil, is part of his philosophy to strip down a play’s physical trappings and inspiring the audience and actors to focus on the language and storyline of the play.  Normally, I might agree with him, but I think this particular play works best in a set in which the walls literally come in on the actors, causing a claustrophobic atmosphere,  a cage that screams there is no place to hide, no place to escape.  As is, the wide expanse of the Lakeland Community College theatre stage is so massive that some of the tension dissipates into the wings and fly gallery, and, at times, the voices get lost. 

Capsule judgment:  WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF gets a very credible staging at Lakeland’s Civic Theater.  The acting is of high quality.  Potential audience members should be aware that, though the show clicks along at a nice pace, this is a long three-act play with two intermissions.  It’s well worth a trip to Lake County to see this seldom produced classic.

WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF runs Friday through Sundays from September 18-October 4, 2015 at Lakeland Community College, 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland. For tickets call 440-525-7134.
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Lakeland Civic Theatre presents depressing, well staged, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

The Westons of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, in Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning, AUGUST:  OSAGE COUNTY, gives new meaning to the phrase dysfunctional family. 

The dark comedy centers on Beverly Weston, an alcoholic, the family patriarch, and award winning poet who-disappears.  We quickly learn that his wife, Violet, eats prescription drugs like they are popcorn.  Her bossy sister, Mattie Fae, has a secret that is about to be revealed.  Daughter Barbara’s marriage has fallen apart.  Fourteen year-old granddaughter, Jean, is a secret pot smoker.  Without knowing it, daughter Ivy is involved in an incestuous romance.  Daughter Karen is engaged to a man with a questionable past and present.  Before disappearing, Beverly hired Johnna, a native American, to be the family’s housekeeper, but why seems to be a mystery.

The Sheriff appears to reveal something.  What?  The answer is the pivotal plot device that sets AUGUST:  OSAGE COUNTY on its unnerving course.

It might not be so depressing if the whole thing was made up.  But the author admits that the character, Violet, the vindictive, substance-abusing mother, is based on his maternal grandmother, who, he states, “was a piece of work.”  When Letts gave the play to his mother to read, he was nervous, but her first response was, “I think you’ve been very kind to my mother.”  Kind?  Only if kind means Attila the Hun on meth!

The Lakeland production, under the direction of Martin Friedman, is a well conceived, if overly long, staging.  While the first act drags a little, the second act speeds towards its upsetting conclusion at a roller coaster pace.  The characters are clearly etched.  For the most part, there is a nice level of character development rather than actors just playing roles.

Bob Abelman makes Beverly Weston into a believable drunk.  So often actors go too far, feigning slurring and unsteadiness.  No such problem here. Abelman does drunk well.

Annie McElvoy, as the pill popping Violet, the clan’s mother, is effective, swinging from drug induced fuzziness to rational clarity and back again.

Courtney Nicole Auman, as Ivy, has the most difficult role of the three sisters, as she needs to be in emotional control almost throughout.  She achieves the right levels of pathos and frustration. Diane Mull, as Barbara, a victim of possessing the psychological worst of both of her parents, effectively fizzles out before our eyes.

Caitlin Post nicely underplays Johnna, the Native American housekeeper, working at the Weston home out of financial necessity.

 Jeffrey Glover effectively portrays the henpecked Uncle Charlie, who morphs into a man with a backbone.  Rose Leninger, is focused correctly as Mattie Fae, a bitter woman with a secret.  Jeremy  Jenkins, as Little Charles, a boy/man who has been thoroughly psychologically whipped by, Mattie Fay, his mother, is correctly pathetic.

The rest of the cast nicely develops their roles.

Keith Nagy’s three level set is a perfect setting.  It is cluttered, dark and depressing, as sad as its occupants.

Be aware this production is not a show for the up-tight or those looking for a light, escapist comedy.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: The Lakeland production of AUGUST:  OSAGE COUNTY is a well-conceived staging of an award winning script, and though not for everyone, makes for a well worth drive to Lake County.

For tickets to AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, which runs through October 5, call 440-525-7134 or go to http://www.lakelandcc.edu/arts

'LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA" glows brightly at Lakeland Civic Theatre

Adam Guettel, co-author of “THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA,” comes to writing musicals from a strong hereditary background.  His grandfather is Richard Rogers, one of the “fathers” of the modern American musical.  Yes, the co-writer of “OKLAHOMA,” “CAROUSEL,” and “THE KING AND I.”  His mother is Mary Rogers, author of “ONCE UPON A MATTRESS,” “WORKING,” “THE MAD SHOW” and “FROM A TO Z.”

A viewing of “LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA” reveals that the score has little relationship to the musical theatre tradition of Guettel’s grandfather and mother.  His are not always pretty sounds, but are more the neo-romantic classical music chords, much like opera, operetta and Steven Sondheim.  There are unexpected harmonic shifts.  The singing fits perfectly into the story, not inserted for musical effect and audience entertainment.

In contrast to many present day musicals, “PIAZZA” doesn’t have a show stopper, or exploding dance segments.  In fact, it has no dancing.  There is a chorus, but it’s a Greek chorus, rather than a chorus line.

The musical chords and melody are often counterpoint, they don't always parallel each other.  The music being played by the orchestra, and the tones being sung aren't the same, so the resulting sound may be perceived as discordant.  People won't go out of the theatre humming the music or singing the songs.  There aren't any Lerner and Loewe or Stephen Schwartz songs in this show.  It's a different type of musical-theatre animal.

There is no complex story, no big curtain-dropping song that encourages the audience to jump to its feet in wild applause.  The ending, like most of the show, is fairly simple.  It concludes the story as it should, in a quiet thought-inducing manner.

Guettel relates that Pizza’s story is that of “a mentally challenged girl [Clara] whose mother [Margaret] takes her to Florence on a vacation and, when the daughter falls in love with a handsome young Italian [Fabrizio], decides to flout convention by letting her marry.”  He explains, “The secret of the story is the balance between the daughter’s innocent yearnings and the mother’s history of failed emotions.  If you haven’t gotten what you’ve wanted out of life and you figure your only chance of healing from that is to let your daughter have a chance, then why not let it happen.”  He also indicates, “The best part of love is that it is the opposite of innocence.”

The 2005 Broadway production ran 504 performances.  The cast included Matthew Morrison, now of television’s GLEE fame.

Interestingly, on June 15, 2006, shortly before its closing night, the show was broadcast on PBS television’s “LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER,” drawing more than two million viewers and setting in motion a national touring production.  The tour was an unusual event for a show that was not a major hit in the Big Apple.

Lakeland’s glorious production is perfectly honed by director Martin Friedman.   He lets the story unfold without any gimmicks.  No forced comedy, no attempts at bad Italian to get guffaws, no melodramatic acting.   He lets his talented cast perform as the script and score demand…in a straight-forward manner, with fine southern American, Italian, and Italian-English sounds.

Trad Burns’ artistic set, consisting of long streamers of natural colored muslin painted with ancient Italian motifs, and straight-forward lighting, enhance the simple  beauty of the show. Jordan Cooper‘s musical direction allows the vocals to overpower the orchestra sounds, thus placing the words front and center.

The score contains no songs that have become well known although “The Beauty Is,” “The Light in the Piazza,” and “Il Mondo Era Vuoto” are all beautiful.  In “Hysteria” Guettel writes a discordant tune that perfectly parallels Clara’s chaotic inner feelings and hysterical outburst as she gets physically lost and emotionally confused.

The Lakeland cast is universally superb.  Lindsey Sandham Leonard  creates in Clara a woman/child who, after being kicked by a pony at her childhood birthday party, is forever stuck in the emotional state of a preteen, yet she has matured into a physically beautiful woman.  She is completely believable when she gets disoriented, doesn’t get her way, or falls quickly in love and wants to get married without thinking of consequences.  Leonard possesses a well-trained singing voice.  Hers is one of the best recent musical performances on local stages.

Shane Patrick O’Neil creates a Fabrizio so bound up in young love, that we believe he can overlook Clara’s difficulties and take care of her, thus creating an almost fairy tale conclusion.  He has a powerful and expressive singing voice.  His Italian, as with all of the cast, is accurate and consistent.  There is a compelling emotional connection between Leonard and O’Neil.

Sandra Emerick, as the up-tight southern belle of a mother, makes us believe that she has her daughter’s best interests at heart as she fights through life with a controlling husband.

Rob Albrecht is excellent as Fabrizio’s father and Liz Huff excels as the young man’s mother.  The rest of cast is equally excellent.

Capsule judgment:  Lakeland Civic Theatre’s THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is a special night of musical theatre.  To appreciate the show, the viewer must put aside any attitude of what a musical should look and sound like and embrace this creatively “different” approach.  I, for one, loved the story, the music and the production, and would declare it a MUST SEE!

“THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA” runs through February 16, 2014.  For more information or to purchase tickets, visit 440-525-7134 or http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp

Farcical BOEING-BOEING amuses at Lakeland

Farce is light comedy which contains exaggerated, extravagant and improbable situations.  It often contains slapstick incidents and lots of people ducking in and out of slamming doors.  Though farce was supposedly started in the 13th century, the modern tone for this format, which is highlighted by the works of the likes of The Three Stooges, The Marx Brothers, The Keystone Cops, Lucille Ball, Tim Conway and Carol Burnett, was etched by Molière, a Frenchman, and is best represented by his TARTUFFE.

It is therefore appropriate that one of the best of the modern farces, BOEING-BOEING, was written by Marc Comoletti, a Frenchman.  And though the play bombed in its initial Broadway debut, it was a smash hit in France and, according to the GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS, it is the most performed French play throughout the world.   The French seem to love the ridiculous, as can be recognized by their absolute adoration of Jerry Lewis.

BOEING-BOEING, which takes place in 1960, centers on Bernard, a bachelor who is engaged to three women at the same time.   His Paris apartment’s doors swing open and closed as the three stewardesses flow in and out of his life.  Bernard couldn’t be happier until his house of cards starts to collapse as all three women appear at the same time.  Aided by his timid friend Robert, who can’t remember who he has told lies to, catastrophe looms.   But, as always happens in this kind of format, there is an improbable ending and all’s well that ends well.

Most theatre people consider farce the most challenging format as it requires exaggerated actions, while appearing to be completely serious and realistic.

Martin Friedman’s direction is basically on point.  The audience laughs, the ridiculousness is present, and that’s what farce is all about.  The production would have been helped by a faster pace, a more furious series of opening and slamming doors, and more keyed farcical timing.

Brian Zoldessy, who has made a career out of playing nerds caught in the crosshairs of imminent disaster, succeeds once again.  His mobile face and ability to create the right level of believable ridiculousness, makes his Robert the laugh center of the show.

Jeffrey Grover serves well as the straight man for Zoldessy’s comic shticks.  Beth Lee holds her own as Bertha, Bernard’s maid, though her accent sometimes makes her difficult to understand.  Katie Nabors, Nancy Telzerow and Tess Elizabeth, as the bevy of beautiful stewardesses, each creates an identifiable character.

Capsule judgement: BOEING-BOEING is a light weight farce that receives what should be an audience pleasing production at Lakeland Community Theatre.

For tickets to BOEING-BOEING which runs through October 6, and is being staged in Lakeland Community College’s theatre, call 440-525-7134 or to go http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp

Lakeland’s NEXT TO NORMAL:  compelling script, must see production

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

If you were an investor in Broadway shows and someone came to you proposing a rock musical about a mother with worsening bipolar disorder, that was going to be performed as an operetta (all singing, few spoken sentences), with no show stoppers, no dancing, no chorus numbers, few laughs, and an unnerving ending, written by an author who has never had a big hit, would you invest?  Well, a group did, and the result was NEXT TO NORMAL which won three 2009 Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and had a smash 733 performance-run on Broadway, and is now touring to sold out audiences.

Yes, NEXT TO NORMAL, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, is a unique musical which addresses loss, death, suicide, drug usage, and the ethics of modern psychiatry, which is getting a mind-blowing production at Lakeland Theatre. 

The Pulitzer Board credited the show with “expanding the scope of subject matter for musicals.”

The story concerns Diana Goodman, a suburban American housewife, who has a form of bipolar disorder coupled with what might be schizophrenia.  The question comes as to whether the condition is hereditary or was induced by a trauma sixteen-years earlier.  Together with her husband, Dan, she fights to keep her mind and their family on some sort of “normal” path.  Maybe not normal, but next to normal.  After extensive therapy Diana decides to stop taking the pills, cuts off all mental health help, including the electroconvulsive therapy, that caused her short-term amnesia.  This decision leads to an unsettling conclusion.

As both a mental health professional and a theater reviewer, when I saw the original staging on Broadway, and again in its presentation as part of the Key Bank Broadway Series, I was totally caught up in the show.  It is like no musical I had ever seen.  I left the theatre knowing that I had just experienced greatness. 

The Lakeland production, under the adept direction of Martin Friedman, with the set and light innovations by Trad Burns, is mesmerizing.

Friedman and Burns remove the Broadway three-level set and substitute see-through walls constructed of steel wires, which, like the connections in Diana’s brain, represent her being trapped in a spider web of chaos, causing her to weave in and out of situations which she doesn’t understand and disrupt her direct flow of ideas and movements.  In addition, instead of traditional stage lighting, the duo has substituted nearly a hundred lamps of various descriptions to illuminate the set and simulate the on and off flow of ideas in Diana’s mind.  The concept is brilliant and takes the script to a level not realized in the original staging.

The composite cast is outstanding.  Amiee Collier wraps herself in the role of Dianna.  She is so real that the character’s pain is Collier’s pain.  She sings meanings, not words.  She makes us writhe in suffering, her suffering.  This is a performance which rivals Clevelander Alice Ripley’s amazing Tony winning Broadway presentation.

Rich McGuigan, who, like the rest of the cast, has a strong singing voice, is spot on as Dan, Diana’s husband.  We experience his frustration in trying to be an understanding support, but unable to cope with his wife’s obsession with a past trauma, her reluctance to move on, and his inability to deal with the chaos around with any action other than emotional blandness.

Hathaway Brown’s Emma Wahl, who appeared on Broadway in CHITTY, CHITTY BANG  BANG, captures the very essence of Natalie, the daughter caught between the throes of teenage life and a chaotic home environment.  Pat Miller, as Natalie’s boyfriend, Henry, creates a pot-headed, yet supportive safe place for the girl to turn.

Ben Donahoo, as Natalie’s brother Gabe, has the difficult task of creating a character of dual dimensions.  He does so with clarity and understanding.

Tim Allen, as several mental health professionals, is quite believable.

Though Jordon Cooper’s orchestra sometimes goes overboard and drowns out the musical speeches of the performers, lyrics that are so important to hear clearly, the musical sounds are well performed and carry the feelings and moods of the story.

Capsule judgement:  Does NEXT TO NORMAL sound like a downer?  The script, and the music, and this production are so well conceived, that there is no time during the production that the audience is not compelled to watch with rapt attention.  Lakeland’s production is an absolutely, positive, MUST SEE!

For tickets to the NEXT TO NORMAL which runs through February 17, and is being staged in Lakeland Community College’s theatre, call 440-525-7134 or to go http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp

Lakeland’s PROOF:  masterful script and production

What happens when you combine a well conceived script, which tells a meaningful story, and it gets a masterfully staging?   You get, Lakeland Theatre’s PROOF.

Is there a thin line between genius and mental illness?  Can a person “burn out” when s/he gets near the age of 40, no longer able to muster up the deep thoughts that appeared so easily in their early twenties?   Can a woman be a mathematical genius?  These are only three of the questions broached by playwright David Auburn in his 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning play PROOF.

PROOF centers on Catherine, a young woman who has spent years caring for her father, Robert, a professor at the University of Chicago, who was a brilliant mathematician in his younger years.  As he passed forty, he lost his acuity.  He wrote continually, but the material was irrational.  After he dies, Hal, a former student, probes into Robert’s ramblings with the hope of finding something worth publishing, thus pushing ahead Hal’s stalled career.  With Catherine’s help, Hal discovers a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers in Robert's office.  He assumes it was his mentor’s work.  Catherine claims the proof was conceived by her.  Hal questions this conclusion, doubting that a woman with little in-depth knowledge of mathematics could create such brilliance.  His reaction not only seemingly ends their relationship, but brings front-and-center Catherine's fear of following in her father's footsteps--mathematical genius and mentally ill.

It’s interesting that the author attended the University of Chicago where he studied political philosophy, not mathematics.  In reality, it matters little as there is no actual inclusion of mathematical concepts.  This should relieve those who fear the show because it might be too abstract and technical.

The Lakeland production, under the razor focused direction of Martin Friedman, wrings clear meaning from the script.  This may well be the finest of the four productions of this play that I’ve seen.

Mitchell Fields makes Robert a living being.  He slips into Robert’s skin and becomes the mathematician/professor. Elizabeth Conway makes Catherine, his youngest daughter, a compassionate, troubled woman.  This is not just a performance. Conway transforms Catherine into a real multi-faceted woman.  Her disheveled hair, which is accompanied by erratic finger combing, parallels her troubled mind, but she displays rationality, when her hair is coiffed.  It’s a wonderful stage device to allow for audience clarity.

Aron Elersich, as Hal, the young mathematician,  develops a clear character, even drumming his fingers on his legs and beer bottle to represent his alter drummer ego.  Laurel Hoffman, as Catherine’s older sister, clearly develops her character, and completes a picture-perfect cast.

Keith Nagy’s backyard set, complete with mathematical formulas on the fences, is realistic and makes for an excellent blank canvas for Friedman to paint the script’s pictures.

Capsule judgement: What happens when you combine a perfectly perceived script, which tells a meaningful story, and a gets masterfully staged show?   You get, Lakeland Theatre’s PROOF.  This is a production everyone interested in a good story and a great production must see!

Anyone Can Whistle

Dan Folino and Katherine DeBoer make ANYONE CAN WHISTLE worth seeing

When Martin Friedman, Artistic Director of The Lakeland Civic Theatre, announced he was staging Stephen Sondheim’s ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, there were some raised eyebrows in the theatre community. Friedman is a Sondheimophile. He knows the master’s works well. Why would he even adventure into Whistle land, which is fraught with land mines?

Originally entitled, THE NATIVES ARE RESTLESS, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE was a resounding flop on Broadway. Classified as the first absurdist musical, it lasted just thirteen previews and nine performances in spite of a cast that included Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick.

The show was seemingly doomed from the start. It took thirty-three backers’ auditions to raise the money. The lead supporting male had a heart attack, one of the dancers fell into the orchestra pit and died, Angela Lansbury, in her first musical production, was so unhappy with her performance that they considered replacing her. The three act format, the last major musical written in this style, was too long and whacking away at it resulted in some of the best songs being cut. This is not the stuff hit musicals are made of.

Sondheim, himself, in his book FINISHING THE HAT, COLLECTED LYRICS (1954-1981) WITH ATTENDANT COMMENTS, PRINCIPLES, HERESIES, GRUDGES, WHINES AND ANECDOTES states, “The show suffered a number of indignities during the pre-Broadway tour in Philadelphia. The fault was not in our stars but in ourselves” (music and lyrics by Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents).

The show takes place in a small American town, which is a financial and physical wreck because its manufacturing base is a plant that makes a product which never wears out, and is the home of the Cookie Jar, an insane asylum. Cora Hoover Hooper, the town’s mayor and owner of the plant, comes up with a scheme to create a fake Lourdes-like miracle fountain. A nurse (Fay Apple) who covers up her identity by using a French accent and a red wig, a psycho (J. Bowden Hapgood)who is misidentified as Cookie Jar’s new assistant director, and three manipulating town employees create pandemonium.

The music is exceptional. Actually, some reviewers, in retrospect, call it Sondheim at his best. The album has a strong cult following and if the book was eliminated and the songs just sung, the choral concert might well have been a hit. Songs include There Won’t be Trumpets, Anyone Can Whistle, Everybody Says Don’t, and With So Little To Be Sure Of.

Lakeland’s production, under Friedman’s direction, is quite uneven. The leads are wonderful. Dan Folino, who left the area several years ago to take a position at Barter Theatre in Virginia, is back, and local theatre goers cheer his return. Folino has proven over and over that whether it’s comedy, drama or musicals, he is superb. His strong singing voice, ability to create real characters and dancing ability all add up to make his portrayal of Hapwood, a show highlight. Katherine DeBoer is fine as nurse Fay Apple. Good voice and a nice touch with the quirky. The duo has wonderful chemistry together.

Voluptuous Amiee Collier doesn’t quite convince as the mayor, but her singing and seduction scenes are well done.

The rest of the cast tries hard, but they don’t have a lot to work with and don’t always seem to understand how to create farce.

Larry Goodpaster does a nice job with the orchestra, supporting, rather than drowning out the singers. Trad Burns set design and lighting work well. Jennifer Justice’s choreography is fairly pedestrian. There needed to be more bizarre, let-loose joy from the cookies.

Capsule judgement: ANYONE CAN WHISTLE is a weak script which gets an acceptable production at Lakeland. It’s worth going just to experience Dan Folino and Katherine DeBoer in action.

November

NOVEMBER is relevant but humorous rather than hysterically funny at Lakeland

The dialogue writing style of David Mamet, the author of NOVEMBER, which is now being staged at The Civic Theatre at Lakeland Community College, is so unique that it actually has a name all its own.

Mamet speak is a cynical, street-smart, edgy way of talking. In his writing Mamet often uses italics and quotation marks to highlight particular words. The intent is to make the actors aware of how to stress certain terms, and that many sentences won’t be completed, and in speaking his ideas the performers need to overlap their speeches. A production of his works requires glib and fast-paced speaking.

He doesn’t write pretty, he writes blunt. He uses four letter words, not to shock, but in the natural flow of speech. He states things that many would find outlandish, but, in reality, are truths (or his version of the truth) and thought provoking. Ideas come from the mouths of his characters, ideas that many think, but few say. Many of his thoughts are outlandish, laugh-out-loud, and obscene in words and connotation.

NOVEMBER opened on Broadway in 2008 to mixed reviews. The positive comments included: "savage merriment . . . delightful . . . wild . . . brilliant." It was dubbed "vaudeville meets current events.”

The script is filled with satirical stabs at American politics, the public, special interest groups, women, and about everything else that Mamet’s darts happen to hit.

Meet President Charles Smith, of Shaker Heights, Ohio, the most corrupt, inept, unliked scheming buffoon ever to sit in the Oval Office. It's the final days of his bid for a second term. The country is a mess, his poll numbers are "lower than Gandhi's cholesterol count" and defeat is certain. He needs to get money for his Presidential library, his political party won’t help, and he’s so broke that he wants to take the sofa in the Oval Office with him when he departs.

Add to this his lesbian speechwriter longing to marry her sweetheart on national television, a cynical chief of staff, Thanksgiving turkeys awaiting to be pardoned, and a wife who almost causes the third World War because she spreads the rumor that there is going to be a nuclear attack on or by Iran, and you have the potential for hysteria.

Unfortunately, the Lakeland show, under the direction of Martin Friedman, doesn’t live up to the potential of the script.

In the Broadway show Nathan Lane, who played the President, was credited with being "glib and jaunty" and “knowing exactly how to pitch such lines, with a time-honed style that allows him to put the maximum spin on poisonous zingers and still keep the audience on his side.” Though he puts out full effort, Robert Hawkes doesn’t have Lane’s comic timing or bigger than life presence.

Andrew Narten as Archer Brown, Smith’s chief of staff, underplays the role. There is no Chaney evilness or Carl Rowe slithering here. It would have helped.

Anne McEvoy is fine as Clarice, the speech writer. She develops a consistent and believable character. Abigail Brace Allwein stays on the surface with little character development as Turkey Gal and the same can be said for Robert McCoy as Dwight Grackle, the Indian chief.

The show lacks precise timing and doesn’t lead up to and stress the comic aspects of the lines. It plays safe. It needs to be outrageous. The cast needs to let loose, thus insuring the audience has fun. As is, it’s smile material.

The Oval Office of the White House is well depicted here, but the view out the window is wrong. Having worked at the White House, I’m aware that the windows look out over the Rose Garden and the massive back lawn, not at the Capitol Building which is miles away and east, not south of the White House.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT: NOVEMBER is a script full of biting satire and sharp dialogue. The Lakeland production is humorous, but needed to be outrageously funny.

Assassins

Lakeland does a very credible job with Sondheim's ASSASSINS

What do Samuel Byck, Guiseppe Zangara, John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau, Sara Jane Moore, Lynnette Fromme, John Hinkley, Leon Czolgosz, and Lee Harvey Oswald have in common? They are the main characters in Stephen Sondheim's ASSASSINS, a musical being performed by the Lakeland Civic Theatre. Why are they the subject of a musical drama? These are men and women who have attempted (successfully and not) to assassinate presidents of the United States.

The musical, which opens with the lyrics, "Everybody's got a right/To their dream” in this case, the dream of killing an American president, is not the stuff that musicals are usually made of. But this is not a traditional musical. First, it is a serious topic. There are laughs, many of them reactions of embarrassment, or outrage, of hearing ideas that to normal people make no sense. Secondly, as is true of Sondheim's works, very little of the music is memorable. In fact, though the show won numerous theatre awards, few of the songs are even recognizable to most people. When was the last time you hummed, Gun Song, How I Saved Roosevelt or The Ballad of Czolgosz? How about Unworthy of Your Love?

Sondheim conceived the musical while reading a play by Charles Gilbert who had submitted a script to a play writing contest about a fictional presidential assassin. Sondheim found the play itself problematic, but was fascinated by the material Gilbert had compiled of letters and anecdotes from actual people who plotted to kill US presidents. Those sources became the bones of ASSASSINS.

The musical opened Off-Broadway in 1990. In 2004 a Broadway production , which featured Neil Patrick Harris as The Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald, won five Tony Awards. Because of both its serious theme and lack of audience recognition, the musical is seldom staged.

The play reflects Sondheim's picture of “the decay and sickness lurking at the core of our society which causes fragile people to do desperate things.” For lost souls, Sondheim composes Another National Anthem, which reveals the nightmarish underside of the American dream.

The tale is extremely relevant in today's world. It concerns guns, broken promises, assumptions about entitlement, and the rethinking and restructuring of our values and behaviors, This is highlighted in the last scene when the assassins restate their motto, Everybody's Got the Right, and fire their guns at the audience.

As written, the opening scene takes place at a carnival shooting gallery where figures move by on a conveyor belt. One by one, a collection of misfits enter the stage, where the Proprietor of the game entices them to play, promising that their problems will be solved by taking shots at a President.

Director Martin Friedman, a Sondheim admirer, moves the setting onto a series of steps, looking much like the stairs in front of the Capitol Building, and uses the levels to create a series of tableaus that remind us of the paintings in the rotunda of that building. It works well.

With Friedman's clear direction, appropriate pacing, and some excellent voices and acting, attention does not wander.

The cast, which does not contain an equity member, is quite good. The acting develops some clear characterizations. Especially strong are Scott Esposito (John Wilkes Booth) and Brint Learned (Samuel Byck). Highlight scenes include Learned's soliloquy, as he stands dressed in a Santa Clause suit ranting about getting a plane to crash into the White House and kill Richard Nixon; the conversation between the eccentric Sara Jane Moore (portrayed well by Amiee Collier) and the Charles Manson inspired Lynette Squeaky Fromme (a nice performance by Neely Gevaart), who both made bumbling attempts to kill Gerald Ford; and the convincing of Lee Harvey Oswald (a believable Curt Arnold) to murder John F. Kennedy.

The vocal work, with the exception of Aaron Elersich (the Balladeer), was quite good.

Unless you are a history buff, get to the theatre early and read the excellent program notes concerning each of the assassins.

John Krols' musical direction, his excellent orchestra, and Trad Burns lighting all enhance the show.

Capsule judgement: Overall, Lakeland's ASSASSINS is a very good production, well worth seeing.

Death of Salesman

“DEATH OF A SALESMAN’ gets a thoughtful production at Lakeland

Arthur Miller’s ‘DEATH OF A SALEMAN,’ is one of the greatest American plays. True to Miller’s form, the script probes his theme of the workings of society and asks his perennial question, “Is this the best way to live?”

On the surface, the play concerns Willy Loman, a traveling salesman who has worked for the same company for thirty-four years. He is now sixty-one years old, has lost his clients and has to borrow money from Charlie, his neighbor and only friend, in order to pay his bills. Neither of Willy's sons, who were brought up with Willy’s philosophy that to be “well liked” is the most important thing in life, have become the “heroes” he dreamed they would become. Willy has been plagued by illusions as he disintegrates into a state of failed dreams. He dies, as he lived, in a state of unrealistic expectations.
Oh, but how much more Miller is saying! It is almost impossible for one to leave the theatre without asking personal questions about the values by which you live your life and your affect on not only yourself, but the significant others in your life.

‘DEATH OF A SALESMAN’ opened on Broadway in 1949. It ran only 742 performances, but won both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for drama. The original production was directed by Elia Kazan with Lee J. Cobb starring in the leading role of Willy Loman.
The play made both Arthur Miller and the character, Willy Loman, household names. Classified as a modern tragedy, it illustrates the downfall of a man, an everyman in this case, because of a tragic flaw. The misguided Loman ( the proverbial "low man"), has the flaws of a misguided image of self and ill-conceived values. As in the traditional tragedy, the hero’s downfall not only affects him, but those who surround him.

The play’s requiem is one the most emotionally moving scenes in modern theatre. Linda (Willy’s wife) and Happy (youngest son), stand in shock after Willy’s poorly attended funeral. Biff (the oldest son) states that Willy had the wrong dreams. (Thus, he has a denouement, an awakening, a requirement for the development of a modern tragedy, which, in this case, acknowledges that he has learned from Willy’s mistakes.) Biff invites Happy to flee the city and Willy’s influence. Happy, having not learned the lesson of ill-placed values, declares that he will stick it out in New York to validate Willy’s death. Linda stands at the grave looking downward and asks Willy for forgiveness for being unable to cry. She begins to sob, repeating “I don’t know why you did it. We’re free, we are finally free and clear. . . .” All exit, and a flute melody is heard as the curtain falls.

‘DEATH OF A SALESMAN’ is very difficult to perform to it’s highest level of effectiveness. This is especially true for amateurs, which basically is what is appearing on the Lakeland Civic Theatre’s stage. Under Martin Friedman’s direction, the cast does an acceptable job.

Mark Cipra gives a creditable performance as Willy. We feel his pain, observe his lack of ability to create reality as he escapes into a fantasy world. We, appropriately, want to scream at him, “Wake up and realize you are living a life of lies and misjudgments.”

Maryann Elder is excellent as the enabler wife who knows what Willy is doing is wrong, but her misspent love causes her to hide the truth from him. Unfortunately, Elder fails to completely develop the emotional impact of the requiem.

Though he tries hard, Christopher Richards doesn’t have the maturity to develop the frustration needed to fully flesh out Biff. Christopher Richards comes closer to exploring the underpinnings of Happy.

Michael Green gives a good spin on the character of Charley. The rest of the cast is quite acceptable.

Friedman has taken several liberties with the script that must be questioned. For example, he has given us actors who portray younger versions of Biff, Happy and Linda. Their reason is questionable. Since much of the play is illusionary, if well conceived the same actors who play the grown up trio would have made for less confusion. Miller didn’t include them in the original script. Why tinker with brilliance?

He has also added music throughout the play. The music does nothing to enhance the actions, often leading to underscoring confusion, and in some instances drowns out the quieter speeches.

Why was the sound of the car starting, followed by the straining engine, and then the crash, eliminated before the final scene? This is needed to clarify the way Willy misguidedly died.

Trad Burns lighting is excellent, but his set design, doesn’t work. The playing area of the house is not well conceived causing awkward blocking. Why are Biff and Happy sleeping on the floor, not in beds? What is the purpose of the anti-room that is on the second level? The supposed “flash back area” is often misused as scenes from the present invade the space.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Lakeland’s ‘DEATH OF A SALSMAN’ will allow its audiences to experience one of America’s great plays. Those attending, in spite of some questionable aspects of the production, will leave having the basic impact of Miller’s message. And, gaining that understanding is the essence of the reason for producing the script.

Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Folino and Garrigan make SWEENEY TODD an audience pleaser

Martin Friedman, Lakeland Civic Theater’s director of ‘SWEENEY TODD THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET,’ is a self-professed Stephen Sondheim fanatic. As he states in the play’s program, he has been “delighted, enchanted and challenged by Sondheim.”

Friedman has always wanted to direct ‘SWEENEY TODD,’ considered by many to be one of the master’s most difficult shows to stage due to the love or hate relationship it often engenders with audiences. His path to the production was thwarted when, while staging the show last year, a heart condition slammed on the breaks to opening. Now feeling fine, he has completed his quest.

‘SWEENEY TODD,’ the 1979 Tony Award winning musical, has music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by Hugh Wheeler (‘A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC,’ ‘CANDIDE.’ ‘PACIFIC OVERTURES,’ ‘MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS’). It is based Christopher Bonds’ 1973 play of the same name.

It tells the story of Benjamin Barker, aka Sweeney Todd, who returns to London from Australia after spending fifteen years in prison on false charges. When he learns from his former landlady, Mrs. Lovett, that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by the Judge who wrongly imprisoned him and who took Barker’s daughter to be his ward, Barker, as Todd, vows revenge. The plot, full of twists, turns, gore and more gore, is not the stuff from which musicals are usually crafted. Nor is using the French Grand Guiginol melodramatic structure of a play (violent plot and terrifying stage effects), which can lend itself to farcical over-staging.

The score, which contains some of Sondheim’s most memorable music, includes “Johanna,” “Pretty Woman,” the repulsively hysterical “A Little Priest,” and the brilliant, “Not While I’m Around.”

Friedman has reinvented the setting, placing it in a courtroom in which the members of the cast are basically on stage during the entire production, and the audience also sits in judgment of Todd and his actions. These alterations made the staging easier as it eliminated many of the technical difficulties of the script. However, it also created problems. Friedman has cast member wandering in and out of their seats, which causes constant distractions because their movements upstage some of the play’s most emotional scenes and songs.

Trad Burns’ multi-level set also causes problems as actors are constantly climbing up and down a ladder placed in the center of the back wall, often with no intended purpose. On the other hand, Burns’ light design adds much intensity to the staging.

Dan Folino, one of the area’s best actors and singers, is superb as Todd. His full voice, depth of acting ability and total immersion into the schizophrenic role, make Todd live. At the start of the play, his dead eyes reflect pain and angst. As the play progresses, his eyes become demon-like as he gets more and more obsessed in his murderous mission.

Alison Garrigan adds a sensual dimension to the role that Angela Lansberry, the original Mrs. Lovett, did not engender. Garrigan, portraying Lovett, the cheery and chatty but wholly amoral maker of meat pies, seems to evoke glee in her character’s idea to get rid of the victims of Todd’s murderous ways by grinding them up and baking them into edible treats. This is undoubtedly one of Garrigan’s highlight theatrical performances.

Brian Altman gives a nice vulnerability to the role of Tobias, a seemingly retarded lad, who becomes Mrs. Lovett’s assistant. His puppy dog loyalty to his mistress is tenderly developed in “Not While I’m Around.”

The rest of the cast doesn’t fare as well. But, it must be remembered that Lakeland Civic Theatre is an amateur theatre, so the mostly non-Equity cast should not be expected to perform at a professional level.

Lindsey Sandham has a finely trained voice, but her words often got lost in the higher register, so she was sometimes difficult to understand. She also tends to be overly melodramatic in her character development, making Johanna less than real. She shows little emotional connection with Anthony (Connor O’Brien), her love interest. O’Brien has an excellent singing voice and often nails his character, but sometimes loses focus. Nicole Groah (Begger Woman) is not convincing in her portrayal. Douglas Collier (Judge Turpin) and Thomas love (Beadle Bamford) both have nice singing voices.

Musical Director Larry Goodpaster has honed his instrumentalists well, but often allows them to get overly loud, drowning out the singers. He also needed to get better blending of vocal sounds from the chorus.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT: Lakeland’s ‘SWEENEY TODD THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET’ is an audience pleasing production, in spite of some staging and performance issues. It is well worth seeing! Also, besides seeing a rarely produced script, it may be your only chance to experience an audience hysterically laughing while throats are being cut and blood is squirting!

Sunday in the Park With George (Lakeland Theatre)

A pleasant ‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE’ at Lakeland

Painter Georges Seurat and musical theatre composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim have much in common. Though noted as being successful in their fields, both
had personal and career highs and lows.

Seurat, who is the subject of Sondheim’s ‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE,’ like Sondheim was revered and disliked because of his penchant for breaking out of the lines.

Seurat broke from traditional realism and embraced a style of painting based on dabs, rather than brush strokes. Using his scientific knowledge, he placed the dots in such proximity to each other that they created light, shadow and color. The technique, entitled “pointillism,” was disliked by traditional painters of his time. Seurat was considered an
outcast and was refused participation in the major art shows of his day. Seurat, it is rumored, did not sell a single major painting while he was alive.

Sondheim is also controversial. With few exceptions his works are intellectual, not intended only to entertain, but also to enlighten. Often they contain a negative-toned woman, who, like Sondheim’s own mother, is all-controlling. Think Mamma Rose in ‘GYPSY’ and the Wicked Witch in ‘INTO THE WOODS.’

Sondheim also doesn’t write songs that can be easily removed from the script and be placed on the top hits lists. He writes songs for his characters to sing that fit completely into the dialogue, reveal something about the person, or helps develop the plot. Though popular among theatre performers, the vast amount of his work is unknown to the general public.

Though Sondheim, like Seurat, is assumed to be a total success (‘GYPSY,’ ‘SWEENEY TODD,’ ‘COMPANY,’ ‘WEST SIDE STORY,’ ‘FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM”), this assumption is not true. He had
minor successes such as ‘ANYONE CAN WHISTLE’ and ‘PACIFIC OVERTURES, ‘and outright flops like ‘SATURDAY NIGHT’ and ‘MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG.’ After ‘MERRILY’ Sondheim quit the theatre. He was, however, lured back by James Lapine, with the idea of writing a musical based on the life of Seurat and his painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” Though the musical never achieved greatness, it did run for almost a year and a half and has some wonderful songs.

In ‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK’ Sondheim wrote music in the artistic style of Seurat. As one critic put it, "Sondheim’s work has such reach, there is so much emotional resonance, that many observers take it personally and become as fascinated with the artist as with the art.”

He won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for ‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK,’ though Jerry Herman's ‘LA CAGE AUX FOLLES,’ a traditionally formatted show, was selected by the Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Score.

The first act takes place in nineteenth-century France. Georges struggles with his art and his personal life. He is completely engrossed in his artwork and not with his pregnant girlfriend/model, Dot. She leaves him to find a more supportive man. The act introduces the audience to many of the subjects in the painting (a fisherman, nurse, old
lady, American tourists, teenage girls and Dot).

Act Two, is set in New York and Paris in 1984. Georges' great-grandson, George, is struggling to find inspiration in his artwork. He is helped when the spirit of Dot returns with some wise words as he visits La Grade Jatte.

The first act is stronger than the second. In fact, the final act was finished only days before the show opened on Broadway and failed to receive the polishing needed.

The musical is a difficult undertaking for any theatre. Considering that Lakeland’s production has only one equity performer (young Emma Wahl), and she does not have a major role, the production is impressive. Much credit goes to Martin Freedman, the show’s director and Sondheim devotee.

Amiee Collier is excellent as Dot and later as George’s grandmother. She has a strong singing voice and interprets meanings, rather than just singing words. This is imperative in a Sondheim show. She also develops clear characterizations. Mary Jane Nottage is endearing as the “old lady.”

Andrew Tarr puts out a yeoman’s effort into developing the roles of Georges and George but he does not have the acting or the vocal prowess to pull off the roles. One only had to have seen Mandy Patinkin in the Broadway production or listen to his vocalizations on the CD of the show to hear the complexity of the music and of the character.

Keith Nagy’s sets and lighting designs add much to the production as does the musical direction of Larry Goodpaster. Unfortunately, the theatre’s poor sound system caused vocal distortions.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Seurat contended that a painting is composed of design, order, composition, light and harmony. The same can be said of a musical. Lakeland
should be proud of its artistic composition.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Lakeland Theatre)

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF good at Lakeland

The Cleveland area seems to be in the midst of a Tennessee Williams theatre fest. Following on the heels of the Cleveland Play House’s production of ‘A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE,’ Lakeland Theatre is staging another of Williams major plays, ‘CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF.’

‘CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF’ is the story of a Southern family in crisis. The focus is on the turbulent relationship between Maggie "The Cat" and Brick, her heavy drinking husband, and their interaction with Brick's family over the course of a weekend at the family estate in Mississippi. They are ostensibly gathered to celebrate the birthday of the patriarch "Big Daddy." To add to the intrigue, although Big Daddy has terminal cancer, his doctor and family have conspired to keep this information from him.

The central theme of the play is “mendacity,” the web of lies the family spins in a desperate attempt to keep some semblance of well-being. As Big Daddy says, “What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?” Additional themes center on other Williams’ key latches--decaying Southern society and the Southern woman who finds herself unable to comprehend the realities of the culture around her and that area’s view of sexuality.

The play was rewritten several times by Williams. Each time there was a different approach taken to the homosexual issue which seems central to Brick’s drinking and his relationship with Maggie. The original version of the play, and the film which was based on the Williams’ script, alludes to the presence of homosexuality. In the version of the play that Lakeland Director Martin Friedman chose to produce, the homosexuality issue is much more clearly developed, as is the sexuality. Interestingly, in an interview, Tennessee Williams indicated he was unclear about the nature of Brick and his best friend Skipper’s relationship.

The title of the play is clearly developed in the dialogue. Maggie states, “I'll win, alright. (She is referring to the contest for who gets Big Daddy’s estate.) Brick responds, “Win what? What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?” To which Maggie responds, “Just staying on it, I guess. As long as she can.”

The most compelling scene of the play centers on Big Daddy’s attempt to destroy the mendacity web. Brick refuses to drop the barrier he's constructed around himself and his dead friend. One theatre commentator states that the scene “raises the ante on Williams's drama about as high as can be found in the annals of American dramatic literature.”

One of the issues confronting any director of the play is deciding which of the possible endings to use. In the film version, in a desperate attempt to help Brick, Maggie announces to Big Daddy that she's pregnant, something Big Daddy desperately wants...an heir from his favorite son. It's a lie, of course, but Brick is touched by her loyalty to him. Maggie's outpouring of love prompts him to make good on her blatant lie, and the film closes with their passionate kiss. That is not the version Friedman chose. His is the one that Williams originally wrote, in which Brick rejects Maggie’s advances indicating that he can’t have sex with someone he hates.

The film version (1958), starred Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives and Judith Anderson. Williams, who did not participate in the award-winning cinema, so disliked the adaptation that he is reported to have gone to the world premiere and told people in line for tickets that, "This movie will set the industry back 50 years. Go home!"

The Lakeland production does not always reach the emotional heights that it should, but this is mainly a non-professional cast and, considering that, credit should be given to attempting a very challenging play and developing a more than adequate production.

Mitchell Fields, the only equity member of the cast, is generally excellent as Big Daddy, another of Williams's don't-try-to-con-me realists (think Stanley in ‘STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE’). He smolders on his entrance and screams from there on. A little more texturing of moods might have helped better understanding the character. He develops well the highlight scene with Brick when he confronts his son’s demons.

Brick is a very difficult role to portray. The man says little, but is the fulcrum of the play. Silence is his only solace from the confusion and rage he feels. Mark Smith has the physical attractiveness and muscular body to visually fit the role, but is quite young and lacking in his ability to dig beyond the surface of the character. He substitutes body twitches for internal pain, and can’t match the emotional levels of Liz Conway’s Maggie or Fields’ Big Daddy. Even the capstone last line of the play lacks clarity. In fact, a patron sitting behind me whispered, “What did he say?” I thought, “What did he mean?”

Liz Conway does well at Maggie. She, like the proverbial cat, lands on her feet because of cunning. And, as a cat, she is unpredictable, not willing to be trained. Her acting motivations are clear and she prowls with conviction.

Mary Jane Nottage, in spite of a coming and going accent, a problem with most of the cast, swings from airhead to desperation to airhead with ease. This is one of her best ever performances.

Erin Bunting gives a shrewish interpretation to Mae, Gooper’s wife, that makes her appear mean rather than devious manner of a true “southern lady.” Steven Hoffman’s Gooper, Brick’s older brother, appears too strong at times rather than being a foil for Mae.

Michael Regnier as the Doctor and Marvin Mallory as the Reverend are generally unconvincing in their roles.

Keith Nagy’s fragmentary set and lighting effects help create the right illusions, as do Craig Tucker’s costumes.

Capsule judgment: At Lakeland, ‘CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF’ gets a good community theatre production, which features some fine performances. Be aware that the 3-act play is long at almost three hours.

Into the Woods (Lakeland Theatre)

‘INTO THE WOODS’ strays off the path at Lakeland

The initial concept for the award winning musical ‘INTO THE WOODS’ was for writer James Lapine to devise an entirely original story. Instead, he hit upon the notion of uniting numerous characters from familiar literature: Cinderella, Little Red Ridinghood, Jack (of Beanstalk fame) and Rapunzel.

Lapine’s self-explained purpose was to show what happened in reality, in contrast to the “they lived happily-ever-after” endings purported in the fairy tales. A child psychologist explained the symbolism of the woods in these tales as "the place in which inner darkness is confronted and ...where uncertainty is resolved about who one is ... or who one wants to be." It is only when we see the light that we can really find our way and face our hidden fears.

Lapine's book is dark, wise and oft-times enchanting. When combined with the words and music of America’s most brilliant musical author Stephen Sondheim, the delightful first act was intended to be a sharp contrast to the lesson-teaching second segment.

Sondheim's score is gorgeous and witty, especially in the first act. The show contains such wonders as “Stay With Me” (often called “Children Will Listen” because of its key line), the poignant “No More,” and the lovely “No One is Alone.”

Unfortunately, instead of following the authors’ intent and purpose, Lakeland Theatre’s director Martin Friedman decided to stray from the path. As he states in his director’s notes, “With this production I have chosen to eliminate any of the sarcasm and excess cynical humor that the original production utilized.” With this change of emphasis, Lakeland’s production loses the play’s purpose. In contrast to words “delightful,” “wise,” “adorable,” and “meaningful” which were found in most of the reviews of the original 1987 Broadway show and its 2001 revival, words like “dreary,” “boring” and “gloomy” seem to better fit.

In the Lakeland production, Alex Wyse is delightful as Jack. This lad can sing and act. Sandra Emerick sings and interprets well the role of the Baker’s wife. Paul Floriano develops a believable character as the Baker. Emerick and Floriano’s rendition of “It Takes Two” is one of the show’s highlights. Toni Cervino is enchanting as Cinderella. She has a fine singing voice and gave a textured acting performance. As the witch, Maryann Nagel lets loose in the second act, after a too controlled first act. Her singing voice, as always, is radiant. Tiffany Gates sings the role of Rapunzel effectively. Donnie Long has a nice singing voice, but his portrayal of Cinderella’s Prince was shallow. Ryan Bergeron proficiently sings the role of Rapunzel’s Prince, but he overacts at times. Doug Farren was not believable as either the narrator or the mysterious man.

Some questionable blocking, awkward set changes, a good but over-loud orchestra which drowned out many of the spoken lines, boring choreography consisting mainly of cross-over steps and marching in place, mumbled lines, lack of articulation of song lyrics, some poor singing blends, and dark lighting spots on the stage, didn’t add to the festivities.

Capsule Judgement: This is not to say the show is to be avoided. That’s not the summary message. There are enough good moments to make the production enjoyable. But go realizing that instead of finding the clearing, the production gets lost in the woods.