BOOTY CANDY pushes the envelope at convergence continuum

Both Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) and convergence-continuum (con-con) are noted for producing “on the edge” theatre.  Ironically, both are now featuring plays that examine the human experience from the viewpoint of sexual orientation and race/ethnicity.

Yuval Boim’s SEXCURITY, in a short run at CPT, is a devised piece which delves into the angst of being gay and Jewish.  It probes into the deep need to define ourselves and the challenges of finding a safe corner of the world.  Boim, the author and Darren Katz, the director, contend that the play is not autobiographical, per se, but has bits of each of them, which have been extrapolated into a theatrical vision.

Now on stage at convergence-continuum, Robert O’Hara’s BOOTY CANDY is a series of interconnected sketches which portray growing up gay and black.  The piece, which is both dramatic and funny, is a biographical work that illuminates O’Hara’s personal pain and pleasure.

O’Hara is blunt in his language and story telling.  His kaleidoscope covers such topics as foreskin, mother-child relationships, a cross-dressing preacher, genitalia, gay sex, racial issues, playwriting techniques, teenage sexual identity, lesbianism, a noncommitment ceremony (the opposite of the gay marriage ceremony), rape, death, suicide, aging, and sexual perversion.  There is full male nudity, the mocking of religion, and lots of four letter words. 

It’s the author’s coming to terms with his sexuality and the damage that the American culture’s attitudes towards sexual orientation and race has had on his psyche.

Many of the scenes are filled with fun.  Others are empathic and soul searching.

Among the standout segments are the opening in which Sutter (the name the author has tagged on the character who represents him), creatively portrayed by Wesley Allen, asks his mother questions about his childlike awareness of sex and his “booty candy” (uncut penis). 

“Dreamin’ in Church,” is a hysterically funny segment in which Michael May, portraying a hyper-evangelical black minister, comments on the number of gay men in the church’s chorus, while scolding the church members for their “salacious spreading of rumors.”  Following his rant, he rips off his churchly robes to reveal a pink dress, red high heeled shows, puts on a female wig, and comes out to the parishioners.

A funny but revealing scene takes place when India Nicole Burton and Rochelle Jones portray four different black women having multiple phone conversations as they discuss the name, Genitalia, which one of them is about to give to her soon-to-be born daughter.

Another segment places the spotlight on Genitalia, now all grown up, as a lesbian who is in the process of dissolving her marriage from her girlfriend, Intifada, in what the author has named, a “noncommitment” ceremony.

“Last Gay Play,” is a troubling segment in which a drunk, psychologically fragile straight man who has just been abandoned by his on-line female date, approaches Sutter and his black friend.  He propositions them. (The scene would have been aided if Nate Miller, who plays the white man, was more drunk and out-of-control.) The trio go back to the man’s hotel room.  The now naked Miller, his gym-ripped body shaking and quivering, is properly pathetic as he pleads to be touched and sexually attacked, both physically and with a “large black dildo.”  The ending of the scene is the strongest serious segment of the play.

Under the direction of Terrence Spivey, the cast, India Nicole Burton, Wesley Allen, Rochelle Jones, Michael May and Nate Miller, are excellent as they flow from one part to another.

Capsule Judgement:  BOOTY CANDY, as is true with most con-con plays, will please many (including me), and offend others. It is funny, revealing and generally well-staged. As publicity for the show states, “PLEASE BE ADVISED:  This play is called BOOTY CANDY, so they’ll be talking about booty, and show some booty.  That means strong language, mature themes, and full nudity.  You’ve been warned!”

BOOTY CANDY runs through April 16, 2016, at 8 pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at convergence-continuum’s artistic home, The Liminis, at 2438 Scranton Rd. in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood.  For information and reservations call 216-687-0074 or go to http://www.convergence-continuum.org

Groundworks Dance Theater stresses imagination you can see @ Breen Center; IT TAKES TWO--annual fundraising

The reconfigured Groundworks Dance Theater, with two new dancers this season, again proved that they are one of the area’s premiere dance companies in their presentation of “Falling Awake,” in its world premiere, and Artistic Director David Shimotakahara’s spellbinding, “Ghost Opera.” 

“Falling Awake” found the entire company interpreting choreographer Loni Landon’s creation about tension, connection/disconnection and how people relate to each other.

The piece, Landon said, was inspired “from a recurring image [she] had after several chaotic dreams following Hurricane Sandy.”  Her hope for the piece, “to have it feel like a continuous stream of consciousness—a dream—a movie,” was achieved.

Danced to select music from the soundtrack of “The Great Beauty,” it incorporated redundant segments of action and feelings which would not go away.  The fragmented scenes, eerie electronic and piano music, and  effective lighting by Dennis Dugan, combined to create the desired image of a fracture dream.

The slight but powerful newcomer, Michael Marquez, continued to impress with his strong movements, controlled precision and fluidity.   Attractive Lauren Garson, the other company neophyte, fit seamlessly into the strong female corps  of Felise Bagley and Annika Sheaff displaying strong dance moves and a complete performance vocabulary.

“Ghost Opera” is a brilliant dance and theatrical experience.   Combining live music and ancient theatrical methods, it left an indelible impression.

The piece, Shimotakahara’s re-imagining of Tan Dun’s master work, brings spirits from the past present and future, from east and west culture, from nature and technology, together into an emotionally satisfying presentation.

First danced at the Cleveland Institute of Music on June 28, 2014, this is a piece that should be a permanent fixture in the Groundworks lexicon of works.

The multi-textured piece found the musicians (Solomon Liang, Andra Belding, Aaron Mossburg, Erica Snowden and Yihan Chen) moving from place to place on stage, interweaving with the dancers, filmy curtains and spectacular lighting effects by Dennis Dugan.   Using water in bowls, paper, Asian instruments such as the Pipa, and traditional Western musical instruments, they set a perfect mood for the performers’ use of Oriental hand, arm, leg and body movements.

A highlight segment of the dancing was an extended duet by the ever proficient Felise Bagley and Michael Marquez.   A wonderful segment centering on the manipulation of a large box was filled with humor and skill.

Capsule Judgement: An appreciative audience expressed their pleasure as the  final curtain fell on Groundworks Spring Concert at Breen Auditorium.  The company continues to smoothly integrate new dancers into their membership without losing any of their precision and living up to their motto of “Imagination You Can See.” 

Performance dates were:  March 18 and 19, 2016 at Breen Center for the Performing Arts

IT TAKES TWO…annual fundraiser
Seven local celebrities will be featured in fantastic and fun duets with seven GroundWorks artists. 2016 Celebrity Dancers
¥    Margaret Richards Frankel, Dentist, Richards Frankel Dentistry
¥    Ian Friedman, Attorney, Friedman & Nemacek, LLC
¥    Brian Marita, Managing Partner, Ciuni and Panichi
¥    Heidi Gartland, Vice President, Government & Community Relations, University Hospitals
¥    Kristen Morris, Chief Government and Community Relations Officer, Cleveland Clinic
¥    August A. Napoli Jr., Deputy Director and Chief Advancement Officer, Cleveland Museum of Art
¥    Sylvia Pérez, VP for Corporate Governance and Governmental & International Affairs, The Cleveland Foundation
Matt Zone, Cleveland City Councilman

¥    When: Saturday, April 2nd, 2016
¥    Where: The Cleveland Museum of Art
¥    Parking: Free indoor parking provided
¥    Suggested Attire: Casual, Cool, Cocktail

For information about GroundWorks go to http://www.groundworksdance.orgor call 216-751-0088

Devised SeXcurity probes for sense-of-self and identity at CPT

Roy Berko

Member: Cleveland Critics Circle and American Theatre Critics Association



Native Clevelander Darren Katz and Israeli born, Yuval Boim, have many things in common.  The duo are gay, Jewish, have an intense interest in probing into the psyche of self-identity, security of identification, and victimhood.  As revealed in a face-to-face interview, they both seem to thrive on probing psychological barriers and delving into the layers of personal development as an artist.



That delving is at the very core of their SeXcurity.  The devised theater-piece is the kind of work that Raymond Bobgan, the Artistic Director of Cleveland Public Theatre, champions.



SeXcurity is billed as a darkly funny performance about the deep need to define ourselves and the challenges of finding a safe corner of the world – and our minds – in which to do so. It concerns an Israeli-American Jewish gay screenwriter whom, when confronted with a crisis, has to discover who he really is.


The character sees himself as a victim.  He has a boyfriend who is German.  His life and sexual actions connect with trauma, and have life and death ties.  He struggles to let go of his perceived victimhood and history, which, in reality, have nothing to do with his contemporary self.



Though Katz and Boim contend that the play is not autobiographical, per se, but thematically has bits of each of them. As they stated, “it is based in autobiography and then extrapolated."



Katz was brought up in Shaker Heights and graduated from University School in 1992.  He was a student of the late Michael LiBassi in the Heights Youth Theatre, worked with Victoria Bussert at Cain Park, and was influenced by Carol Pribble, his drama teacher at US.  He went on to earn a BA in Urban Studies and Architecture from Columbia University.  He now lives in New York with his husband and their child.



Like architecture, his philosophy of theatre directing centers on “working with the playwright to find the best form to tell their story in a three-dimensional way.”  He believes that “form follows function and that theater is a physical art.”  He contends that “theater should not be derivative, but should stress the invention of story.”



His NY credits include being the Resident Director of The Lion King, which entails rehearsing the understudies and crafting the performances of new cast members who are entering into the production.  He has directed such shows as the 2nd national tour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. (For more professional information on Darren go to: http://www.darrenkatzdirector.com/)



He returns to Cleveland regularly as his family still resides here.  He nostalgically related that when he was young he used to take the rapid downtown to his father’s law office.  He remembers well the beauty of the marbled walls which used to be in the lower levels of the Terminal Tower.



Yuval Boim is a “Sabra.” He was born in Holon, a city on the coastal strip just south of Tel Aviv to a first generation Sabra father and a Romanian mother.  His family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa when he was young, back to Israel when he was three, and moved to Houston, Texas when he was thirteen.



He is a graduate of the conservatory at the Boston University College of Fine Arts.  Following college he moved to New York to pursue a career in theater.  He also spent two years in London studying Lecoq at the London International School of Performing Arts, which “emphasizes methods of physical theater, movement and mime.”  The performance language of the school emphasizes the physical playing of the actor, which is Yuval's first approach to playwriting.



Boim’s conception and performance in SeXcurity harks back to his Lecoq training.



Boim has appeared in numerous television shows and movies including “That Awkward Moment” with Zac Efron and Miles Teller. (For more information on Boim, go to: http://yuvalboim.com/)



Natalie Gershtein, an independent New York based producer, is the producer of SeXcurity.  In her role as producer, her aim is to “support artists and connect the show to the right audience.”  She has become passionate about the work of Katz and Boim and hopes that through this workshop, they can pair the show with the right future audiences and venues. 



As they go forward Katz, Boim and Gershtein hope that they can cultivate mindfulness around the subject of identity, bringing this theme from the unconscious to the conscious.



SeXcurity (a workshop production),which is part of the OUT OF THE BOX series, will be performed March 24-26 at 7 PM.  For tickets call 216-631-2727 or go to www.cptonline.org

A KID LIKE JAKE probes the effects of heredity & environment at none too fragile

In their catalog, Dramatists Play Service, which owns the production rights to Daniel Pearle’s A KID LIKE JAKE, states, “On the eve of the admissions cycle for Manhattan’s most exclusive private schools, Alex and Greg have high hopes for their son Jake, a precocious four-year old who happens to prefer Cinderella to G. I. Joe.  But as the process continues, Jake’s behavior becomes erratic and perplexing, and other adults in his life start to wonder whether his fondness for dress-up might be cause for concern.”

Yes, that’s a surface level description of Pearle’s explosive and thought-provoking play.   What the catalog description misses is the need to look beyond the story line and get into the psychological and sociological issues raised.

A major topic in theories in the social sciences centers on roles of nature and nurture.  Is a person destined to be and do what their genes dictate?  Can predispositions be influenced by a person’s environment?  Is a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, possible addictions (e.g., alcoholism, eating dysphoria, drug dependency) set by heredity or influenced by cultural inputs?

There is a ritual of competition that seems to arise from living in a place where it is difficult to gain recognition.  There is a mass of people competing for the same thing, whether it is for school placement or finding a parking spot.

Manhattan residents tend to be anxiety driven, failing to take a deep breath and relax.  They walk fast, talk fast, set extremely high goals, go to extremes. 

From the time an upper middle to upper class New York child is born, they are on a tread mill to get into the “best” pre-school, elementary school, high school and college, to rise to the top, be a winner, no matter the cost.

In A KID LIKE JAKE, Alex, Jake’s mother, is the product of not only wealth but an exacting mother.  She is obsessive compulsive.  Everything has to be right. Things must be preplanned and structured.  She obsesses over the selection of every single word in Jake’s school entrance essays.  Jake is prepped for ERB entrance tests, his every action is scrutinized. Alex constantly checks in at his pre-school regarding the boy’s actions.  His Halloween costumes and birthday parties must be “right.” 

Each night she reads him fairy tales, with an emphasis on Cinderella, just as Alex was.  He is surrounded by stereotypical “girl” stuff.  He has no “boy” toys and listens to no “boy’ stories. 

Is there any question of why Jake identifies with girls and girl things?

Wonder if his identity patterns would have been different if she had read him “boy” stories and exposed him to “boy” toys? 

Greg, his father, a non-athlete, doesn’t toss around a ball with his son in the park, they don’t share any rough-housing.   Environmentalists might conjure if this is also part of the reason for Jake’s actions and identity. 

Greg  is a psychologist who deals with adults and their issues.  He is in emotional control and approaches the world logically, but not in a non-flexible way.  A product of the public schools and a modest financial background, he seems less driven than his wife to find the “perfect” school.  He sneaks Jake out to McDonald’s, much against his wife’s wishes.

Is Jake reflecting his environmental influences when he states he wants to be a girl or does he have a pre-disposition toward awareness that he was born into the wrong gender body?

In an interview the author indicates that he went through a ‘Cinderella phase.”  He states, “My mom read me a lot of fairy tales when I was little.”  “Snow White was the first movie he saw.”

Pearle’s script encourages much discussion and thought regarding Jake.  The author might consider doing a follow-up, centering around Jake in early adulthood with not only a spotlight on his gender “decisions,” but the relationship of his parents, who we leave with Alex hinting at divorce and Greg saying, “Good luck on finding someone who will put up with you.”

Rachel Lee Kolis must be close to collapse at the end of each production.  With repeated physical gestures, facial expressions and vocal hysterics she creates an Alex who is on the very edge of psychological collapse because of her obsessive tendencies.  She is like a rubber band, about to snap.

 Geoff Knox develops a Greg who has learned well the mental health professional’s ability to control his emotions in the face of stress and chaos.  His speech where he confronts Alex’s potential divorce scenario was powerful.

Katie Wells is effective in her roles as a nurse and a grown-up Jake in a dream sequence.

The play’s pacing was hampered by time consuming and emotional stopping excessive movements of set pieces and costume changes.

Capsule judgement:  A KID LIKE JAKE is a well-developed, thought-provoking script, centering on the contemporary topics of gender identity, parental relationships, and the controversy of nature versus nurture.  The acting is excellent.  It is the type of production that incites discussion and will be appealing to a thinking audience.

For tickets to A KID LIKE JAKE which runs through March 26, 2016 at none too fragile theater in Akron, call 330-671-4563 or go to nonetoofragile.com

The next none too fragile production is Martin McDonagh’s THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE from April 22-May 7, 2016.

Personal thoughts on the passing of David O. Frazier

It is with great sadness that I write this tribute to David O. Frazier.

When my wife and I walked into many an opening night performance, it was our pleasure to find David and Joe Garry, David’s partner for 40 years and husband for two, and schmooze about the theater scene in Cleveland and New York, and the many places all of us had visited. 

Lately, David had entered the theatre in a wheel chair and was transferred by Joe into his seat.  It was sad to watch this strapping, energetic, talented performer fade before our eyes.   

David left us early Monday morning.

David was not only a fine singer, actor and writer, but a wonderful person.  His ready smile was infectious.  It was impossible to listen and watch David and not smile back. 

On July 15, 2009, Representative Dennis J. Kucinich rose before the Congress to honor and recognize David for his induction into the Cleveland Playhouse Hall of Fame for Outstanding Achievement in the Theater.  The proclamation was placed in the Congressional Record (Vol. 155 Issue 106).

David may best be remembered for his 1973 appearance in the record-breaking run in “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,” which ran for two-and-a-half years in the lobby of the State Theatre.  That production stopped the demolition of and revived Cleveland’s five historic movie theatre houses, which now constitute the second largest professional performing arts center in the country.   In 2012 David and Joe were recognized for their “vision, commitment and significant contributions to the saving of the historic theaters of Playhouse Square.”

David and Joe, besides collaborating on “Conversations With An Irish Rascal,” co-wrote and produced fifteen original musicals.  

Joe and David were great hosts.  Their Bratenahl condo is filled with many mementos of their travels as they sailed around the world entertaining on many cruise ships and gained recognition.

All of us who considered David to be a special friend will miss him very, very much. 

The curtain has fallen on his life, but David O. Frasier will long be remembered as holding a special place in our collective hearts.

THE 39 STEPS, British farcical fun, at Blank Canvas

What do you do if  you are bored?  If you are Richard Hannay, the major character in Patrick Barlow’s THE 39 STEPS, now on stage at Blank Canvas, you go to the theater to see “something mindless and trivial.”  If you, personally are bored and looking for something to fill your time, THE 39 STEPS should fill the bill!

The farcical melodrama, a mix of a Hitchcock mystery and Monty Python-like ridiculousness, is based on a 1915 novel by John Buchan and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film of the same name.

In 2007 the play won the prestigious Olivier Award, the British equivalent of the Tony Award.  It also holds the record as the fifth longest running play in West End history.

In the play, Hannay goes to the theatre to see a clairvoyant perform.  An attractive blond sits next to him in his London music hall box.  A shot rings out, chaos follows, the blond and Hannay wind up in his flat. 

The next morning the blond is killed, Hannay, sure he will be accused of being the killer, flees to Scotland’s most remote highlands.  He is confronted by a man with a severed pinky, detectives who want to arrest him, and a plot against Britain by the Nazis. 

Hannay is constantly pursued, having interludes with attractive women, and escaping via train, car and on foot.  Of course, in the end, as is the case with all over-blown melodramatic farces, he wins both the girl and his freedom.

The script is filled with puns and allusions to such Hitchcock flicks as “Strangers on a Train,” “Rear Window,” “Psycho,” and “Vertigo.”  It isn’t required that the viewer can identify these references, but it doesn’t hurt.

The meaning of the title?  I’m not going to tell, that would reveal the little bit of real mystery in the script.

The format for the play can be exhausting, for both the cast and the audience.  Four players portray many, many characters…keeping track is of who is who is almost impossible.  One actor inhabits the role of Hannay.  A female plays three different femme fatales who find themselves in romantic interactions with Hannay. 

The remaining two actors, complete with lots of hats, dresses, jackets, coats, wigs and mustaches, are the police, hotel owners, announcers, and every other person, both male and female, who lead us on a merry, no-holds barred chase for justice.

To achieve the desired hilarity, the staging requires lightening swift quick-changes.  This is where the Patrick Ciamacco directed show both succeeds and stumbles.

On the positive side, the projection designs created by Perren Hedderson, and carried out by projectionist Zac Hudak, not only instantly create moving trains and cars, but fill in for what would normally be scenery and informing signage.  Also, the actors are adequately able to quickly change character clarifiers, such as hats, coats and mustaches.

On the other hand the use of four large and heavy wooden crates, which stand in for railroad cars, desks, tables and other scenery items, are cumbersome and take much time to move around.  Though creative, they slow down the quick movements necessary, and cause long blackouts while they are flipped, shuffled and carried into place. 

In addition, the actors sometimes flub lines and lose track of their vocal characterizations.   Though this sometimes adds to the hilarity, it breaks the flow of the show and we wind up laughing at the errors rather than the goings on.

Ciamacco, in his directorial play program notes, comments on his love of the Marx Brothers and their vaudeville comedy style.  He has applied this to the “let’s put on a show” nature of the script with great intention, but the execution is sometimes not the required perfection of the Marx Brothers, whose impeccable timing was all-important to create farce in which we laughed at the lines and the situations, not the shticks and gimmicks.

As for the cast, Joe Kenderes delights as Richard Hannay.  He, in contrast to others in the plot, plays his role totally straight, thus fulfilling the dictum of good farce…laugh with the characters, not at them.   Both Kevin Kelly and Michael Prosen, playing all the male roles, get lots of laughs, but would have been more effective had they let the farce play out and not begged for laughs.  Rachael Swartz was didn’t always differentiate between the three females she played, but was generally effective.

The London production of the show was a total romp.  The British are perfectionists in doing musical hall farce.  Unfortunately, Americans often aren’t quite up to that level.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT:  THE 39 STEPS is a farcical romp which gets a good, but not great production.  If your theater liking is for improbable plot twists, and extended ridiculousness, the Blank Canvas production makes for a chucklefest that should delight you.

Blank Canvas’s THE 39 STEPS runs though June 27, 2015 in its west side theatre, 1305 West 78th Street, Suite 211, Cleveland.  Get directions to the theatre on the website. Once you arrive at the site, go around the first building to find the entrance and then follow the signs to the second floor acting space.  For tickets and directions go to www.blankcanvasthetre.com

Blank Canvas’s next show is LAUGHING FROM THE FRINGE, directed by theatre reviewer, playwright and actor Christine Howey.  It is part of Blank Canvas’s Factory Series and consists of two one-acts from the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival.  It will be staged from April 15-23, 2016.

LUNA GALE expertly places the spotlight on the child welfare system at the Cleveland Play House

As revealed in the CPH program:  43 percent of children placed in the child welfare system in Ohio are eventually returned to their families, 24 percent are taken in by relatives (“kinship care”), 15 percent are adopted and 14 percent stay in the system until they become adults.

What really is the child welfare system, how does it work, is it successful?  Few outside of those who have been involved with the workings have any idea of the machinations and the potential horrors faced by those who are participants.

When something goes wrong in the child welfare system who is responsible?  Normally, the spotlight goes onto the parent(s) who don’t have the skills or the life style to accommodate a child.  Sometimes it appears to be the social service system.  The underfunded, short-staffed organization who sometimes find themselves with poor leadership, burned out social workers, and internal conflicts.  Sometimes the problem is the foster care “parents” who take on the children for selfish or financial reasons.  Whatever, sometimes the child welfare system just doesn’t work.

Rebecca Gilman’s LUNA GALE, which is now being staged at Cleveland Play House, asks the question, “How do we make the right decision where there is no clear right choice as it relates to Luna Gale, an infant with druggie parents, a religious fanatic grandmother with an agenda, and a burned out social worker in a dysfunctional organization?”

The story concerns Caroline, a long-time social worker, whose most recent case centers on Peter and Karlie, two teenage drug addicts who, after bringing their sick daughter, Luna Gale to a hospital, are accused of neglecting the child.  Can the two be rehabilitated so they can take care of their child in a healthy way?  Is it best to place her with her maternal grandmother who is a religious fanatic whose purpose in taking the child appears to be to “save her” for the Lord?  Or, should she be placed in foster care?

As the story unfolds, we discover deep secrets in Karlie’s past and are led to believe that her mother, Cindy, had a hand in driving her daughter to escape from the real world. 

A subplot centers on Lourdes, a “success story” of foster care who has made it through the system and is off to college to pursue her dreams, or maybe the dreams of Caroline, desperate to prove that all of her efforts and good intentions are worth it all.  But Caroline, has a secret that is as deep as Kalie’s and that of Lourdes.

Rebecca Gilman has crafted a well-written play, made of real conversations, plausible conflicts, some emotional-inducing plot twists, and a “hopeful” ending that challenges credibility, a kind of feel good ending that is probably more to
let the audience go home happy than dealing with statistical realities.

Austin Pendleton has directed the play with creativity.  Rather than having scene follow scene with the usual set changes, he has worked with Scenic Designer Michael Schweikardt to create a stage in which the fragmented scenery is interconnected.  This allows actors to flow from area to area with ease, keep the continuity seamless, and allow characters to observe each other in real time.  The effect is powerful.

The cast, which has a strong contingent of Case Western Reserve/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program students, and their Associate Director, is universally strong. 

Jeremiah Clapp shines as the drugged-out Peter, Luna Gale’s father, who takes advantage of an intervention and rises to be a hero who may well save the child’s emotional and physical life.  He is balanced by Megan King, who nicely textures the role of Karlie, Luna Gale’s mother, who, in the end realizes that she is and could be more of a detriment than an aid in the child’s future.

Lee Roy Rogers shows tremendous acting depth in showcasing Caroline’s personal conflict as a woman who has put out years of effort to try and erase her problems by serving the needs of others, but has probably reached the emotional end of the road.

Angela Pierce clearly develops Cindy, Karlie’s mother, into a woman who has been “saved” and wants that for her granddaughter.  Pierce nicely spotlights that though the character’s outward motives are clear, her underlying guilt may well be the reason for her actions.

Donald Carrier (Pastor Jay) has a pivotal scene in which he tries to win Caroline to his side by praying with her.  Carrier is so effective that he moves all with his charismatic fervor.

Athena Colón is impressive in presenting a Lourdes who appears to be stronger than she is in fighting to shed the effects of her past life, which couldn’t be erased, even through a seemingly successful foster care experience.

Kenneth Lee is often hard to hear and understand as he portrays Cliff, Caroline’s supervisor.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT: One of the purposes of good theatre is to enlighten and educate an audience.  LUNA GALE does just that as it continues CPH’s quality centennial season. The script is well written, the acting top notch, the directing spot on. This is a must see for anyone who wants to experience an emotionally wrenching tale of the real world of social work and the fragile child welfare system.

LUNA GALE runs through March 20, 2016, at the Allen Theatre in PlayhouseSquare.  For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com.

THE REVISIONIST exposes the need for connectedness @ Dobama

 Social anthropologists offer that humans have four basic needs—survival, pleasure, security and territoriality.  They also propose that we need to belong to some group or groups.  Most commonly that of a family.  Jesse Eisenberg in his play THE REVISIONIST hits on the needs and the desire for connectedness in his thought-provoking script.

Eisenberg is known for his Oscar-nominated role in “The Social Network,” as Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.  Other noted parts included appearances in “Holy Rollers,” the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner, and the forthcoming “Batman versus Superman:  Dawn of Justice as Superman’s archenemy Lex Luther.  Few know of him as an author, playwright and comedian.

Eisenberg has written three play, ASUNCION, THE REVISIONIST, and THE SPOILS.  His first book, “Bream Gives Me Hiccups,” a collection of short humor pieces, was published in 2015 to laudatory reviews. 

THE REVISIONIST, which ran at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in 2013, with a cast that included Eisenberg and Vanessa Redgrave, centers on Maria, a Holocaust survivor who opens her modest Polish apartment to her second cousin, David, a book author with writer’s block.  David, who had written a very successful young adult’s novel, has supposedly come to Poland for solitude in order to revise his science-fiction novel which is six-months past submission deadline.

Instead of quiet, David is confronted by a stubborn woman who wants to get to know her distant “American family.”  It’s a cultural collision. 

Maria’s life consists of watching CNN, talking to telemarketers, going on weekly shopping trips with her taxi-driver friend Zenon, and obsessing over her many, many family pictures.  People who she has never met and only one of whom has visited her.  That visit was for a quick couple of hours.  She did go to America once to visit David’s grandfather and his immediate family.  It was then that she met the very young David.

Maria fusses over meals, plans for side-visits for David, tries to dictate what David should wear, do and believe.  High-wired, David tries to escape reality by smoking pot in his room by opening the window, much to Maria’s consternation.  He can’t stick to the rewriting task for very long. 

David’s ambivalent relationship with his family frustrates Maria.  She can’t understand why he doesn’t call his mother, has had no contact with his sister or grandfather for months.  She yearns for family interaction, looking forward to her weekly short phone calls from David’s grandfather.

David and Maria’s disquieting togetherness comes to a climax when she wants him to sign a negative review of his anti-fascist allegorical novel in the New York Times that his grandfather sent. 

The play climaxes when Maria, drunk on vodka, reveals to David, who is also pickled, a secret that unravels the whole family connection. 

It is from here on that the characters end their relationship and Eisenberg fumbles with an ending.

THE REVISIONIST had a staged reading last year by Faye Sholitan’s Interplay Jewish Theatre, directed by Jackie Lowey, which starred Dorothy Silver.

Silver, the first lady of Cleveland theater, also stars in the Dobama production.  Silver digs deep into Maria’s soul and mines actions and reactions that only a great actress could uncover,  Silver does not portray Maria.  She is Maria.  Eyes flashing, emotions on edge, smirk on face, voice cracking and trembling, hands animated, Silver compels.  She commands and gets attention.  This is Silver at her finest!  Bows, curtain calls and trumpets of praise!

Andrew Gobmas also is excellent.  Trying to balance the acting scales when one is on stage with greatness is hard, but Gombas succeeds.  He has a vulnerability, a way of making his actions and reactions real, the ability to texture a character, that makes David real.

John Busser, who played Zenon, a taxi driver, who spoke only in Polish, got his highest compliment from a Polish couple that was brought to the production by a member of Dobama’s original acting company.  The duo said Busser’s pronunciation was language correct!

The appropriate pacing for the one and a half hour intermissionless production, and the on-target character development can be credited to Leighann Delorenzo’s direction.

Aaron Benson’s modest Polish apartment set did much to set the right mood.

Nathan Motta, Dobama’s artistic director, in his program notes asks: “Without personal connection without someone to share our human experience with, left completely alone with our thoughts can we truly survive?  He goes on to write, “Maria needs her family.  David takes his family for granted while hunting for something else.”  I challenge, “What can we learn from this clash of cultural ideologies?”
 
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  Though there are flaws in the writing, Dobama’s THE REVISIONIST is a must see to experience the great Dorothy Silver and the very talented Andrew Gombas.  These performances deserve a standing ovation!

THE REVISIONIST runs through April 3, 2016 at Dobama Theatre.  Call 216-932-3396 or http://www.dobama.org for tickets.

New ending adds a twist to AND THEN THERE WERE NONE @ GLT

Agatha Christie is one of the world’s best-selling authors.  Her 66 detective novellas and fourteen short story collections have sold over a billion copies.  She is also credited with writing the play and movie scripts for some of her works. 

Two of her most popular works are AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, which is now in production at Great Lakes Theatre, and THE MOUSETRAP, which opened in London in 1952 and is still running.  The latter is the longest running play in Western theatre history, clocking up close to 30,000 consecutive performances. 

Several little known facts about THE MOUSETRAP are that Christie gave the rights to her grandson, Matthew Prichard, as a ninth birthday present, making him an instant millionaire.  In addition, the contract terms of the play declare that no film adaptation can be made until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, was first a successful book which Christie transformed into a play.  Because of the complexity of all the deaths and incidental actions, many thought the play impossible to produce.  But staged it was.  The show opened in 1943 on the West End to positive reviews.  It ran 260 performances.  It would have lasted longer, but the theatre was destroyed during a Nazi blitzkrieg, interrupting the run.  A New York staging ran for 426 performances and the script has gone on to be one of the most produced at community theatres and high schools.

The play was written with two endings.   One, a happier conclusion, which was thought to be appropriate for war-torn Britain and an alternate, which parallels that of the original novel.  The latter, which was commissioned by Christie’s grandson, the same chap who gets all the royalties from THE MOUSETRAP, was first performed in September, 2015 and is the ending that director Charles Fee is using for the local production.

The “new” ending fulfills the dictates of the nursery rhyme on which the book was based, while the “old” ending leaves that poem unfinished.

The story concerns eight strangers who are invited by a “Mr. Owen,” to spend a weekend at the isolated Indian Island, off the English coast.  When the group arrives they find a butler and housekeeper, who have been informed that the host will not arrive until the next day. 

What do the group members have in common?  Why have they been invited?  Mystery is in the air.  Shortly after dressing for dinner, as they meet in the drawing room, a recorded voice accuses each of having committed a murder for which they have never been punished. They soon realize that none of them knows a Mr. Owen, and that they are trapped on the desolate island.  On the mantle are 10 little Indian statues. 

When one of the guests chokes to death from poisoned whiskey and an Indian figure falls to the floor and breaks, the plot takes off.  One down, nine to go!!

The GLT production holds the attention but is not compelling. 

The show was nicely staged by Fee, Russell Metheny’s up-scale set is gorgeous, Rick Martin’s lighting and Joe Court’s sound design help build the tension, Kim Krumm Sorenson’s costumes are era correct, but the pacing was a little languid and the excitement didn’t build as much as possible.  The ending seemed forced.  (Explaining why would expose the surprise ending, which is “no-no” in theatrical reviews and would require that I break the pledge I took at a London attendance of THE MOUSETRAP in which I swore never to reveal the ending of a Christie mystery.)

The cast is universally excellent with each character nicely developed.

Capsule judgement:  AND THEN THERE WERE NONE is a typical Agatha Christie mystery, filled with plot twists and turns.  It receives a very competent, if not compelling production at Great Lakes Theater.  It is a staging worth seeing for those who are novices to the world of Christie or want to activate their “who done it” prowess and figure out the “villain” based on the new ending to the script.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE runs through March20, 2016 at the Hanna Theatre.  For tickets: 216-664-6064 or www.greatlakestheater.org

MR BURNS: the post-apocalyptic future according to The Simpsons @ CPT

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen Anne Washburn’s MR. BURNS A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY, now in production at Cleveland Public Theatre, that when the show opened in Washington, DC in 2012 and then in New York in 2013, it received mixed reviews that ranged from “passionate dissent” to raves.  

Comments varied from, “you’re likely to feel both exhausted and exhilarated from all the layers of time and thoughts you’ve traveled through” to “a talky deep think,”  and “the piece loses sight of its humanity with an overproduced pop-rap-operetta third act and an under plotted second act.” 

It’s that kind of script…you’re probably either going to love it or hate it.  The gaggle of twenty-something young women sitting next to me on opening night laughed hysterically through most of the play, giving it a standing ovation at the conclusion.  On the other hand, the middle-aged couple that sat in the row in front of me left their seats after the first act, never to return.

As the play opens, we are confronted by a group of survivors from the collapse of civilization.  They may have experienced a plague, or radioactivity, or mass failure of the power grid…all are mentioned by the participants.  They sit by a campfire and piece together the plot of “The Simpsons” episode of “Cape Feare.”  Much like the “Seinfeld” sitcom fanatics, these people flow “Simpson-talk” with comparative ease.  They recount the episode in which Bart is confronted by the evil Sideshow Bob.   (The television episode is a take off on Martin Scorsese’s movie “Cape Fear,” which was a remake of the 1962 film.)

Skip forward 7 years for Act Two.  A comedy/drama group is enacting Simpsons episodes, complete with commercials.  As a television show and commercials are being made using television show plots, commercials, jingles and pop songs from the past, now part of the post-apocalyptic society are recreated.  It’s an attempt to cling to what was in order to create a what is. 

Act III, takes place 75 years later.  Using a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta approach, with the actors wearing masks that depict the various Simpson characters, the troupe repeats the “Cape Feare” tale. 

Yes, Bart Simpson, and his family, we are told to believe, has become the catalyst for the myths and legends from which our society is to be remembered.

Being a Simpson aficionado, and being-up-to-date on modern pop culture, aren’t necessary to gain a general understanding of what’s going on, but it sure helps to quickly decode and find the humor and references to many of the lines. 

CPT’s production, a regional premiere, under the adept directing by Matthew Wright, is nicely paced, creative and develops Washburn’s intent.  The cast is universally strong. Trey Gilpin has Homer Simpson’s actions and sound down pat and displays a strong singing voice.  Nicole Sumlin shows off her comic chops as the devilish Bart Simpson.  Evan Thompson is evil incarnate as Mr. Burns, while Megan Elk uses her well-trained operatic voice to narrate the third act. 

Cathleen O’Malley, Beth Wood, Tim Keo and Abigail Anika Svigelj are all believable in their role development.

Challa Geib-Fenske & Inda Blatch-Geib’s masks are outstanding additions to the production, as is Brad Wyner and Ryan McDermott’s music.  (Joe Parker replaces McDermott from 2/22 through 3/5).   

Director Wright states in his program notes, “MR. BURNS is about everything.  In a very real sense.”  He continues, “To parse out meaning and attempt to guide the viewer to any particular interpretation would run counter to the nature of the play, which really invites a kind of contemplative awe at the wonder of human ingenuity.”  He concludes, “After enjoying the gem that is MR. BURNS, take some time to appreciate everyone around you.”

Capsule judgement: MR. BURNS A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY is not a production that will please everyone, nor is it meant to be.  It can be obtuse, is overly long, and too reference specific.  If you are a “The Simpsons” fan, it will help you to understand the images to which the author is referring.  For the rest, it could be the basis for a discussion, an attempt to determine what Anne Washburn is trying to tell, and an adventure into the post-apocalyptic future.

MR. BURNS A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY runs through March 5, 2016, at Cleveland Public Theatre.  For tickets call 216-631-2727 or go on line to www.cptonline.org.

IN THE HEIGHTS explodes with Latino verve @ Beck Center

At the start of IN THE HEIGHTS, now in its locally produced premiere at Beck Center, Usnavi chases away Graffiti Pete, a graffiti artist, from in front of his Washington Heights “bodega” (Spanish for a small neighbor grocery store).   As the young owner raps, the lyrics and music set the mood for what is a three-day visit to the largely Hispanic/Latino neighborhood on the brink of change.  It’s a place where families bond, neighborhood ties are strong, and the George Washington Bridge casts its shadow across the hopes and dreams of the residents.

Nina, the bright, precocious daughter of the owner of a car service, has just returned from her Freshman year at Stanford.  The scholarship student has  secrets.  She left Stanford because in spite of a scholarship and meager help from her family, the work load she needed in order to pay for books and other expenses, had taken away time from her studies and she flunked out.  Matters are not helped by her relationship with Benny, a non-Latino who works for her father. 

A winning lottery ticket, a buy-out offer for the car service, the death of the neighborhood’s Abuela (grandmother), and a power outage affect Washington Heights, resulting in the residents not only finding out about themselves, but the place they call home.

IN THE HEIGHTS, with music and lyrics  by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, opened on Broadway in March, 2008 to mixed reviews.  In spite of the press, it went on to get thirteen Academy Award nominations and won in four categories, including Best Musical.

The Beck production, mostly populated by the much revered Baldwin Wallace Musical Theatre program’s present and past students, and directed by multi-award winning Victoria Bussert, explodes with enthusiasm.  It is exciting, flashy, tender, and emotional.  Miranda’s rap, steamy ballads, and Latin-toned music makes it hard to sit and not want to dance and clap in time to the ever pounding beat.

The dynamics of the band, which was positive, was also problematic.  Coupled with a weak sound system, the music often overshadows the singers and the  hip-hop and the Spanish-infused lyrics are hard to hear.   While the audience gets the general feeling, comments at intermission and after the show, indicated that the actual words were lost.

Greg Daniels’ choreography had an appropriate Latino flavor and fit the mood and tone of the music. “Carnaval del Barrio” was a dynamic production number.

Jordan Janota’s set had the right feel, aided by the bright lights as designed by Jeff Herrmann, it created a cramped and hot-humid atmosphere. 

The cast was excellent. 

Jessie Cope Miller was convincing as the tender-hearted Abuela Claudia, the neighborhood’s “grandmother.”  Her well sung “Paciencia y Fe: (“Patience and Faith”) was one of the production’s emotional highlights. 

Livvy Marcus created in Nina a clear picture of a young lady conflicted, frustrated and loyal.  She carries the burden of being the “one who made it out,” with nice sensitivity.  Her “When You’re Home,” sung with Malik Victorian (who developed a nicely textured Benny) was a fine duet as was their “When the Sun Goes Down.”

Michael Canada was a dynamic as the spontaneous Sonny.  He has wonderful sense of comic timing.

Isabel Plana was delightful as Daniela the gossip queen owner of the beauty salon next door to Usnavi’s bodega.

Ellis C. Dawson III created Usnavi, who was named after one of the first sights his parents saw then they arrived in America: a U.S. Navy ship, into an authentic person. Unfortunately, some of his rapping was muted by slack articulation.

The beautiful Christiana Perrault sang, acted, and danced well as Vanessa, Usnavi’s love interest, who wants to escape the neighborhood by moving into an apartment downtown, but can’t afford it until a special person co-signs for her.

Jared Leal authentically develops Kevin, into a father and husband, with dreams for his family.  His interpretation of “Atencion” was very effective as was “Inutil.”  He was nicely balanced by Kelsey Baehrens as Camila, Nina’s mother. 

Warren Egypt Franklin (Graffiti Pete) displayed strong dancing skills.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  The multi-Tony winning IN THE HEIGHTS gets an exciting and well-developed production through creative direction by Victoria Bussert and fine acting, singing and dancing by a cast mainly composed of Baldwin Wallace University past and present students.  If you like Latino music enfolded into a nicely developed story, this should be on your “go to” list.
 
IN THE HEIGHTS is scheduled to run through February 12, 2016 at Beck Center for the Arts.  For tickets and information call 216-521-2540 or go on line to http://www.beckcenter.org 

Next at Beck: The regional premiere of SHINING CITY, Conor McPherson’s 2006 Tony Award winning play about a guilt ridden man who reaches out to his therapist after seeing the ghost of his recently deceased wife.

Slight GOLDEN LEAF RAG TIME BLUES at Ensemble

Director Ian Wolfgang Hinz’s program notes state, “GOLDEN LEAF RAG TIME BLUES is an exploration of prejudice and humanism.”  He continues, “Their prejudice blinds them to the humanity in each other and the potential shared love of music, comedy and the need to have someone listen.”  He further states, “GLTRF asks us to confront our human capacity for seeing the ‘content of character’ present in all of us.”

Oh, if only playwright Charles Smith had, indeed, written the play that Hinz’s creative writing expresses. 

As is, GOLDEN LEAF RAG TIME BLUES, which is getting its world premiere at Ensemble Theatre, is the kind of play you see and quickly forget.  During the entire production I kept asking, “What does the author want me to understand, do, believe, from this theatrical experience.

I am still asking the same question. 

Yes, there is racism, ageism, prejudice, loneliness, and desperation exposed.  But the dialogue simply exposes us to those topics.  There is little real conflict or depth of character development to engender any high level emotional involvement or reaction.  There is little to like, dislike, or feel any depth of empathy for any of the characters or the situation in which they find themselves.

This is not the fault of the director or the actors.  They put out effort, but there is not much meat on the bones of the play to gnaw upon.

Pompey is an old man, living in a filthy apartment, who is depressed.  He has recently lost his best friend, Ollie, his comedy routine partner for many years.  He has recurring delusions, reenacting his Borscht Belt comedy routine with Ollie.

Marsha, his daughter, finds him sitting in his underwear, hungry, and without much will to live.  She is accompanied by Jet, a black teenager who she has befriended as part of a support program for teens who are living in a youth home.  She leaves Jet and her father together while she goes to the store to buy some food. 

The unmatched set are suspicious of each other, spar a bit, and eventually lightly bond.  When Jet is caught attempting to steal some silverware, Pompey feigns calling the police.  When Jet assumes that the police are about to enter the apartment, he jumps from the window and flees. 

The play comes to an end with no real resolution.  Lonely Marsha, who has had little luck in her attempts to befriend her charges, is crestfallen by another failed effort.  Pompey seems to realize his role in the quick exit by Jet.  But, what has either really learned? What should we, the audience, take away for our hour experience?

The cast (Paul Slimak--Pompey, Allen Branstein--Ollie, Brycen Hunt--Jet and Mary Alice Beck--Marsha) is generally competent and the staging as interesting as possible due to the script’s limitations regarding humor and emotional content.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  GOLDEN LEAF RAG TIME BLUES is, at best, a work in progress.  The writing fails to grab and hold attention, leaving the cast with little opportunity to develop much in the way of depth of character.  The production team and cast give all they can in staging, but are left with little reward.  Ensemble should be praised for attempting to give life to a new play.

GOLDEN LEAF RAG TIME BLUES runs Thursdays through Sundays through February 28, 2016 at the Playground performing space in Ensemble Theatre, housed in the former Coventry School, 2843 Washington Blvd, Cleveland Heights.  For tickets call 216-321-2930 or go online to http://www.ensemble-theatre.org

Ensemble’s next full staged production is Jez Butterworth’s JERUSALEM in its Main Stage Theatre from April 29-May 11th.

To see the views of other Cleveland area theatre reviewers go to:  clevelandtheaterreviews.com

IF/THEN, in spite of a wonderful score, confuses some at Conner Palace

I happened to be in D.C. on November 5, 2013 when IF/THEN opened its preview run.  I was fortunate enough to get tickets to opening night. 

My reaction to the show was that Idina Menzel, the star of RENT and WICKED, who was playing the leading role in IF/THEN, was mesmerizing.  I found the music beautiful, the sets creative, and the electronic visuals attention-getting. Anthony Rapp, of RENT and YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN fame, played dual roles with musical and dramatic strength, and the rest of the cast was excellent.

However, the production was too long.  It was also hard to keep the separate storylines in focus as a woman leads parallel lives simultaneously, surrounded by a group of friends who play a part in each of her lives.

Having seen the previews, before the script and music adjustments were made, I went to the Connor Palace, with high anticipation, to see the road tour.

Interestingly, though Menzel is not in this cast, my opinions of the performances, the production and the script haven’t changed much.

IF/THEN is a musical with score by Tom Kitt and libretto by Brian Yorkey who also collaborated on the multi-award winning NEXT TO NORMAL.

It opened on Broadway to mixed reviews on March 5, 2014.  In spite of the reviews the show ran 401 performances and stayed open almost a year.  The box office surge was credited to Menzel and Rapp being in the cast. 

The production was named by “Entertainment Weekly” as one of the hits of the 2013-14 season and its cast album debuted at number 19 on the “Billboard” charts.  It became the largest selling cast album since BOOK OF MORMAN in 2011.

The story centers on newly divorced 38-year old Elizabeth, an urban planner who moves back to New York for a fresh start.  As the musical starts, she meets with her friends in Madison Square Park.  Lucas is a community organizer and Kate is a kindergarten teacher.  A guitarist, who plays a key role in the plot, is playing and singing.  Kate suggests that the “new” Elizabeth start over by using the name “Liz.”  Lucas urges her to go back to being called “Beth,” which she used in college.  This is the first of the choices that Elizabeth has to make regarding the two paths she might choose to follow. 

As we watch, the parallel lives of Liz and Beth develop.  (Spoiler alert:  Normally reviewers don’t go into detail about plots.  However, because of comments overheard at intermission and after the play, I think that a plot line exposition will help in watching the production.  If you don’t want to know what happens, skip the next three paragraphs.)

Liz, while listening to the guitarist in the park, is approached by Josh, an Army doctor returning from his second tour of duty.  She rebuffs him, but “accidentally” they meet several times again, and love is in the air.  The question of where choice and chance collide becomes a major factor in the plot development.  A professorship, relationship, pregnancy, marriage, redeployment, death, and more life decisions follow.

Beth, on the other hand, meets up with Stephen, an old friend and colleague, who offers her a job.  Beth and Stephen work together, become close friends, but part because he is married.  Beth calls Lucas, and they spend the night together.  Beth gets pregnant, doesn’t tell Lucas, and has an abortion.  She dedicates herself to work and wins planning awards and becomes a noted activist.  After a near death experience while on a business trip, she rekindles her relationship with Lucas.  Stephen gets divorced and comes to her to express regrets that he didn’t pursue a relationship and offers her a job in state government. Beth refuses and decides that she must go on without him.

As the play comes to a close, Beth, Lucas and Kate are having coffee in the park, Josh returns home from his third tour of duty, he approaches her and she lets him buy her some coffee.

Michael Greif’s direction keeps the show moving along, but can’t overcome the excessive length.

The large orchestra nicely underscores the strong voices of the singers, allowing the lyrics to be heard.

The traveling production is staged in an excellent fragmented set designed by Mark Wendland.  Electronic graphics of speeding subway cars and street scenes add visual realism to the action.  Larry Keigwin’s choreography fits the music and moods of the score.  The costumes and lighting also help enhance the production.  As for the sound, I overheard complaints about the lack of clarity of the sound expressed by people in the side and back sections.

The cast is universally strong.  Though she doesn’t have the magnetism of Idina Menzel, Jackie Burns, who played Elphaba in WICKED on tour and on Broadway, is excellent as Elizabeth/Beth/Liz.  She has a powerful singing voice, does a nice job of singing meanings, not just words, and creates a real person.  Her “Always Starting Over” is compelling.

Anthony Rapp, who also portrayed the role of Lucas on Broadway, sings and performs with conviction.  His “You Don’t Have to Love Me” was gripping.

 Leading man-handsome Matthew Hydzik is charmingly boyish as Josh.  His “Hey Kid” creates wonderful images.  “I Hate You,” a duet with Liz, is endearing.

Tamyra Gray (Kate), Daren A. Herbert (Stephen), Janine DiVita (Anne) and Marc Delacruz (David) are all convincing in their characterizations.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: IF/THEN has a wonderful score. The touring production has a strong cast and is nicely staged.  Too bad somewhere in the show’s development the sometimes confusing plot and excessive length weren’t dealt with.

Tickets for IF/THEN, which runs through February 21, 2016 at the Connor Palace Theatre, can be ordered by calling 216-241-6000 or going to www.playhousesquare.org.

Next up in the Key Bank series is BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROL KING MUSICAL on stage from April 5-17, 2016.

DETROIT ’67 @ Karamu looks at the riots in the Motor City

February 1, 1960--North Carolina State University students protested when the administration wouldn’t let a black male’s name appear on the ballot for student body president.  May 15, 1962—Students at the University of Mississippi rioted over the lack of equal rights for black students.  April 13, 1964—Riots erupted in Los Angeles regarding discriminatory ways of how police treated African Americans.

March 13, 1965—Watts Riot because of cruel and unusual punishment by police toward African Americans.  July 18-23, 1966--Hough riots in Cleveland fanned by rumors, poor living conditions, scorching heat, and excessive politician intrusion and police over-reaction.  May 15, 1967—Detroit riots caused by police brutality and discrimination. August 4, 1967—Additional Motor City riots.  April 6, 1968—Rioting in Baltimore, Maryland.

Yes, the 1960s was an era of riots connected to the perceived or real treatment of African Americans.  Civil unrest continues until today.

What is more appropriate than for Karamu, the country’s oldest continuously performing Black Theatre, which is celebrating its 100 th birthday, to highlight Black History month, with Dominque Marisseau’s DETROIT ’67?   The script was awarded the Edward Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History. 

Morisseau looks back at Detroit, Michigan in 1967.  Motown music is just getting started, the eight-track is replacing 45 records, and Chelle and her brother Lank are making ends meet by turning their basement into an after-hours joint. 

The city around them erupts and they are caught in the midst of the first of two Detroit riots of the year.  The period of time pictured in the play represented the most violent and brutal uprising in the 1960s. 

DETROIT ’67 is the first in a three-play cycle by Marriseau about Detroit, her hometown.   It examines sibling rivalry, interracial romance, and social history packaged in the world of Motown hits by the likes of The Temptations, Four Tops and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Chelle and Lank (named for Karamu alumni Langston Hughes) have recently inherited the family home.  He wants to open a “real” bar.  She, the more conservative and practical of the two, is leery about losing what they have. 

One night Lank and his best friend, Sly, come upon Caroline, a badly beaten white woman who is wandering the streets.  Afraid of the repercussions of two black men bringing a white woman to a hospital, they take her back to Chelle and Lank’s home. 

As she recovers, Caroline, refuses to say much about herself or what happened.  Eventually, Caroline becomes a major help in the illegal after-hours joint, and she and Lank start an affair.  Also present during much of the action is wisecracking Bunny. To tell much more about the plot would be a “spoiler alert.”

As for the play, itself, it lacks the depth and quality of such African American playwrights as the works of August Wilson (THE PIANO LESSON), Lorraine Hansberry (RAISIN THE SUN), Suzan-Lori Parks (TOPDOG-UNDERDOG), or James Baldwin (BLUES FOR MISTER CHARLIE). 

The dialogue is natural, carrying all the “right” sounds and word choices, but the plot lacks sparkle, high level conflict, and illumination.  Though it represents an important incident in black history, it doesn’t emotionally integrate the riots into the storyline.  Even with filmed interjections of the fires and bloodbath, and the tragedy that effects the characters, the horror remains emotionally “outside,” an arm’s distance away, not a present reality.

The Karamu production, under the direction of Oberlin College faculty member Justin Emeka, is well-paced and gets what it can from the script.  As is usually the case, Richard Morris’s set design helps give the right feel for the author’s intent, as does the lighting.  The sound design is less successful as the volume of the films of the riots is often hard to understand.  The film is not edited well.  The sounds of the riot are distant, not close enough to incite the feeling of potential danger.

The cast does a good job of developing their roles.  Phillia makes Chelle into a real person.  Unfortunately, she sometimes goes into an extremely high pitch, making for difficulty in hearing her words. 

Jameka Terri (Bunny) has a nice sense of comic idea development.  Ananias J. Dixon’s Lank, much like Walter Lee in RAISIN IN THE SUN, is a young black male who feels emasculated by the women in his life.  Dixon does a nice job of presenting the frustrated man. 

Brandon Brown creates a Sly who is nicely textured.  He has an excellent feel for comic timing.  Joelle Sostheim (Caroline) displays an understanding of her character.
 
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  DETROIT ’67 lacks the plot and writing dynamics that make for great plays. It gets a better production at Karamu than the script probably is due.  For this, the director and cast get a great deal of credit.

DETROIT ’67 continues through February 28, 2016 at Karamu, 2355 East 89th Street, which has a fenced, guarded and lighted parking lot adjacent to the theatre, and provides free parking.  For ticket information call 216-795-7077.

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.

PURE SHOCK VALUE, absurd farce confounds at none too fragile

Sean Derry and Alanna Romansky, Co-Artistic Directors of none too fragile have, since its founding in 2010, established the venue as a major theater in the Akron-Cleveland area.   Dedicated to being an “adventurously-bold theatrical voice,” they choose “modern and relevant” scripts, that are “thought-provoking, heart-touching, and, at time, principle-challenging, character-drive stories.”   In other words, as they state on their blog-site, their goal is to do “Award winning Kick-a** Theatre!”

Having been awarded numerous recognitions by the Cleveland Critics Circle and Times Theatre Tributes, none too fragile has lived up to its goals.

Their latest production, PURE SHOCK VALUE, an absurdist farce, will challenge its audiences.  Filled with blunt language, ranting and raving verbal attacks, and numerous references to present and past Hollywood directors, performers and films, Matt Pelfrey’s script begs for clarity of meaning. 

What does the black comedic rant say?  In the true sense of theatre of the absurd, the author probes for what is the purpose of existence, what is living life all about, and what does it mean to exist.   Whether he succeeds in inciting the observer to either ask themselves the questions, or come to conclusions, is questionable.

The story concerns three “film makers,”  in actuality, Tex, a 29-year old man-child, Ethan, a 35-year old deliveryman, and Gabby, a Portuguese-American Kinko’s manager.  All of them live in the delusional world of their talents and abilities of being/becoming filmmakers.  Self-absorbed, they scheme, plan and plot to gain recognition for their fart-infested film, “Barking Spider.”

Their “epic” has been produced, thanks to $10,000 given to Gabby upon the death of her grandmother.  The trio has been unsuccessful in getting any major Hollywood film company to distribute the film.  They’ve tried, oh yes, they’ve tried about every contrived means possible to get the film “out there” so their “talents” can be appreciated.

Gabby has given oral sex to a young man who is affiliated with a film company, thinking he was going to be their entry ticket to the big time.  Unfortunately, they failed to vet their “perp,” who actually was a high school student doing an internship, with the end result of Gabby having expended her efforts with no result other than having committed statutory rape on a minor.

Tex, a fount of severe attitudes and self-worth, rants and raves about the success of “lesser” talents such as Angelina Jolie, Kevin Costner and Steven Spielberg.  He does not want to become part of the “99% who crash against the rocks.”

Ethan is a fairly laid-back, sexually driven African American who is in love with Gabby and easily manipulated by Tex.

Due to a bizarre incident, into their lives comes Julian Quintana director of the “well known” cult film, “Where the Rats Go To Die.”  He is found in their backyard doghouse, incoherent and non-communicative.  Eventually they get him alert enough to watch their film.  The results?  A scathing evaluation which sets off a series of events that bring the play to a shattering conclusion.

The none too fragile production, under the directorship of Sean Derry, is at times compelling, but also repelling and disturbing.  As is the case with much farce, the performances are over-the-top. 

Benjamin Gregorio is like the Eveready Bunny on speed. His Tex is a lesson in psychotic, self-absorbed behavior.  He rants, raves, runs around attacking things and people, both verbally and physically.  If he makes it through the run without losing his voice, it will be miraculous.

Alanna Romansky develops in Gabby a needy woman who seems to be carried along by Tex and Ethan’s enthusiasm for producing a film, but not really part of the process.  She does a nice job of retaining her accent throughout.  She has two soliloquies that get us into her soul, that are extremely well done.

Brian Kenneth Armour nicely develops Ethan, a fairly laid back guy who realizes that his life is on a track to no-where, and has little real understanding of how to find the right path.

Robert Branch is outstanding as Julian.  As required, he spends much of his time on stage realistically twitching and moaning.
 
Capsule judgement:  Though the production values are fairly high PURE SHOCK VALUE is an absurdist script that will confound many, offend some due to the language and sexual actions, and please others due to its gutsy ”in your face telling it like it is.” 

For tickets to PURE SHOCK VALUE, which runs Thursdays through Sundays until February 13, 2016, call 330-671-4563 or go to nonetoofragile.com

none too fragile’s next show is Daniel Pearle’s A KID LIKE JAKE from March 11-26, a study of the harrowing process by which well-heeled New Yorkers scheme and scramble to win their children admission into prestigious schools.

CPH’s compelling THE MOUNTAINTOP places spotlight on Martin Luther King, Jr.

Katori Hall, who wrote the award winning play THE MOUNTAINTOP, which is in production at Cleveland Play House, in her script attempts to answer such questions as: What was Martin Luther King, Jr. like as a person?  With all the death threats that King received, what was his last night alive like?  What did he believe was going to be his ultimate role in the Black rights movement?

The play takes place on April 3, 1968.  It is a “what/if” imagining  of the night before King’s assassination.   King returns to room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis after delivering his soon to be famous speech “I've Been to the Mountaintop,” in which he stated, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life—longevity has its place.  But I’m not concerned about that now. . . . I’ve seen the Promised Land.  I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight that we, as people, will get to the Promised Land.”  Some have theorized that he was somehow prophesying his imminent assassination.

He’s exhausted, alone, out of cigarettes, and a storm rages outside.  He calls for room service.  A young lady (Camae) appears with coffee.  Since King was hinted to be a womanizer, Camae’s presence opens supposition of what might come.  He flirts with her, bums several Pall Malls, and drinks some of her whiskey.

As the extended one-act unfolds, she becomes the instrument by which King, at least in Hall’s vision, is forced to confront his destiny and his legacy.

Hall presents a real King, a chain smoker, the possessor of smelly feet, who swears, and, in spite of his bravado, has fears, including being terrified by loud noises.  This is a King who carries the burden of the civil rights movement and is weary from being away from his family for so long. 

Hall gives us a different figure than the powerful man who has become the bigger than life legend.  She puts the spotlight on “You are a man, not a God,” a real man, with real life problems.

Rather surprisingly, THE MOUNTAINTOP premiered in London, not in America.  It won the 2009 Olivier (the British equivalent of the Tony) Best New Play Award.  The play transferred to Broadway in 2011 with Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett in the leads.

At the Cleveland Play House, Director Carl Cofield has reimagined the Broadway production of the script.  The ending is much more visually powerful.  This is a production which gives a deep meaning to the King legend as an element in modern American history, rather than just the Black movement.  

The show is well-paced, the humor nicely keyed and the characters accessible. The director, with the author’s help, presents an unknown presence who gives us cause to pause and ponder whether Camae is real or a figment of the imagination.  Is she a vision that King imagined or a theatrical device for Cofield to tell her story?

Ro Boddie, who played King in “Freedom: an Ode to Bayard Rustin” at the La Jolla Playhouse and Kansas City Repertory Theatre,  gives us “King-like.”  He does not try and imitate the legend’s famous vocal sound or movements.  He wisely sticks to a speaking tone and pronunciation pattern that doesn’t mimic King’s preaching.   This is a strong and well-tuned performance which shows King’s strengths, weaknesses and humanity.

The beautiful Angel Moore is effective as a cross between a typical television smart-aleck African American character and a sassy street-wise lady.  Though, at times she goes into a squeaky soprano, that makes her nearly impossible to understand, she is effective in her sensuality and humor, and nicely transforms herself into an “angelic” self when a plot switch requires it.  Her lines, “Fuck the white man,” and “We are all scared, of others and ourselves,” brought strong audience reaction.

Wilson Chin’s huge set seems out of proportion for a cheap motel room, but the expanse of the setting makes sense when the walls explode for the final scene.  Dan Scully’s projections are effective in helping develop director Hall’s vision for the conclusion of the play.  Elisheba Ittoop’s sound and Alan C. Edwards lighting designs also helped in plot development.

Capsule judgement: THE MOUNTAINTOP is not an easy play to watch, especially since we know what is going to happen the next day on the balcony outside that motel  room.  That is not to say the play is depressing. It’s not. It is filled with vivid imagery and humor.  The Cleveland Play House reinvention of the script is a perfect Black History month offering and is a theatrical must see!

THE MOUNTAINTOP runs through February 14, 2016, at the Outcalt Theatre in PlayhouseSquare.  For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com.

Next up at CPH:  Shakespeare’s THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA (Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program) at The Helen from February 10-20, followed by LUNA GALE from February 27-March 20 2016.