Saturday, May 27, 2017

“Massacre (Sing to Your Children) challenges at convergence continuum

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There is darkness.  Suddenly there is screaming and yelling from off-stage, the stage lights snap quickly up, bright red, casting eerie s...
Tuesday, May 23, 2017

A Cleveland reviewer goes to Broadway at Tony time, 2017 (capsule summaries)

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Several times a year I go to review what’s on stage on Broadway.  This spring, at the time the Tony Award nominations were announced, I...

“Groundhog Day The Musical” delights on Broadway

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“Groundhog Day The Musical” has had a somewhat rough path to Broadway.  The show, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, and book by Danny...
Monday, May 22, 2017

“Sweat” tells an emotional tale of the fall of the American working middle class and its effect on the nation

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In 2011, steel industry-centrific Reading, Pennsylvania topped the national census’s poverty list.  The city’s residents were battere...
Sunday, May 21, 2017

Spectacular “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812” mesmerizes

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In 1811, a comet officially known as C/1811 F1 was visible to the naked eye for a record 260 days.  The huge comet, which is often call t...

Broadway’s “Bandstand” a swinging love-affair with Cleveland

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“Bandstand—The New American Musical,” the Broadway hit musical, is Cleveland-centric.  It not only tells the tale of a post-World War II...
Monday, May 15, 2017

“Things As They Are” examines poet Wallace Stevens @ Playwrights Local

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“Things As They Are” explores the life of Wallace Stevens, the American modern poet who was often called “aloof” and “uptight,” has been c...
Tuesday, May 09, 2017

“Forever Plaid,” a pleasant Jukebox musical @ Great Lakes Theater

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What do “Motown the Musical,” ”Beautiful, the Carol King Musical,” “American Idiot,” “Jersey Boys” and “Mamma Mia” have in common?  They a...
Sunday, May 07, 2017

Well-written and performed “Salvage” fascinates at none-too-fragile

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As the lights come up on George Brant’s “Salvage,” being performed on none-too-fragile’s tiny thrust stage, two women frantically search t...
Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Well performed “The North Pool” at Ensemble

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Is Khadim Asmaan a terrorist?  Is he selling drugs at his public high school?  Is he responsible for the suicide of a talented flutist? ...
Monday, May 01, 2017

“Lizzie,” the grizzly musical, rocks the Ohio

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“On a sweltering summer morning in 1892, in a small New England city, a prominent businessman and his wife were brutally axed to death in ...
Friday, April 28, 2017

“Something Rotten!” is a must see musical farce at Connor Palace

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Theater history books refer to “The Black Crook,” which opened in 1866 in New York, as the first book musical.   According to “Something...
Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Superb “Hand To God,” demands attention with laughter and angst @ Dobama

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My summary review of Broadway’s “Hand to God” stated, “The production is well-conceived and performed and makes for a fascinating theatri...
Monday, April 24, 2017

“Freaky Friday A New Musical” Broadway-ready at the Cleveland Play House

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Many know Mary Rodgers as the daughter of Richard Rodgers the composer of such classic musicals as “Oklahoma” and “Carousel.”  Others are ...
Sunday, April 23, 2017

Farcical “You Can’t Take It With You” delights @ Karamu

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During the late 1920s and into the 1940s, the United States went through the great depression. Unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25%.   Th...