Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

Through April 13, 2025

https://www.nearwesttheatre.org/ 

(216) 961-6391

WORTH NOTING: 

In order to bring attention to local productions of merit at theaters that are not on the Cleveland Critics Circle’s approved Equity Theater list, members of the Circle who attend a community or educational theater production that is perceived as of high quality will have the option of listing that production on the CCC blogsite.  These review(s) fall into that category.

Mark Horning

With its great music expertly performed this show is destined to be a huge success. Molly Andrews-Hinders was born to play Carole King with a supporting cast and ensemble that brings her story to life. This is theater just for the fun of it. It truly is beautiful.

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom @ Cleveland Public Theatre

Through April 5, 2025

https://www.cptonline.org/

(216) 631-2727 x501

 

Mark Horning

Sometimes when you go to the theater to witness some silly fun a profound message is found hidden in the mix. Such is the case with this show. Yes, it will make you laugh but more importantly it will make you think and that after all is what good theater is all about. Note also that the entire performance is in English.

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Dr. Yuko Kurahashi

The play is set in an imaginary city in Brooklyn called Sunset City, implying that things are not quite good for residents—especially those who are not lucrative. Alex (Alejandro Martinez Jr.), a not-so-successful, uncommitted cartoonist who still lives with his mom (Alisha Caraballo). his more successful elder brother Joe (Angelluis R. Centeno) is asked to create an effective and approachable superhero advertisement for one of his company’s products—a spicy Cola, the fictional Voltage Cola.  So, the collaboration between Alex and Joe begins. In the process, both Alex and Joe must relearn Puerto Rican languages and cultures to satisfy the needs required by this project. Alex befriends a local photographer, Yesica (Natalie Bermudez), who documents the lives of Puerto Ricans in her neighborhoods. Alex, as El Coqui’s nemesis, is a counterhero, El Chupacabra (meaning goat-sucker).  Polanco’s direction adroitly extracts some of the important ideas and issues that could be buried underneath the playful, comical façade.

To see a full review of this show, read Yuko Kurahashi's review here. 

Season's Greetings @ Playhouse Square

Through April 5, 2025

https://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/

(216) 400-7096

 

Mark Horning

To be honest, I thought that this production had great potential and for the most part it lived up to my expectations. It is a fine show with a lot of laughs and interesting situations. Perhaps we should commission Mr. Ayckbourn for a sequel. See the show and let me know what you think. Cheers!

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Howard Gollop

To be sure, not much could be done to elevate a 1980s comedy from across the pond (as they say). Aykbourn has a lot going on, but not much in the way of character nuance. That burden is left up to a collegiate American cast who must first master casual British accents, then near-middle-age adults, and then characterizations that bring uniqueness to otherwise broad characters.

To see a full review of this show, read Howard Gollop's review at https://chroniclet.com/

Dr.Yuko Kurahashi

The Season’s Greeting, like The Cherry Orchard, unpacks all the disruptive elements that afflict different aspects of the family and individuals at different but significant and crucial points in their lives. Their impulses are all self-absorbed and self-focused, trying to satisfy their needs immediately, including Bernard’s disastrous puppet show. The characters’ acquisitiveness might have reflected Thatcherism in the UK and Reaganomics in the US at the time of the play’s premiere. In 2025, it is a perfect rendering of those who continue to become richer at the expense of others’ welfare, needs, and basic rights.

To see a full review of this show, read Yuko Kurahashi's Review here.

The Half-Life of Marie Curie @ Clague Playhouse

Through April 17, 2025

http://www.clagueplayhouse.org

(440) 331-0403

WORTH NOTING: 

In order to bring attention to local productions of merit at theaters that are not on the Cleveland Critics Circle’s approved Equity Theater list, members of the Circle who attend a community or educational theater production that is perceived as of high quality will have the option of listing that production on the CCC blogsite.  These review(s) fall into that category.

 

Mark Horning

This is a show about friendship...nothing more and nothing less. Forget it is about two brilliant women who helped shape the world. Instead, it focuses on their comradery and their lives as women fighting against the wrongs that still face women over one hundred years later. This show is a frisky feminist crowd pleaser.

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Twelfth Night @ Great Lakes Theater

Through April 6, 2025

https://www.greatlakestheater.org/ 

(216) 241-6000.    

 

Roy Berko

TWELFTH NIGHT gets a pleasing production at GLT.  It could have been enhanced by broader farce and more joyous attitude.  As might be said of the New Hampshire Board Education that banned the play, "The fool doth think he is wise, bit wise man knows himself to be a fool."  (AS YOU LIKE IT) 

 

To see a full review of this show, read Roy Berko's blog here.

Howard Gollop

Company artistic director Sara Bruner enthusiastically takes the directorial reins, putting proper focus on the initial tragedy that gives way to "the ecstasy of being," as she puts it in her program notes.

To see a full review of this show, read Howard Gollop's review at https://chroniclet.com/

Sheri Gross

Great Lakes Theater production of TWELFTH NIGHT is one that will have audiences riding the waves of bitter and sweet, comedy and tragedy, and lughter and intrigue to a satisfy shore.

To see a full review of this show, read Sheri Gross' review here.

Mark Horning

For those not familiar with live performances of Shakespeare, this would be a perfect “first play” to attend. The middle English dialogue is quite easy to follow, the comedy broad enough to comprehend and the main themes simple to learn from. Come see what all the fuss has been about for over 400 years.

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Laura Kennelly

The Bard of Avon’s music-honoring, identity-mixing romantic satire, Twelfth Night, directed by Sara Bruner, closes the “Shakespeare requirement” for this Great Lakes Theater season.

******

Bottom Line: An oft chaotic, sometimes amusing, mix of comedy, romance, mistaken identity, and general horseplay brought to you by Great Lakes Theater’s merry crew.

Kate Klotzbach

To quote a famous line from the show - "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." This production is, indeed, GREAT.

To see a full review of this show, read Kate's posts here.

To see a full review of this show go here or read Laura's posts at Cool Cleveland.

Dr. Yuko Kurahashi
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Yuko's posts here. 

All City Musical's "Chicago" @ Mimi Ohio Theatre

Through March 23, 2025

https://tickets.playhousesquare.org/

(216) 241-6000

WORTH NOTING: 

In order to bring attention to local productions of merit at theaters that are not on the Cleveland Critics Circle’s approved Equity Theater list, members of the Circle who attend a community or educational theater production that is perceived as of high quality will have the option of listing that production on the CCC blogsite.  These review(s) fall into that category.

 Mark Horning

Once again the Cleveland School For The Arts has gathered together the absolute finest of talent from the thousands of students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to produce a Broadway worthy performance. This show will delight you with its music, dancing, gymnastics, singing, acting and high production standards (just the reasons you go to the theater). 

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Weathering @ Karamu House

Through March 30, 2025

https://karamuhouse.org/

Mark Horning

Ask any mother (no matter how old) how she still feels about her “grown children” and you will get the same answer…“You will always be my child. Care does not shut off like a faucet. It is always on whether you want it or not. That is simply the way it is.” This is the gist of the play “Weathering”. It combines loss, laughter, tears, rage, dancing and some good common sense (or as we oldsters call it old school philosophy). Well worth seeing.

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Dr. Yuko Kurahashi

In Act II, these women get together, forming a powerful united “being,” if not a “front,” providing a space for Lena and themselves to think and address women’s pains at a private and institutional level.  About the latter—the institutional healthcare inequality— is addressed in the director’s note in the program: “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black infants in the United States in 2022 was 10.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, that is twice as high as it is for White infants. In Cuyahoga Falls specifically, the 2020-22 three-year-infant mortality rate was 7.3; the rate of death for Black babies was 13.4 compared to the white rate of 4.6.”

To see a full review of this show, read Yuko's posts here.

The Wolves @ Dobama Theatre

Through March 30, 2025

http://wwwdobama.org 

(216) 932-3396

 

Roy Berko
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Roy Berko's blog here.

Mark Horning

It is not easy being a female teenage athlete these days as there are people wishing to take this country back to the 50s. It is truly refreshing to see a play that gives notice of the trials involved in just growing up...no matter what or who you are. More than a girls night out this should be a family night out kind of experience.

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Dr. Yuko Kurahashi
Dobama Theatre’s The Wolves, written by Sarah DeLappe and directed by Leighann DeLorenzo, unpacks many aspects of teenagers who devote themselves to varsity sports. It explores and presents multiple subjects through nine members of a girl’s indoor soccer team that “navigates big questions” about “society, sex, and soccer” (Program note). DeLappe portrays the women in a way that allows the audience to appreciate their humanity, compassion, energy, and intellect as they take an adolescent journey to find out who they are and what their lives could be and should be.

To see a full review of this show, read Yuko's posts here.

King James @ Cleveland Playhouse

Through March 23, 2025

https://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/ 

(216) 241-6000

 

Roy Berko
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Roy Berko's blog here.

Howard Gollop

Rather than a trite trifle of banal banter and unending wink-wink chamber-of-commerce references to Cleveland trivia, this play, well directed by Monteze Freeland, is a solid, quite engaging character study of endearing and enduring underdogs.

Go to Chroniclet.com to read Howard Gollop's review.

Sheri Gross
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Sheri Gross' review here.

Mark Horning

Regardless of the title, this is not a show about LeBron James. It is as show about two men who through a quirk of fate become friends and as the years go by lend aid to each other because that is what friends do. At times sentimental, at times jarring but at all times believable it is a show worth seeing. Choose your sports gods wisely.

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Chris Howey
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Chris Howey's Review here.

Laura Kennelly

Bottom Line: The 2016 welcome home parade, when over a million Clevelanders filled downtown to celebrate the Cav’s triumphant return from defeating the Golden State Warriors, still lingers in local memories. Joseph’s play reminds us of the joy generated by sharing common values (and victories).

To see a full review of this show go here or, read Laura's posts at Cool Cleveland.

Dr. Yuko Kurahashi

Rajiv Joseph‘s King James portrays different aspects of friendship between Shawn and Matt, covering four key moments of LeBron James’s career as a catalyst. A co-production with City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, PA, directed by Monteze Freeland, Cleveland Play House’s King James is a locally rooted, thought-provoking and self-reflexive work that would encourage the audience to reassess their “relationship/association” with LeBron and what friendship really means. The answer that the audience gets from the show may vary, but my perception is that one’s friendship can take many shapes and colors, and it would be easier to maintain friendship if there is at least one common activity to engage in.
To see a full review of this show, read Yuko's posts here.

Joey Morona
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Joey's posts here.

 

& Juliet @ Playhouse Square

Through March 23, 2025

https://www.playhousesquare.org/ 

(216) 241-6000

 

Roy Berko
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Roy Berko's blog here.

Howard Gollop

The result here is sort of a "Moulin Rouge" meets "Something's Rotten" (another Shakespeare spinoff in the contemporary vernacular). On the other hand, the soul of this show is sort of a "Dick Van Dyke Show" meets "Glee." This may sound like a perfect trainwreck, but, oddly enough, "& Juliet," spiritedly directed by Luke Sheppard, is also a frolicsome evening of theater. As most of the ovating audience seem to concur, "Baby One More Time.".

Go to Chroniclet.com to read Howard Gollop's review.

Sheri Gross

No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Sheri Gross' review here.

Mark Horning

For those of us who questioned “The Bard” on his choice of endings (theatrical blasphemy) a refreshing and delightful welcomed change of pace has arrived. We are introduced to William’s wife and his marriage strife along with a “second chance” ending that many will love.  

To see a full review of this show, read Mark Horning's Review here.

Chris Howey
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Chris Howey's Review here.

Laura Kennelly

Take a tragic romance and modern times, mix well, stir and shake, and you get & Juliet, the latest musical at Playhouse Square. It’s a crazy cocktail that sizzles, sparks, generates laughs, and occasionally indulges in iambic pentameter.

This musical look at Renaissance England (and its most famous bard) feeds on Grammy-winning songs by songwriter/producer Max Martin and a book by the Emmy-winning writer David West Read. The mix of Martin’s pop and Read’s quirky take (if you’ve seen Shitt’s Creek you’ll know what to expect) makes a spicy delight.

To see a full review of this show see, read Laura's posts at Cool Cleveland.

Kate Klotzbach
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Kate's posts here.

Dr. Yuko Kurahashi
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Yuko's posts here.

Joey Morona
No review yet.
To see a full review of this show, read Joey's posts here.