THE WINTER'S TALE
GREAT LAKES THEATER
September 28-Novemer 4 (In repertoire with THE IMAGINARY INVALID)
216-241-6000 or www.greatlakestheater.org

Bob Abelman

The problem with this rendition of Shakespeare's "Problem Play" is not so much a manifestation of the play’s structural anomalies as a series of inconsistent creative choices made by the actors.  Although this does not undo all that is wonderful about this play and this production, it does undermine their integrity and make the evening that much less enjoyable.

To see a full review of this show, read Bob Abelman's News-Herald article here.


Roy Berko

GLT’s THE WINTER’ TALE is a disappointment. This is a difficult script to produce due to the many emotional and psychological levels which require a clear staging philosophy.  Due to the lack of focused directing by Jesse Berger, the production never sets a clear course and leaves so much of Shakespeare’s brilliance untapped. 

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

Fran Heller'

Director Jesse Berger's playful imagination and vision yield a beautifully conceived production that endeavors to make the convoluted plot of "The Winter's Tale" more accessible by blending the play's disparate elements and clumsy construction into a well-told tale bearing all the elements of good storytelling. Still, the uneasy mix of comedy and tragedy remains problematic.

To see a full review of this show, read Fran Heller's review at the Cleveland Jewish News

Christine Howey

Welcome to the fractured world of this Shakespearean “problem” play, where magical thinking and mystical happenings rule the day. And while there are definite pleasures to be had in this production, director Jesse Berger hangs first-time observers of this confusing play out to dry.

To see a full review of this show, read Christine Howey's blog Rave and Pan

Andrea Simakis

Structurally, "The Winter's Tale," first printed in the folio of 1623 and grouped with the Bard's comedies, is two plays in one: a tragedy with a pastoral spliced on the end. That dual nature makes it something of a challenge to direct, like a shrink having to deal with a patient who is weeping and raging one moment, giggling and dancing the next.
 To see a full review of this show link to

http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2012/10/great_lakes_theaters_the_winte.html

Art Thomas

Creative ideas in design and staging are minimized by shortcomings. These include huge hunks of unintelligible dialogue in Bohemia, and a melodramatic Leontes in Sicily who goes over-the-top from line one. 

Click here to read the complete review at WestLife

THE NORMAL HEART
Ensemble Theatre
September 28 through October 21
216-321-2930 or go online to www.ensemble-theatre.org

Bob Abelman

Revived on Broadway in 2011 after a 1985 New York premiere, “The Normal Heart” is still a disturbing work whose confrontational rhetoric about the on-going AIDS epidemic continues to bite.  As a now-historical marker of a medical problem in its infancy and a sociopolitical movement at its birth, its poignancy is immediate and penetrating.  The play is also about as entertaining as a public service announcement. 

To see a full review of this show, read Bob Abelman's News-Herald article here.


Roy Berko

THE NORMAL HEART is an absolute must see production.  The message is important.  The quality of the script impressive.  The production is one of the highlights of this theatrical season!

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

Fran Heller

Get thee to Ensemble Theatre, where an unforgettable production of "The Normal Heart," Larry Kramer's searing agitprop drama about the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis is burning up the stage.  Award-winning director Sarah May motivates an all-star cast with such heart and integrity that the two-hour-and-40 minute production, including intermission, flew by. Believe me when I say theater doesn't get any better than this.

To see a full review of this show, read Fran Heller's review at the Cleveland Jewish News


Christine Howey

It's all rescued by Kramer's insightful, piercingly personal details, as gay men struggle at the very beginning of the AIDS onslaught.  And this battle is rendered with shattering believability by a strong Ensemble cast under the unerring direction of Sarah May.

To see a full review of this show, read Christine Howey's review at  Cleveland Scene
  
Marjorie Preston

"The Normal Heart" is heartbreaking, but thirty years later, the story of the men who were at the front lines of the AIDS crisis still needs to be told. Ensemble's powerful and sobering production, filled with amazingly talented actors, is harrowing and unflinching, and shows humanity at its most vulnerable.

To see a full review of this show, read Marjorie Preston's blog "Brava!" here.

Andrea Simakis

As "The Normal Heart" opens, a trio of screens mounted on the stage flashes the date (July 1981), the place (New York City Hospital) and a number ("41 cases reported"), a statistic that will grow like the cancerous purple lesions covering the bodies of Dr. Emma Brookner's patients.
In Ensemble Theatre's moving, incendiary production of Larry Kramer's historic play -- as much a call to arms as a piece of theater in the tradition of Clifford Odets -- the screens serve not just as set pieces, but as a digital Greek chorus, explaining and accusing as the deaths of gay men mount, victims of an unnamed plague. (By the final scene, in May 1984, the number of reported cases has metastasized to 2,860.)

Read Andrea Simakis' full review at Cleveland.comhttp://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2012/10/ensemble_theatres_the_normal_h.html

PROOF
LAKELAND THEATRE @ Lakeland Community College
September 21-October 7
440-525-7134 or  
http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/theatre/index.asp

Bob Abelman

The playwright cleverly employs the very axiomatic method used in devising proofs to tell this story, starting with undefined elements, working through their potential relationships, and allowing their worthiness and true nature to surface in the end. Likewise, director Martin Friedman's approach to this script reflects the same simplicity, delicacy, and fluidity that define a perfect proof. Math, it seems, can be riveting.

To see a full review of this show, read Bob Abelman's News-Herald article here.


Roy Berko

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

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


Fran Heller

When a perfect play meets a flawless production, the result is theatrical nirvana.
Such a play is David Auburn's "Proof" which bagged the 2001 Tony for best play and the Pulitzer, and rightfully so.  No less exhilarating is the very fine production at Lakeland Civic Theatre, under the passion-fueled direction of Martin Friedman and a quartet of sublime performances every inch as compelling as the 2000 Broadway show I saw.

To see a full review of this show, read Fran Heller's review at the Cleveland Jewish News


Christine Howey

Revolving around a father and daughter, both of whom are gifted but troubled mathematicians, the play peels back layers of both science and humanity—but in a continually entertaining and deeply affecting way.

To see a full review of this show, read Christine Howey's blog Rave and Pan

LOMBARDI
Cleveland Play House
September 14-October 7
216-241-6000 or www.clevelandplayhouse.com

Bob Abelman

It is ironic that the projected image of a football field that fills the back of the Allen Theatre stage during this production of "Lombardi" places the audience on the 25 yard line.  While its intention is to give us the impression of being right on the sidelines and privy to insider information, it actually reminds us of the limited vantage point and obstructed view provided in this play.

To see a full review of this show, read Bob Abelman's News-Herald here.


Roy Berko

LOMBARDI doesn’t get the full six points of scoring a touchdown, but is good enough to get three for kicking a field goal. 
 
To see a full review of this show, read Roy Berko's blog here.

Fran Heller

Vince Lombardi was one of the greatest coaches in football history.
"Lombardi" a bio-drama by Eric Simonson about the titular legendary hero, is not a great play.
While there is plenty to chew on for football aficionados, it fumbles as drama.

To see a full review of this show, read Fran Heller's review at the Cleveland Jewish News


Christine Howey

Predictable and ineffective in myriad ways, the script by Eric Simonson feels like a dated, timorous and worshipful after-school special spiced up with cocktails and shouting. Even a competent cast can't lessen the tedium of listening to way too much hardass coach-speak and precious little insight about what made this legendary (and significantly flawed) man tick.

To see a full review of this show, read Christine Howey's review at  Cleveland Scene

Kory

LOMBARDI is slow moving and there isn’t as much conflict as I would have hoped for, but it’s well staged, well acted and totally worth seeing, especially if you are a football fan.

To see a full review of this show, link to http://new102.com/korysreviews

XANADU
Beck Center for the Arts
September 14-October 14, 2012
216.521.2540 x10 or beckcenter.org

Bob Abelman

Expectations were so low for "Xanadu" that when the reviews came out after its Broadway premiere in 2007, the promotional ad taken out by the theater simply read:  "The critics loved it. Seriously."  The Beck Center production is even better.  Seriously.  

To see a full review of this show, read Bob Abelman's News-Herald article here.

Roy Berko

If you are in the mood for total silliness, want to hear some well sung classical modern songs, and desire to see some excellent dancing, XANADU is for you.  The “Magic” may “Suddenly” take you to “Xanadu,” allowing you to be “Suspended in Time,” so, “Don’t Walk Away” from seeing this show at Beck.

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

Fran Heller

So how could something so bad as the movie version of "Xanadu" be that good as a stage musical?
Credit Douglas Carter Beane, whose very clever, very funny book couples Jeff Lynne and John Farrar's mostly catchy pop-rock songs with a parody of the film to great comic effect.
The musical's strength lies in poking fun at the genre, Greek mythology, the theater and the nature of creativity, with hilarious results. 

To see a full review of this show, read Fran Heller's review at the Cleveland Jewish News

Christine Howey

Featuring the 1980’s era pop stylings of Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra, with many parody references to the film of the same name that bombed (and then became a cult fave), the play is a self-aware festival of harmless schlock and a bushel of meta jokes at its own expense.

To see a full review of this show, read Christine Howey's blog Rave and Pan


Kory

XANADU was one of the worst movies of all time, but the musical, now playing at Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, is anything but!
To see a full review of this show, link to http://new102.com/korysreviews

Andrea Simakis

"Art," says Sonny Malone to the audience in the first few minutes of XANADUX, the sugar rush of a show now playing at the Beck Center for the Arts, "isn't just for the well-educated and intelligent -- it's for people like you!"  The line serves two purposes. It earns a laugh and provides a menu for what is to follow -- self-aware schlock that is tasty as a vanilla cupcake with pastel sprinkles (and just as nutritious). 

To see a full review of this show, visit http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2012/09/beck_centers_xanadu_a_sweet_go.html

Art Thomas

The reference-filled script combines with a gem of a rock theater score. Add a first rate cast to Martin Cespedes' flashy choreography and there's almost more energy than the Beck Center can contain. 
 
Click here to read the complete review at WestLife

THE MOTHERF**KER WITH A HAT
DOBAMA THEATRE
September 14 – October 7
216-032-3396 or www.dobama.org

Bob Abelman

Stephen Adly Guirgis’ poetically profane drama is more of a character study than a story you can hang your hat on.  Still, it is the kind of raw, raucous, and riveting work that should not be missed.

To see a full review of this show, read Bob Abelman's News-Herald article here.


Roy Berko

THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT, the play that dare not speak its name, has a lot to say.  In spite of the almost immediate negative reaction of some people to the title, the production makes for a very compelling evening of theatre.  Congrats to Dobama for not steering away from the script because of the title and the realistic language.

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


Fran Heller

Playwright Stephen Adly Gurgis has a brilliant ear for dialogue and the idiosyncratic vernacular of urban lowlife. The raw language of the play is indigenous to its characters like second skin.
A phenomenal quintet of actors....capture the poetry, humor and heartache with unforgettable performances that kept me laughing while on the verge of tears.
To see a full review of this show, read Fran Heller's review at the Cleveland Jewish News


Christine Howey

By the one-hour mark of this 100-minute play, verbosity overcomes all the sexy sizzle, leaving one jonesing for another hit like the earlier scenes provided. Happily, there is a small gem buried in all those latter words that makes the whole enterprise a net success.

To see a full review of this show, read Christine Howey's review at  Cleveland Scene


Marjorie Preston

Dobama Theatre's current production, “The Motherfucker with the Hat” by Stephen Adly Guirgis, is a well-written, well-acted, contemporary urban drama with humor. “The Motherfucker with the Hat” is a very good show which is, at its core, about things that aren't what they seem, and deciding which of our faults we're willing to live with.

To see a full review of this show, read Marjorie Preston's blog Brava!.

Andrea Simakis
Hats off to Dobama for doing edgy, thought-provoking work with the fearless authenticity of heart a playwright like Guirgis demands. 

To see a full review of this show, visit Andrea Simakis' at Cleveland.com here.