West Side Story @ John Patrick Theatre, Baldwin Wallace University, Nov. 9--22

Review by Laura Kennelly

For this election week, a week where political conflict, passion, disappointment, and victory were all the talk, what better work to bring to the stage than West Side Story with its tragic conflicts? Based, of course, on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the familiar story elaborates on the damage feuds inflict on the next generation.

It’s not likely that this collaboration between the Baldwin Wallace Department of Theatre and Dance and the BW Conservatory of Music’s Music Theatre Program was planned to evoke feelings stirred up by this year’s contentious presidential election, but it was hard to watch without thinking of it.

Director Victoria Bussert’s faithful presentation of the entire original production as directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents, was often breathtaking. Watching both casts (the “Jets” cast on Nov. 9 and the “Sharks” cast on Nov. 10)  allowed a dramatic illustration of the unique vibe each cast generated.

Baldwin Wallace has enough young talent drawn from its top-rated music theatre program to cast the whole musical with age-appropriate gang members, a factor which added to the pathos inherent in this tragic tale of Romeo, Juliet, and their foolish families. Both Marias (Michelle Pauker and Nadina Hassan) and both Tonys (Jason Goldston and Colton Ryan) carried a little spark of sweetness that lit up the stage and made me weep (OK, I’m an easy crier) when things went horribly wrong.

And yes, Olivia Kaufmann and Shayla Brielle as Anita spiced things up as the “bad girls” who knew all about the world. Warren Franklin and Noah Mattocks as Bernardo (Anita’s boyfriend)  seemed matched in bravado for their two ladies, but only Franklin’s Bernardo graced the floor in the big dance in the gym scene. That second night the usually frantic Chino (Michael Canada) glided Brielle’s hot red-gowned Anita around the floor. Overall, the ensemble dancing, directed by Gregory Daniels, proved spectacular.

It’s hard to single out numbers in a show featuring hit after hit, but the delicious “I Feel Pretty” sung by Maria with the Sharks’ Girls (Joy Del Valle, Livvy Marcus, and Rose Upton) chiming in with exaggerated pouts and sarcastic musical quips, definitely offered a welcome dash of comic relief.

Scenic designer Jeff Herrmann’s simple staging (alternately a mural of New York City with Lady Liberty’s huge head stretched in the foreground, scaffolding, a bed, a blue sky) as well as costumes by Charlotte Yetman created a believable world with the merest of props. The full orchestra, conducted by music director David Pepin the nights I attended, switched with evident ease from romantic (“I Had a Love,” “One Hand, One Heart,” “Somewhere”) to edgy (“Jet Song,” “The Rumble,” etc.).

I opened by saying the casts were different. How? Well, while recognizing that each night a show runs generates a new vibe, on opening night the Jets seemed to fit the worried somber message of the story. The next night, in contrast, the (perhaps) better-rested Sharks blasted through the action with a snappy precision that brought out the violence edging the lives of both Upper West Side gangs. If  you are new to the story, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story for the whole scoop. (Although in the past newspaper critics tended to summarize plots for readers, these  days it seems redundant to write what is so easy to look up.)

Bottom Line: A delightful production, a classic musical that never seems to grow old. It would be an ideal one for novice music theatre patrons (Maria even survives ...How could that happen?...it looks so weird to see her walk off...what were they thinking in Broadway land?) Oh well, who knows, who cares? A wonderful show can be forgiven plot quibbles.

Performances next week are Wednesday-Saturday November 16-19 at 7:30 pm. And Sunday, November 20 at 2 p.m. For tickets call the box office at 440-826-2240. The John Patrick Theatre, Kleist Center for Art & Drama [https://www.bw.edu/about/location/directions#kleist-center] is located on the Baldwin Wallace Campus.

Sex with Strangers @ Playhouse Square, Oct. 22--Nov. 13, 2016

Review by Laura Kennelly

Sex with Strangers by Laura Eason, now playing in the Cleveland Play House’s Outcalt Theatre, isn’t really about a hookup, though you might not be able to tell that from the title. Yes, two writers are stranded in a snow-bound B&B and yes, they do have sex. The introverted slightly older  Olivia (played with verve and passion by Monette Magrath) had hoped to spend quiet time fretting over her latest novel and what reviewers said about her work. Her peace is shattered when extroverted Ethan (played by Sean Hudock) appears. Hudock makes his character’s charming side as obvious as his crass side as he alternately amuses Olivia with his quick wit and repels her with his vulgarity.

Olivia is an old-school novelist who yearns to have a printed book on the New York Times bestseller list and to be published by classy publishers Farrar Straus and Giroux--AKA, FSG. (This is something we of a certain generation all want.)  Ethan is a media-savvy blogger, Snapchat, Facebook guy with his eyes on the popularity prize and getting plenty of $$$-generating clicks.

Life gets complicated for the two stranded writers when they discover that the snowstorm has brought down the Internet. Oh no! No fact-checking, no Twitter or Facebook. Anyone devoted to their Internet life (hand raised here!) can recognize and laugh at Ethan’s dismay. Although Olivia says she just wants to be left alone (but does not retreat to her room), she’s intrigued despite herself. They strike up a conversation and boredom leads to the bedroom before the end of the first scene.

But there’s more to this often-comic play as directed by Joanie Schultz, whose directing shows understanding of complicated social expectations. (Hi Joanie, the program notes you wrote say you worry about reviews--don’t do that! Reviews just show one person’s response.) The play is  actually about what happens to their connection over the years as they themselves turn into “reviewers”--this time of their relationship. While the playwright doesn’t fall back on the old “it was all a dream” trope to resolve the play, I wish she’d given us more information about Olivia’s core values so we would have more to base our theories about “what happened next” when the play ends without obvious resolution.

Bottom Line: If you’re a writer, I’m pretty sure you will like this play and laugh (perhaps uncomfortably) at how beautifully it exposes the “writer mind.” It’s witty, well-paced, and very smartly done. (Need I add that it’s for adults only, although all the sex is discreetly offstage.)

Sex with Strangers runs until November 13. For tickets call  216-241-6000 or go to clevelandplayhouse.com.

Finding Neverland @ Playhouse Square, 11/1-11/20/2016

Review by Laura Kennelly

It’s a mystery why Finding Neverland, now at the Connor Palace at Playhouse Square, didn’t win Broadway awards in 2015 (tho the cast got a few nominations). Maybe there are too many grownup grumps in NYC? But in Cleveland, the show, temporarily dubbed “Finding Believeland” for the first two days (hummm, seems to have been a ball game on those two nights) found a fit audience. We all clapped for Tinker Bell and saved her too! Who wants to grow up anyway?

For a smashingly good start, the colorful “Welcome to London,” opens the show and highlights happy chaos as it melds Peter Pan’s fantasy world with the story’s “real” people. Suddenly, an  authoritative voice tells the cast to “Stop” because it’s too early in the story. And, just  like that the pirates and the mermaid and the Lost Boys dash offstage.

The Finding Neverland story (book by James Graham with music and lyrics by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy) really begins when the already famous British playwright J. M. Barrie meets a lively family of four boys, their loveable dog, and their mother in Kensington Park. Barrie’s been having creative difficulties--he keeps writing the same romance over and over--but once he meets the Llewelyn Davies family , he’s inspired to create something new--the world inhabited by Peter Pan.

Kevin Kern (as J. M. Barrie) creates a believable portrait of the charming, vulnerable author who sells the idea of a children’s fantasy for grownups to theatre manager Charles Frohman (the naturally stressed-out Tom Hewitt). Hewitt also has the delicious scenery-chewing role of Captain James Hook. [Interesting note: Barrie’s first name is James--coincidence? I think not.]

As the boy’s mother, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the golden-throated Christine Dwyer sings and dances her way into our hearts (and made me cry in her wonderful final scene). Joanna Glushak (as the boys’ initially snobby grandmother), Crystal Kellogg (the unhappy Mary Barrie), Lord Cannan (the stuffy Noah Plomgren, whose hairpiece got broad laughs), and the rest of the first-rate ensemble threw themselves into being boys (lost and otherwise), servants, pirates, Indians--anything the story needed--with evident enthusiasm.

In this extravagant production, Director Diane Paulus sparks enchantment and childhood memories (at least for this former Amazon pirate) of pixie dust and fantasy worlds. The set, beautifully designed by Scott Pask, and the choreography by Mia Michaels remind us why Broadway can also be a Neverland full of wonder.

Even the curtain calls were fun. Kern donned a Cleveland Indians shirt and others sported other Tribe paraphernalia. Obviously, that went over big.

Bottom Line: In other words: I admit I’m already a fan of musicals, but this one is truly a song and dance filled joy. If you want to hook a child on the charms of theatre, this might be the perfect show. (Make them read Peter Pan first.) Laughs, tears, dogs, kids, handsome and beautiful cast, a touching and inspiring story--Neverland has it all.

Fun Home @ Playhouse Square, Oct. 2--Oct. 22, 2016

Review by Laura Kennelly

Fun Home offers a bumpy, albeit musical, and speedy flight through author Alison Bechdel’s early years. Now playing at the Connor Palace Theater in Playhouse Square, Fun Home touches on secret sex lives, ambivalent parenting, domination, and obsession, and suicide. Not for the kiddos even though it features three charming child actors.

Based on Oberlin graduate Bechdel’s graphic novel, the musical features gorgeous music by Jeanine Tesori with book and witty lyrics by Lisa Kron. Oskaar Eustis and Patrick Willingham directed this Tony-winning New York show.

When I saw the show in New York at the Circle in the Square Theatre, the audience surrounded the stage from above, so we could look down on the actors. The Connor Palace’s more conventional stage worked surprisingly well, with our attention directed to various areas of the relatively cluttered space thanks to David Zinn’s scenic design and Ben Stanton’s lighting. (The lights were scenery in themselves--and in a very good way.)

Time travel necessary in Fun Home is a challenge since it covers Alison’s early growing up years, college, and career beginning. We see the story through the perspective of grown up Alison (a convincing Kate Shindle), still perturbed by her family. She introduces small Alison (a bouncy Alessandra Baldacchino), a little girl who yearns to fly, and Medium Alison (Abby Corrigan), an Oberlin student beginning to judge her family. All three actors prove likeable and make us fans of “Alison.”

Robert Petkoff plays Alison’s conflicted father, Bruce. The character doesn’t seem as likeable as he did the first time I saw the play, but perhaps that’s because I now know not to trust unsuspecting young Alison’s eyes. Susan Moniz as Alison’s put-upon mother, Helen, does an excellent job with the one-dimensional part the story assigns her. (I’d love for Bechdel to attempt the story from alternating points of view, starting with the mother: PS: Just checked and she did this, see the graphic memoir Are You My Mother? Now we can finish the story.)

Characters supporting Alison’s life journey include Small Alison’s little brothers John (Lennon Nate Hammond) and Christian (Pierson Salvador). The trio gets well-deserved laughs in the ironically-titled “Come to the Fun Home” as they jump in and out of a showroom casket (one of the family businesses is running a funeral home).

Karen Eilbacher shines as the sexy,  friendly Joan, Alison’s Oberlin college girlfriend. She inspires Corrigan’s exuberant  “I’m Changing My Major [to Joan].” Rounding out the small cast, Robert Hager plays various hunky men that Alison’s father likes.

A small orchestra directed by Micah Young provided a rich accompaniment to the proceedings just before them on the stage.

Bottom Line: Wait until you’re feeling fairly strong before you see it because it may make you think about things you’d just as soon not, such as dysfunctional families, a daughter’s distress, and how the past provides more than enough “revenge” for a memoirist.

Fun Home runs through October 22. For tickets go to playhousesquare.org or call (216) 241-6000

Photo: (From L) Alessandra Baldacchino as 'Small Alison', Pierson Salvador as 'Christian' and Lennon Nate Hammond as 'John' in Fun Home. Photo by Joan Marcus

Review of Twelfth Night at Great Lakes

Twelfth Night @ Great Lakes Theater, Hanna Theatre, Sept. 30-Oct. 30, 2016

Laura Kennelly

There’s plenty of “Wait for it . . .  wait for it” guffaw-worthy comedy in the Great Lakes Theater production of Twelfth Night now playing at the Hanna Theatre. Directed  by Drew Barr, the play seemingly doesn’t miss a chance for obvious farce (and good for that!), but it also delights in romance and unexpected love.

Like all Shakespeare comedies, the plot is ridiculous. Fraternal twins, separated by shipwreck, wash up on an island, but neither knows the other is alive. Meanwhile on that island a Duke pines for a lady who does not pine for him.  The love-struck Duke’s now familiar words open the play and set the tone for this rom-com: “If music be the food of love, play on.”

And play they do--in more than a musical sense. Local laughs come immediately in the first act when twin Viola (the convincing and comely Cassandra Bissell) washes up on a strange island and is told she’s in Illyria. She remarks in surprise “And what should I do in Illyria?” Although even Shakespeare couldn’t have anticipated an extra joke, this reference tickled Elyria residents and the rest of us too.

Viola soon disguises herself as a man to qualify for a position working for Orsino, Duke of Illyria. The Duke (a dashing Juan Rivera Lebron) thinks he loves the wealthy countess Olivia (the scornful, flighty Christine Weber). Olivia, in turn, has eyes for Viola’s twin Sebastian, (Jonathan Christopher MacMillan).

Much of the real comedy (that is, farce) revolves around the interactions between members of Olivia’s circle: her blustering uncle Sir Toby Belch (the now-legendary Aled Davies), her clueless suitor Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Tom Ford), her officious steward Malvolio (Lynn Robert Berg), her jester Feste (M. A. Taylor), and clever servant Fabian (Laura Welsh Berg). All are funny, but Berg’s fearless portrayal of Malvolio’s cluelessness (it involves a drastic change of costume and a yellow corset) takes the comedic cake. They are supported by an engaging ensemble, many of whom may be observed in the background during the play reading books (beach reading for an island setting?)

An especially delightful touch was the music, which indeed did “play on,” thanks to a very tuneful Feste (Taylor), accompanied by a muse (Jillian Kates) floating on a platform above the stage with her electric guitar. Composer Daniel Kluger and Music Director Joel Mercier created a bit of magic there.

Scenic designer Russell Metheny, and costume designer Kim Krumm Sorenson joined by Rick Martin (lighting) and Lee Kinney (sound) created clever sets that required a “double vision” at times.

Bottom Line: While some of the comic elements might be trimmed (it’s a long play), it ended with a wonderful scene which I won’t spoil. We had to wait a long time for the last laugh (hence the “wait for it” above), but the final scene was so worth it. I think the moral must be that love, truly, is indeed blind.

For tickets call Great Lakes Theater at (216) 241-6000

Photo: Ken Blaze

In the Heights @ The Beck Center 2/12-2/28

Hola! Just had a fantastic time. And why not? Upbeat urban family stories told with Latin rhythms. sweet ballads, and sassy hip-hop blended to good effect in the Beck Center/Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre production of In the Heights directed by Victoria Bussert.

This gorgeous, energetic version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2008 Tony-award-winning debut musical reveals the much-praised Miranda genius now evident in the current Broadway hit Hamilton. Like Hamilton, In the Heights shows how cultural assimilation can be a delicious two-way street.

The action is simple. When the show opens we see Graffiti Pete (a hip Warren Egypt Franklin) spray-painting the audience (or so it seems as a fine mist floats toward us). He stands front and center of a kaleidoscopic view of Washington Heights’ shops, apartments, and bridges. (The scene resembles the Red Grooms mixed media New York cityscape displayed in the Cleveland Museum of Art).

Then, with a whirl of outraged motion, shop owner, Usnavi (lithe, tall, expressive Ellis C. Dawson III) shoos him away and tells us how it is, where he lives, in the barrio.

“Lights up on Washington Heights, up at the break of day/ I wake up and got this little punk I gotta chase away/Pop the grate at the crack of dawn, sing/ While I wipe down the awning/Hey y’all, good morning.” [Take a listen] [http://genius.com/Lin-manuel-miranda-in-the-heights-lyrics]

While the carefully-crafted language doesn’t impede the story or get in the way of the vital score, it does add a level of fascination and challenge. What can I say about a character/ who speaks in meter/ not often heard in theater? You might call it hip-hop, but it’s also old-school couplets (day/away) followed by a tercet or triplet rhyming (sing, awning, morning). All this harkens back to 17th and 18th-century British drama (be still my geeky English major heart!)

Others have their own language beat; they all add up to city melody. There’s Piragua Guy (Matt Lynn) issuing percussive cries to buy piraguas (snow cones), Abuela Claudia (Jessie Cope Miller) whose grandmotherly love proves pivotal.

For young love, there’s Nina (sweet Livvy Marcus) torn between her respect for her parents--impatient father (Jared Leal) and seemingly subservient mother (Kelsey Baehrens)--and her attraction to her father’s employee Benny (Malik Victorian). She’s also obsessed because she lost her scholarship to Stanford so can’t afford to go back. (Quibble: Why $$$ to California? Why not less expensive local places, such as NYU?). Usnavi has problems too, including a crush on the spectacular Vanessa (a gorgeous and queenly Christiana Perrault). She works with Daniela (a firecracker Isabel Plana) and Carla (a ditzy MacKenzie Wright) at the beauty salon next door. And there’s Usnavi’s cousin Sonny (a pesky yet cute Michael Canada) who alternately drives him mad and helps him out.

Dances set by choreographer Gregory Daniels allows everyone to weave around the stage in complex patterns that must require split-second timing as onstage musicians led by music director David Pepin provide catchy beats.

Bottom Line: It’s great musical theatre, memorably done. In the Heights and its subjects--human connection, the power of neighborhoods, universal hopes and dreams--makes bold statements. Maybe Usnavi (Miranda’s alter ego?) is not Homer (“Oh muse, sing in me”) and In the Heights is not really a classical epic, like the Odyssey, but in a way it is. How? It shows in a simple relatable way why and how a place becomes home and how a culture’s strength may lie in finding positive ways to incorporate difference.

Photos: William Taylor Bradford @ Bradford Images