"Waitress" @ Playhouse Square, Oct. 17-Nov. 5

“Waitress” @ Playhouse Square, October 17--November 5, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

“If music food pie be the food of love, play on” [alt-Shakespeare]. That could be the motif for “Waitress,” the first 2017-2018 Playhouse Square Broadway series production. Pie features prominently in this musical directed by Tony-Award winner Diane Paulus and featuring songs by Sara Bareilles and book by Jessie Nelson. It’s based on the 2007 film “Waitress” by Adrienne Shelly.

This finely-crafted show in the Connor Palace opens the national tour of the Broadway hit that’s still playing in NYC. We may be in Cleveland, but we might as well be in New York as far as cast, sets, and performances go. “Waitress” revels in a slickly presented and sassy mix, blending song, great sets, recipes for imaginary pies, dancing, and sex into a sprightly musical event.

It doesn’t do to think too much about the soap-opera plot.

Our heroine, small-town gal Jenna (the multi-talented Desi Oakley) works as a waitress in Joe’s  Diner. She’s a kind soul and a genius pie-creator (one for every mood) who suddenly finds out she’s pregnant. Her abusive husband, Earl (played with forceful charm by Nick Bailey) and her selfish obstetrician, Dr. Pomatter (played with facile kindness by Bryan Fenkart) turn out to be equally egotistical.

But that’s all right because, despite her poor taste in men, she’s got a fabulous diner “family.” Her wonderful and funny fellow waitresses, Dawn (Lenne Klingaman) and Becky (Charity Angel Dawson), offer her love and support as they go about filling orders and coffee cups. Klingaman’s Dawn, a cute little nerd who snorts when she laughs, even finds a soulmate when she’s encouraged to be kind to the shy Ogie (an equally nerdy and awkwardly attractive Jeremy Morse).

Dawson’s Becky is a warm-hearted, full-throated singer who knows what she wants (that would be diner cook Cal, played with bossy humor by Ryan G. Dunkin). Also important to the story, cafe patron Old Joe (Larry Marshall, who plays grumpy and kindly with equal aplomb).

We also meet Lulu, the result of Jenna’s unplanned pregnancy and, as it turns out, the true love that she’s been seeking all along. The delightful five-year-old Harper Schmid played Lulu opening night. Meredith Wakefield also plays Lulu.

And cheers to the multi-faceted ensemble who switch with ease from cafe patrons to hospital personnel, including Baldwin Wallace graduate Kyra Kennedy as Dr. Mrs. Pomatter,  who makes one wonder, what was the doc thinking, fooling around with a patient? (Today he’d be sued for sure).

Other ensemble members include Skyler Adams, Law Terrell Dunford, Patrick Dunn, James Hogan, David Hughey, Arica Jackson, Emily Koch, Maiesha McQueen, Gerianne Perez, and Grace Stockdale who switch characters and scenery with impressive skill.

Set designer Scott Pask creates stage magic with rolling carts that take pies on and offstage. The stage itself is beautifully framed with pies in brightly lit cases. The small onstage band accompanies songs such as “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me” (Ogie’s cute love song) and “Everything Changes” (Jenna’s true love song). If you are lucky enough to hear a CD or recording of Sara Bareilles singing the songs she wrote you will find them sweetly plaintive and often quite clever. The lyrics include various recipes for pies, mostly large globs of sugar, butter, flour, and nostalgia. (Do not sit close to the speakers, however, as they were so loud where I was that I had trouble understanding the words. Sound is a problem not unique to the Connor Palace, but I wish it could be solved.)

Bottom Line: A well-acted and beautifully staged musical treat with a feel-good ending.

PS: But back to pies: There were mini-pies sold in the lobby and during intermission and apple pie scents pumped into the lobby as well. Well, who doesn’t love pie? It set a positive vibe. But then, I still treasure an earlier even better movie pie memory (no, not the notorious film you might be thinking of). In “Michael” (1996) John Travolta plays an angel who orders every pie in a roadside diner and urges Andie MacDowell to sing "I love pie." Now that’s happiness!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ Playhouse Square, October 6--November 5, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

Photo: Roger Mastroianni

The Great Lakes Theater Midsummer Night’s Dream gives us Shakespeare at his hilarious (and bawdy) best. In this enchanting Hanna Theatre production directed by Joseph Hanreddy every silly, comic element melds and spins into a dream. Under Hanreddy’s guidance, anachronisms (but who cares?) and traditional elements blend seamlessly to create a fresh look and a marvelous show.

The identity mix-up plot centers on what happens one summer night to a combination of royals and commoners. Theseus, Duke of Athens (a regal Nick Steen) is engaged to Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta (an equally royal Jillian Kates). Commoners Nick Bottom (an awkward yet earnest David Anthony Smith) and his friends and fellow bumblers Peter Quince (Tom Ford), Francis Flue (Mack Shirilla), Robin Starveling (Jodi Dominick), and Tom Snout (Alex Syiek) strive to create a play for the wedding. (The play itself, which we also get to see, is a comic dessert served at drama’s end.)

Now add to the confusion, four young people who lead a complicated romantic life.

It seems Hermia (a pretty and flighty Michelle Pauker) has enraged her father Egeus (a blustering Aled Davies) because she’s fallen for Lysander (super-cool Corey Mach). Mach’s comic  slacker  Lysander couldn’t care less about being proper--he saunters out chewing gum--which he sticks on a beam and later retrieves--and he’s very hip (fist-bumps and all). It’s easy to see why Davies thinks him a bad match for his precious Hermia. Her father’s candidate, Demetrius (an earnest Jon Loya) also loves Hermia, but she scorns him. And then there’s Helena (Keri Rene Fuller) who has a crush on Demetrius. Fuller’s Helena shines as a prototype for all the nerdy beauties hidden behind glasses (she sports a giant pair) who also have a heart of gold.

One midsummer night, all individually venture into the forest that surrounds Athens.

Events that follow might serve as a caution about going into the forest after dark: It’s dangerous. Fairies do roam there and they are fiercer than one might imagine. They also love to tease mortals.

It seems that in the forest a less than happy Fairy King Oberon (Steen) and his Queen (Kates) have had a big spat. Oberon delegates his careless servant Puck (M. A. Taylor) to put flower juice into the eyes of first Lysander and then Demetrius. Since flower juice makes one love whomever they see first, they both fall for Helena. Oberon then plays the same prank on his wife, and she develops a passion for Bottom, who has been enchanted at Oberon’s command. Bottom now sports donkey ears, a tail, and other reputedly sexy parts of an ass. Kates and Smith make comic hay of the situation, creating genuinely funny scenes. Bottom has the time of his life.

After much romping and merriment, dawn comes, enchantment falls, and the lovers find their soulmates, there’s a wedding or two and, of course, all ends happily.

Costumes by Rachel Laritz, especially Titania’s sheer and sparkly gown worn with magnificent flair by Kates, create magic of their own. Scenic designer Scott Bradley, lighting designer Rick Martin, and sound designers and composers Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen all add to the magic.

Bottom (as it were) Line: Absolutely delightful escape into Shakespeare at his funniest. It’s a magic world out there. Highly recommended.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream continues, alternating with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, through November 5 at the Hanna Theatre.

Waiting for Godot at Beck Center

Waiting for Godot @ The Beck Center, Oct. 6-Nov. 5

Review by Laura Kennelly

The Beck Center contemplates life in Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett’s post-World War II drama. Director Eric Schmeidl and the five-member cast offer an impressive and thought-provoking presentation.

The tight confines of the Beck’s Studio Theater are perfect for this famous, yet annoyingly existentialist, play that dares to question man’s purpose. Yes, it’s Serious Drama with capital letters, but it’s also quite funny in spots (even if you are the only one laughing at times).

Beckett, like others of his era, strove to see life’s essentials (think Picasso’s later works featuring skulls, roses, abstract landscapes). It is in such a barren landscape, created by Aaron Benson (set designer), and Trad A. Burns (lighting designer) that our play opens. We see Vladimir/Didi (a sympathetic Michael Mauldin) wandering around singing and talking to himself. He is soon joined by Estragon/Gogo (an energetic, yet practical William Hoffman). Both are seniors who have been together for years and they are still waiting for the promised appointment with Mr. Godot.

Pozzo (Brian Pedaci) and his slave Lucky (Allan Byrne) join them, sometimes duplicating personality dynamics apparent in Vladimir and Estragon. Both Pedaci and Byrne enliven the stage when they appear--adding an additional note of physical comedy. Effectively switching between being assertive and scared, Jake Spencer, as “Boy” brings them hope with the message that “Mr. Godot” says he will come “tomorrow.”

But the show belongs to Vladimir and Estragon as the two old friends bicker, embrace, philosophize, and wait for Godot. Nothing happens, really, except (this is a big “except”) the purpose of life is stripped of any other purpose than to meet Godot (who some might assume is “God”).

Bottom Line: I didn’t think I’d be recommending this show because its thesis is depressing, but I find I must: This outstanding production quietly and strongly reminds us that life is, indeed, absurd. Beckett asks that we devise our reasons for embracing it anyway.

Tickets are available at beckcenter.org or by calling 216 521 2540.

Hunchback of Notre Dame at Great Lakes Theater @ Playhouse Square

The Hunchback of Notre Dame @ Playhouse Square, Sept. 29 to November 4, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

Photo by Roger Mastroianni.

The Hanna Great Lakes Theater’s opening show this season is The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a Disney-film-inspired musical that didn’t make it to Broadway. Director Victoria Bussert’s signature touch is shown in her vibrant use of the Hanna’s cozy space and her employment of a wonderfully talented cast. But even Bussert’s talent can’t dissipate the awkward story created by this Disneyfication of Victor Hugo’s novel. (“Disneyfication” here means simplifying a 19th-century 800-plus page gothic romance into a single story that argues for being kind to strangers and to those weaker than oneself.)

In short, there’s an outcast in the bell tower of the venerable Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. That’s the church bell ringer Quasimodo, a deformed yet exceedingly strong man who hides above the streets lest people mock him. Below there’s another outcast, one of a tribe of gypsies, the beautiful Esmeralda. He falls in love with her because she is kind, but unlike in Beauty and the Beast, she does not fall in the same way for him. That’s all right though, they are allies against the ignorance and prejudice of the people around them.

The versatile Corey Mach, as Quasimodo, creates a believable outcast (and has the best song in the show, “Out There”). Keri René Fuller conveys the beauty and grace of Esmeralda, the gypsy girl who befriends the lonely Quasimodo. Tom Ford offers a nuanced view of the conflicted Dom Claude Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame Cathedral.

It is, however, a charismatic Alex Syiek, as the King of the Gypsies, who seems to own the story and capture attention, adding both a combination of romance and menace. The exchanges the Hunchback has with the various gargoyles and angels who inhabit the bell tower also enliven the show. They lounge or stand in place and advise him about life and love.

Other members of the capable cast include Dan Hoy, Olivia Kaufmann, Aled Davies, Jon Loya, Mach Shirilla, M. A. Taylor, Derrick Cobey, Jillian Kates, Michelle Pauker, Mickey Ryan, David Anthony Smith, Nick Steen, and MacKenzie Wright. Baldwin Wallace University students led by Marc Weagraff sat mostly in the dark onstage, singing when needed as the church choir.

Scenic Designer Jeff Herrmann and lighting designer Mary Jo Dondlinger cleverly compressed a cathedral and a city onto the small stage.  Costume designer Martha Bromelmeier created an eye-catching way for the Hunchback to morph into his role as we watched. David Gotwald was sound designer and Joel Mercier led the small orchestra.

The music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Peter Parnell, are adequate and sound a lot like those in Beauty and the Beast, another cartoon turned into a stage musical. But Beauty and the Beast, with the same messages of love and tolerance, ends happily, whereas this one ends with the gruesome deaths of two who cared for each other. So what’s the point? Life is cruel? Priests are villains?

Bottom line: Such serious questions, ones that merit serious consideration by adults, are pitched here in such a superficial manner that even a young child might be mystified. This clash of elements, despite being presented by a great cast, left me feeling “meh” about it all.

For tickets or information go to GreatLakesTheater.org or call 216-640-8869.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest @ The Beck Center, Sept. 15--October 8, 2017

Photo by Kathy Sandham

Review by Laura Kennelly

The Beck Center production of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest combines a stage full of brilliant actors to produce a moving drama that does exactly what good theatre should do: inspire empathy and reflection.

William Roudebush has taken Dale Wasserman’s stage adaptation of Kesey’s novel and turned it into an immersive, fast-paced recreation of Kesey’s novelistic early 1960s rant against ruthless and controlling social mechanisms (in this case the deadly combo created by courts and asylums). Randle P. McMurphy (Bryant Carroll) has been committed to an Oregon psychiatric hospital by the courts. Carroll brilliantly creates the rash protagonist, making him physically dangerous (prone to hit, move quickly), rebellious, naive (about the law), fun-loving, considerate, and compassionate--all at once. (And it doesn’t hurt that he looks a bit like Ken Kesey.)

The ward McMurphy happily enters (at this point he thinks he can just leave and that he’s ducked prison work crew duty) is filled with inmates who move like zombies--men who have had all personality either beaten or drugged or electro-shocked out of them. Nurse Ratched (a very persuasive Katie DeBoer who makes us love to hate her) runs the ward with an iron fist, all the while dripping fake smiles and kindly gestures. McMurphy ignores cautions about irritating Nurse Ratched and he’s very good at it; until he isn’t.

As the story continues we learn there’s a big difference between electroshock therapy (you don’t want it, it hurts, but you recover) and a prefrontal lobotomy (essentially castrating the brain), an experimental procedure that began in the 1940s. (Rosemary Kennedy had one with famously disastrous results.)

Nurse Ratched controls through running demoralizing “group therapy” sessions that end by her invitation for the others to “pile on” the person under consideration. Later, McMurphy points out to them that this it wrong; it’s the way chickens peck to death injured birds and then attack the birds who got blood spattered.

Kudos to the other players in the ward with him. Each manages to make us see vividly both their illness and their positive response to  kindness. Maurice Cole (who towers over everyone at almost seven feet tall) does an outstanding job as the ultimately heroic Chief Bromden, a Native American who seems to be in a catatonic state when the drama opens. We see him watch migrating birds and suspect there may be more to the Chief than he lets on, all thanks to Cole’s expressive body language.

Inmates with major plot lines include the shy, suicidal virgin Billy Bibbit (an artful Jeremy Gladen) and unofficial group leader Dale Harding (masterfully drawn by George Roth). Others, all persuasive in the roles as “acutes” (and possibly curable), include Cheswick (Steve Oleksa), Martini (Tony Zanoni), Scanlon (Bevan Michael Hayes), Sefelt (Joe Smith), and Fredricks (David Boyce).

Other cast members wander about a darkened area of the stage. Unlike those in the acute group, they can not be cured. Memorable patients include the wheelchair bound and elderly Matterson (John Stuehr), Rucky (Benjamin Gregorio), and Ellis (Michael Strama), a chronic due to too much electroshock therapy. It is he who poses like Christ against the wall most of the time (more about his role below).

The weak Dr. Spivey (a hesitant Jarod Marini), supposedly in charge of the ward, bows to Nurse Ratched (no accident it rhymes with hatchet?), as do Nurse Flinn (Minor Cline) and hospital aides (Anthony X, Daniel McKinnon, and Leonard Goff). Free-spirited visitors Candy Starr (bouncy Dayni Mahar) and Sandra (Kiara Kennelly) add to the chaos in one late-night party scene.

The sparse set, designed by Aaron Benson, the lighting by Trad A Burns, uniforms designed by Aimee Kluiber, and the sound designed by Carlton Guc all add to the mood.

But the heart of the play lies in Carroll’s McMurphy as he, entering the asylum happy as a puppy, tries to fight “the man” (to use 60s-era slang) in a ward for the insane. Here, Strama’s Ellis, usually taking up one corner of the stage and looking like a living crucifix hung upon the wall, serves as metaphor, a reminder that love may involve huge personal sacrifice. Whether or not Kesey intended McMurphey as a Christ figure, before the story’s done he has becomes one, shroud and all.

McMurphy's no victim though because he freely chooses the welfare of others over his own. We see this over and over, from the way he draws out the others in the opening scenes, makes them realize their human identity, to the way he tries to defend them. The Chief sees this and pays a final, brutal tribute to the man whose love (temporarily) made their lives better and perhaps, will continue to give them hope.

Bottom Line: Strangely uplifting considering it’s about helpless inmates in an asylum. Fine, fine acting and direction should take a mutual bow.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest runs through October 8 in the Beck Center’s Mackey Theater.

A Doll’s House @ Playhouse Square, August 8- August 27

Review by Laura Kennelly

Photo by  Bob Perkoski

Welcome to the cozy parlour of Thorwald and Nora Helmer, two citizens evidently enjoying a conventional, prosperous marriage in 1879 Norway. Cleveland’s five-year-old Mamaí Theatre Company takes advantage of the “Helen” Lab Theatre’s close quarters to turn Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House into an engrossing and intimate drama about marriage and choices.

Take a seat near the living area and watch as Nora sets it on fire (metaphorically speaking, of course) when she realizes that the childish dream she’s been living has turned her into a creature she can no longer be. Yes, the play’s been claimed by feminists, but it’s that and more. It also shows the duties and pressures social assumptions place on both men and women.

Director Christine McBurney’s evident attention to pace makes life at the Helmer’s move swiftly, at times humorously, as the Helmers and their friends celebrate Christmas and then fall apart the day after. This is the version “modernized” (in the 1930s) for American audiences by Thornton (Our Town Wilder), and even though language has changed (yet again), the story still rings true.

When we first meet her, Nora Helmer seems a perfect airhead. Anjanette Hall’s Nora, juggling parcels and popping sweets into her mouth at a furious pace, sweeps into the living room like a scatterbrained beauty afflicted with a serious shopping disorder. She’s assisted into the house  (packages, toys, and all) by Anna (Mary Alice Beck), the stalwart servant who manages the (always) off-stage children as well as everything else in the house.

Nora’s only real job is to take care of husband Thorwald (Abraham Adams). Adams’ Thorwald, while sometimes an outrageously drunk mansplainer (in a delicious after-the-party scene), manages to show a sympathetic, vulnerable presence not always seen in other productions of this play.

Life begins to get complicated when Nora’s old friend Christina Linden (Rachel Lee Kolis) drops by, asking for help finding a job. As Christina, Kolis convincingly manages her character’s alternating confidence and desperation.

Next Nils Krogstad (John Busser) drops in and attempts to call in a favor that Nora owes him. Now we learn that she’s been keeping a big secret from her husband, one she justifies by claiming she’s protecting not only his health, but his ego. Meanwhile, family friend Dr. Rank (a charming Tim Keo who sports a dashing long-haired look) continues his role as Nora’s best friend and confidant (her husband simply condescends to her).

It’s a small, first-rate cast that makes each character live and the observer care about them. I had a little trouble at the drama’s conclusion when Hall’s voice and demeanor switched from playing Nora as a child to showing her as a lecturing, door-slamming woman. It was as if Cate Blanchett suddenly replaced Kate Hudson. The change would have come, but in time, not so dramatically, so quickly.

The beautiful set allowed good views from both sides of the L-shaped seating area and costumes and props contributed greatly to the Victorian-era effect. Kudos to scenic designer Don McBride, costume designer Kristine Davies, lighting designer Marcus Dana, sound designer Richard Ingraham, and properties designer Monica Plunkett.

Bottom Line: An excellent production in a perfect venue that should delight just about anyone--even those who are afraid of classic Norwegian drama or establishment feminism. This is neither--it’s just great theatre.

For tickets go to playhousesquare.org or 216-241-6000.

City of Angels

City of Angels @ Beck Center, July 7-August 13, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

Photo by Kathy Sandham

The Beck Center’s ambitious summer musical, City of Angels, wins a few, loses a few. Directed by Scott Spence, this clever and comic Tony Award-winning musical (1990) celebrates, literally, two storylines at a time and, much of the time, this works.

What works best? The music, thanks to a talented cast and an offstage orchestra directed by Larry Goodpaster, the score by Cy Coleman with lyrics by David Zippel, comes across loud (but not too loud) and clear. When Mallory, a gorgeous curvey blonde played by Madeline Krucek, sings the sultry “Lost and Found,” we see why guys might like to find her. Songs reminiscent of the era include “What You Don’t Know About Women” (amusingly presented by Leslie Andrews as Gabby and Brittni Shambaugh Addison as Oolie), and “You Can Always Count on Me” (with Addison this time playing two parts one against the other as Donna and Oolie).

Adding to the atmosphere, the Angel City 4 (a smartly attired, tuneful quartet composed of Steven Huynh, Erin Niebuhr, Brianna O’Boyle and Robert Pierce) voice stylized period pop songs, usually during scene shifts.

Other players who were everything from gangsters to cops to good guys included Greg Violand, Leslie Andrews, Woodie Anderson, Brian Altman, Carlos Cruz, Sonia Perez, Paul Hoffman, John Stuehr, Michael Knobloch, Kyle Burnett, Mike Karban, Ryan Mayer and Simon Sedmak.

Ensemble performers were Emma Beekman, Sara Bogomolny, Lanie Davis, Shaun Dillon, Richie Gagen, Ines Joris, Benjamin Mowrer, Abby Riley, Emily Shipley, Leah Smith and John Webb.

Since City of Angels is a musical tribute to film noir, a genre which was the rage in the 1940s (think Bogie and Bacall or Sidney Greenstreet — Maltese Falcon, etc.). If those names mean nothing to you then you are likely going to have a harder time following the storyline created by Larry Gelbart than if you remember the old -chool “hard-boiled” fedora-wearing detective who is always getting beaten up, but somehow survives.

So what works less well? The storyline can get confusing because it’s a double plot concerning “reality” and “reel-ality” at the same time on the same set. We see script writer Stine (a comically sympathetic Jamie Koeth) at his typewriter (that should be of interest to those who have never seen one!) as he tries to transfer his story to the screen. As he does so, the story itself plays out on the opposite side of the stage, showing Stone, the detective he’s writing about (good tough-guy portrayal by Rob Albrecht) acting out Stine’s story.

There’s a voice-over (Albrecht) that guides some of the action as the detective “tells” his story, but as Spence says in the “Director’s Note,” following the story offers “challenges” since many of the parts are double-cast and if characters veer off their section of the stage then it’s hard to tell who they are supposed to be.

One minor (and funny) difficulty the actors had, which warms my ex-smoker’s heart, was in convincingly smoking cigarettes — a staple in film noir. But it’s just as well that flirting with a cigarette (whether waving or lighting) is becoming a lost art.

The striking Mackey Theatre set, designed by Jordan Janota, makes use of three panels that spell out “Hollywood” in huge letters. As the scenes shift, projected photos shift as well, instantly changing the background.

Bottom Line: Of the lines heard clearly, many were funny, the play is witty, the “rewrites” are cute, and I’d have enjoyed catching even more of the patter tossed helter-skelter across the stage. Understanding what’s going on and who is who is not really necessary — just relax and let it wash over you — you’ll be fine just basking in the music.

Tickets can be purchased at beckcenter.org or 216-521-2540.