Apollo’s Fire: 50 ways to leave your lover @ St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, November 11

Review by Laura Kennelly

Apollo’s Fire brought a new (although this wonderful ensemble often brings something new) offering to music lovers last weekend (November 9-12). Early English love songs performed by tenor Nicholas Phan and a small ensemble showed us that love has ever been problematic. Provocatively titled “50 ways to leave your lover, or A Painted Tale,” the program featured songs from the 16th and 17th centuries. They combined to recreate feelings swirling around a young man’s love, the delicious object of said love, his terribly broken heart, and his subsequent death.

In brief introductory remarks, Phan characterized his selections as “a greatest hits breakup playlist” and thanked Apollo’s Fire founder, Jeannette Sorrell, for “letting me play in her sandbox.” And “play” he did, singing with beautiful diction, precision, and feeling over a dozen sweet, angry, and sentimental songs that survived a turbulent era of British history.

Phan, with a voice sometimes honey sweet, sometimes forceful, all contained within the grey stone walls of the church, made us believe we had somehow travelled back to England. It was a beautiful program (although I’m surely glad not to have endured living in those days).

In addition to doing a splendid job accompanying Phan, ensemble members Johanna Novom and Evan Few (violin), René Schiffer and Ann Marie Morgan (viola da gamba and cello), and William Simms and Charles Weaver (lutes, guitar, and theorbo), also played selections from William Lawes’ The Royal Consort. The stem of the theorbo stretched so long and high that one wondered if at times it might not also have been used as a defensive weapon (keeping fans at bay, perhaps?).

On Saturday night, Phan also treated the audience to a lovely encore: the Whitney-Houston-made-famous “I Will Always Love You.” Phan made a great (and deliberate) point with his encore choice: our generation did not invent love’s delights and woes. The poets and composers Phan selected celebrated it (“My thoughts are winged with hopes,” John Dowland), fretted over it (“O turn not those fine eyes away,” John Blow), and despaired of it (“Not all my torments can your pity move,” Henry Purcell).

The sedate setting with soaring ceiling contributed to the mood inspired by centuries-old songs as they were enlivened and made relatable to today by Phan’s exceptional vocal technique and the Apollo’s Fire Ensemble’s traditionally excellent playing.

It’s too late for this program, but it’s not too late to catch the Apollo’s Fire Christmas fest (yes, this is a plug). It’s a new program created by Jeannette Sorrell: “Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain: An Irish-Appalachian Gathering.” It features Amanda Powell (soprano), Ross Hauck (tenor), the Apollo’s Singers, and the Sugarloaf Mountain players. (Not to mention, free ginger cake and cider after the concert.)

For tickets and concert locations around town, see apollosfire.org or call 216-320-0012.

Wicked @ Playhouse Square, Nov. 8--Dec. 3, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

Magic still sparkles in Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of OZ. This brilliant production once again has returned to Playhouse Square (possibly for the fifth time), but then consider, this Tony-Award winner has been on Broadway since 2003 (and it’s still playing there). The time-tested winning concoction, created by Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics), Winnie Holzman (book), and Joe Mantello (director) enchants, amuses, and entertains. The touring version, thanks to its all-round excellent cast, good small orchestra plus adept mechanics, offers Cleveland a dashing Broadway-quality production.

Imagine taking a favorite story, The Wizard of Oz (by L. Frank Baum), later made into a film classic, and then turning the whole familiar story inside out. That’s akin to what novelist Gregory Maguire did when he created the Wicked storyline from plot threads in Baum’s original.  

Wicked shows nothing directly about Dorothy Gale, but she figures significantly in the story anyway--just around the corner and up the yellow brick road. If, by chance, you are like me and have never seen the show or read Maguire’s book then I don’t want to spoil the delightful surprises in store for you. (In the past, I had avoided the show, on principle, I suppose and indulging in “How dare they mess with the Oz series” and other foolish thoughts.)

So I can testify as one who comes to it fresh. And folks, I loved it even before the curtains parted. A giant dragon head with flashing eyes crowned the stage, making it look rather like a Viking ship and a green stage curtain centered with sparkling emeralds promised Oz delights.

Blonde and beautiful Glinda the Good comes bubbling down from the sky to begin the story. Ginna Claire Mason’s Glinda moves delightfully from airhead narcissist to one who just might be a good queen some day. Her “Popular” brings back memories of “Legally Blonde’s” Elle and everyone else who ever won prom queen back in the day.

Elphaba, her green-skinned classmate is just a bit different, but Mary Kate Morrissey makes her appealing and vulnerable. Morrissey’s vocal range is also impressive as she sustains note  high and low, especially in ”No Good Deed.” Mason and Morrissey sell the closing duet, “For Good,” like two who really believe its “feel good” message..

The whole cast (including the monkeys) clambers, dances, and scrambles entertainingly  along the way as they sketch out the full stories of the wizard, the tin man, the scarecrow, and even a bit of  the cowardly lion. Susan Hilferty’s costumes are beautiful, though the citizens of Oz look a lot like those in District One in The Hunger Games (but Wicked came first).

Bottom Line: A classy production with an excellent cast. No wonder denizens of Northern Ohio love this show and return to Oz time and time again.

Anything Goes @ Baldwin Wallace University,  Nov. 8--Nov. 19

Review by Laura Kennelly

It’s light, it’s frothy, there’s lots of dancing, and tons of amazing young talent. What’s not to like? Anything Goes, the sprightly classic now onstage at Baldwin Wallace University’s John Patrick Theatre (in Kleist Auditorium) features music and lyrics by Cole Porter (with book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse).

Age becomes it. Anything Goes first appeared in 1934, but it dances right into (and over) today’s concerns (celebrity, the Stock Market, crime, churches, social status). Directed by Jim Beaudry, choreographed by Gregory Daniels with music direction by Beth Burrier, over two dozen tuneful actors (some no doubt destined for Broadway like so many BW alums) prance, dance, and generally dazzle.

It all begins with a sea voyage (as does many a good tale). In the 1930s, if you wanted to go to England, you most likely took a huge ocean liner across the Atlantic. By a series of mischances, the S. S. American sets sail with some very odd characters indeed. There’s love too. Several “boys” meet several “girls” as the show progresses and romance wins out (as it must in a 1930s musical).

The leads are double cast. I saw the “Billy Cast” that featured velvet-voiced Veronica Otim as nightclub singer Reno Sweeney. Reno gets the best songs--and Otim (a bit Eartha Kitt, a bit Dorothy Dandridge, and all Veronica) handled them like a pro: “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You’re the Top” (a snappy duet with Charlie Ray as the hapless stowaway Billy Crocker),  “Friendship” (with the delightfully comic Marcus Martin as master criminal Moonface), and “Anything Goes” (with the whole chorus).

But dancing takes precedence in this toe-tapping musical and rhythmic feet moving across the stage with precision and grace make bring real joy. It’s a first-rate show (and I won’t even say “for a college production” because the set by scenic designer Jeff Herrmann and assistant Rose Musto has a professional vibe).

Bottom Line: Lots of beautiful dancing, most at a dizzying rate, great young voices singing classic songs--go if you can.

There are shows November 15 to 18 at 7:30 pm. and a 2 p.m. show Nov. 19. For tickets go to https://www.bw.edu/events/2017/fall/11-11-Anything-Goes or call the box office at 440-26-2240.

"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.