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.

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages @ Cain Park, June 8-25

Review by Laura Kennelly

Photo/Steve Wagner

Douglas F. Bailey as Lonnie reminds the characters that this is a play, after all!

If your teen soundtrack included 1980s rock and you loved concerts with blasting music and bright lights, then you’ll feel awesome at Rock of Ages in the Alma Theatre.  Director Joanna May Hunkins and a lively ensemble cast pay homage to the good old days. Those who have been missing hearing “Anyway You Want It,” “Can’t Fight this Feeling,” “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” or any of the over thirty tunes on the song list can sit back and cruise down memory lane.

We learn most of the paper-thin storyline from Lonny (Douglas F. Bailey). Bailey, energetic and comic,  serves as both narrator and character. He steered us along musical byways via well-delivered (i.e. I could understand every word) remarks both funny and serious.

The action turns on whether or not LA Sunset Strip bar owner Dennis Dupree (gravel-voiced and kindly Philip Michael Carroll) can be forced to close his bar. Pushing to clean up the area  are developer Hertz Klinemann (a distinguished Kevin Kelly) and his son Franz (a shamelessly comic David Turner, who camps it up and has one of the funniest lines in the story--which I won’t share because revealing it would spoil the fun).

Yes, there’s also a love story. Drew, a feckless lad who yearns to make it big as a performer (played by a likeable Shane Lonergan) and Sherrie (played by powerhouse vocalist Lauren Berry) find, lose, find, etc. each other over the course of the musical.

Others in the story include Neely Gevaart (as city planner Regina, who makes a comic joke of her name), Connor Bogar O’Brien (as Stacee Jax, sexy rock star and rat with women), Trinidad Snider (as Justice, likeable owner of a “gentleman’s club”), and Jack Keith (the bumbling Mayor).

For the “big numbers” (and there were plenty of them) ensemble members Natalie Girard, Alec Chock Irion, Brooke Turner, and Meredith Zahn danced and sang as did band singers Tony Heffner and Grace Hunt. A small band, conducted by Jordan Cooper played from an upper level behind the main stage.

Bottom Line: This show might not be the best choice for the intimate environs of the Alma Theatre. Bright lights in the eyes, plus blaring sound, distracted from some very good instrumental and vocal efforts. On a larger stage all that energy would have worked better. But if the 1980s and 1990s are part of your scene, then rock on! All is awesome and bodacious! Oh, and if the ticket office asks if you want to “Sit up close,” be sure you know what that means. Opening night we had some very good sports sitting, basically, onstage. Props to them!

ROA_finale:

Lonny the Narrator (center, Douglas F. Bailey II) ties up all the loose ends in Cain Park’s regional premiere of ROCK OF AGES directed by Joanna May Hunkins that runs through June 25 in the Alma Theater. Showtimes are Thursdays-Saturdays at 7pm, Sundays at 2pm. Cain Park 216-371-3000. Photo/Steve Wagner

Really, Really @ The Beck Center, June 2, 2017

Really, Really @ Beck Center for the Arts, June 2-July 2, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

Olivia Scicolone and Molly Israel, photo by Andy Dudik

 

Getting drunk, casual sex, self-interest, lying, manipulation all play a part in Paul Downs Colaizzo’s Really, Really, the latest Beck Center Studio Theater offering. The play, which premiered at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia in 2012, is directed by Donald Carrier.  It’s pretty much a “He said/She said” story where the truth may not ever be fully figured out. Both major witnesses, in other words, the couple who may or may not have had sex, sex which may or may not have been consensual, have reasons to lie.  

Davis, (the He, played by Daniel Scott  Telford) and Leigh (the She, played  by Molly Israel) were so drunk (or so they claim) neither is truly sure what happened the night of the riotous party in question. Other people at the party can’t be sure either since they were also drunk and were not in Davis’ bedroom with the two. That doesn’t stop them from forming opinions based on their own self-interest.

Leigh’s fiancé Jimmy (an earnest Randy Dierkes), her political-reformer roomie Grace (Rachel Lee Kolis), and Jimmy’s pals Cooper (Chris Richards) and Johnson (Jack Schmitt) all seem familiar college stereotypes as they try (or indifferently avoid trying) to sort out what happened.

It’s only in the second act, when Leigh’s boisterous sister Hayley (a delightfully over-the-top Olivia Scicolone) swirls into the story like a trailer-park tornado, that hidden aspects of Leigh’s character appear. Hayleys’ appearance instantly perks up the action and one has to wonder if Leigh’s goal of getting a college education, a rich husband, and all that is really worth the price she is prepared to pay. Hayley seems to be living a more honest, full, and generous life.

Cameron Caley Michalak’s cleverly designed set for the Studio Theater employs a turntable in the corner that creates instant changes as the action moves between “Her” place and “His.” Stage manager Jamie R. Benetto, costume designer Jenniver Sparano, sound designer Angie Hayes, and lighting designer Trad A. Burns, all caught the “student apartment” vibe.

Bottom Line: We may never know what happened, but it’s sure fun to discuss later. While it’s set in college, it would be a mistake to see it as an indictment of “today’s generation.” It could happen anywhere hormones and alcohol, ambition and selfishness overwhelm common sense and kindness.

Really, Really runs through July 2, 2017 at the Beck Center for the Arts. For tickets or information go to  beckcenter.org or call 216-521-2540 x 10. Beck Center for the Arts is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood.

Photo credit::

Forever Plaid @ Playhouse Square, Hanna Theatre, May 5-21, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

The Plaids (actors, from left to right, James Penca, Mack Shirilla, Andrew Kotzen and Mickey Patrick Ryan) 

Great Lakes Theater signs off the current season with Forever Plaid, a Stuart Ross and James Raitt musical directed by Victoria Bussert. It’s a sweetly nostalgic look at 1950s pop music and early 60s quartets (Four Freshman, etc.) through the eyes of The Plaids, four young men who were on their way (maybe) to fame and fortune in 1963. Alas, they died when their car collided with a bus full of Catholic school girls (on their way to the Ed Sullivan Show to see that new group, The Beatles, ).

But wait! Here they are, each bearing a lit candle down the stairs as they enter the Hanna Theatre with a stage waiting in readiness for them (each mic covered with a tiny white shroud), an audience looking at them, expecting a show. Is it heaven or hell or purgatory or merely a waiting station before the next stage?

Doesn’t matter. It’s meant to be a funny premise and it is, as the lads don’t seem fraught with grief over their ironic end (although they are more than a little bit annoyed).  All the quartet wants to do is perform the concert they were enroute to present. And that’s a great excuse for a show!

And perform they do, much to our delight. Francis  (Mack Shirilla), Sparky (Andrew Kotzen), Jim (Mickey Patrick Ryan), and Smudge (James Penca) croon and belt over two dozen hits that rocked every car radio and school dance back in the day. Shirilla (as Francis) strongly serves a pivotal role as the one who consistently urges his friends to seize the moment. Penca’s comic Smudge overcomes his initial reluctance to even walk onstage and by the end belts out (in his uniquely deep bass voice) that paen to heavy labor, “Sixteen Tons.” Kotzen and Ryan add light, romantic, and even comic touches in turn. Just for laughs (and nostalgia) one sequence involves recreating the Ed Sullivan Show in approximately three minutes. (Imagine “America’s Got Talent” in three minutes and you got it.)

Featured golden oldies include, “Cry,” “Lady of Spain,” “Three Coins in a Fountain,” “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” “Heart and Soul” (with Shirilla on piano and a little help from an audience member who raised her hand when asked “Who knows this?”), “Dream Along with Me,” and...oh just think of a hit song from that era and it’s likely in the show.

The numbers are delightfully choreographed by Gregory Daniels (especially one where plungers  become mic stands). Matthew Webb (conductor/piano) and Timothy Powell (bass) provide accompaniment from one corner of the stage.

Bottom Line: In the end we never know exactly what happened to the lads after their show, but we do know we just shared a relaxing look back at another musical time. Recommended for light summer fare and a pleasant evening out.

Forever Plaid continues through May 21. For tickets go to GreatLakesTheater.org or call 216-640-8869.

Photo: Roger Mastroianni