Saturday, March 12, 2022

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy

Pretty Woman

Review by Laura Kennelly

Pretty Woman: The Musical asks us to go along with an unbelievable Hollywood tale. Now at Playhouse Square through March 27, it draws from the 1990’s Julia Roberts/Richard Gere film hit of the same name. Alas, the musical’s fairy-tale plot [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty Woman] seems old-fashioned and naïve today.

But, on the plus side, Director Jerry Mitchell distracts the audience from the story with vignettes featuring amiable characters, snappy tunes, and precise dancing. As prostitute Vivian Ward, Olivia Valli shows the original Pretty Woman’s sass and style (if not Roberts’ sweet Georgia accent). Understudy Chris Manuel stepped in on opening night as the wealthy Edward Lewis. Jessica Crouch plays Vivian Ward’s friend and hooker coach Kit De Luca.

The ensemble cast deserves praise for bright snippets. Amma Osei’s beautiful vocals in the La Traviata scene evoked opera’s emotional magic. Kyle Taylor Parker added heart to the production playing both the Happy Man as well as the stuffy hotel manager.

Another highlight came when (assistant to the director) Nico DeJesus subbed opening night as Giulio, the quirky bellhop. DeJesus, with movements, not words, showed appealing wit and humor.

Music Director Daniel Klintworth led a small, but gritty ensemble that sounded bigger than it was. And even though we had to wait a long time for Roy Orbison and Bill Dees’ iconic “Pretty Woman,” it provided an upbeat closing. The audience greeted it with an enthusiastic sing along.

Other positive elements in Pretty Woman include David Rockwell’s clever scenic design that allows for quick set changes as walls ascend and descend. Gregg Barnes’ costume design also contributed to the story with outfits that faithfully mimic the film..

Bottom Line: I will spare you an old-time feminist rant and merely remark, beyond the dubious thrill of watching filthy rich men pay for friendship and/or sex with poverty-stricken young women, there isn’t much to see in this out-of-date homage to wealth (his) and beauty (hers). The fairy-tale ending is ludicrous—really? Our star climbs up a Disneyfied balcony to tell his feelings? And then what happens? No one knows. Stellar minor characters are not enough to overcome the trite Poor-Girl-Rescued-by-Prince storyline, but they added a major plus to the production.

Monday, February 7, 2022

Lizzie: The Musical at The Beck Center, February 4-27

Review by Laura Kennelly (Roger Mastrioanni, photo)

Did “Old Maid” Lizzie Borden kill her father and step-mother in 1892? Lizzie: The Musical offers a rock (and roll) answer in the show now playing at the Beck Center in collaboration with Baldwin Wallace University.

No one knows. Lizzie is not a detective mystery, but instead a screaming plunge into evil in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Using tools available--gossip, witnesses, testimony—officials conducted a thorough investigation. However, this story unfolded in pre-DNA days. The one sure fact is that Mr. and Mrs. Borden were brutally murdered in their home. (Strange thing, everyone complained of an upset stomach several days before and Lizzie had purchased rat poison early that same week.)

Only Lizzie and the victims will ever know the truth.

But never mind. It is rock music we are here for. And we get it. Director Victoria Bussert, with her trademark gusto, allows the four dynamic female leads to do abundant screaming. A few lyric pieces (“Sweet Little Sister”) offer welcome contrast, but major angst suffered by all four characters soon offsets peaceful moments.

A small onstage ensemble led by Matt Webb provided backup and a loud relentless beat when needed (which was often). Rock was most obvious in rhythmic numbers such as “The House of Borden,” “What the Fuck Now, Lizzie,” and—of course, the earworm, “Forty Whacks.”

This excellent four-woman show is double cast. On the Saturday night I went, it was the “Blood” cast. Lizzie Borden (a forceful Alexa Lopez), Emma Borden (a melodious Kris Lyons), the Borden’s neighbor Alice Russell (a naive and lyric Audrey Hare), and Bridget Sullivan (a practical and saucy Gracee Street) enacted the terrible story.

For alternate performances the “Axe” cast features Jessi Kirtley (Lizzie Borden), Autumn Key (Emma Borden), Andie Peterson (Alice Russell), and Colette Caspari (Bridget Sullivan).

As the Borden’s Irish servant girl, Street reveled in her character’s caustic side, especially revealed when she continuously had to remind the casually racist Borden household that her name was “Bridget,” not “Maggie.” In Fall River all Irish looked the same.

While the “Sweet Little Sister” duet with Lopez and Lyons stays sarcastically sweet, watch out for the driving thump of “Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks, and when she saw what she had done, gave her father forty-one.” It may become an earworm.

It’s an active musical, near Olympic, and Lopez, Lyons, Hare, and Street moved with grace (when called for) and vigor (most often called for) as guided (and required) by Greg Daniels’ challenging choreography.

One major feature on the set, employed to great effect by the actors, was a thronelike wooden chair placed front and center in the set designed by Jeff Herrmann. The throne was sturdy enough for two or more cast members to simultaneously stand on it and roomy enough for two to snuggle. It anchored the stark setting.

If this is not your first Lizzie (it is my third local production so it might not be new to you either), the answer to the obvious question about spatter is: “Yes.”

Yes, there is a splash scene. This time blood did not fly everywhere—the blood (yes of course there was blood), stayed safely onstage thanks to a splash screen. (Intermission brought a bit of mopping for the hardy stage crew.)

The only sour note the night I attended was produced by a clique of super-loud student fans who shouted encouraging cheers no matter what was happening on stage. (OK, maybe they thought it was a rock concert, I get that, but it was not, it was a small theatre show.) The real problem was that even thoughtful ballads triggered loud whoops, so much so that they upstaged performances. With luck, the screamers will not appear at subsequent shows.

BOTTOM LINE: Lizzie lives again thanks to beautiful, capable, and talented young performers in a smoothly directed and produced musical. But do not forget your earplugs if you want to preserve your hearing.

IRONIC SIDE NOTE: Do not, I repeat, do not research genealogy to trace Lizzie Borden’s descendants. While she remained childless, as far as we know, numerous figures are said to be related to the prominent New England family. Highlights? Elizabeth Montgomery (who played Lizzie in a TV biopic), Winston Churchill, and (the best one), serial killer Charles Manson. Some stones seem best unturned.

Monday, February 15, 2021

New Musicals: Five X 15, Five Brand New Fifteen Minute Musicals

THEATER REVIEW: 5 x 15 @ Baldwin Wallace/Beck Center by Laura Kennelly

Through 2/28

This freezing February pandemic winter, the Beck Center and the Baldwin Wallace University Music Theatre program have united to offer five brief dramatic and musical looks to keep us busy. Each 15-minute production previews works created during the forced isolation endured this last year. Scott Spence (Beck Center) and Victoria Bussert and Matthew Webb (BW) are to be commended for allowing “the show to go on” despite having to go virtual this year.

One very good thing about the Beck Center video tickets is that they are good for 48 hours. Find a favorite? Watch it again. Can’t do that in a theater — at least not right away and on the same ticket.

More questions are asked in these short plays than answers are given, but they are important questions — and perhaps ones with no quick answers. All five musicals were winners in the recent National Alliance of Music Theatre (NAMT) challenge. The shows described below are in the order presented on the video.

In Monster on the Lawn, composer and writer Obed De La Cruz explores how a six-year-old, Ricky (played by Mateus Cardoso), might feel if he woke up and saw a whale-sized creature in his front yard. In effect, De La Cruz asks metaphorically what it would be like to leave everything (in this case, Puerto Rico) and flee to (what his mother sees as) a better place. Cardoso deftly sings and looks surprised as he reveals the little boy’s confusion and wonder. Director Jon Martinez and musical director Lindsay Miller utilize close-ups to cut down on scenery while allowing the melodic score to shine.

Holo, writer-composer Nico Juber’s two-person play (and my favorite), asks questions about mankind’s future on a vast scale and on a personal one. It’s set in 2189 at the Mars-based Elon Musk Museum where curator-receptionist Ember (Bryanna Cuthill) talks to young college student Kyle (Mackenzie Meyh). Kyle, now a hologram, has no idea she will later become famous and — worse —whether or not she will recover from COVID. It seems that Earth’s 2020-2021 pandemic has been remembered in a museum. Cuthill and Meyh create characters true to their times (and ours) in this charming and touching reminder of Groundhog Day. Director Ciara Renée and music director Matthew Webb show the vital importance of hearing and being heard — even on repeat.

White Man’s Burden, directed by Nathan Henry (with Ed Ridley, Jr. as music director and Webb as film editor), is described as “funny.” It’s anything but. This compellingly presented and darkly satiric mini-rock musical takes its story from headlines from the past two centuries — all detailing racist crimes. Eric C. Jones (book and lyrics) incorporates music by Joshua Davis to remind us of historic atrocities. The story is conveyed to three young and clueless TV watchers by Gordia Hayes as infomercial host. Hayes’ host uses the familiar pitch to buy CDs of what might be called “racism’s greatest hits.” The ensemble cast includes Dar’jon Bentley, Jack Hale, Brinden Harvey, Makay Johnson, JT Snow, Will Lamb, Zach Mackiewicz and Charles Mayhew Miller. It’s a slick, well-done satire not only of racism, but also of commercial packaging (and how just about anything can be pitched).

Rodeo Clowns by Dale Sampson (with music by Marc Campbell) satirizes clowns and rodeos and small towns. It’s directed by Sara Bruner with Webb as music director. Nick Cortazzo, Lee Price and Danny Bó tell the tale of two queer and eccentric fellows who decide to be rodeo clowns (a job not for the faint of heart). The country music score is all right, the actors gave it their all, but this musical somehow misses the mark.

Perpetual Sunshine and the Ghost Girls has a glittery title that belies its dark story. Written by Lynne Shankel (music) and Sara Cooper (words), it’s the first minutes of what will be a full-length show. That the story is true makes all the horror underneath stronger. Directed by Victoria Bussert, with Webb as music director, it teaches us via short conversations, dances and snippy, tick-tock collages why women sued the United States Radium Corporation in the 1920s for knowingly exposing them to poison. The excellent ensemble cast included Katelyn Baughman, Piper Bruce, Colette Caspari, Audrey Hare, Autumn Key, Jessi Kirtley, Alexa Lopez, Eden Mau, Claire Marie Miller, Andie Peterson, Lauren Senden, and Bella Serano.

Bottom Line: These five musicals are radically different, but all are socially aware. They each offer engaging 15-minute flashes of what may come next, in fully fleshed out versions, on post-pandemic musical stages. Can’t wait to see. (Yes, I have faith there will be a post-pandemic future.)

The BW/Beck production is a limited virtual engagement that runs through February 28 on any device. (Personal experience: The computer screen seemed ideal, casting to the TV didn’t work easily, and the phone screen was too small.) The Beck writes that ticket purchase provides 48-hour access to the shows allowing you to enjoy them all in one sitting or divide up your watching over a few days. Tickets are available here.

[Written by Laura Kennelly, published in CoolCleveland.com]

Holo by Nico Juber

Monday, February 17, 2020

Sleuth @ Great Lakes

Photo by Roger Mastrioianni

Sleuth @ Great Lakes Theatre, Feb. 14 to March 8

Review by Laura Kennelly

There’s mystery afoot in the engaging Great Lakes Theatre production of Sleuth at the Hanna Theatre. Director Charles Fee and the talented cast create a tour de force of acting chops. These players show what acting is all about as they create a maddening, confusing world, and then, having done so, plunge us all into its surprising adventures.

Originally presented as a (Tony-award winning) play, Sleuth, by Anthony Shaffer, has been around since 1970 and has had three movie versions. All this seems proof that the story is pretty darn intriguing. (I don’t know how I missed seeing it, but I did.)

The outstanding principal characters include mystery writer Andrew Wyke (David Anthony Smith) and his wife’s lover, Milo Tindle (Jeffrey C. Hawkins). The action begins when Wyke invites Tindle over for a visit to his country house. All seems friendly and urbane and, over copious drinks, the two decide to play a game. As Wyke, the beguiling Smith displays psychopathic gamesmanship at its best. Hawkins plays the fatuous nincompoop Tindle with art and grace. Somehow, and surprisingly, in the hands of Hawkins and Smith, both characters are likeable (and confusing).

The country-house set deserves a character credit. Both balcony and bookcases play vital roles as well as show the whimsical mystery writer's quirks. Bravo to Gage Williams (scenic designer), Jesse Klug (lighting designer), and Josh Schmidt (sound). Costumes (Esther M. Haberlen) and makeup (Lee Ernst) also played a memorable part in making this mystery tick.

Bottom Line:

Don’t want to say much more and spoil this fun show--just go.

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Anastasia @ Playhouse Square

Review by Laura Kennelly

Imagine My Fair Lady, only this time set in Russia and Paris. The Broadway hit, Anastasia, now at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace, offers sparkly, hummable tunes, and an enchanting fantasy about a lovely young woman from the lower class, one who (like Eliza Doolittle) must convince upper-class society that she’s one of them.

Directed by Darko Tresnjak, with music by Stephen Flaherty and book by Terrence McNally, this lavish musical production sports a frothy plot. It skims over (for the most part) the horror of what happened to the Russian royal family in 1917 and plays with the hope that one daughter survived. The show revolves around the efforts of two con men to convince the world that one royal Romanov, 17-year-old Anastasia, survived her family’s massacre when Bolshevik revolutionary forces took control of Russia. Without getting into whether or not Anastasia Romanov really did survive (recent DNA studies seem to prove she did not), McNally’s version makes us wish she had.

Stunning visuals — ranging from dramatic, sparkling, silver, blue and white scenes at a Romanov ball (“Once Upon a December”) to those recreating a train ride to Paris — add much to the show. The train’s progress at times was so realistic one could almost forget that the passengers weren’t moving (thanks to videos streaming behind the rotating train car). Enhanced lighting and backgrounds also added beauty (especially at the Paris ball) and realism (on the Paris bridge).

The team behind those winning effects includes Alexander Dodge (scenic design), Aaron Rhyne (projection design) and Donald Holder (lighting design). Linda Cho’s costume designs were also outstanding.

Lila Coogan’s Anya (and later, Princess Anastasia) sings and dances like a dream. No wonder everyone falls under her spell. When Anya leaves Russia, along with con man Dmitry (a charming Jake Levy) and fleeing Russian aristocrat, the self-confident Vlad Popov (Edward Staudenmayer), we hope she succeeds. The three travel to Paris to reveal her identity to her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (a regal, but heartbroken Joy Franz).

Of course (as in all melodramas), the trio is pursued by a bad guy, in this case the handsome Gleb Vaganov (Jason Michael Evans) . He’s a Russian official assigned to bring Anya back alive if she’s merely a deluded peasant. (If he thinks she’s really Anastasia, he’s to bring her back dead).

There’s even a bit of comic bawdy in Paris when Staudenmayer’s Vlad and Alison Ewing’s Countess Lily Malevsky-Malevitch sing and dance in “The Countess and the Common Man.” Ewing’s Lily skillfully combines gymnastics with dance. Her amorous efforts, especially while still dancing, bring appreciative laughs.

The melodious score is a huge plus. More than a few audience members left humming the nostalgic (and recurring) waltz “Once Upon a December.” That song can definitely become an earworm (just ask me). Some tunes, such as “Learn to Do It,” generate a spunky exchange between characters —a staple in musicals (think Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady and many others). Lawrence Goldberg ably conducted the sizable pit orchestra.

Bottom Line: Anastasia is a light, enjoyable musical that offers a new take on the rags-to-riches motif. It’s a perfect winter treat. The national touring company does a bang-up job of bringing Broadway to Cleveland. (And yes, Cleveland was mentioned in the dialogue — but I bet a different town is named at the next stop — we all laughed anyway.)

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The Scottsboro Boys at the Beck Center, Feb. 2-23

THEATER REVIEW: “The Scottsboro Boys” @ Beck Center by Laura Kennelly

Through Sun 2/23

Brilliant and daring. The latest Baldwin Wallace University/Beck Center collaborative production, John Kander and Fred Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys, directed and choreographed by Jon Martinez, provides a stunning (albeit starkly condensed) musical sketch of a real event.

In 1931, nine African-American young men (ages 13 to 20) were arrested in Alabama on charges that they had raped two women who had been hitching a ride (train hopping) on the same train. Over the years, evidence and history has shown that they were falsely accused and that what happened to them was a tragedy.

While dressed up as an old-fashioned minstrel show, The Scottsboro Boys is a serious show. Like the works of Bertolt Brecht, it has jokes — some funny, some bitter. But they don’t offset its story’s somber side. To be explicit, it doesn’t flinch from the ugly truth about racism.

So it’s not a musical walk in the park, or if it is, it’s a scary walk in the park that takes a look at society’s ugly truths. But, it’s also a show full of talented performers, all but one (Greg Violand) students at Baldwin Wallace. Their vitality and jaw-dropping dance skills, plus fine vocal and acting chops, all combine to make a mesmerizing night at the theatre.

An appropriately authoritative Violand, as the “Interlocutor” (i.e. White Man) serves as the Master of Ceremonies. Violand tells us he’s going to offer a brand-new show. As Interlocutor, he orders the African-American characters (that is, all the other actors) around throughout the show.

Violand starts the action by delegating Mr. Bones (Nick Drake) and Mr. Tambo (Charles Mayhew Miller) as his assistants. Naturally (given the times) they do his bidding without question. Both Drake and Miller offer edgy, assured performances in their pivotal roles (and when the talented duo dances, the thought “Can humans really do that?” comes to mind frequently). Just to make things more fun (and under Violand’s orders), they also fill other roles, such as the Attorney General and lawyer Samuel Leibowitz.

Over a dozen musical numbers and dances make the story race along. There’s action all the time and the fact that there’s no intermission seems irrelevant — time just flies.

At one point, as the “wronged women,” Javar Parker (as Victoria Price) and Tavon Olds-Sample (Ruby Bates) make a delightful spectacle of their (lying) characters as they flounce around the stage singing “Alabama Ladies.”

Anthony Harris creates a heartrending, lovable Haywood Patterson. He does it through showing Patterson as a defiant, self-confident person (of course he does — that’s good acting), but he also does with his voice, especially in “Make Friends with the Truth” and “You Can’t Do Me.” When he and Jahir Hipps (as Eugene Williams) sing the ballad, “Go Back Home,” they break hearts.

Other Scottsboro Boys include Gordia Hayes, Marcus Martin, Jahir Hipps, Anthony Harris, Elijah Dawson, Brinden Harvey, and Savannah Cooper. Cooper is also dance captain.

And lastly, one mysterious character, The Lady (a dignified RhonniRose Mantilla), floats around the stage, observing, but not speaking until the end. In many ways, her presence signals the change to come. It’s a hopeful note to end a sad, bittersweet tale, all the sadder because it’s based in truth.

Additional credit for this professional-looking and -sounding production should go to Matthew Webb, orchestra director; Jordan Janota, scenic designer; Steve Shack, lighting designer, Susanne Houstle costume designer, and Carlton Guc, sound.

BOTTOM LINE: The Scottsboro Boys‘ 2010 Broadway presentation garnered twelve Tony Award nominations. It’s a fine and challenging show in the tradition of Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret and Chicago. Somehow having age-appropriate actors (the majority of whom are African-American, and all of whom seem Broadway ready) makes this production all the more touching and wonderful.

Art Still Matters