Susy Hendrix (actor, Jodi Dominick) and Harry Roat (actor, Arthur Hanket (Photo by Roger Mastroianni) 

Wait Until Dark @ Great Lakes Theater at Playhouse Square

Review by Laura Kennelly

Feeling helpless? Imagine the plight of Susy Hendrix, blind and trapped in a room with a murderous drug dealer. That’s just one plot turn in Wait Until Dark, an engaging thriller staged by Great Lakes Theater at the Hanna Theatre at Playhouse Square through March 12, 2017.

Director Joseph Hanreddy keeps the pace swift and the atmosphere menacing as newlywed-just-back- from- a-Quebec honeymoon Hendrix (a convincingly “blind,” but very trusting Jodi Dominick) slowly begins to realize that she’s not safe in her Greenwich Village basement apartment. It seems that Susy and her husband, Sam (an earnest Jonathan Dyrud) had agreed to help a strange woman they met in Canada to take a doll to a sick child in a New York City hospital. Shortly after they get home, the doll disappears. (This plot device worked in 1966, but I hope we all know by now never to agree to “help out” by taking packages across borders after hearing a good story from strangers.)

The first-rate cast includes Elisa Pakiela as the bratty Gloria who lives upstairs, Arthur Hanket as the enigmatic Harry Roat, Nick Steen as “sympathetic friend” Mike Talman, and David Anthony Smith as “Sgt. Carlino.” Roat, Steen, and Smith also assume other roles. Laura Welsh Berg and Lynn Robert Berg play the late-arriving  and somewhat puzzled police

Highlights? Dominick and Hanket tumble around persuasively in the final scene, both fighting for their lives as the blind Susy becomes more desperate to find a way to take advantage of her disadvantage. A tense scene, where the audience (something I’m glad about) has a better view of what’s going on than the cast does, was created by lighting designer Rick Martin. Robert Westley skillfully choreographed their encounter. Set designer Scott Bradley convincingly fashioned all the rooms needed without scene changes. I would have liked the sound effects to have better reflected Susy’s reliance on her sense of hearing. It was hard to believe characters could come and go up the stairs to the entrance without her hearing them, though she did observe that one man’s footsteps sounded just like his father’s. Perhaps exaggerated door clicks (that door never seemed to shut right) and other sounds could have emphasized that her world was dark, but her ears were keen.

To say more would spoil the fun, but if you must know the plot, just consult wiki at Wait Until Dark. Warning: It’s a lot more fun if you don’t.

Bottom Line: Fast action in dark and confined spaces in a well-played old-fashioned thriller.

Wait Until Dark runs through March 12, 2017. For tickets go to GreatLakesTheater.org or call 216-241-6000. Next up? Hamlet, March 31 through April 15.

Photo by Roger Mastroianni

Bring It On the Musical @ The Beck Center, 2/10 - 26

Review by Laura Kennelly

Wow, was I wrong! [That happens once in awhile, hahaha.] Bring it On the Musical, a rock/hip hop show now playing in regional premiere on the Mackey’s big stage at the Beck Center, turned out to be quite surprising.  I had assumed I’d see a fluffy  musical based on a film about high school cheerleading competitions---a great subject to showcase dance, but not one too intellectually or emotionally “deep.”

In fact,  it did showcase athletic dancers and singing cheerleaders, but it was also an unexpected exploration of “adaptation”--in both the word’s literal and figurative (or emotional) sense. With a libretto by Jeff Whitty, music by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda (yes, that Lin-Manuel), and lyrics by Amanda Green and Miranda, this 2011 musical (based on a motion picture) enjoyed a national tour before playing on Broadway for a limited run in 2012.

Literally, the plot turns on adaptation manifested by two girls: pretty head cheerleader Campbell (played with vulnerability and charm by Kailey Boyle) and her friend, zaftig Bridget (an earnest, very likeable Shelby Griswold). The two become even faster friends when they both have to adjust quickly to a new school thanks to sudden school redistricting policies which force them to leave their beloved cheerleading squad at good old Truman High. Their new school, Jackson High, has a funky urban vibe, but it doesn’t have a cheerleading squad. It does, however have a “crew,” run by the redoubtable Danielle (Shayla Brielle). Danielle’s dancing posse includes Nautica (sassy Joy Del Valle) and the sexually ambiguous La Cienega (a glam Nick Drake, more about this below).

The two transfer students learn to adapt, picking up new vocabularies and new attitudes. At last, after various missteps and fumbles and lies, Campbell begins to fit in. She inspires the Jackson High team to compete against her old squad, now captained--after some rather mysterious “coincidences” by the very freshman Campbell herself had added to the team, the innocent-looking little Eva (played with scary glee by Abby DeWitte).

Ah, our girl Campbell might have been more wary if she had seen the classic film, “All About Eve,” but by contest time Eva has taken up with Campbell’s old boyfriend, Steven (Jonathan Young, who beautifully satirizes the “perfect” boyfriend with silly puppy sweetheart rituals). Campbell’s former besties at Truman, Skylar (a self-centered, yet glamourous Victoria Pippo) and Kylar (a clueless but cute MacKenzie Wright) prove outstanding glimpses of why high school popularity  is a fleeting thing.

The rest of the marvelous ensemble cast, some thirty-two Baldwin Wallace students in all, offered a polished performance despite at least one substitution in a major role the night I was there. Sporting a dramatic wig, understudy Nick Drake smoothly stepped into the alt-campy role of La Cienega, one of Danielle’s crew. Drake completely sold it--making the statuesque beauty’s  remark about knowing plenty about discrimination both funny and touching.

But the show had a point beyond the vagaries of cheerleading competitions and that’s the figurative adaptation I mentioned. This transcending motif developed throughout the story as we watched Campbell and Danielle, both dominant, strong young women, learn to see past social and racial differences. This meaning is perhaps best expressed near the show’s end when Danielle sings “I Got You.” She tells Campbell, “I thought you were a spoiled rich, uptight little white bitch, now I think you're just white.” Such thoughts can sound preachy, but they seemed earned here.

On the down side: The Broadway production featured a professional cheerleading team for the stunts, an advantage this production lacked. The result? A few injuries (common to all athletic efforts, think how injury-prone high school sports can be) and as an overheard commentator remarked “You get a different show every night.” However, none of that was evident to the audience that watched this cheer-worthy show pulled off with heart and guts.

Helping to “Bring It On” were Director Will Brandstetter, Music Director Peter Van Reesema,  Associate Music Director Alyssa Kay Thompson, Choreographer Martín Céspedes, and Cheer Choreographer Mary Sheridan.

Bottom Line: Delicious fun for those of us who used to be cheerleaders and for those of us who never led a cheer in our lives.

For tickets, call (216) 521-2540 or go online at www.beckcenter.org. The Beck Center is at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood. The show closes February 26, 2017

Photo by Roger Mastroianni

The King and I @ Playhouse Square, Feb. 7-26, 2017

Review by Laura Kennelly

Who doesn’t love a bit of fantasy in February? This month the KeyBank Broadway Series at Playhouse Square offers The King and I, a classic Golden Age musical currently in the Connor Palace Theatre (through Feb. 26). Directed by Bartlett Sher, this is the recently-produced and much acclaimed Lincoln Center production that won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical Revival.

The opening scene is breathtaking: Filmy fabric curtains part and a blood-orange sky flames out behind a ship as it slowly hoves into view, looking as if it’s about to fall off the stage if it doesn’t stop in time. (It brings back the scene in Phantom of the Opera  when we’re not sure about that chandelier plummeting across the audience). After that introduction, it was easy to settle back and wait to be reminded of all the reasons the show has been winning hearts since 1951.

Good things weren’t hard to find. The story (cobbled together from a novel based on a memoir), concerns some of widow Anna Leonowens’ experiences in the 1860s when she came to Bangkok to serve as tutor to the King of Siam’s multitude of wives (dozens) and children (even more dozens). It’s touted as “East meets West,” but Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I draws its power from love stories.

There’s the unspoken love (or at least appreciation) that slowly blossoms when feisty woman (Anna, of course) meets feisty man (the King). Anna (a schoolmarmish Laura Michelle Kelly) shows her young son (Graham Montgomery) how to overcome fear with the optimistic “Whistle a Happy Tune” and muses about her loss in “Hello, Young Lovers.”

Although a lovely vocalist, Kelly seemed stuck in “teacher” mode so that a little extra frisson possible when dealing with the King (played with charm and verve by Jose Llana) didn’t really materialize. That is more likely to be true to what might have really happened than the “East meets West” vibe, but reality is overrated in a classic musical. A perfect tyrant, Llana’s King postured appropriately and sang powerfully, especially in “A Puzzlement” and, of course, with Anna in “Shall We Dance.”

Ah, but there was plenty of romance between Tuptim (the utterly lovely Manna Nichols) and Kralahome (the dashing Brian Rivera). As the only true romantic pairing in the show, they share  a wonderful duet (“We Kiss the Shadow”), but pay a high price for their love. (Young lovers often pay a high price in Rodgers and Hammerstein shows; South Pacific came out only two years earlier with the tragic story of Lt. Cable and Liat.)

The King’s first wife, Lady Thiang (Joan Almedilla), shines in the gorgeous “Something Wonderful” as she expounds on the tricky nature of love and acceptance between fallible human beings. Almedilla turned what might have been a “ho-hum” justification of polygamy into lyric emotion that, if applause is any measure, touched most of that night’s audience.

Best thing in the show? The ballet based on Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel of the period, A wonderfully fabricated “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” features over a dozen dancers portraying main characters Eliza (Lamae Caparas), Uncle Thomas (Amaya Braganza), Angel/George (Nobutaka Mochimaru), Topsy (Yuki Ozeki), Simon of Legree (Rommel Pierre O’Choa), Little Eva (Michiko Takemasa) as well as Dogs, Guards, and others. The choreography by Christopher Gattelli was based on the original choreography by Jerome Robbins. Dance Captain Yuki Ozeki and assistants Kelli Youngman and Andrew Cheng also deserve high praise for this enlivening, skillfully executed interlude.

Other dancing, especially the sweeping waltzes, added froth and glamour (even when the hoop skirts were used to comic effect). Doing justice to the rich score, Gerald Steichen conducted the small orchestra that included many local musicians.

Bottom Line: I went to this critically-lauded The King and I expecting to be blown away, and there were many good moments, but overall it seemed as if it lacked heart, something missing. But, perhaps, “The Small House of Uncle Thomas” made up for it all. I think it did.

For tickets or more information go to www.playhousesquare.org

Into the Woods

Into the Woods, Cleveland National Tour, Jan. 10 to Jan. 29

Review by Laura Kennelly (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Intertwined fairy tales conjure “what ifs” in the latest Playhouse Square Broadway Series production, the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine hit, Into the Woods This  touring version of the recent Broadway show, reshaped and reimagined by the Fiasco Theater and Roundabout Theatre, and directed by Noah Brody and Ben Steinfeld, adds an extra element of amusement even for those who have enjoyed this whimsical show before.

The clever and tuneful ensemble cast handles complex lyrics, dances, and  choreographed entrances with ease. The latter is highly important because the stage gets very busy. Almost everyone plays more than one character and/or plays a musical instrument. Some truly shine, such as Lisa Helmi Johanson as the coy little Red Riding Hood and the hapless Rapunzel.

I used to think that the character of Jack (Philippe Arroyo) was dumb for falling in love with Milky White, the family cow (played with true bovine sensibility by Darick Pead), but now I’m in love with the cow too. It should be noted that Pead also plays wicked sister Florinda and Rapunzel’s Prince, but it’s the cow that knocks my socks off. “She” reacts with just the right touch of charming affirmation and (sometimes) sarcasm--and all without a word! Moo.


Evan Harrington as the Baker and Eleasha Gamble as the Baker’s Wife start the action with their wish to have a child. The story is then filled out by adventures with others who wander in and out of their own various stories. Cast  members include Anthony  Chatmon II, as the sexy wolf,  Lucinda, and Cinderella’s Prince; Fred Rose as Mysterious Man; Bonnie Kramer as Cinderella’s Stepmother/Jack’s Mother; Laurie Veldheer as Cinderella/Granny, and Vanessa Reseland as the Witch. Even the “baby” (played by a bundle of rags) cries with feeling (thanks to various maidens just out of the scene).

There are, of course, many funny songs, such as the laughable “Agony” sung by the gallant princes (Chatmon and Pead). Theirs is a delicious duet dedicated to male fickleness and self-absorption. It’s even funnier in the second act than the first (like life, I guess in that it takes a bit of age to see the humor in some things).

The first thing audience members may notice when they arrive is that the Connor Palace stage looks like a jumbled mess. Framed by tiny boxed piano guts above and on the sides, it’s cluttered with junk: giant piano strings across the back, a ladder with extensions, loops of yellow yard, chairs, an  upright piano in the middle, random costumes scattered about--typical backstage storeroom vibe. Scenic designer Derek McLane created a set, which looks, in a good way, like what might have happened if a giant had tossed the traditional set for the show--trees, a house, castle, etc.--into a Vitamix and then poured the resulting concoction out onto the stage. The ladders, benches, colorful structures suggesting houses, castles, gardens, woods all get put into  use when needed by the nimble cast.  Opening night, as items were called into service, only the upright piano remained in the center, even turning its back upon us once in awhile. Other times we saw music/director pianist Sean Peter Forte admirably pounding away on the piano and becoming part of the larger story.

On opening night, while we awaited the start of the show, members of the brilliant ensemble cast begin to appear, some waving at us, others intent on getting into costume. One cast member stepped up to remind us of the rules: “no photos, no phones,” and then added something new: “Before intermission it may look as if the show is over, but it isn’t. So stick around.”

Sure enough, after the rousing  resolution to Act I, featuring the musical summing up we expect at the end of every show, the [Happy] “Ever After,” some of the audience did leave. Well, it was getting late, and the truth is that optimists and/or youngsters may leave at that point, completely satisfied. After all, the first act, shapes a complete drama of loves lost and found and evil overcome. You can safely take the little ones home and they will have sweet dreams.

However, grownups might like to stay and find out what “ever after” really means to Sondheim and Lapine. The rest of the story, as it were, is a bit cynical, with a bit of Voltairian disillusionment (as in “Candide”) laid on the contemporary mantra of “find your family where you can.”

Bottom Line: Beautifully done. It helps, more than it hurts, to know your Fairy Tales.

For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to playhousesquare.org. The show runs through January 29, 2017.

[Review by Laura Kennelly]

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

Review by Laura Kennelly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review by Laura Kennelly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review by Laura Kennelly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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