Roy Berko - Page 24

It was a soggy night at Blossom, but neither the rain nor the humidity dampened the enthusiasm of the crowd that filled the pavilion and covered much of the lawn for the Saturday, August 13 evening concert of the Silk Road Ensemble.

David Mamet, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and author of Glengarry Glen Ross, a play which is now on stage at Blank Canvas, is noted for his unique style of writing dialogue. Dubbed 'Mamet speak,' his vocal tone centers on precisely crafted street-smart narrative style. His characters talk 'real.' They sound like the way people from the geographical area and societal level from which they come would really speak. This is not 'speech for a play,' it is actual people speaking, with vocalized pauses ('ums,' 'you know,' and 'things like that.'

When the lights went off to signal the ending of none too fragile's production of Johnna Adams' unsettling, haunting, thought-provoking Sans Merci, my immediate reaction was, 'Oh, please fellow audience members, don't clap!'

Soon, the leaves will start to turn and many local theatres will be lifting their curtains to welcome a new season. Here's a list of some of the offerings of local theatres through the fall season. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL THEATRES!

The 1984 movie Footloose became a cult movie among teens and young twenties, not only because it showcased a rebel with a cause standing up for his rights, and displaying victory over misguided-adults, but because of the performance of Kevin Bacon as Ren McCormick.

Walking down Queen Street, the main shopping boulevard in beautiful Niagara-on-the Lake, during the third week of July, was like being in downtown Cleveland. Cav championship t-shirts and Indian's garb were worn by many of the strollers. Our Toronto friends shared that in almost every play they attended, their neighbors on one or both sides of their seats were from the Cleveland area.

'There's Another National Anthem, folks. For those who never win . . . for the ones who might have been.' A line from a Trump election advertisement? No, its from the Stephen Sondheim, John Weidman musical, Assassins, now on stage at Near West Theatre.

The indoor-outdoor Alma Theatre was seasonally comfortable with almost all of the seats full on opening night of Groundworks Dance Theater's 14 th annual performance at the Cleveland Heights hilly, tree-covered Cain Park. What the participants didn't know was that the almost always proficient Groundworks Dance Theater was about to let loose with what assuredly was one their finest performances.

What happens when a happily married gay couple's home is invaded by one of the duo's pot-headed, manipulating sister, with her teen daughter in-tow? According to Chad Beguelin, the author of the play Harbor, which is now on stage at convergence-continuum, the answer is angst, frustration, revelations and a surprising, if less than expected, conclusion.

The year is 1984. Margaret Thatcher, the first woman British Prime Minister, declared war on the coal labor unions, closed 20 mines and laid off 20,000 workers in what she called 'the process of bringing the British coal industry up to competitive levels.'

Johnny Cash, 'The Man in Black,' was noted as a somber singer of such songs as 'I Walk the Line,' 'If I Were a Carpenter,' and 'Ring of Fire.' The latter was chosen as the title for Richard Maltby, Jr.'s jukebox musical, now on stage at Porthouse Theatre, which loosely centers on the trials and tribulations of Cash's life. While not autobiographical, per se, there is enough of the tale of the man to gain an understanding of Cash, his music, his strong belief in social causes, and his personal problems.

The multi-award winning Billy Elliot The Musical tells the historically tale of a community in strife caused by a miners' strike in County Durham, in North Eastern England, balanced against the fictional tale of a lad named Billy.

What happens when a new musical opens at the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse in California and becomes the highest grossing show ever at that venue? Obviously, it is grabbed up by a Broadway producer who opens it on the Great White Way. Right? Wrong!

It's been seen by over 140-million people in 30 countries and 151 cities. It's been translated into 14 languages. It's Broadway's longest running show. What is it? Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, which is now on stage at the State Theatre, in a reimagined form.

What do the '1812 Overture,' 'An American In Paris,' Pinchas Zukerman, and viewing of film Raiders Of The Lost Ark and playing it's score all have in common? They are all part of the 2016 Blossom Music Festival.

In 2011, Kelly Williams-Bolar served a 10-day jail sentence for illegally sending her children to a suburban school outside of her Akron, Ohio district. The sentence disqualified Williams-Bolar from getting her accreditation as a teacher. A storm of protests, both pro and con, quickly followed the sentence and a later pardon by the governor.

There seems to be a trend in the choices theaters are making regarding musicals they produce. Maybe it's a desire to attract younger audiences, or it's the popularity of comic book heroes as the subject of television shows and movies, but like it or not, the age of 'unusual' protagonists is here.

BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL, July 8-August 14-Based on the 2000 Academy Award nominated film and the 2009 winner of 10 Tony Awards, it's the story of a young boy in a depressed mining town in England, who discovers his extraordinary gift for ballet, and gets admitted to the prestigious Royal Ballet School.

A teenaged girl snarls at another, 'I know who I'm sitting with at lunch, do you?' Yes, high school can be a time of great angst or hellish glee. Depends on which clique you are in! Jocks, cheerleaders, nerds, drama-kids, brains...what was your place in the high school hierarchy?

Purpose is to develop "a playwrights' center," which means they will "develop  plays (and playwrights), produce plays, and otherwise provide our dramatists with a long-needed home."