Roy Berko - Page 25

STEEL MAGNOLIAS is now in an extended run at the Hanna Theatre, as part of the Key Bank Broadway series. It is based on author Robert Harling's sister's 1985 death from diabetic complications following the birth of his name-sake nephew.

THE WILD PARTY is a musical by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe based on the same poem.

Edward Albee's THREE TALL WOMEN, a version of which is now on stage at convergence-continuum, has quite a pedigree. In 1994 it won Best Play recognition from the Drama Critics Circle and the Outer Critics Circle, the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

THE FANTASTICKS, the Tom Jones (book and lyrics) and Harvey Schmidt (music) musical holds the honor of being 'the only Off-Broadway show to have won a Tony.' In addition, the show, which has been playing in New York for 56 years, is also the longest running theatrical production in American theater history.

Shortly into WRESTLING JERUSALEM, Aaron Davidman's self-written and performed one-man play, now on stage at the newly remodeled James Levin Theatre at Cleveland Public Theatre, Davidman tells a joke. A joke which is, in actuality, not funny, but very sad and prophetic.

Matilda Wormwood is a precocious five-year old who loves to read and has the ability to perform telekinesis. She also likes to meet life's obstacles. She comes from a family in which her father wanted a male child, so he calls her 'boy,' has a mother who didn't know she was pregnant and when Matilda came along was irritated because it interfered with Mrs. Wormwood entering dancing competitions and carrying on an affair with her dance instructor, and whose fellow students think she is odd because she likes school and knows all the answers.

The Irish are a unique brand of people. Living in a land of rocks, hills, harsh weather, poverty and isolation, they have developed attitudes toward life that lend themselves to dark thoughts and bleak tales.

If you go to see JERUSALEM, now on stage at Ensemble Theatre, don't expect it to be about people living in the Israeli city of that name, or of the 2013 film of the same name concerning a group of messianic pilgrims abandoning their native Sweden to emigrate to Palestine.

The words, 'Cleveland Ballet' to many locals means Dennis Nahat, Ian Horvath Karen Gabay, Raymond Rodriguez, impressive sets and costumes, a union with the Silicone Valley's San Jose. And, poof, in 2000...they were gone to the west coast, leaving a hole in the local arts offerings.

The subject of David Adjmi's play, MARIE ANTOINETTE, was a delicate beauty, with gray-blue eyes and ash-blond hair, who following the Seven Years War, was used by her scheming mother, Empress Maria Theresa, to cement an alliance between Austria and France by arranging a marriage to Louis-Auguste.

What is the longest running musical in New York City history? No, it's not PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, CHICAGO or THE LION KING. It's that little musical, THE FANTASTICKS, with book and lyrics by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt. It's been on the boards in Manhattan for over 56 years.

Theatre, as do all of the arts, represents the era from which it comes or is written about. For example, Lanford Wilson's TALLEY'S FOLLY places the spotlight on Missouri in 1944, the border state that, until this day, is noted for its laws and customs regarding prejudice against Jews, Catholics and Blacks (e.g. the Ferguson incidents). It also showcases many of the feelings of border Southerners regarding 'proper' etiquette, the sanctity of the roles that women are to play in society, and the power of gossip. All this is folded into a charming tale.

LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST, a production of which is now on stage at Great Lakes Theater, is one of Shakespeare's earliest plays. As such, some critics believe that it is the 'work of a playwright just learning his art.' Though many of Shakespeare's plays are brilliant and have effected the course of Western Literature, Shakespeare scholars tend to view this script as a minor work in the Bard's folio. It has never been one of the playwright's more popular works.

What happens when you bring together the music of composer Bela Bartok, noted for developing new sounds for a new century, The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Most, and The Joffrey Ballet, under the creative vision of Ashley Wheater, and the sounds of two well-trained opera singers? The result is a creative, spell-binding visual and musical concert of high audience pleasing quality.

Over the last several years much attention has been drawn to the abduction of children and, in rare cases, their return. A short time ago, the Cleveland area had the spotlight placed on it when three young ladies, Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus, were freed after their many years of captivity in the Tremont home of Ariel Castro. This event makes one of the basic tenets of MR. WOLF, now on stage at Cleveland Play House's Outcalt Theatre, quite inciting to local audiences.

King is being portrayed by the very talented Abby Mueller. Mueller. Sound familiar? Her sister, Jessie Mueller, won the Tony Award for her portrayal of Carol in the original Broadway production of the show.

SHINING CITY, Conor McPherson's script now on stage at Beck Center, is a play about people who are in a search for 'self.' Each of the four characters has an unclear image of who they are, and are in a quest for clarity, love, and the need to emotionally and physically touch someone.

Both Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) and convergence-continuum (con-con) are noted for producing 'on the edge' theatre. Ironically, both are now featuring plays that examine the human experience from the viewpoint of sexual orientation and race/ethnicity.

The reconfigured Groundworks Dance Theater, with two new dancers this season, again proved that they are one of the area's premiere dance companies in their presentation of 'Falling Awake,' in its world premiere, and Artistic Director David Shimotakahara's spellbinding, 'Ghost Opera.'

Native Clevelander Darren Katz and Israeli born, Yuval Boim, have many things in common. The duo are gay, Jewish, have an intense interest in probing into the psyche of self-identity, security of identification, and victimhood. As revealed in a face-to-face interview, they both seem to thrive on probing psychological barriers and delving into the layers of personal development as an artist.