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BWW Review: Seldom-staged “City of Angels” now at Beck Center for the Arts
'City of Angels,' a version of which is now on stage at Beck Center, opened on Broadway in December of 1989 and ran through January, 1992, in a healthy run of almost 900 performances. Lakewood's Dee Hoty, a three-time Tony nominee, played a leading role in the Great White Way run....
BWW Review: Jivin' AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' is All Singing and Dancing at Porthouse
"Ain't Misbehavin'" is a musical-review which will be of interest to those who like 1920 and 30's Harlem Renaissance swing music. Be aware that the show, though nicely performed, has over 30 songs and no story line....
BWW Review: Black comedy, “An Impending Rupture of The Belly,” insights at none-too-fragile
Matt Pelfrey is noted for inventing oddball concepts and writing sardonic dialogue. His 'An Impending Rupture of the Belly,' now on stage at none-too-fragile, is Pelfrey at his 'creative' black comedy best....
BWW Review: AN AMERICAN IN PARIS 'S Wonderful' at State Theatre
My Broadway review of “An American In Paris, A New Musical,” stated that it was “a visual, dance-driven Broadway story-telling creation that is gorgeous, enchanting, seamless and sophisticated.” Though I won't go raise the banner as high for the touring production, I will say that it is a ve...
BWW Review: Slight “9 to 5” pleases sold-out Porthouse audience
'9 to 5 The Musical' is based on the 1980 comedy film which starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. After the success of the movie, which is credited with being the 20th highest grossing comedy film, Parton decided to add music and put the story on stage....
BWW Review: Mesmerizing HOW TO BE A RESPECTABLE JUNKIE in World Premiere at Dobama
Newspapers and television are filled with stories of drug overdoses, excessive prescriptions for opioids, and dependency on drugs due to PTSD, pain and depression. Obituaries note an increasing number of young people dying because of overdosing. Hands are wrung, mea culpas chanted, and social servic...
BWW Review: “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” less than it should be at Blank Canvas
Comedian Steve Martin has written a thought-provoking, clever script which gets a less than stellar production at Cleveland's Blank Canvas. It's not bad, just not what it could be....
BWW Review: ROCK OF AGES Rocks, Really Rocks, at Cain Park
If you are a fanatic for rock and roll, especially from the genre's golden age, you will absolutely love "Rock of Ages." "Oh Sherrie," "The Search is Over," as you'll think it's "Just like Paradise" and believe that you are in "Heaven," having "Nothin' But a Good Time," which is pretty darn good!...
BWW Review: REALLY REALLY, Thought Provoking, Inciting, Well-Conceived at Beck Center for the Arts
"Really Really" is "murder" mystery without a dead body, but still asks, "Who did it?" It's a must see for anyone interested in thoughtful and well-conceived theater....
BWW Review: MASSACRE (SING TO YOUR CHILDREN) at Convergence-Continuum
"Massacre (Sing to Your Children)" is an abstract play whose meaning will depend on an individual's views of the world, and their willingness to search for the author's intent and purpose. This is a script and production for playgoers who like to probe for ideas with no need for clarity of ideas or ...
BWW Review: A Cleveland Reviewer Goes to Broadway at Tony Time, 2017
Cleveland talent on stage and producers help enlighten Broadway season!...
BWW Review: THINGS AS THEY ARE examines poet Wallace Stevens in world premiere at Playwrights Local
As a play in process, "Things As They Are" needs to be reexamined with an eye for sharpening and tightening the dialogue and ascertaining whether all the visual and audio stimuli are necessary to tell the tale. For those who like to see new works, to discuss and add in-put into the development proce...
BWW Review: “Forever Plaid,” a pleasant Jukebox musical @ Great Lakes Theater
"Forever Plaid "is an escapist evening of theater, which is a pleasant trip back to yesterday, when clean-scrubbed boy singers waxed beautifully about the angst of young love, trips of fantasy and the mini-stresses of life. If you like that kind of thing, this is a show for you....
BWW Review: Well-Written and Performed SALVAGE Fascinates at None-Too-Fragile
'Salvage,' continues none-too-fragile's history of outstanding theatrical presentations as it takes George Brant's well-crafted script from page to stage, with clarity and vividness....
BWW Review: THE NORTH POOL at Ensemble
While the production is well-conceived and holds attention, "The North Pool" is somewhat unsatisfying as a thoughtful piece of play crafting. The script leaves us wanting more, a clearer message to carry from the theatre....
BWW Review: LIZZIE, the grizzly musical, rocks the Ohio
"Lizzie," the rock musical, based on the Lizzie Borden murder mystery, is as much rock concert as theatre, represents the movement in musicals to take on modern trends in music, e.g., rock and rap, and appeal to a younger, modish audience....
BWW Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN is a must see musical farce at Playhouse Square/Connor Palace
"Something Rotten" is a theatrical treat…a wonderfully conceived and performed musical farce. Anyone who wants to go to the theater and have a great time, unburdened by a complicated plot, listen to fun lyrics, see dynamic dancing and experience two acts of non-stop laughter…this is the must see...
BWW Review: Superb HAND TO GOD Demands Attention with Laughter and Angst at Dobama
"Hand to God" is a brilliant production, and places a spotlight on lost people caught up in their inabilities to cope with grief and abandonment. In fascination, we watch as these people lose healthy reality, replace it with abject pain, interspersing horror with laughter. This must-see staging, ha...
BWW Review: FREAKY FRIDAY at Cleveland Play House
If you go to the theater for enjoyment, Cleveland Play House's "Freaky Friday" is your thing. If you go to the theater to see marvelous talent, in a well-directed, well-conceived show, "Freaky Friday" is your thing. If you don't go to theater but have always wondered what a Broadway show is like, "F...
BWW Review: YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU at Karma
During the late 1920s and into the 1940s, the United States went through the great depression. Unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25%. These were drab times and, as is the case, since the arts represent the era from which they come, the theatre of that time period represented two extremes: heavy dram...
BWW Review: Disturbing, Funny BETWEEN RIVER AND CRAZY at the Cleveland Play House
Pulitzer Prize Winner and Steinberg Distinguished Playwright, Stephen Adly Guirgis, whose script 'Between Riverside and Crazy,' is now on stage at Cleveland Play House, is noted for writing plays that feature racial discord and the definition of family, while examining 'self-interest, self-delusion,...
BWW Preview: 2017 Season is About to Raise the Curtain at the Shaw Festival
Those nice people from the North who are getting ready to create great theater are beaconing people from CLE to be their guests....
BWW Review: A Female HAMLET Brings a Twist to the Play at Great Lakes Theater, Well, Almost . . .
Having been summoned home to Denmark from school in Germany to attend his father's funeral, he is shocked to find his mother Gertrude already remarried to his Uncle Claudius, the dead king's brother, who has declared himself the king, though young Hamlet is the actual heir to the crown. Hamlet, righ...
BWW Review: HARM'S WAY Examines the Underbelly of Humanity at Convergence Continuum
Cleveland is in the midst of 'The Mac Wellman Homecoming Festival,' presented by Playwrights Local, in partnership with Cleveland State University Department of English, the NEOMFA Creative Writing Program, and the Michael Schwartz Library, with performances by Playwrights Local, Theater Ninjas, c...
Videos
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La Malasangre ( Bad Blood) LatinUs Theater Compay (5/22-6/07) |
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Cassidy Theatre (8/07-8/23) |
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Dear Evan Hansen Short North Stage - Garden Theater (1/23-2/14) |
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Annie Near West Theatre (11/20-12/06) |
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A Beautiful Noise – The Neil Diamond Musical The Stranahan Theater (6/16-6/21) |
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Walk On: The Power of Carousel Cleveland Museum of Art, Gartner Auditorium (6/14-6/14) |
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All-City Musical presents: Mean Girls Akron Civic Theatre (6/13-6/14) |
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Ragtime Near West Theatre (7/17-8/02) |
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Mean Girls Beck Center for the Arts (7/10-8/09) |
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My Dear Aunt Flow Starcatcher Theater (8/07-8/09) |
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