CLEVELAND THEATER REVIEWS

'Floyd Collins,' now on stage at Blank Canvas Theatre, isn't your typical musical. There is no dancing, no show-stopper production numbers, no intentional humor, no subplot, no 'I wish for' numbers. It's a tale of simple folks, a story focused on a man with an obsession to spelunker (explore caves),...

The mission of the Cleveland Play House is to produce plays that 'inspire stimulate and entertain.' It further intends to bring bold, necessary, personal stories told in imaginative ways to the public....

Nancy Maier left New York and a budding career to move to Cleveland. Yes, she traded the Big Apple for Cle!...

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Annie Baker, who deservedly won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for her play The Flick, was perceived by the awarding committee as one of 'the most impressive dramatists of her generation.' They went on to say she, 'writes with tenderness and keen insight.'...

It's no wonder in this age of xenophobia, racial profiling and baiting, irrational interpretation of regulations, police brutality and alternate facts being spewed, that when a car bomb goes off in the center of a large American metropolis, a Muslim young man would become paranoid....

Addiction, whether it's alcohol, drugs, sex, racism, obsessive compulsion or eating, is no funny matter. That is unless it's in a play written by playwright Robert O'Hara....

August Wilson is considered not only one of the greatest of African American playwrights, but of all theatrical writers. His themes of self-identity, racism, loyalty, religion, deception, love, gentrification and historical verification form the centerpiece of his well-received 'Century Cycle' about...

The capsule judgement of my review of the Broadway production of The Bridges of Madison County stated, 'The Bridges of Madison County' is one of those special, intimate, meaningful, well-conceived and performed shows that deserved a longer shelf-life than it is getting.'...

Over the last number of years Great Lakes Theater has cobbled together seasons consisting of Shakespearean classics, musicals and mystery plays. The combination has proven to be very successful, with many award winning productions and audience pleasing shows being produced....

Mention Lin-Manuel Miranda and the musical sensation Hamilton comes to mind. If not, then, In the Heights, which had a run at Beck Center last year, is noted. Few know Miranda also wrote both the music and lyrics, along with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green for Bring It On: The Musical, with book by Jeff...

Ken Ludwig is the crown king of writing modern farcical plays. He and the Cleveland Play House seem to have a 'thing' for each other. Ludwig has had world premiere productions of his scripts A Comedy of Tenors (2015), The Games Afoot (2011) and Leading Ladies (2004) on CPH stages....

Founded in 1969, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, which is housed in the Harlem section of New York City, was the first black professional classical ballet company. Since that time, as was evidenced in their recent Cleveland concerts, the organization has extended its purpose to being racially diverse a...

Conor McPherson, author of THE NIGHT ALIVE, now on stage at Dobama Theatre, is considered one of the important new breed of playwrights who delve into the lives of people. In this case, Irish people, usually Irish men. He has an eye for loneliness and despair. His plays often are 'meditations on reg...

Much like Lewis Carroll's ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND and L. Frank Baum's THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF OZ, Norton Juster's THE PHANTOM TOLL BOOTH is a fantasy adventure. All three are perceived as tales for children, but, in reality, though they are intended to teach youngsters, the messages are ofte...

A present trend in entertainment is story telling before an audience. 'The Moth: True Stories Told Live,' is one of Public Radio's highest rated offerings. The publicity for the show states, 'The Moth is deeply rooted in the desire [of humans] to connect with each other through shared experiences in...

Contemporary musical theater and jazz, are two major contributions to the arts of the world that have come from the United States. Originally filled with escapist reviews and song and dance shows, with no story or purpose other than to entertain, the American musical has evolved into a format to tel...

This country is in political and social turmoil. There is a President-elect who appears will win the Electoral College endorsement, while losing the election by a reported 2-million plus votes. There is a rise of xenophobia, the Alt-right, the presence of hate groups, possible destruction of the hea...

Cabaret. It's 1931 in Germany, a country of unrest. We find ourselves at the Kit Kat Klub, a seedy cabaret, a place of decadence and emotional abandonment. Hanging over the entire scene is the aura of the growth of the Nazi party and the impending reign of terror....

One of the difficulties of doing the Disney Theatrical, The Little Mermaid, is how to do the underwater scenes. Yes, much of the story of Ariel, the daughter of King Triton, the master of the sea, in her search for 'a world in which I feel truly realized in my own terms,' takes place, as the songs s...

When the Cleveland Ballet left this area for San Jose, California, in 2000, it is rumored that the organization was over one-million dollars in debt. Lots of fingers were pointed as to why the deficit existed, but one thing is for sure, there will always be, it the minds of those who saw it, one las...

Henry David Thoreau was a rebel. A rebel with many causes. He opposed taxation, contested war on foreign soils, was a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery, refused to pay fees for things that he thought were earned and therefore should not cost money (e.g., as a Harvard graduate he rejected ...

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, had an unusual path to being one of the oft-produced musicals of all time. It has been estimated that world-wide, over 20,000 school, community and professional theatres have produced the work....

Several weeks ago, in my review of Baldwin Wallace University's production of WEST SIDE STORY I stated, 'BWU's Music Theater program is nationally recognized for its quality, as evidenced by the number of its graduates who have light up the Broadway theater scene and touring productions. Of those in...

A near sold-out audience rose as one following the BODYTRAFFIC dance concert at the Ohio Theatre. They had witnessed a variety of creative, well-executed, serendipitous dance numbers....