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CLEVELAND THEATER REVIEWS

The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Cleveland
BWW Review: Funny, Competing THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX Opens New Season at Dobama

BWW Review: Funny, Competing THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX Opens New Season at Dobama

by Roy Berko — September 6, 2016
Bathsheba Doran, author of The Mystery of Love and Sex now on stage at Dobama Theatre, stated of the script, 'I had no plans for subject matter. I never do when I begin. As my play stormed out of me, unstoppable and violent, I was horrified. The experience was deeply unpleasant, emotionally. I was t...
BWW Review: SELFIES AT THE CLOWN MOTEL Confounds at convergence continuum

BWW Review: SELFIES AT THE CLOWN MOTEL Confounds at convergence continuum

by Roy Berko — August 29, 2016
SELFIES AT THE CLOWN MOTEL, Christopher Johnston's new play, in world premiere at convergence-continuum...
BWW Review: KINKY BOOTS Gets Better and Better with Each Visit to Connor Palace

BWW Review: KINKY BOOTS Gets Better and Better with Each Visit to Connor Palace

by Roy Berko — August 25, 2016
When KINKY BOOTS played Playhouse Square in April of 2015, while still running on Broadway, it was a really good performance. The show is back again and, believe it or not, it's even better this time around....
BWW Review: THE SCOTTISH PLAY (M....TH) Holds Forth at Ohio Shakespeare Festival

BWW Review: THE SCOTTISH PLAY (M....TH) Holds Forth at Ohio Shakespeare Festival

by Roy Berko — August 22, 2016
Theater people are very superstitious. A light is placed center stage in many theatres, appropriately called the 'ghost light,' to scare off the demons which inhabit many performance places....
BWW Review: 0BJECTIVELY/REASONABLE (A Community Response to the Shooting of Tamir Ric

BWW Review: 0BJECTIVELY/REASONABLE (A Community Response to the Shooting of Tamir Rice, 11/22/14)

by Roy Berko — August 22, 2016
On November 22, 2014, twelve-year-old Tamir Rice was shot at close range by police officer Timothy Loehmann outside the Cudell Recreation Center on Cleveland's near west side. Tamir died the next day....
BWW Review: Culture Matters! Silk Road Ensemble Enthralls Capacity Crowd at Blossom

BWW Review: Culture Matters! Silk Road Ensemble Enthralls Capacity Crowd at Blossom

by Roy Berko — August 15, 2016
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....
BWW Review: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS Doesn't Close the Deal at Blank Canvas

BWW Review: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS Doesn't Close the Deal at Blank Canvas

by Roy Berko — August 8, 2016
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 're...
BWW Review: Unsettling, Haunting SANS MERCI at none too fragile

BWW Review: Unsettling, Haunting SANS MERCI at none too fragile

by Roy Berko — August 8, 2016
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!'...
BWW Review: FOOTLOOSE Leaves Them On Their feet, Yelling and Applauding at Porthouse

BWW Review: FOOTLOOSE Leaves Them On Their feet, Yelling and Applauding at Porthouse

by Roy Berko — August 1, 2016
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....
BWW Blog: Clevelander's Invade Canada for the Shaw Festival 2016

BWW Blog: Clevelander's Invade Canada for the Shaw Festival 2016

by Roy Berko — July 25, 2016
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 atte...
BWW Review: Impressive ASSASSINS at Near West Theatre

BWW Review: Impressive ASSASSINS at Near West Theatre

by Roy Berko — July 19, 2016
'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....
BWW Review: GroundWorks Dance Theater Astounding at Cain Park

BWW Review: GroundWorks Dance Theater Astounding at Cain Park

by Roy Berko — July 18, 2016
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 Ground...
BWW Review: HARBOR Attempts to Examine 'What's a Family' at convergence continuum

BWW Review: HARBOR Attempts to Examine 'What's a Family' at convergence continuum

by Roy Berko — July 18, 2016
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, revelation...
BWW Review: BILLY ELLIOT The Musical Sings and Dances Its Way on the Beck Center Stag

BWW Review: BILLY ELLIOT The Musical Sings and Dances Its Way on the Beck Center Stage

by Roy Berko — July 13, 2016
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.'...
BWW Review: RING OF FIRE, Johnny Cash Jukebox Musical, Delights at Porthouse

BWW Review: RING OF FIRE, Johnny Cash Jukebox Musical, Delights at Porthouse

by Roy Berko — July 11, 2016
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 trib...
BWW Review: SISTER ACT Delights as the Opening Show of the 2016 Porthouse Season

BWW Review: SISTER ACT Delights as the Opening Show of the 2016 Porthouse Season

by Roy Berko — June 21, 2016
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!...
BWW Review: Reimagined PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Impressive at the State Theatre, But . .

BWW Review: Reimagined PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Impressive at the State Theatre, But . . .

by Roy Berko — June 21, 2016
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....
BWW Review: LINES IN THE DUST - Riveting, Edifying and Upsetting at CPT

BWW Review: LINES IN THE DUST - Riveting, Edifying and Upsetting at CPT

by Roy Berko — June 6, 2016
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 s...
BWW Review: Cain Park's Anti-Pollution THE TOXIC AVENGER Will Delight Many!

BWW Review: Cain Park's Anti-Pollution THE TOXIC AVENGER Will Delight Many!

by Roy Berko — June 6, 2016
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....
BWW Review: HEATHERS the Musical at Beck Center - Rockin' Music, Teen-aged Angst and

BWW Review: HEATHERS the Musical at Beck Center - Rockin' Music, Teen-aged Angst and Great Choreography!

by Roy Berko — June 1, 2016
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?...
New Theatre, Playwrights Local 4181, to Produce Local Writers' Scripts

New Theatre, Playwrights Local 4181, to Produce Local Writers' Scripts

by Roy Berko — May 31, 2016
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." ...
BWW Review: Must See STEEL MAGNOLIAS Filled With Pathos and Comedy at Allen

BWW Review: Must See STEEL MAGNOLIAS Filled With Pathos and Comedy at Allen

by Roy Berko — May 31, 2016
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....
BWW Review: Blank Canvas's THE WILD PARTY, Not a Musical for Everyone

BWW Review: Blank Canvas's THE WILD PARTY, Not a Musical for Everyone

by Roy Berko — May 24, 2016
THE WILD PARTY is a musical by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe based on the same poem....
BWW Review: Albee Exorcises his Demons in THREE TALL WOMEN at convergence-continuum

BWW Review: Albee Exorcises his Demons in THREE TALL WOMEN at convergence-continuum

by Roy Berko — May 23, 2016
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....
BWW Review: Great Lakes Theatre's THE FANTASTICKS is a Pleasant Experience

BWW Review: Great Lakes Theatre's THE FANTASTICKS is a Pleasant Experience

by Roy Berko — May 19, 2016
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 ...
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Videos


La Malasangre ( Bad Blood) in Cleveland La Malasangre ( Bad Blood)
LatinUs Theater Compay (5/22-6/07) PHOTOS
Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Richie Furay bringing the hits to The Kent Stage July 16th in Cleveland Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Richie Furay bringing the hits to The Kent Stage July 16th
The Kent Stage (7/16-7/16)
Sweeney Todd in Cleveland Sweeney Todd
Short North Stage - Garden Theater (9/26-10/17)
The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinner Show in Cleveland The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Dinner Show
The Dinner Detective Cleveland (6/13-6/13)
Dear Evan Hansen in Cleveland Dear Evan Hansen
Short North Stage - Garden Theater (1/23-2/14)
The Fray & Dashboard Confessional in Cleveland The Fray & Dashboard Confessional
Jacobs Pavilion (8/12-8/12)
Elijah: Prophet of Fire in Cleveland Elijah: Prophet of Fire
Ohio Star Theater (5/15-11/05)
Mean Girls  in Cleveland Mean Girls
Beck Center for the Arts (7/10-8/09)
Speech & Debate in Cleveland Speech & Debate
Studio Theater (5/29-6/28)
The Rocky Horror Show in Cleveland The Rocky Horror Show
Short North Stage - Garden Theater (10/22-10/31)