'Mamma Mia!,' now on stage at Great Lakes Theatre, as has been the case on Broadway and in its many local tour stops, is a thoroughly entertaining theatrical experience. The audience was on its feet for the extended curtain call, dancing, clapping, and singing.
Theater people are superstitious! The practices that relate to the fears have various origins. For example, 'the ghost of Thespis (the first known actor in ancient Greece) is said to wreak havoc upon theaters all over the world. The ghost light tradition-leaving a single lit bulb upstage center when the theater is empty-is meant to ward off these mischievous specters.'
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, rightly, suspects foul play.
When his suspiciously widowed mother swiftly marries his uncle, amidst demands for revenge from his murdered father's ghost, the young prince Hamlet resolves that something is indeed 'rotten in the state of Denmark.'
Great Lakes Theater (GLT), Cleveland's Classic Company, continues the second half its 55th season with the world's most famous tragedy, William's Shakespeare's Hamlet. The production will be performed in the company's intimate and audience-friendly home at the Hanna Theatre, Playhouse Square, March 31 - April 15, 2017. GLT's Producing Artistic Director, Charles Fee directs the production.
An enchanting romantic comedy, Shakespeare Twelfth Night completes GLT's Fall Repertory pairing. Hope seems lost when a violent shipwreck separates young Viola from her boat and twin brother. However, tragedy quickly turns romantic when she washes ashore in Illyria - an exotic island that is about to be turned topsy-turvy by love. To survive in her strange new world, she disguises herself as a boy messenger and enters the employ of an island inhabitant. Misplaced affections and misunderstood intentions result when she unexpectedly becomes an object of desire to the woman her employer sent her to woo! Time may correct the course of the isle's myriad misguided lovers, but not before the Bard bewitches all in his enchanting comedy.
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.
Great Lakes Theater (GLT), Cleveland's Classic Company, continues its 2016-17 season with William Shakespeare's classic comedy, Love's Labour's Lost. The production will be performed in the company's intimate and audience-friendly home at the Hanna Theatre, Playhouse Square, April 8 - 24, 2016. Tyne Rafaeli directs the production. Scroll down to see photos!
Great Lakes Theater (GLT), Cleveland's Classic Company, commences the second half its 2016-17 season with Agatha Christie's classic mystery thriller, And Then There Were None. The production will be performed in the company's intimate and audience-friendly home at the Hanna Theatre, Playhouse Square, February 26 - March 20, 2016. Charles Fee, GLT's Producing Artistic Director, directs the production. And Then There Were None is presented through special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC.
'The Merry Wives of Windsor,' a version of which is now on stage at Great Lakes Theatre, is considered by many literary critics to be one of Shakespeare's 'lesser' plays. Not bad, just not up to the dramatic level of the great writer, though its farcical nature is often praised.
Great Lakes Theater (GLT) will commence its 2014-15 season with Shakespeare's battle of the sexes, The Merry Wives of Windsor, presented in rotating repertory with Boublil and Schonberg's Tony Award-winning musical epic, LES MISERABLES (September 26 - November 9, 2014). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the 'Merry Wives' cast in action below!
As always the opening night of a show is very exciting. Seeing the folks you know in the audience, saying hello to your seat neighbors, and getting a sneak peek see the portions of the set that Idaho Shakespeare Festival allows you to see before the show begins. I try to not do any research on a play I am going to see before I see it. Especially if I do not know anything about it yet. I like to give the theatre a chance to explain to me what will happen on their own terms.
The stage of the Ohio Theatre, PlayhouseSquare will glow with good spirits and time-honored tradition when Great Lakes Theater (GLT) presents its twenty-fifth anniversary production of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol, running November 30 - December 22, 2013. The production has delighted more than 625,000 people in its history, making it one of northeast Ohio's most-loved and best-attended holiday events. Check out a first look below!
RICHARD is a finely crafted production and is a perfect compliment to SWEENEY TODD as the partners of the ' maniacs gone wrong' duet that comprises Great Lakes Theatre's fall 2013-2014 season. Go see both!
Great Lakes Theater (GLT) commences its 2013-14 season at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, with a Fall Repertory that features William Shakespeare's royal epic, Richard III and Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical thriller, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The productions will be performed in rotating repertory now through November 3, 2013. Joseph Hanreddy directs Richard III. BroadwayWorld has a first look at RICHARD III below!