*- One show very thankfully not in this season was Fela! which ranks among the worst theater I've seen, and is the only time I've disputed a credit card transaction for a purchase I actually made (and I won that dispute). A several friends who saw the performance during the Tony Awards described it as "suck[ing] all of the energy from the room" so I'm obviously not alone there.
Showing posts with label Great Lakes Theater Festival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Great Lakes Theater Festival. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
PlayhouseSquare 2011-12 KeyBank Broadway Series Launch
Today was the day that PlayhouseSquare announces their next KeyBank Broadway season. Tonight was a party with a recap of those selections for group sales, and I was glad to be invited back. Before we get to the new, let's not forget that there are still a few shows left in this season not the least of which are Next To Normal which I've been eagerly anticipating since seeing it on Broadway (and I made a minor fool of myself by singing along with I'm Alive while the theater filled up this evening) and Jersey Boys, although I think I'm going to pass on it this time, it holds a special place in my musical heart having seen it twice pre-Broadway, and pre-Lincoln in Cleveland while I was living in California at the La Jolla Playhouse (including once with director Des McAnuff and Frankie Valli just a couple rows in front of me). The warmup for tonight's announcement was a buffet and open bar -- the food was pretty good, and the conversation amongst fellow theater-goers was likewise enjoyable. It was great to hear what other people love about Cleveland, and for the life-long Clevelanders what they've seen change -- including when the theaters that are now PlayhouseSquare were movie palaces in the 50s. For the new season, I remembered several of the shows from the trip that I won to last year's Tony Awards courtesy of Playhouse Square... and they were all numbers that I enjoyed to some extent* so I'm really looking forward to this season: Million Dollar Quartet (October 11-23, 2011, Palace Theatre) - Based on the true story of a Sun Records jam session on December 4, 1956, Million Dollar Quartet is a gritty look inside the recording studio when Elvis Presley, Johnny Carson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins were together for the first and only time. While I was interested from the beginning, the surprise appearance of the Original Chicago cast (who will be reprising their roles and kicking off the national tour in Cleveland) certainly amped up my level of excitement for the show. Of course, it's worth mentioning that the performance by members of the Million Dollar Quartet cast this evening took place in the same building that Alan Freed's WJW-AM radio broadcasts, credited for popularizing Rock and Roll -- both the term and the music -- originated from. La Cage Aux Folles (November 8-20, 2011, Palace Theatre) - Of the shows this season, I'm least sold on La Cage because I'm still a bit foggy on what it's about, though the "we are what we are and what we are is an illusion" line quoted by Ms. Vernaci is intriguing (as are the conservative parents from Ohio coming for dinner; this seems to be a Broadway musical theme). Hair (January 17-29, 2012, Palace Theatre) - A legendary musical, and one of the shows I most regret not seeing during my last trip to New York [nude scene and my discomfort with nudity notwithstanding]. I know it for the songs Age of Aquarius and Let the Sun Shine In, the promo material is dripping with the catchy Hair. A musical about Americans searching for peace and love amongst turbulence, it looks like this should be an interesting and entertaining look at a time past with themes that are ever relevant. Hair generated violent reactions in its era and has two notable connections to Cleveland's PlayhouseSquare: When the first national tour opened in the Hanna Theatre, someone attempted to bomb the theater (breaking several windows and causing no injuries) and several family members of the touring company died in a Cleveland hotel fire. Memphis (February 28-March 11, 2012, Palace Theatre) - 1950s Memphis, the story of a white DJ who wants to change the world with music, a black singer waiting for her big break, forbidden love and expolosive danging. An original score with music by a founding member of Bon Jovi (David Bryan), I couldn't resist toe-tapping in Radio City during the Tony Awards show, and I had a hard time restraining myself this evening. The Addams Family (April 10-22, 2012, Palace Theatre) - The "conservative parents from Ohio come for dinner" theme from La Cage Aux Folles" resurfaces here when Wednesday Addams falls for a "sweet, smart, young man from a respectable family". Billed as a "family portrat that's completely off the wall" this musical has looked beyond the films and the television series to Addams' original cartoons that ran in the New Yorker for inspiration. Come Fly Away (May 8-20, 2012, Palace Theatre) - Music of Frank Sinatra and the choreography and direction of Twyla Tharp... I'm not the biggest Sinatra fan, but the excerpts staged during the Tony Awards were captivatingly energetic, combined with unexpected enjoyment from Michael Fieinstein's Sinatra Project with The Cleveland Orchestra's makes this a definite possibility on my list. Last but most certainly not least, Sondheim on Sondheim (May 30-July 22, 2012, Hanna Theatre) -- co produced by PlayhouseSquare and Great Lakes Theatre Festival to celebrate GLTF's 50th anniversary season and is "revue of a lifetime" and takes you inside the head of the Broadway's "greatest living composer" featuring videotaped interviews with Mr. Sondheim interspersed with live action, I'm quite looking forward to it. I'm reminded of the Invocation and Instructions to the Audience from The Frogs and recapitulated in Side by Side by Sondheim which is how I came to know it...I'd hum it for you but you're better off iTunes or Googling it -- or just watch from about 2:40 in this YouTube video -- though the version I'm most familiar includes a variation on the standard curtain speech that makes me crack a smile every time). I'm a firm beleiver that this should be used before any performance, not just Sondheim. Ok, so now I'm just rambling... Lincoln *- One show very thankfully not in this season was Fela! which ranks among the worst theater I've seen, and is the only time I've disputed a credit card transaction for a purchase I actually made (and I won that dispute). A several friends who saw the performance during the Tony Awards described it as "suck[ing] all of the energy from the room" so I'm obviously not alone there.
*- One show very thankfully not in this season was Fela! which ranks among the worst theater I've seen, and is the only time I've disputed a credit card transaction for a purchase I actually made (and I won that dispute). A several friends who saw the performance during the Tony Awards described it as "suck[ing] all of the energy from the room" so I'm obviously not alone there.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Great Lakes Theater Festival: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abriged)
Presented by Great Lakes Theater Festival; directed by Charles Fee, at the Hanna Theater, PlayhouseSquare
It's funny -- like Opera, the entire category of "Shakespeare" doesn't rank terribly high on my list of performing arts loves; I think it's a combination of of hearing "Romeo, romeo..." read in a stilted adolescent monotone a few too many times in middle and high school English classes, and some bad, edging on truly terrible*, interpretations of The Bard's works at the Old Globe in San Diego's Balboa Park, dragged at at a younger age by my good intentioned (and Shakespeare-loving) mother. I still don't get the iambic pentameter, but generally I've been (more) pleased by GLTF's takes on his works.
This is also not my first time with The Complete Works; though. I was going to
say I've seen it once before (with my dad) -- but during a phone call with the afore-mentioned good-intentioned mother, she "reminded" me that we had also seen it before. In all honesty, I don't remember that one. I remember the version I saw with my dad as being more of a reading than a play in an cramped, hot, unadorned black-box store-front theater. I remember it as being somewhere in the neighborhood of "mildly amusing".
That long exposition out of the way you may wonder why I wound up on East 14th Street this afternoon. The short answer is I'm really not sure why.
Reasons or antireasons aside, the hour and 15 minutes preceding intermission was a riotous romp covering 35 plays in an engaging and laugh out loud** funny. Though I spent a fair amount of time doubled over, the sight gags were plentiful and the wordplay was delightful.
Like I mentioned, I don't remember one of the two productions and all, and the other was a setless black box (with three guys in black T-shirts), so I wasn't expecting much from this production. Before the curtain went up, I was half wondering if the curtain would go up, or if all of the action was to be set on the forestage.
After an unintroduced curtain speech (ahem, who are you?) the play begins on amusing note after amusing note -- and that's before we even get to Romeo and Juliet. The curtain does rise and we have a miniature Old Globe-looking structure emblazoned with larger than life headshots of the bard serving kind of like the castle in a fish tank for actors to swim in front of, through, and behind. The lighting is clever without being obnoxious, and the sound is appropriate.
I think I got about 80% of the in-jokes, sight gags, and pop culture references, there were still more that others in the audience picked up on and flew over my head.
The pop culture references, by the way, are very current, not "what would have been pop culture when I saw this for the first (second) time 10 years ago" or "what would have been pop culture when the playwrights were writing 20 years ago" but include Facebook, President Obama, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga]. Was Bieber even alive the first time I saw this? Suddenly I'm feeling very old. See also the "wardrobe malfunction" early in the first act with pictures of the scandal on Facebook. If you're up on Broadway news, pay attention to the Spiderman look-alike who comes crashing from the fly gallery when The Scottish Play's true name is uttered.
Cleveland references and in-jokes are also plentiful, but delivered with such ease and inconspicuously (I may have just made that word up) by the actors that you might miss them if you're too busy, I don't know, hunched over laughing at the last joke.
I don't remember there being an intermission in the version I had seen previously -- I was thinking one act, so it caught me as a bit of a surprise that intermission was called with 35 down and only Hamlet to go.
Honestly, that was the one part of the show that seemed to drag -- and trying to 30 minutes with gags, jokes, and commentary on one play (including audience participation and several takes on the ending) is hard not to drag. If, like me, you aren't a Shakespeare fanatic, a visit to the Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson bar during intermission may be worthwhile.
Lincoln
*- At least for my teenaged self, however my mother has admitted that they were far from the best she had seen. Odd side note, near my grandparent's place, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Ashland, Oregon's "New Stage" is serving as the inspiration for one of Cleveland Play House's new theaters in the PlayhouseSquare complex.
** - Rare for me. Kind of like screaming on roller coasters; I really enjoy riding them but I rarely open my mouth. This apparently goes back to my early days when, surviving my first roller coaster ride without a peep my dad though he had forever traumatized me. Until I asked "Can we do that again?"
It's funny -- like Opera, the entire category of "Shakespeare" doesn't rank terribly high on my list of performing arts loves; I think it's a combination of of hearing "Romeo, romeo..." read in a stilted adolescent monotone a few too many times in middle and high school English classes, and some bad, edging on truly terrible*, interpretations of The Bard's works at the Old Globe in San Diego's Balboa Park, dragged at at a younger age by my good intentioned (and Shakespeare-loving) mother. I still don't get the iambic pentameter, but generally I've been (more) pleased by GLTF's takes on his works.
This is also not my first time with The Complete Works; though. I was going to
say I've seen it once before (with my dad) -- but during a phone call with the afore-mentioned good-intentioned mother, she "reminded" me that we had also seen it before. In all honesty, I don't remember that one. I remember the version I saw with my dad as being more of a reading than a play in an cramped, hot, unadorned black-box store-front theater. I remember it as being somewhere in the neighborhood of "mildly amusing".
That long exposition out of the way you may wonder why I wound up on East 14th Street this afternoon. The short answer is I'm really not sure why.
Reasons or antireasons aside, the hour and 15 minutes preceding intermission was a riotous romp covering 35 plays in an engaging and laugh out loud** funny. Though I spent a fair amount of time doubled over, the sight gags were plentiful and the wordplay was delightful.
Like I mentioned, I don't remember one of the two productions and all, and the other was a setless black box (with three guys in black T-shirts), so I wasn't expecting much from this production. Before the curtain went up, I was half wondering if the curtain would go up, or if all of the action was to be set on the forestage.
After an unintroduced curtain speech (ahem, who are you?) the play begins on amusing note after amusing note -- and that's before we even get to Romeo and Juliet. The curtain does rise and we have a miniature Old Globe-looking structure emblazoned with larger than life headshots of the bard serving kind of like the castle in a fish tank for actors to swim in front of, through, and behind. The lighting is clever without being obnoxious, and the sound is appropriate.
I think I got about 80% of the in-jokes, sight gags, and pop culture references, there were still more that others in the audience picked up on and flew over my head.
The pop culture references, by the way, are very current, not "what would have been pop culture when I saw this for the first (second) time 10 years ago" or "what would have been pop culture when the playwrights were writing 20 years ago" but include Facebook, President Obama, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga]. Was Bieber even alive the first time I saw this? Suddenly I'm feeling very old. See also the "wardrobe malfunction" early in the first act with pictures of the scandal on Facebook. If you're up on Broadway news, pay attention to the Spiderman look-alike who comes crashing from the fly gallery when The Scottish Play's true name is uttered.
Cleveland references and in-jokes are also plentiful, but delivered with such ease and inconspicuously (I may have just made that word up) by the actors that you might miss them if you're too busy, I don't know, hunched over laughing at the last joke.
I don't remember there being an intermission in the version I had seen previously -- I was thinking one act, so it caught me as a bit of a surprise that intermission was called with 35 down and only Hamlet to go.
Honestly, that was the one part of the show that seemed to drag -- and trying to 30 minutes with gags, jokes, and commentary on one play (including audience participation and several takes on the ending) is hard not to drag. If, like me, you aren't a Shakespeare fanatic, a visit to the Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson bar during intermission may be worthwhile.
Lincoln
*- At least for my teenaged self, however my mother has admitted that they were far from the best she had seen. Odd side note, near my grandparent's place, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Ashland, Oregon's "New Stage" is serving as the inspiration for one of Cleveland Play House's new theaters in the PlayhouseSquare complex.
** - Rare for me. Kind of like screaming on roller coasters; I really enjoy riding them but I rarely open my mouth. This apparently goes back to my early days when, surviving my first roller coaster ride without a peep my dad though he had forever traumatized me. Until I asked "Can we do that again?"
Friday, October 15, 2010
Great Lakes Theater Festival: An Ideal Husband (Oscar Wilde)
At some point--roughly the same time as Great Lakes Theater moved into their new Hanna Theatre home at PlayhouseSquare--I fell off of Great Lakes Theater's mailing list. Postcards are still, believe it or not, the primary vehicle through which events make it to my conscious--also known as my calendar*. And thus the reason GLTF is just now appearing on this blog.
This was my third time in the Hanna: Wicked Rocks being the most recent venture, the one before that, too long to remember. The theater is gorgeous, intimate, and as I learned on a walking tour over the summer, rich in history theatrical history.
On tap for tonight -- and speaking of on tap, the bar in the back of the house is open 90 minutes before and after every performance -- Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. Though The Importance of Being Earnest is virtually inseparable from Mr. Wilde's name in my mind this is the first of his works I've seen performed.
I was impressed. Though the first few minutes seemed a little stiff, like an engine coming up to speed the four acts (one intermission) purr along quite enjoyably. The set is elegantly simple and restrained: The predominant feature besides the actors are a series of chairs that are arranged to set each scene.
Though originally premiered in 1895 the themes are no less relevant 115 years later, and quite apropos given the current, particularly vicious mud-slinging campaign season. Revolving around a dishonorable secret, political blackmail and counter-blackmail, the dangers of elevating loved ones to pedestals and unyielding moral judgements it isn't difficult to imaging the same set of events occurring as I type.
Likewise, given my long-standing status as "single", the various quips about men regrading women, women regarding men, and both on their spouses: Again 115 years later as relevant now as then. I found myself chucking more often than not as Mr. Wilde and the GLTF production team accurately captured both themes in a reflective social commentary.
Witty dialogue well timed made this a performance well-worth attending.
Lincoln
This was my third time in the Hanna: Wicked Rocks being the most recent venture, the one before that, too long to remember. The theater is gorgeous, intimate, and as I learned on a walking tour over the summer, rich in history theatrical history.
On tap for tonight -- and speaking of on tap, the bar in the back of the house is open 90 minutes before and after every performance -- Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband. Though The Importance of Being Earnest is virtually inseparable from Mr. Wilde's name in my mind this is the first of his works I've seen performed.
I was impressed. Though the first few minutes seemed a little stiff, like an engine coming up to speed the four acts (one intermission) purr along quite enjoyably. The set is elegantly simple and restrained: The predominant feature besides the actors are a series of chairs that are arranged to set each scene.
Though originally premiered in 1895 the themes are no less relevant 115 years later, and quite apropos given the current, particularly vicious mud-slinging campaign season. Revolving around a dishonorable secret, political blackmail and counter-blackmail, the dangers of elevating loved ones to pedestals and unyielding moral judgements it isn't difficult to imaging the same set of events occurring as I type.
Likewise, given my long-standing status as "single", the various quips about men regrading women, women regarding men, and both on their spouses: Again 115 years later as relevant now as then. I found myself chucking more often than not as Mr. Wilde and the GLTF production team accurately captured both themes in a reflective social commentary.
Witty dialogue well timed made this a performance well-worth attending.
Lincoln
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