[NEohioPAL]Berko Review: MISS GULCH RETURNS! (PLAYHOUSE SQUARE)

[Roy Berko]

MISS GULCH ATTEMPTS TO BRIBE CRITIC!

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

Halfway through his one-person performance of ‘MISS
GULCH RETURNS!’ Nick Vannello was explaining to the
audience that the reason Miss Gulch, Dorothy’s nasty,
dog-snatching, basket-wielding spiteful
spinster-next-door neighbor of ‘WIZARD OF OZ’ fame had
been overlooked was because of the critics.  Vannello
contended that the critics played up Dorothy and that
“damn dog” Toto and left Miss Gulch high and dry.  He
then sneered, “Are there any critics in the audience?”
 No one responded.  He then said, “I know Roy Berko is
here!”  He knew exactly where I was.  That had been
arranged by placing my press kit on the table, front
and center in the cabaret setting!  The next thing I
knew a huge piece of chocolate cake had been thrust
into my hands.  Vannello then skipped off saying,
“Well, that should insure I don’t get another bad
review.”  The audience and I were hysterical! 
Vannello didn’t have to waste the money on the cake. 
I would have given him a favorable review without it. 
 

Let’s get one thing straight, Vannello is not the
all-around super performer…his voice doesn’t quite
have the necessary finesse, his acting is sometimes a
little automatic, he could have let loose a lot more
with feeling rather than feigning emotions.  However,
he does have what this one-person show requires..he
knows how to play an audience!  He teases, he sidles
up unsuspecting victims, he doesn’t take himself
seriously, and he does a great double entendre.   The
result is our really, really liking Vannello, which
parleys into a really, really good time for the
audience.

‘MISS GULCH RETURNS!” is the brainstorm of Fred Barton
who gives us an endearingly demented look at Dorothy’s
next door neighbor, Agnes Gulch, who later in the
movie becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.  You know,
the one with the horrid monkeys.  Barton has written a
score of comedy numbers much in the style of Cole
Porter.  The rhyming patterns are cute and obvious. 
As Gulch says as a side-comment during the song “I’m a
Bitch,” “Oh, come on now, what else rhymes with
witch?”   The sold-out audience howled.

The score also included the beautiful ballad,
“Everyone Worth Taking, Part 2,” the hysterical “Pour
Me A Man” and “Give Me to the Blonde” during which a
handsome blonde waiter appeared to fill Gulch’s
martini glass, much to the delight of the audience and
the leering Vannello.

Charles Eversole provided the musical accompaniment
and a few interactions with Vannello and the audience.
 The production was directed by Lora Workman.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  ‘MISS GULCH RETURNS’ is a fun
evening of theatre for the right nitch audience. 
Vannello doesn’t have the late Margaret Hamilton’s
compelling presence (Hamilton, a Cleveland native,
played Miss Gulch in the movie version of ‘THE WIZARD
OF OZ’), but he does have the ability to lead the
audience on a fun-filled voyage, and that’s the whole
purpose of this show. 

“MISS GULCH RETURNS’ runs through March 27 at
Kennedy’s Down Under in Playhouse Square.  Call
216-241-6000 or go on-line to www.playhousesquare.com.
immediately for tickets as performances sell out.


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