[NEohioPAL]Berko Review: NINE at Cassidy

[Roy Berko]

CHALLENGING ‘NINE’ PERFORMED AT CASSIDY

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

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

Cassidy Theatre, known for years as Greenbrier
Theatre, is tucked away in Parma Heights.  The city
not only encourages the theatre, but gives it
financial backing.  In the Greater Cleveland area,
where public subsidization of the arts is almost nil,
this governmental support is a wonderment.  Soon, the
Cassidy theatrical family will be moving into its new
home at Claire’s Folly, a state of the art facility,
with a forty-foot fly gallery and state of the art
sound and lighting systems.   There are many laughs at
the sake of this white socks, polyester wearing
blue-collar community, but they sure are more into
backing of its local theatre than almost any other of
its more affluent suburban neighbors.  Maybe there is
a lesson to be learned here!

In many ways Cassidy is like the little engine that
could.  It keeps taking on challenges that are beyond
its capabilities.  It was the first theatre in the
area to stage ‘PARADE’ and it now is the first to
undertake the challenge of doing the musical ‘NINE’
since its recent Broadway rebirth.

‘NINE,’ made its original debut in 1982.  The
production won five Tony Awards.  It had a very
successful revival in 2002. 

The show’s book was written by Arthur Kopit, known for
his aloof, often abstract plays.  The music and lyrics
is by Maury Yeston who also penned the less than
memorable score for the musical ‘TITANIC.’  

The story, which was inspired by the 1963 Federico
Fellini film ‘8 ½’, revolves around Guido Contini, a
film director in the Fellini mold.  The plot is slight
enough to easily boil down to: Guido is stalemated in
his personal and professional life, unable to commit
fully to a relationship or summon the creative energy
to make his next movie. This leads to disorienting
fantasies (including suicide) from which he's rescued
by his nine-year-old alter ego. 

In spite of its moderate success, neither the original
version nor the revival of ‘NINE’ went critically
unscathed.  A good deal of negative was pointed at
Kopit's failure to create a book that was emotionally
satisfying and was too moody and lacking in warmth.

Yeston's unmemorable score is a mix of musical genres
-- solo ballads ("My Husband") and duets ("Unusual
Way") as well as a whole comic opera sequence ( "Grand
Canal ").  This is not the kind of music you go out of
the theatre humming.

What made the Broadway shows run were the casts.  In
the 1982 version, the multi-talented Raul Julia played
Guido Contini, the film director.  In the revival, as
one Big Apple critic put it, “The revival of ‘NINE’
owed much of its almost instant hit status to Antonio
Banderas whose acting and singing talent plus good
looks made for an ideal, matinee idol. 

Before examining Cassidy’s production, let’s examine
Cassidy Theatre.  This is an amateur theatre, no
equity contacts, no paid performers.  These are
performers who perform for the love of performing. 
Any evaluation of their productions must take that
into consideration.  The yardstick for measurement
can’t be the same as that used for a Broadway touring
production, or even the likes of Great Lakes Theatre
Festival or the Cleveland Play House. This is theatre
right out of the Andy Hardy movies:  “Hey kids, here’s
a performance space, let’s put on a play.”

With that said, The Cassidy production of ‘NINE’ is
credible.  This is a compliment considering the
difficulty of the vehicle they chose to confront.   
The show requires a charismatic, sensual, fine
singing, superlative actor to play the lead.  It
requires one talented eight-year old boy and thirteen
actresses who can sing and act.  Few, if any theatres
could pull that off with aplomb.

Director Lester Currie has done a fine job of staging
the play.  He uses his performers like chess pawns,
moving them to the most advantageous places to accent
ideas.  He is also the costume designer of some of the
finest and most appropriate clothing seen on a local
stage. 

Bob Stroesser, who portrays Guido is definitely no
Raul Julia or Antonio Banderas.  He lacks their
sensuality.  He often feigns emotions, overacting and
making distracting facial expressions to express
feelings.  His inconsistent accent sometimes makes
understanding him difficult and may be the cause of
his acting difficulties.  He has a fine singing voice
which he uses well in interpreting songs.

The women, who are like an ever-present modern Greek
chorus who step in and out of Guido’s life, are
generally acceptable.  Their acting and singing
varies, as is often the case in amateur theatre.  On
the high end is Megan Grimes as Guido’s wife, Beth
Cubbison as his mother and Linda Kindsvatter as one of
the women in Guido’s life.

David Dettloff’s orchestra did a nice job of backing
up the singers rather than drowning them out, which is
often the case in local theatrical productions where
the musical director sometimes forgets that this is
not a concert, but the purpose of the music is to aid
the performers.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  ‘NINE’ is a very difficult
theatrical undertaking.  The Cassidy production was
well-received by the sold-out house, and that, when
you get down to it, is what theatrical entertainment
is all about.

‘NINE’ runs at Cassidy Theatre in Parma Heights
through August 1.  For tickets call 440-842-4600.


=====
Roy Berko's web page can be found at royberko.info and many of his theatre and dance reviews appear on artscleveland.net.


	
		
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