[NEohioPAL]Critics rave! Great Lakes Theater Festival's SHREW and WORKS are palpable hits!

[Todd Krispinsky]

Hello all,

I write to invite you to join Great Lakes Theater Festival downtown at the
Ohio Theatre, Playhouse Square Center for a great night of summer theater.

I couldn't be more proud of both productions that comprise our new Summer
Repertory.  The Taming of the Shrew and The Complete Works of William
Shakespeare (Abridged) are absolutely sublime and laugh out loud funny.  The
critics are raving and our audiences have really embraced the productions.
But don't just take my word for it.  Check out the reviews below.

Time is running out.  I hope that you will share a summer evening with us
sometime soon.  These shows will be gone before you know it and seats are
going fast.  (The rep closes August 22.)

The price is right.  Tickets range from $11-$45.  There are $20 tickets
available for every performance.  Students and educators can even purchase
$11 tickets - any night - any seat!  For tickets call (216) 241-6000 or
order online at www.greatlakestheater.org.

Come discover Shakespeare's Great Company again.

Regards,
Todd Krispinsky
Marketing and Public Relations Manager
Great Lakes Theater Festival


The Taming of the Shrew
The Plain Dealer: "...our Shrew rocketh."
Tony Brown, "The Plain Dealer" theater critic wrote:

	"Cleveland, this is it, time to make up our minds, step up or stop
complaining: Do we want a hometown classical theater capable of great
Shakespeare, theater that says something about who we are? Because that's
what Great Lakes Theater Festival has become, as evidenced by the opening
over the weekend of an infinitely funny and sophisticated production of "The
Taming of the Shrew." If Cleveland rocks, our "Shrew" rocketh.
	But if we hope to sustain indispensable resources like Great Lakes, we
can't just take my word for it. We have to turn off "Married by America,"
catch the downtown bus to the Ohio Theatre and actively participate in a
work of art that lives and breathes and loves today as lustily as it did 400
years ago.
	The Great Lakes production qualifies as hilarious, thanks to director Drew
Barr's attention to the smallest, wittiest detail and a huge performance by
Andrew May as Petruchio."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scene Magazine: "...sparks of laughter fly in all directions..."
Christine Howey, "Scene Magazine" theater critic wrote:

"It would be a crime to miss this extremely un-tame Taming."

"the Great Lakes company makes Shakespeare's rich language as accessible as
it can be, using myriad sight gags, Three Stooges slap-stick and a gaggle of
physically compelling performances."

"Andrew May and Laura Perrotta are perfectly mated. .when the two meet,
sparks of laughter fly in all directions."

"This audience-friendly production features sterling supporting
performances."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cleveland Free Times: "...uproarious..."
James Damico, "The Cleveland Free Times" theater critic wrote:

"The Taming of the Shrew is sublime."

"Andrew May provides another exhaustive demonstration of his mastery as a
farceur. Drawing on boundless physical, facial and vocal resources,
bellowing or cajoling, commanding or wheedling, handsome leading man or
put-upon schmuck, the actor is hypnotically watchable and creatively funny."

"Amid all the comic rambunctuousness, the subtler joy of the occasion is its
validation of the superior acting company that Fee is in the process of
assembling."


The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)
The Plain Dealer:  "3 Zanies Tackle Bard Spoof in High-Tops, and Win"
Tony Brown, "The Plain Dealer" theater critic wrote:
"An impassioned Romeo, trying to talk Juliet into forgetting that his last
name is Montague, says, "Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd."  In
Great Lakes Theater Festival's "The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare
(Abridged)," however, the line comes out a little differently: "Just call me
butt-love."  That is but one of many, many, many laugh lines to be had over
2½ hours in the Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square, where the latest version
of the Bard spoof opened over the weekend."
At Great Lakes, the show remains true to its origins as an absurdly
fast-paced romp through all 37 of Shakespeare's plays (and sonnets) by three
tirelessly zany actors wearing extremely large codpieces and Converse Chuck
Taylor All-Star high-tops.
Julia Child leads a cooking-show rendition of "Titus Androgynous." A
crown-passing football game ("the quarterback passes to the hunchback")
stands in for the history plays, with King Lear penalized for being a
fictional character.
Shakespeare's 17 comedies, criticized for being similar (with their
identical twins, shipwrecks, cross-dressing, mistaken identities and
classical roots), get reduced to one.
And "Hamlet" is performed, with lots of audience participation, not once but
four times: fast, faster, fastest and, in a flabbergasting encore, backward.
The comedy...flows in a torrent that you cannot but love."
For tickets, Call 216-241-6000
Order online at www.greatlakestheater.org
The The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) plays on the
following dates and times:
* 7:30 on August 4, 5, 7, 13, 18, 19 & 21
* 7:00 on August 8
* 3:00 on August 22
* 1:30 on August 14

The The Taming of the Shrew plays on
* 7:30 August 6, 11, 12, 14 & 20
* 3:00 August 15
* 1:30 August 7 & 21