[NEohioPAL] Review of Playhouse Square Broadway Series

[Bob Abelman]

Playhouse Square series is the cure for what ails you

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the Chagrin Valley Times 2/12/09

 

 

Like a spritz of aerosol in the wind, the touring company of the Broadway musical Hairspray blew into Playhouse Square last Friday night and, after a three-day engagement, is gone.

 

The national tour of Rent, featuring cast members from the original New York production, was in downtown Cleveland for two weeks in January, and is here no more.

 

Legally Blond was a blur of musical comedy delight during its short visit to the Palace Theatre and is now a wonderful memory.

 

Unless, of course, you missed it.  

 

We live amidst a spiraling economy, a soaring unemployment rate, a hard-fought war in the middle-east, record snowfall and whatever personal burdens we bare in silence.  Couldn't we all use a three-hour excursion to a realm of no-risk respite and unadulterated entertainment?  Musical theatre is the ticket and Playhouse Square's Broadway series is the escapist destination of choice. 

 

There is no shortage of wonderful stage productions in the area, including those offered by the  community theater nearest you.  But Playhouse Square offers something special: the bigger-than-life, big-budget blockbuster musical as performed by talented, passionate and effervescent professional performers.   Housed within downtown's grand pleasure palaces, these traveling troupes create a fantasy world complete with amazing costumes, dazzling scenery, full orchestration, and a storyline to get lost in.  

 

In last week's Hairspray, for example, its 1962, but a 1962 build from candy-coated recollection and vivid imagination.  Baltimore's Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, lives to dance.  By winning a spot on the local TV dance program, her life is transformed.  Thanks to huge, beautifully staged musical extravaganzas, all is right with the world.  Those in the audience were taken along on this ride and got to experience the characters' nerf-like trials and triumphs as presented by a team of young artisans overly eager to please.

 

This is musical theater therapy at its finest. 

Missed it?  Coming soon to Playhouse Square are productions of Spring Awakening and Mary Poppins.  Winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Spring Awakening is a groundbreaking fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll that celebrates the journey from youth to adulthood with power and poignancy.  The New York Post noted that the show is "unmatched by anything in the theatre right now." The New York Times suggested that it is "a jolt of genius!"  Can you use some of that?  

Mary Poppins is. does Mary Poppins really require a description to establish its transformative powers and the sheer pleasure its story can generate?  The song "Just a Spoonful of Sugar" pretty much says it all.  Combining the best of the original stories by P. L. Travers and the classic Walt Disney film, the Tony Award-winning Broadway production of Mary Poppins is, according to The NY Daily News, "a roof-raising, toe-tapping, high-flying extravaganza!"   And it will be performed within driving distance.

These two shows come to Cleveland in March and July, respectively, and stay for a very short time.  Can't easily afford the cost of admission or readily avail yourself during the limited run of these shows?  There is always I Love You Because at the 14th Street Theatre at Playhouse Square, which plays throughout May.  It is, however, a locally produced production of an off-Broadway show with a small cast, minimal staging, and less-than-stellar pedigree.

 

Nonetheless, it offers a fun and effortless evening's entertainment performed by brilliant actors, as are so many other local productions.  But to experience the true healing powers of musical theatre, there is no substitution for Broadway productions home delivered.      
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