[NEohioPAL] Review of Rabbit Run's "Tintypes"

[Bob Abelman]

Rabbit Run's 'Tintypes' appropriate for those 48" or taller

 

Bob Abelman

 

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald 6/10/11

If you listen carefully while in the audience of Tintypes at the Rabbit Run Theater, you can hear the screams from the Corkscrew and the splash from Thunder Canyon.  The current production-a musical revue of turn-of-the-20th century tunes-has singlehandedly shortened the distance between Madison Township and Sandusky.

 

There is no getting around the fact that Tintypes, conceived by Mary Kyte, Mel Marvin and Gary Pearle, is Cedar Point Amusement Park fare. It is appropriate for those 48" or taller and most suitable for those 100 years or older.

 

The show takes the form of a parade of musical numbers from a by-gone era that are thinly connected by themes-such as the innovations of the industrial revolution and the gaiety of vaudeville-and a few recurring characters, including a Charlie Chaplinesque immigrant.

 

So plentiful are the songs-48 in all, presented as partial musical segues or in their entirety-that one can run and grab a corndog and a coke without missing anything of significance. 

 

The songs are sung by five young performers in period costuming, who occasionally take on the persona of Teddy Roosevelt, anarchist Emma Goldman and Ziegfeld girl Anna Held, not unlike the way Cedar Point artisans double as Hanna Barbera creations.  

 

The music ranges from patriotic anthems (George M. Cohan's ''You're a Grand Old Flag") to ragtime syncopation (Scott Joplin's "The Ragtime Dance'') to novelty numbers (Ed Moran and J. Fred Helf's "Teddy Da Roose").  It is all presented in a breezy, lightweight style that requires little to no effort to attend and enjoy.

  

The production values are not unlike those found in the free entertainment at Cedar Point's Good Time Theatre, with benches, boxes and partitions making up the set.  Assorted props such as flags, canes and parasols comprise the eye candy, and projected photographs provide the historical context.  This is a no-frills production.

 

Of course, Rabbit Run Theater is no amusement park and it has the well-earned reputation of bringing in superb local talent for its productions.  This revue is no exception.

 

Director Sandy Kosovich Peck and choreographer Sarah Ruple do a remarkable job keeping this show from becoming too schmaltzy, too similar from start to finish, and too desperate to please.  Their approach to the material is simple and direct, and they trust that the performers will engage the audience and sell the songs, which they do.

 

Lincoln Sandham, Heather Arata, Brian Altman, Maria Thomas Lister and Lindsey Sandham-most of them Rabbit Run regulars-are superb musical theater players who have adapted their talents to this nostalgic showcase.  They sing and dance marvelously, and handle the occasional bits of pantomime, vaudeville stand-up, and dramatic presentation with ease and with an abundance of charm.     

 

Music director Ed Leonard and his five-piece band bring life to songs over a century old.  With music as the axis of this enterprise, they not only support and lift the performers' magnificent harmonies, but they do these classic songs justice.  

 

Tintypes piggybacks on the musical revue concept introduced last season, when Rabbit Run performed My Way, a tribute to Frank Sinatra.  Make no mistake, however.  These are very different products and productions.

 

 My Way offered songs still in the collective consciousness of its audience, which tapped very personal, romantic recollections.  These compositions by the world's most legendary tunesmiths, including Sammy Cahn, Cole Porter and John H. Mercer, are entrancing.   Some of the songs in Tintypes are familiar, but few resonate and one would be hard pressed to call the works of, say, John Philip Sousa entrancing.

 

While the vast Sinatra songbook recreates the sexy, alcohol-enabled, Vegas cocktail lounge   sophistication of the 1950s, the music in Tintypes merely presents a static, black and white portrait-a tintype-of a time we only recognize from the history books.  

 

The Rabbit Run production of Tintypes is as good a presentation of this show as one can hope for.  Still, you half expect to have your hand stamped on the way out.

 

Tintypes continues through June 11 at Rabbit Run Theater, 5648 W. Chapel Rd., in Madison Township. For tickets, $17 to $19, call 440-428-7092 or visit www.rabbitrunonline.org.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20110605/5c5dba78/attachment-0003.htm>