[NEohioPAL] Review of Cleveland Play House's "DIsney's Freaky Friday"

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

‘Freaky Friday’ causes Cleveland Play House and Playhouse Square to swap souls



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics



In 2011, the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Tom Kitt (“Next to Normal”) collaborated with Tony Award- and Grammy Award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda (“In the Heights) to write the score and lyrics for “Bring it On.”  



“Bring It On” was loosely based on a 2000 non-musical film – a silly teen comedy with a formulaic storyline and cardboard cut-out characters – that spawned sequels so bad they went direct-to-video.  Kit and Miranda’s exceptional’ talents were able to raise the musical version’s IQ a few points, but the mediocre film became a mediocre stage production.  



And now Kitt is at it again, either out of White Knight Syndrome that drives him to rescue lesser works from their fates or as an opportunity to capitalize on the lucrative teen and pre-teen markets.   Or both.



This time he convinced his “Next to Normal” colleague Brian Yorkey to write the lyrics for another fluffy screen-to-stage teen comedy based on the 1976 Disney film and 2003-remake, “Freaky Friday.”  



For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/. 
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