[NEohioPAL] Review of "Jane Eyre" by Cleveland Musical Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

CMT’s revisited ‘Jane Eyre’ a dark, delicate and disarming musical



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, American Theatre Critics Association



Any stage version of a weighty, timeworn Victorian tome is likely to come up short in terms of content, context and authorial voice.  Such complex storytelling is not easy to capture in the short form typical of live theater. 



Such is the certainly the case with modern plays based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1909 novel “The Secret Garden,” Victor Hugo’s 1862 “Les Misérables” and Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 “Jane Eyre.”



To compensate, each of these works have been imbued with musical numbers to augment the storytelling and, in their Broadway productions, the stages has been saturated with extraordinary and ominous theatricality to help bring the works to life. 



A new streamlined rendition of composer-lyricist Paul Gordon and librettist John Caird’s 2000 Tony-nominated “Jane Eyre” – receiving its world premiere by Cleveland Musical Theatre, a recently-formed professional production company – is even further abridged.  



Still, this magnificent production proves that less is more.



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