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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Music, star are great,
but story of gospel singer falls flat at CPH<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
2</I>/13/09</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face=Calibri
size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Like a man attending <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Menopause: The Musical</I>, there’s
something amiss if you are not black and Baptist at the Cleveland Play House
production of </SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Mahalia</SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">:
<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">A Gospel
Musical</SPAN></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">.
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>This biographical musical <SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">tells
the story of the incredible Mahalia Jackson, the queen of gospel music.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It follows her journey from God’s
calling to spread the gospel through song in the 1920s, to her obtaining
notoriety and wealth in Chicago, New York and Europe, to her provision of
musical inspiration during the civil rights movement.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
size=3>This is an important life and an influential career.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s just not a great story as told by
playwright Tom Stolz or staged by director Kent Gash at the CPH.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><I>Mahalia</I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">: <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">A Gospel Musical</SPAN></I> <SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">lacks intimacy, insight and
activity.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The
play depicts a woman with no existence outside of her music and her love of God,
ignoring facts like Mahalia’s marriage and divorce.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Every moment in the play is informed
by the artist’s belief that she is doing the lord’s work, which leaves little
room for drama of any kind.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nothing
happens in this play except a series of monumental moments—an appearance at
Carnegie Hall, singing at Kennedy’s inauguration, standing at</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">
the side of Martin Luther King Jr.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">—connected by very little exposition
and bits of forced dialogue between Mahalia and a handful of simply drawn family
members and colleagues.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Gash and his creative
team don’t help.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They tell this
tale on an empty, cavernous stage with a backdrop of stained glass windows, a
roll-on piano and a few chairs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The entire civil rights movement is reduced to a handful of
larger-than-life photographs projected in the background.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The one advantage to this minimalist
presentation of Stolz’s bare-boned play is that it places full focus on
Jackson’s music.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>In fact, the only thing
this play has going for it is the music and the woman singing it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Broadway star Natasha Yvette Williams is
a marvelous Mahalia.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She somehow
manages to create an accessible and likable character out of what she is given
and is blessed with an amazing set of pipes to do justice to the Negro
spirituals and gospel songs that comprise Mahalia’s extensive
catalogue.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Twenty-four songs are
sung in this production, directed by JMichael and accompanied on the organ by
Edward Ridley Jr.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>CPH’s Bolton
Theatre stage is more akin to a concert hall or revivalist meeting room than a
theater.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Audience members likely
will be as confused as the attendees at the opening-night performance.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They were not sure whether to sit
passively and quietly and embrace traditional theater etiquette or call back to
the performers, stand in the aisles and sing along as if in a place of
worship.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Clearly, the folks in the
aisles were having the most fun.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The rest appeared to be outsiders looking in, lacking the culture,
upbringing and experience instrumental in having a full and rich understanding
and appreciation of the music and its inspiration.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Like a gentile at the National Yiddish
Theatre production of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Shpiel!<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Shpiel! Shpiel!</I>, they got it, but
not all of it.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>!<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Come to </SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Mahalia</SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">:
<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">A Gospel
Musical</SPAN></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">for the music, not for
the drama.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Come for Williams’
performance, not the play that surrounds it.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Come ready to stand and
shout.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>And maybe bring a
Baptist.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Mahalia</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">:
<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">A Gospel Musical</SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> continues through February 22 in The
Cleveland Play House’s Bolton Theatre.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>For tickets, which range from $42 to $64 ($10 students), call
(</I></SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">216) 795-7000 or visit
</SPAN></I></FONT><A href=""><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT color=#002bb8
size=3>www.clevelandplayhouse.com</FONT></SPAN></I></A><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>