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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>Mitch Albom's play <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Duck Hunter</I> shoots fairly straight at
CVLT<?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><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; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Bob
Abelman<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="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
</I>5/01/09</FONT></SPAN></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></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Anyone
familiar with the best-selling books <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Tuesdays With Morrie</I> and <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Five People You Meet in Heaven</I> knows
author Mitch Albom’s </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">modus operandi</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mix sappy sentimentality with endearing
characters, add a mild-mannered moral, stir, and allow to simmer.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The result is a sweet, tasty, if not
completely satisfying concoction</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">So
it is with Albom’s play <I>Duck Hunter Shoots Angel</I><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">, which is receiving its Ohio premiere
production at the Chagrin Valley Little Theater. This delightfully quirky
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">comedy revolves around
two absurd good ‘ol boys from backwoods Alabama, Duane and Duwell Early, who
have accidently shot down a celestial being while duck hunting. Enter a cynical,
big-city tabloid reporter assigned to cover the story, who, in the course of
doing so, unearths some truths about himself.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The play’s
sweetness resides in its population of absolutely harmless and lovable
characters, who range from quirky to eccentric and are a pleasure to spend the
evening with.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Its tastiness
can be found in the wonderful portrayal of these characters by a cast of gifted
CVLT regulars under the astute direction of Bob McCoy.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><FONT
size=3><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Soft and
squeezable Adam Young is immediately engaging as the everyman reporter
Sandy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He and Marvin Mallory,
as Sandy’s photographer and sarcastic sidekick, provide the normality around
which </SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Duck
Hunter Shoots Angel’s</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">lunacy
revolves.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Eric Oswald and Mike
Rogan, as Duane and Duwell; Kevin Derrick, as Lester the ruthless and clueless
owner of the tabloid; and George Spelvin, as a pantomiming
half-man/half-alligator employee of the tabloid, serve up the lunacy.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are flat-out hilarious as Warner
Brothers cartoon character equivalents, delivering inventiveness with every line
and broad physical comedy at every opportunity.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Alex
LaForce-Marzullo, as the young quick-mart attendant Sandy meets on his journey,
exudes a natural intelligence behind her down-home innocence that is
charming.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Tara Holman, as the love
Sandy left behind, does a really nice job of delivering author Albom’s
obligatory dose of pathos to counterbalance the craziness.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>While
wildly entertaining, all this fails to completely satisfy due to Albom’s efforts
to force-feed a moral into what could nicely suffice as a surreal comedy.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He does this through some rather
convoluted storytelling, including moments throughout the play when a
disembodied voice interviews Sandy about his past and a jumbled piece of
sense-making at the end, when the moral painstakingly reveals itself.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>All this requires an excessive number of
lighting cues to isolate the on-stage action and has the potential to stall the
momentum generated by all the comedy.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Still, with
McCoy’s comic timing, his actor’s full-throttled approach to the material, and
Edmond Wolff’s playful set that nicely accommodates the action, this CVLT
production thrives.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It overcomes
Albom’s creative shortcomings and takes full advantage of all the good
stuff.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Doing so is
testimony to why this community theater has been identified as one of the best
in the area.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; 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'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Duck
Hunter Shoots Angel<I><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> continues
through </SPAN></I></SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">May 16 at the Chagrin Valley Little
Theatre, 56 River Street, Chagrin Falls.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>For </SPAN></I></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">tickets, which range from $10 to $14,
call 440-247-8955 or visit <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><A
href=""><FONT color=#002bb8>www.cvlt.org</FONT></A>.<SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></I></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>