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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><FONT size=3><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Heaven’s My
Destination</SPAN></I></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> a thought-provoking Wilder
ride<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></FONT></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>5/08/09</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><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"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">In 1935,
when Thornton Wilder wrote his novel <I>Heaven’s My Destination,</I> about a
traveling salesman who sells textbooks and saves souls, literary critics were at
a loss.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They did not know whether
the author </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">intended to be
satirical or to make a serious statement about
life.<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>The Cleveland Play
House’s world premiere production of Lee Blessing’s adaptation of the novel,
which opened April 24, resolves this confusion with a resounding “well, yes.” It
is both poking fun and being profound. It’s just not always easy to tell one
from the other. <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><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>The most unambiguous thing about <I>Heaven’s My Destination</I> is its
hero.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>George Brush is clearly a
humorless, moralizing, meddling product of Bible-belt evangelism.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>George annoys and irritates all who
cross his path with his unflinching desire to put them on the right path.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is walking, talking
incompatibility.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>It is equally clear that the play’s antagonist is the Great Depression, a
pandemic that has sucked the life, joy and passion out of the average Americans
George encounters.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>Unsure about the future, these victims lack hope, faith and good
intentions—all the things that George possesses by the bushel.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are numb while George is
fervent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are weighed down by
life’s harsh realities while George is unpretentiously oblivious to them. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They struggle and go nowhere while George
wants for nothing and is always on the move.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>Wilder makes it easy to like our unlikely hero by toning down his
religious fervor.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>George is an avid
Baptist but with significant leanings toward Gandhi.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He writes Biblical texts on the blotters
of hotel lobbies, but is only heard reciting Shakespeare.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We learn that George goes into every
church he passes in his travels to sing psalms, but we only witness him crooning
college fight songs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Consequently,
George is more self-assured moral compass than self-righteous moralizing
minstrel.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>The playwright also makes it easy to like George.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Every scene is introduced by one or more
of the characters in the play, who momentarily shed their insecurity, foul mood
and brazen intolerance for our hero as they describe him and his actions with
genuine affection.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The narrative
that surrounds George renders him absolutely
harmless.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>Director Michael Bloom makes it easy to like George as well.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>By casting New York actor Michael
Halling in the role, we are given an unassuming soul whose bold, value-laden
declarations are immediately compromised by a young, lanky body and pleasant
demeanor.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Halling is an affable and
charming George.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>Bloom also tilts the satire-to-serious quotient of this play toward the
humorous.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His CPH production
emphasizes the wit that runs throughout Wilder’s prose. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He has cast a wonderful ensemble of
players, including Katie Barrett, Kailey Bell, Diane Dorsey, Christian Kohn,
Justin Tatum and John Woodson, who make the most of those comical moments. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Barrett, in particular, is a hoot
as a drunken everywoman, a near-sighted prostitute and a waitress in a
middle-America Chinese restaurant.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>Russell Parkman’s set design places a revolving carousel that contains a
veritable mountain of broken-down Americana and Depression-era artifacts center
stage.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is both a whimsical and
functional display, with each rotation delivering a bed, a train car or a door
frame that represents another place at another time in George’s journey.<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'; 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'"><FONT size=3>This play, like the
novel, contains plenty of ambiguity.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>For instance, it ends with George –now beaten down by a world gone
awry—receiving a gift from a priest; a man he has never met but whose welfare he
asks about throughout the play.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>George learns that the priest, who has died, had been praying for his
soul.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Rejuvenated, George holds the
gift, a silver spoon, high over his head in triumph as the lights fade.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Is this a satirical statement or a
poignant point?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well,
yes.<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"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><I>Heaven’s My Destination</I> is
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">an intriguing,
thought-provoking play that pits a strangely sympathetic hero against an
unbeatable foe.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It makes for an
interesting evening’s entertainment. <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"><FONT size=3><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN">Heaven’s
My Destination<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> continues through May 17
in The Cleveland Play House’s Drury Theatre.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $42 to
$64, call </I></SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">216-795-7000 ext. 4 or visit <A
href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandplayhouse.com</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>