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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-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Lakeland Theatre
reveals an intoxicating ‘Private Lives’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></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-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></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'">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="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></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'">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <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="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></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'">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I>10/2/09</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
world in romantic comedies tends to be seen through rose-colored glasses. It is
an affable place with warm hues, poetic prose and endless optimism radiating
from the soul mates who occupy it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">In
Noel Coward’s <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Private Lives</I>,
currently playing on the Lakeland Theatre stage on the Lakeland Community
College campus, the world is seen through a snifter of fine cognac.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is a country club resort of sorts,
where it’s well-off, refined but increasingly inebriated members grow loud,
boorish and revealing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Quick wit is
the currency in this exclusive place, and flippancy is its favorite
pastime.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As
the lights come up, we find two fabulously wealthy British couples honeymooning
in an </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">elegant hotel on the
French Rivera.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">come
to realize that an ex-spouse of each of the couples is in a neighboring room.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Elyot’s ex-wife Amanda is on her
honeymoon with Victor; Elyot is on his honeymoon with
Sybil.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Over
cocktails, the wonderfully shallow Elyot and Amanda </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">rediscover
each other on adjacent terraces and </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">realize
that they are still madly in love. They run off to Amanda’s flat in Paris
where, amidst after-dinner drinks, the demons that led to their tumultuous
divorce are stirred as well as shaken. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">T</SPAN><SPAN
lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">ender
moments between the reunited lovers give way to caustic barbs.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Caustic barbs give way to an all-out
brawl.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A sobering cup of coffee in
the morning gives way to a happy ending that only the playful Coward could
concoct. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Alcohol is merely the
playwright’s pretense to allow his characters to mischievously reveal to their
audiences in the 1930s the hidden truths of male infidelity, female sexuality,
and fisticuffs served up by both sexes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Highballs are the means to disclose the low tide in marital relations,
and to do so with carefree buoyancy and acerbic humor. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">In the playbill’s
Director’s Notes, LCC’s Martin Friedman admits that he does not know if <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Private Lives</I> is a laugh-out-loud
comedy, given its subject matter and today’s sensibilities.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Thanks to Friedman’s energizing
direction and understanding of Coward’s clever wordplay, as well as his cast’s
superb comic timing, the laughs come.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>In fact, thanks to </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Sebastian
Orr and Emily Pucell’s delightful portrayals of Elyot and Amanda, the laughs
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">come
often.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Orr,
with pencil-thin mustache, elegant physique and debonair lilt, is 1930s-dapper
personified.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His Elyot is
wonderfully dismissive toward life’s realities and, as a result, is
hilarious.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Pucell carries herself
with the same self-aware self-confidence found in every golden age of cinema
starlet.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She has great stage
presence and is an absolute delight to watch.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Occasionally,
a glimmer of humanity seeps into both their portrayals—the result of fine actors
seeking complexity in dated Coward caricatures where none exists.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This threatens to bring some sobriety to
the show.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Fortunately, this is
fleeting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their playfulness and
abandon are intoxicating, which allow modern-day audiences to enter their
cognac-filtered world with ease.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Alison
Bencar and Joshua D. Brown follow suit as the forsaken spouses. Bencar’s Sybil
is the epitome of femininity while Brown’s Victor is perfectly plain, serving as
ideal targets for Coward’s witticism and absolute counterpoints to Elyot and
Amanda.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They make quick and stealth
abandonment a reasonable choice.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Christina Dennis does a nice turn as Louise, the French
maid.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">All
the on-stage activity is complemented by Keith Nagy’s wonderfully detailed and
well appointed sets and Craig Tucker’s true-to-period costuming.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Brown also provides the very
entertaining fight choreography for this production.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Noel
Coward’s world as seen through a snifter provides evidence of the medicinal
benefits of alcohol.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was
certainly a cure for what ailed a troubled nation in the 1930s, and has been
</SPAN><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN">revived
on Broadway six times.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As
theatres once again opt for escapism from economic woes, Lakeland Theatre’s
production of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Private Lives</I> provides
it by the jigger-full.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Lakeland
Theatre’s “Private Lives” continues at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2
p.m. on Sundays through October 11 at Lakeland Community College, 7700
Clocktower Drive, Kirtland.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For
tickets, which are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors, call 440-525-7526 or
contact </SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #333333; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><A
href="" target=_blank><SPAN
style="COLOR: #003399">martinfriedman98@yahoo.com</SPAN></A>.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>