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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Actors’
Summit’s <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Yogi</I> is like déjà vu all
over again<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review appeared in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Times </I>papers<I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> </I>1/14/10</SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This
has been a difficult year to be a Cleveland Indians fan.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In addition to finishing the season with
an embarrassing 65-97 record, the team and its fans had to witness the dreaded
New York Yankees win yet another World Series, the 27<SUP>th </SUP>championship
in the rival franchise’s irritatingly excessive storied history.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">One
of the Yankees’ many stories is currently being told on the Actors’ Summit stage
in Hudson, and one has to wonder whether anyone in northeast Ohio would find it
remotely entertaining with the memory of last season still sensitive to the
touch.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
answer is yes, considering that it is about Yogi Berra.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As the title of this one-act, one-man
play by </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Tom
Lysaght</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
suggests, </SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nobody Don’t like
Yogi</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">.</SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Yogi
was as unlikely a hero on the diamond as he is in this docudrama.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Standing only 5-foot-8, he gave the
i</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">mpression of “being
welded together from hips to knees, running like a fat girl in a tight skirt,”
noted a <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Life</I> magazine reporter early
in Yogi’s major-league career.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>According to </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Hall
of Famer Mel Ott, Yogi “looked as if he was doing everything wrong.”<SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Yet
he was catcher for the Yankees from 1946 to 1963, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">played on 10 World
Series champions, won three Most Valuable Player awards, and managed both the
Yankees and the Mets into the World Series.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 12.75pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Most telling about
the man is that he</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
was invited to 15 All-Star games, events that are as much popularity contests as
they are about athletic prowess.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Yogi was </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">an approachable and
unpretentious ballplayer on a franchise rarely associated with such qualities,
which resonated with fans.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 12.75pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: 12.75pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">He was also a
much-quoted ballplayer.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>With an
eighth grade education and coming from an immigrant household, he fractured the
English language and pieced it back together in unintentionally intriguing ways.
This delighted reporters, although Yogi claimed that “I never said most of the
things I said.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><FONT size=3><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Nobody Don't Like Yogi</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> played off-Broadway in 2003 and
enjoyed a national tour in 2005.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It
is set on “Yogi Berra Day” in 1999, a day that marked Yogi’s first visit to
Yankee Stadium in 14 years, having vowed to never return after being
unceremoniously fired as manager by egomaniacal team owner George
Steinbrenner.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nervous about making
a speech, Yogi wanders around the locker room and reminisces about his personal
and professional life.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Baseball has
long been a backdrop for commentary about the human condition, taking on
homosexuality (<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Take Me Out</I>), racism
(<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Fences</I>) and mortality (<I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Damn Yankees</I>). <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Nobody Don't Like Yogi</I> has no such
pretense.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mr. Lysaght's script is
as mild-mannered and as inoffensive as Yogi himself and, like the pastoral
pastime it describes, is frequently slow, uneventful and
meandering.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Coming in for
the save is equity actor George Roth. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Mr. Roth is marvelous as Yogi.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His approach to acting is much like
Yogi’s self-described approach to baseball—“90 <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN class=body1><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt">percent
mental and the other half is physical”—and he gives it his all in this
production.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When Roth-as-Yogi talks
about family and baseball, which is all he talks about in this play, it comes
deep from within and is immediately engaging.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=body1><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
size=3>Director Neil Thackaberry gives Mr. Roth little to work with on
stage.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The space is void of
baseball artifacts to establish the Yankee legacy or scenery and set pieces to
establish a sense of time and place, save for a desk and some metalwork made to
resemble lockers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Photos of
ballplayers and family members are projected throughout the performance, like
closed captioning for the fan impaired.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This production is all Mr. Roth all the time and, as Yogi himself would
say, “you can observe a lot just by watching.” <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN class=body1><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
size=3>Despite possessing greater stature, grace and diction than Yogi, Mr. Roth
captures all that is essential and endearing about the man.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is not difficult to imagine you are
spending a private few moments with the real thing.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">You
don’t have to like the Yankees to like Yogi, and you don’t need to appreciate
baseball to find pleasure in</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> this
production.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Nobody Don't Like
Yogi</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
ain’t over till it’s over, and it’s over January 24.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Tickets
can be purchased at 330-342-0800 or
<U>www.actorssummit.org</U>. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>