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class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>CPH’s ‘Daddy Long Legs’ weaves an entrancing web of
romance<?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; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><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,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></I></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">The
Morning Journal, 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,
American Theatre Critics Association <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 will appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald
</I></SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">on
11/4/11</SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Cleveland Play House’s </SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Daddy
Long Legs</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>, currently on stage at the Allen Theatre, is nothing if not disarmingly
charming. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Written
as a novel by Jean Webster in 1912, </SPAN><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Daddy Long
Legs</SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> </SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>has
gone through numerous stage and screen adaptations over the last century.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Most recently, it has been transformed
into an intimate, two-person musical by John Caird with music and lyrics by Paul
Gordon, which premiered at the Rubicon Theatre Company in California in
2009.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Much of
this musical’s charm comes from its source material.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>The story is s</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">et in early
20<SUP>th</SUP> century New England, where Jerusha Abbott is the oldest orphan
in the John Grier Home.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That is,
until an anonymous benefactor recognizes her intelligence and creativity and
sends her to college to be educated as a writer. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Required to write him a letter once a
month but unaware of his identity, Jerusha invents one for him--Daddy Long
Legs—having glanced at his tall, gangly frame from behind while he was leaving
the orphanage. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Her spontaneity, playfulness
and passion for life, as reflected in her wonderfully penned letters, ultimately
captures the benefactor’s heart and threatens to breach his self-induced
anonymity.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This is a delightful and
captivating love story, made even more so by the fact that the novel was written
as a collection of Jerusha’s poignant and poetic correspondences.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So too is this musical.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The clever and time-honored device
of epistolary narrative</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-ansi-language: EN">
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">is adopted in the songs,
with each song serving as a separate self-disclosure as written by Jerusha or as
read by<SPAN style="COLOR: black"> </SPAN>Jervis Pendleton, the secretive man
who has become her patron saint.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">In fact, the limited dialogue
in this play simply segues from one of the 24 musical numbers to the next,
complemented by a projection of the script-written date on which the letter that
constitutes each song is written.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">When Jerusha’s writing and
Jervis’ reading of these letters occurs simultaneously, as it does in many of
the production’s songs, delicate and perfectly balanced harmonies result.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These harmonies take unmemorable songs
that offer brilliant lyrics but rather monotonous melodies and make them
soar.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The novel <I><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Daddy Long Legs</SPAN></I><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> </I>was written in the tradition of period
novelists Jane Austen (<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Pride and
Prejudice</I>), Louisa May Alcott (<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Little
Women</I>) and Charlotte Bronte (<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Jane
Eyre)</I>, who created strong, independent and imaginative women openly
dissatisfied with the gender-specific limitations of their time.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is this air of <I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Jane Eyre</I> that comes across so
beautifully in this play.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jerusha’s
irreverent tone and passionate temperament make her a particularly endearing and
engaging character in this day and age.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">What accounts for most of the CPH
production’s charm, however, is the cast, director and musical director, who
were all members of the original production.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">The petite Megan McGinnis, as Jerusha,
is winsome to the point of distraction.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The lanky Robert Adelman Hancock is boyishly charming, particularly when
Jervis’ inner-child peeks through its <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">benefactor</SPAN> façade.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Both are wonderful singers with crystal
clear voices that blend one into the other, and they are incredibly gifted,
intuitive performers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Having played
opposite each other since this play’s inception, McGinnis and Hancock have come
to complement each other beautifully.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Playwright Caird, a Tony-winning director best known for his work on
large-scale musicals such as <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Les
Misérables</I> and <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Life and
Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby</I>, nicely facilitates the storytelling through
imaginative staging on a simple, single set.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The dark library that houses Jervis’
office—a creation of David Farley’s (along with period costuming)—becomes the
orphanage, a college dorm and a farm house with subtle changes in Paul Toben’s
lighting and small adjustments in assorted set pieces.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A six-piece orchestra under Laura
Berquist’s superb direction underscores all this activity.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>In
brief, everything about this production is intimate, inviting and…
charming.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Despite this play’s few blemishes—a storyline that was even predictable
in 1912, a bright young lady who can’t figure out the blatantly obvious identity
of her benefactor, and the ridiculous pretense that two people sharing a small
stage for over two hours can’t actually hear or see each other until they can—it
is extremely easy to surrender to this production’s intricately woven web of
romance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>And surrender you most certainly will.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Daddy
Long Legs</SPAN></I><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">continues
through November 13 in Cleveland Play House’s Allen Theatre at
PlayhouseSquare.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which
range from $49 to $69, call </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">216-241-6000 or visit
<A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandplayhouse.com</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>