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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino">Miss Abigail’s feeble
attempt to give advice now on stage at 14<sup>th</sup> Street Theatre</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino">(Member,
American Theatre Critics Association)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The 14<sup>th</sup>
Street Theatre, nestled between such big venue spots as the Hanna Theatre and
the major venues on Euclid Avenue, has a unique place in Cleveland theatrical
presentations.<span style> </span>It’s where the
“little” acts go to play.<span style> </span>We’ve
had a nun teaching us the catechism, a cross-dresser talking us into buying
Tupperware, and now an “expert” spewing out facts from books about dating,
mating and marriage while being stalked by her on-stage Hispanic assistant.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The scripted/adlibbed presentation is dependent
upon a dynamic and quirky presence as Miss Abigail, and a fun and sexy male
assistant named Paco.<span style> </span>Laurie
Birmingham, who plays Abby, appears to be a nice woman, but isn’t a forceful
presence.<span style> </span>She doesn’t have the
adlibbing ability to compensate for the poorly written script.<span style> </span>Gabriel Gutierrez is quite charming,
but lacks naturalness and the stud factor.<span style> </span>Their interactions lack meaningful spontaneity.<span style> </span>It’s almost like they are reading from
prompt cards, and not doing that well.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Based on the ideas of real-life advice columnist
and blogger, Abigail Grotke, </span><span style="font-family:Palatino">the
concept is to get the audience to enjoy themselves and share their views,
participate from their seats and on stage, and hear many theories about dating,
mating and marriage.<span style> </span>They were
also asked to fill out cards which were to be used to flesh out the
script.<span style> </span>Only a couple were used,
and those seemed like planted questions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">Having an audience that
is sloshed, willing to be played with, and can be excited by mildly sexual
innuendoes, helps.<span style> </span>Unfortunately
the small opening night crowd, many of whom were woman out for a night on the
town, weren’t quite drunk and raucous enough to help much.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">There were “prizes” for participation including
a stick of gum and cards with “Miss Abigail’s 10 Commandments for Couples,”
“Miss Abigail’s ask the looking glass!,” and The Miss Abigail Dldow.”<span style> </span>These are inscribed with such sage
wisdom as:<span style> </span>“Men, always greet her
with a kiss, especially when other people are present,” “Is my hair brushed?,”
“Order some Chinese food,” and “When in doubt get counseling.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino">The set, which arrived so late that the original
opening night performance had to be cancelled, consisted of some old couches, a
poorly painted cloth backdrop, and a ton of books, from which Miss Abigail read
the quotes of experts.<span style> </span>This is a
low cost tour, with seemingly low level expectations.<span style> </span>One can only wonder what the producers were thinking when
they decided to send it on the road.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino">CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:</span></i><i><span style="font-family:Palatino"><span style> </span></span><span style="font-family:Palatino">The show’s websites list “reviews” from viewers as they exited the show.
One person wrote what turns out to be my view of the show:<span style> </span>“The idea was good but script was so
bad that I couldn't really laugh even though I wanted to.”</span></i><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:#353535;text-transform:uppercase">Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating &
Marriag</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:#353535">E runs
through February 12 at the 14</span><sup><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:#353535">th</span></sup><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:#353535"> Street
Theatre, PlayhouseSquare. For tickets call </span><span style="font-family:Palatino">216-241-6000 or going <a href="http://www.playhousesquare.org/"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">www.playhousesquare.org</span></a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
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</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Console";color:#0071ff">Roy
Berko's commentaries and reviews appear on
<a href="http://coolcleveland.com">coolcleveland.com</a>,<a href="http://neohiopal.com">neohiopal.com</a>,<a href="http://artsamerica.com">artsamerica.com</a>,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Console";color:#0071ff"><a href="http://broadwaynews.com">broadwaynews.com</a>,
and The Times Newspapers. His blog is: <a href="http://www.royberko.info">www.royberko.info</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>