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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Everything goes right in
touring production of ‘Anything Goes’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; 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=3>News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times
Courier<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d"><FONT size=3>Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
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 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d">This review will
appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Times</I> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">on 10/11/12</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><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 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><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 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Something rare and
wonderful is playing at PlayhouseSquare.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3>On the
Palace Theatre stage is the revival of a 1930s musical that was the epitome of
escapist entertainment so necessary in its Great Depression day.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When desperate times called for
diversionary measures, “Anything Goes” offered silly scenarios easily resolved,
smart conversation between attractive people, and a stage full of willful
nonsense and wonderful music.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Desperate times are here
again and this </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">2011 Tony
Award-winning musical<SPAN style="COLOR: black"> is, once more, a welcome and
necessary digression.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>It is, of course, more
than that.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>This play, this
production of it, and the performances within it are of such high caliber that
they embody all that is so great about the Great White Way.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This poster child for musical theater,
in the first city on the first leg of its year-long national tour, will leave
you breathless.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>A romantic comedy with
music and lyrics by Cole Porter, “Anything Goes” takes place on the deck of a
cruise ship sailing from New York to England.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Billy Crocker is a stowaway, hoping to
break up an engagement and win the heart of Hope Harcourt. She is sailing with
her flamboyant English fiancé, Lord Evelyn Oakleigh.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Billy is aided and abetted by a
second-rate gangster named Moonface Martin who is posing as a minister, his
<SPAN style="COLOR: black">sailor-chasing </SPAN>moll Erma, and his old friend
and featured nightclub singer Reno Sweeney.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">This is delightfully lightweight
stuff.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In fact, the play
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>behaves like a classic farce with its group of outlandish characters,
who find themselves in an awkward but fundamentally nonthreatening situation
that transpires in one place over a short period of time, and simmers until
done.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Much of the simmering comes courtesy
of the score—a composite of brilliantly constructed musical numbers such as
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>"You're the Top," ''I Get a Kick Out of You," ''Blow, Gabriel, Blow" and
"Anything Goes" that have been </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">extracted from other Cole Porter
musicals and films.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Although the songs are often round pegs being fitted for square holes in
the storyline, each is a masterpiece of music and verse that is as interesting
and easy on the ear as it was 80 years ago.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>The production of this
revival is directed and choreographed with astute attention to detail and with
the obvious intention to delight by Kathleen Marshall.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So rigorously and finely polished is
this show that you have to shield your eyes from the glare.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Squinting is highly recommended for the
spectacular production numbers in the second act.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>What really sells this
show is that the performers are having a grand time performing it and their
enthusiasm is contagious.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lost in
their revere, you find yourself grinning like an idiot throughout the production
and noticing that those around you are squinting, grinning idiots as well.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Also noticeable is that no one can
take their eyes off of Broadway veteran Rachel York </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>as
Reno.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The role, and the playful
period costuming by </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Martin Pakledinaz,
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>fit like a velvet glove.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>York’s Reno is less brash and brassy than </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Sutton Foster, who
originated the role in the Broadway revival. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Instead, everything she does is simple,
subtle and impeccably timed, which makes you stare all the more for fear of
missing something small and wonderful.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">“Impeccably timed” also
defines the comedy delivered by Fred Applegate</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> as Moonface Martin as well as the
<SPAN style="COLOR: black">superb performances by </SPAN>Erich Bergen as a very
charming Billy Crocker, the adorable Alex Finke as Hope Harcourt, and original
Broadway cast member Joyce Chittick as Erma.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The stage is lousy with top-notch talent
who know how to work a room.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Even the supporting cast
is outstanding, including Dennis Kelly as a nearsighted and lusty Wall Street
tycoon (and Crocker’s boss) and Edward Staudenmayer as </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, who is <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">more in love with American slang than his American
</SPAN>fiancé.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His hilarious “The
Gypsy in Me” song and dance is an unexpected delight.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>These players are
supported by a talented core of ensemble performers who execute the show’s jaw
dropping, Tony Award-winning choreography with incredible freshness and
vitality.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Add to this the
eye-popping Deco set design by Derek McLane and the outstanding musical
direction by Jay Alger, and everything is right about this production of
“Anything Goes.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Something rare and
wonderful is playing at PlayhouseSquare.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>M<SPAN style="COLOR: black">usical theater does not get any better than
this.</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>“Anything Goes” continues
through October 14 at PlayhouseSquare in downtown Cleveland.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $10 to
$75, visit </FONT><A href=""><FONT color=#0000ff
size=3>www.playhousesquare.com</FONT></A><FONT size=3>.</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>