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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Mercury Summer Stock
offers a brilliantly re-imagined ‘Peter Pan’<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></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'; 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><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">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier<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">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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
size=3>Every local theater has a mission statement that defines its artistic
vision which, in turn, influences which plays are produced and how they are
approached.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Rarely has a play
better matched a mission than “Peter Pan: The Musical Adventure” at Mercury
Summer Stock.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><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'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>This musical is </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>based
on J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play “Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” and his
1911 novel “Peter and Wendy.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They
also inspired the 1954 Tony Award-winning Broadway production of “Peter Pan”
starring Mary Martin, its 1979 Tony Award-winning revival starring Sandy Duncan,
the 1990 and 1997 Tony Award-winning revivals starring Cathy Rigby (who,
miraculously, toured as Peter until her 62<SUP>nd</SUP> birthday), and the 2009
Tony Award-winning “<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Peter and the
Starcatcher</SPAN>.”<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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>These works all feature a mischievous boy who can fly, who never ages,
and who spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of
Neverland as the leader of the lost boys.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>His interactions with mermaids, Native Americans, fairies, pirates, and
three ordinary children from the outside world are chock-full of imagination and
family-friendly fantasy. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“Peter
Pan: The Musical Adventure” is a </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>less-known version of this story, which was written by Willis Hall with
21 new songs – most of them delightful and a few, like the ballad “Just Beyond
the Stars,” gorgeous – by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They also wrote the music for Broadway’s
“Mary Poppins.”<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'; 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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>It can
be argued that </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“Peter
Pan: The Musical Adventure” is a lesser version as well, considering that
i</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>t has won no major awards, is rarely produced, and Cathy Rigby is
nowhere to be found.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The show
opened in Copenhagen in 1996 (not New York or London), appeared as a 2001
broadcast on the BBC and, after revision, played for a year at a repertory
theater in Birmingham, England.<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'; 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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>It is,
in fact, just </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">another
retelling of a beautiful but all-too-familiar tale.<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'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><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'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">As
produced by Mercury Summer Stock, however – whose artistic mission is to “create
extraordinary theatrical experiences” – this musical becomes something most
certainly extraordinary.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Indeed, in
the hands of lost </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>boy
director Pierre-Jacques Brault and Pan-esque performer Brian Marshall, both
founders of Mercury, t</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">his
production is absolutely breathtaking.<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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>As with all their shows, “Peter Pan” is infused with unbridled
imagination, unbound energy, and unparalleled talent in lieu of an unlimited
budget.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Gone is elaborate scenery and sedentary set pieces, replaced by an
inventive and highly stylized representation of locations with everyday objects,
such as clocks and windows panes, manned and animated.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>All this is bathed in dramatic and
fantastic lighting designed by Rob Peck, which purposefully casts Peter’s shadow
on the theater walls throughout the show.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>All this engages an audience in ways more concrete and less imaginative
stagecraft does not. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Gone are
the </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>wires
to create flight for Peter (a brilliant Brian Marshall), Wendy (an enchanting
Kelly Monaghan), Michael (John Cugel) and John (JR Heckman), replaced by
Brault’s astoundingly creative choreography to simulate the absence of gravity.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their transport to the second star
to the right and straight on ‘till morning is as delightful as it is
innovative.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Gone is the flittering spotlight and flickering of assorted high notes on
a piano to represent the playful fairy Tinkerbell.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Here she is portrayed by a gorgeous and
graceful ballerina (Brittany Basenback, with Zachary Pfeil’s doing the
lifting).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nana the dog is a puppet
handled by Liza, the maid (Elicia Bryant).<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Reinforcing the childhood innocence on which this play is dependent,
characters living in the real world appear in white undergarments.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>More fanciful costuming, designed by
Lindsey Vandevier and occasionally converting into scenery, is limited to
Neverland.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Another Mercury trademark is that its productions fill the rafters with
gorgeous voices that offer beautifully blended harmonies.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Such is the case here, supported by a
wonderful five-piece orchestra under Eddie Carney’s direction.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>The
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">villainous Captain
Hook/Mr. Darling is played perfectly and with a hint of Tim Curry by Eric van
Baars, with stellar performances also turned in by silver-throated Dana Aber
(alternating with Melissa Sills) as Mrs. Darling, Hester Lewellen as the
omnipresent Storyteller, and Dani Apple as Tiger Lilly.<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>The rambunctious lost
boys are played by Kirk Eichelberger, Jr., Seth Hunter, Max Joseph, Danny
DiMarino, Joseph Alvey and Kevin Lauver.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The swashbuckling slapstick pirates are Demarco Sleeper, Jonathan Bova,
Trey Gilpin, Joseph Virgo, Jason Falkofsky, Kelvette Beacham and David
Petrovic.<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>The secret to everlasting
childhood, we are told in this play, is to let your imagination fly and never
land.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If it isn’t already, these
words should be in Mercury Summer Stock’s mission
statement.<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"><FONT size=3><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Peter Pan: A Musical Adventure”
continues through August 17 at Regina Hall on the Notre Dame College campus,
South Euclid.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, $15 to
$18, call 216-771-5862 or visit </SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><A
href=""><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://tickets.ticketforce.com</FONT></SPAN></A>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>