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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">Top-10 Memorable
Moments in Cleveland Theater, 2013 Edition<?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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><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'; 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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">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'; 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="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This review will
appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News-Herald</I> on 1/3/14<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">When we reflect back
on a live theatrical production, it is usually a specific moment that we recall
– an instant when a playwright’s idea, a director’s vision, and an actor’s
performance become one.<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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Such moments seem
frozen in time, suspended in space and are remembered forever.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is these isolated, elusive moments
that keep theatergoers coming back for more, year after
year.<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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Theatrical missteps
and miscarriages are similarly memorable and, often, just as entertaining.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Awe can be found in work both awesome
and awful.<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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Here are ten of this
past year’s most memorable moments – both fantastic and unfortunate – from
productions that have graced Cleveland’s amateur and professional
stages.<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><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'">10.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Not that there’s anything wrong with
that</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dobama Theatre’s “The Lyons” served up
epic domestic dysfunction as the evening’s entertainment, with terminal cancer
as its punch line and some of the most unlikable characters to populate a stage
to deliver it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Think “Seinfeld”
with everyone a Costanza.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Playwright
Nicky Silver is the master of comedic causticity and director Nathan Motta found
performers capable of delivering all his </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">dark,
corrosive humor without flinching at the toxic fumes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The audience met every line uttered by
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Dudley
Swetland, Jeanne Task, Anjanette Hall and Christopher M. Bohan with a moment’s
hesitation – the silence of shock – before the laughter flowed loud and
long.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><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"><FONT size=3><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">9.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Fine dining.</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>It is a rare and wonderful thing when the low-budget, no-frills theater
space that is the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s River Street Playhouse puts on
a show that is actually intended to be low-budget and no-frills.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Equally rare and wonderful is when the
typically safe and conservative community theater company opens itself up for
something as </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>blatantly irreverent, thoroughly inane, and joyously stupefying as
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">Trey
Parker’s “</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Cannibal! The Musical.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This show about a very odd assortment of miners who embark on an
ill-fated expedition from Utah to Colorado was funny to the core.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But it was those astute, groan-worthy
add-ons and contemporary, localized references inserted by director/music
director Andrew Rothman that made this show
hilarious.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p><FONT size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">8.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Beauty isn’t skin deep.</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sadly, “hilarious” does not describe an
ill-fated earlier effort by this same theater called “Skin Deep.” <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This painfully thin, woefully shallow
comedy was little more than a non-stop series of offensive jokes at others’
expense. Though valiantly delivered by local players, the show fell flat and
stayed there upon the utterance of the very first sucker-punch line of the
first-of-many fat jokes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Half-hour
TV sitcoms generate a joke every 15 seconds; damn the character development,
plot progression and dramatic arc, man, full speed ahead.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When a full-length comedy for the stage
excludes those key elements, it is a formula for failure.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Playwright Jon Lonoff <SPAN
style="COLOR: black">must </SPAN>not have gotten the memo.<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'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: center 3.25in"
class=MsoNormal><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">7.
Tour </SPAN></B><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">de</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<B>force.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></B><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">PlayhouseSquare’s Broadway Series delivers
some of the best of Broadway’s national tours to our doorstep.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are the most expensive theater
tickets in town, but patrons are likely to witness truly magical moments when
stunning stories merge with astounding storytelling.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>The 2012 Tony Award-winning musical “Once” revolves around a
disheartened, disenfranchised Irish street musician.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>During the opening night performance of
one of his gorgeous, impassioned folk-rock anthems about heartbreak, a guitar
string snapped mid-song.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Actor
Stuart Ward continued playing, as if such misfortune was commonplace in his
character’s life and was almost… expected.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>That moment made the character and his journey all the more
interesting.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; tab-stops: center 3.25in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; 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"><FONT size=3><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>6.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Less is not more</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“I wish I could tell you about the South
Pacific….<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I wish I could tell
you about the sweating jungle, the full moon rising behind the volcanoes, and
the waiting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The waiting.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The timeless, repetitive waiting.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">There’s passion in the words of James
A. Michener, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning novel-turned-musical revealed the
dramatic story of young American sailors stationed in the Pacific Islands during
World War II.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sadly, passion was
the thing missing from this summer’s production of “South Pacific” at Porthouse
Theatre.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As a cost-saving measure,
two pianos rather than an orchestra were employed, which failed to fill the
500-seat open-air pavilion with the majestic music of Rodgers and Hammerstein
and carry the audience to the far-away beaches of Bali Ha’i. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The sense of timeless, repetitive waiting
– for a richer, fuller orchestration during each musical number – was certainly
achieved.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></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><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">5.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Bringing out the old to ring in the
new</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The first production by the new Mamaí
Theatre Company was “Medea,” written by Euripides around <SPAN
class=MsoHyperlink><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">431 BC.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This </SPAN></SPAN>play is the
standard-bearer of tragedies that explores the hellacious fury of a woman
scorned.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
class=MsoHyperlink><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Traded in for a
younger model by her husband, Medea flies into fits of rage and engages in a
bloody, vengeful rampage.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Registering at the extreme end of the sliding scale of sanity, as well as
the Richter Scale of intensity, </SPAN></SPAN>Tracee <SPAN
class=MsoHyperlink><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Patterson’s Medea
was so terrifying that even her crop of blond hair seemed traumatized.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Despite her full-body rage, there was an
underlying intelligence, deliberation and wit that came through, which made her
all the more terrifying.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
Medea’s dramatic mood swings created vertigo… and resulted in one of the most
memorable performances of the year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Ms. Patterson can next be seen in “Deathtrap” at Great Lakes
Theatre.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
class=MsoHyperlink><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
color=#004276><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><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">4.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Bi-Polar x 2.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As
musicals go, “Next to Normal” is a tough one to watch.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This Pulitzer Prize- and Tony
Award-winning show offers a vivid depiction of a manic-depressive, delusional
woman – Diana Goodman – and demonstrates how her disease infiltrates, infects
and isolates members of her family.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Brian Yorkey’s powerful lyrics expose raw nerves while Tom Kitt’s
pulsating rock-operatic score serves as a centrifuge to work emotion to the
surface and suspend it there. The Lakeland Civic Theatre production under Martin
Friedman’s direction, with Amiee Collier as Diana, was brilliant.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So, too, was the Beck Center for the
Arts production two weeks later, under Vicky Bussert’s direction and with
Katherine DeBoer playing the lead.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Those fortunate enough to catch either production are probably still
weeping from the experience. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">3.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Misery loves company</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Women did not have the corner on the
market of crazy this season.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As do
all of Shakespeare’s histories, “Richard III,” directed by Joseph Hanreddy at
Great Lakes Theatre, begins with a struggle for the crown, is followed by
disloyalty and betrayal, and ends with the fellow whose name is in the title
being assassinated or imploding under the pressure of the job or his own
demons.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lynn Robert Berg played the
title role and was deliciously villainous, bringing to life all that is
appealing and appalling about Richard.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>From the opening moment of the play – when Mr. Berg boldly stepped
forward to put on display the twisted body that served to represent his twisted
soul – he owned the audience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Never land</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>It can be argued that Willis Hall’s </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“Peter
Pan: The Musical Adventure” is a lesser version of the </SPAN><SPAN
class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">J. M.
Barrie</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">
classic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the hands of
lost-</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>boy director/choreographer Pierre-Jacques Brault, and starring Pan-esque
actor Brian Marshall, t</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">he
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Mercury Summer Stock </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">production
was absolutely breathtaking.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>As with all MSS shows, “Peter Pan” was infused with unbridled
imagination, unbound energy, and unparalleled talent in lieu of an unlimited
budget. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Gone were sedentary set
pieces, replaced by inventive and highly stylized representations of
locations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Gone
were </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>wires and rigging to create flight, replaced by astoundingly creative
movement to simulate the absence of gravity. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From the moment Peter’s shadow was cast
upon the theater walls, the audience was engaged in ways less creative
stagecraft cannot tap. <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; 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><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>1.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>More Fairy
Tales</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s not as if the "<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Sleeping Beauty</SPAN>" story has been in
hibernation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Since its publication
by Charles Perrault in 1697, it has at the very least inspired Tchaikovsky’s
ballet score in the late-1800s, the Brothers Grimm fairytale in 1917, Walt
Disney’s animation in 1959, and an edgy, modern-day film by Julia Leigh that
premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This romantic tale about a beautiful
princess, the enchantment of sleep, and a devoted prince </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>was told once more on the Palace Theatre </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">stage
at PlayhouseSquare by master storyteller/choreographer Matthew Bourne.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It took the form of dance-theater set to
Tchaikovsky’s score and placed in a darkly gothic setting that mixed ballet with
contemporary movement.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
national tour was wonderful in conception and – from the moment the curtain
opened – gorgeous in execution.<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'; 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; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Here’s to more
memorable theater moments in the year to come.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
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style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></B></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>