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<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Touring ‘Porgy and
Bess’ got plenty of somethin’<?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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
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">Cleveland Jewish
News<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">Cleveland Jewish News<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></I>on 2/7/14<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“I'm
preachin' dis sermon to show<BR>It ain't nessa, ain't nessa<BR>Ain't nessa,
ain't nessa<BR>It ain't necessarily so”<BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></SPAN><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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The national tour of
“The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess” – now on stage at PlayhouseSquare in downtown
Cleveland – has had more than its share of adversity.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>The musical started life as a novel by DeBose Heyward, which became a
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">non-musical play that
opened on Broadway in 1927.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was
turned into a four-hour opera eight years later that </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>featured </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Porgy,
a disabled black beggar living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina, and
his courageous efforts to rescue Bess from her </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">scandalous past, t</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>he
clutches of her violent former lover Crown, and the enticements of her
possessive drug dealer Sporting Life.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><FONT size=3>From the onset, some critics considered the opera a racist
portrayal of African Americans, bolstered by the realization that it was written
by three white men.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The music was
penned by Jewish composer George Gershwin; the libretto was written by Heyward,
a South Carolinian with little in common with the denizens of the fictitious
Catfish Row community depicted in the opera; and the lyrics were provided by
Heyward and George’s older brother, Ira.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Controversy has also surrounded the classic opera’s transformation into
its current incarnation: a commercial Broadway musical that opened in 2012.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus and </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Pulitzer Prize-winning </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>playwright Suzan-Lori Parks pared the production down to a more
conventional 2 ½ hours and stripped away much of Gershwin’s dramatic
underscoring.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They incorporated
dialogue, added Ronald Brown’s jazzy choreography, and invented biographical
details (such as how Porgy became disabled) to make the broad operatic
archetypes a bit more realistic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>And then there’s the new title “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” which
ungraciously side-steps Heyward’s contributions to the show’s best musical
numbers, including the lyrics for the lilting lullaby “Summertime” that opens
the show and the gorgeous torch-song “My Man’s Gone Now.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Despite all the
nay-saying from traditionalists and composer Stephen Sondheim’s dismissal of the
revised work in the pages of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The New York
Times</I>, the musical being performed on the Palace Theatre stage is an
immediately accessible, thoroughly enjoyable piece of epic entertainment. And
the tour, which launched in November, has lost none of its vibrancy or
intensity.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
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; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Though
pared down, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“The Gershwins' Porgy
and Bess” has stayed true to the original’s operatic sensibilities.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Much of the staging is overtly
melodramatic, many of the voices on stage are big, bold and classically trained,
and some of the portrayals – such as Alvin Crawford’s enthralling depiction of
the violent Crown – are broad to the near-breaking point of caricature.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Christopher
Akerlind's lighting design creates the kind of elongated shadows one might find
in a production of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Giacomo
Puccini‘s </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>“Tosca” by the </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Metropolitan
Opera company</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“The Gershwins' Porgy
and Bess” has also stayed true to the Broadway tradition of offering nothing but
top-notch talent and a big bang for the buck.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>M</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>usic director Dale Rieling’s 23-piece orchestra fills the room with rich
and wonderful sound and this </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">cast
is absolutely terrific</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>.</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; 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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">As
Bess, Alicia Hall Moran possesses the physicality of a woman at odds with every
decision she has made in her life and a voice that drives the point home.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Every song she sings, particularly "I
Loves You, Porgy" in the second act, is filled with complexity and unbridled
passion.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>Nathaniel
Stampley’s depiction of Porgy is layered with such immense dignity that he is
immediately likable and the kind of Everyman hero one cheers for from start to
finish.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His “I Got Plenty of
Nothing” and “Bess You Is My Woman Now” are riveting.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Yet,
it is the community of players that drives this production.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Everyone in the ensemble is in excellent
voice, creates distinctive and interesting characters, and gets an opportunity
to showcase their talents.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Kingsley
Leggs, as the sleazy drug dealer Sporting Life, delivers a most memorable "It
Ain't Necessarily So" and Denisha Ballew, as the newly widowed Serena, tears out
her soul in "My Man's Gone Now."<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-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><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-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">While
much of the criticism that surrounded the creation of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The Gershwins’
Porgy and Bess” </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">is
valid, so too is the joy generated by this production.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Is the Broadway version of the classic
American opera a lesser work, as has been suggested in the New York press?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">t ain't
nessa, ain't nessa, ain't nessa, ain't nessa, it ain't necessarily so.<BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN>“<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The Gershwins’
Porgy and Bess”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Where:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>The Palace Theatre at </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">PlayhouseSquare<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">When:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Through Sunday, February 16<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Tickets:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>$10-75, </SPAN><SPAN
style="LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">216-241-6000
or<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> <A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.playhousesquare.com</FONT></A>.<o:p></o:p></I></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>