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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>Great Lakes Theater’s
‘Deathtrap’ is captivating <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><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'"><FONT size=3>Cleveland Jewish
News<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'"><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><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'"><FONT size=3>This
review will appear in the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Cleveland
Jewish News </I>on 2/28/14<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">“Pain!!!!”
screeches Helga, the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Scandinavian</SPAN><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic" lang=EN>
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">psychic
in Ira Levin’s “Deathtrap,” as she enters the stage and senses murder most
foul.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>But pleasure is the only emotion emanating from the audience during this
wonderful Great Lakes Theater production of Broadway’s longest running
play-within-a-play-within-a-comedy thriller.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT size=3>In “Deathtrap,”
middle-aged murder mystery writer Sidney Bruhl is in need of a killer idea.
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Once the toast of Broadway, he is
now void of creativity and desperate to maintain the wealth and stature to which
he and his wife have grown accustomed.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>When a young, unknown playwright sends him a script to die for and seeks
his advice, the has-been writer sees a lethal opportunity to claim the work of
this up-and-comer as his own. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In a
creative series of twists, turns and reversals that blur the line between fact
and fiction, the script in question lays out the very plot of the play in
progress.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=lightblue><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
class=lightblue><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">“Deathtrap” is a
cleverly written piece that embraces all the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>formulaic conventions of the murder mystery.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So, too, does this production of
it.<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'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>Scenic
designer Russell Metheny provides all the </SPAN><SPAN class=lightblue><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">requisite </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>trappings in his stylish Connecticut manor on the Hanna Theatre stage,
complete with a living room wall tastefully decorated with dozens of viable
murder weapons, sliding doors and flowing curtains behind which mayhem might be
lurking, and plenty of open space for bodies to hide, fall or loiter while
waiting for one or the other to occur.<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'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Lighting designer Rick Martin and sound designer Richard B. Ingraham turn
a lightning storm into an art form, and add film noir-era music to scenes and
segues for good measure – just in case there is still some doubt about what
genre we have been asked to buy into. <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'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN>But
this is a comedy to boot, which requires an exceptional </SPAN><SPAN
class=lightblue><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">team of artists
to </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN class=lightblue3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">sustain
suspense while delivering with a straight face all its imbedded
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>self-</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">deprecating
references to theater in general and murder mysteries in particular</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>This ensemble is quite exceptional and, under Charlie Fee’s inspired
direction, manages to employ the comedy as camouflage for the mechanisms that
set up the mystery and use the element of mystery to set up the comedy.<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'; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><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'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>The result has you laughing from the very edge of your
seat.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Tom Ford, as the hackneyed Sidney Bruhl, musters the same semblance of
evil he channeled during his recent portrayal of Sweeney Todd, but it is
beautifully tempered by an engaging smile, an acerbic wit, and a fast-paced
patter.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His comic timing is as
impeccable as his ability to shift gears into something a tad more
sinister.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>The same can be said for the other players, which include Nick Steen as
the enigmatic<SPAN style="COLOR: #292727"> </SPAN>young playwright Clifford
Anderson, Tracee Patterson as Sidney's high-strung wife Myra, <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lynn Allison as the forensic psychic
Helga Ten Dorp, and Aled Davies as Sidney’s attorney Porter
Milgrim.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><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" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN" lang=EN><FONT
size=3>Their rich and fully-formed portrayals of murder mystery archetypes get
the audience to invest emotionally in each of their characters.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This, in turn, builds the suspense,
which adds the tension, which springboards the comedy, which makes for an
absolutely enjoyable evening of theater.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><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; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><FONT
size=3>What:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 2">
</SPAN>“Deathtrap<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>Where:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>The Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare in downtown
Cleveland<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>When:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Through Sunday, March 16<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 4.5pt 0pt 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.0pt; tab-stops: 1.0in 5.25in"
class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Tickets:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #3f265a">$15 - $70, call
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">216-241-6000 or visit to
<A href=""><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandplayhouse.com</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>