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<P
style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">PlayhouseSquare
offers a ‘White Christmas’ miracle<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><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">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, The News Herald, The Morning Journal<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 </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"><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: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Warm
and fuzzy feelings?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Check.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Dopey ear-to-ear grin?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Check.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Intellect intact and untouched? <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Check.<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: #333333; 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'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">It’s
remarkable how certain holiday entertainments can transport us back to our
youth.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>No matter how old we
get, a “Charlie Brown Christmas” special, the stop-motion animation of “Rudolph
the Red Nosed Reindeer” or “It’s A Wonderful Life” on TV can fill our souls with
fond remembrances, overload our senses with phantom smells and tastes from the
past, and cover our arms with goose bumps.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><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: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333">For many – ok, for me
– the definitive holiday entertainment is the 1954 film “White Christmas.” <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In it, Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030">a pair of
fast-talking song-and-dance WWII veterans.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Along with love interests </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #222222">Rosemary
Clooney and Vera Ellen as </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030">a pair of
song-and-dance sisters, they spend Christmas staging a musical revue in Vermont
to aid their old Army General-turned-failing innkeeper.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030"><FONT size=3>The film
is bursting at the seams with Irving Berlin’s most hummable melodies and
brilliant lyrics, the best of which can be found in the title song.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Between the many wonderfully
choreographed musical numbers is just enough charming banter, 1950’s-era
romance, and post-war patriotism to support and suspend the very thin and very
corny storyline. <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></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: #303030; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">As
with most holiday entertainments with universal appeal, </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“White
Christmas” is unburdened by any semblance of </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">religious
context or anything more complicated than a simple misunderstanding.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the place of substance is
treacle-sweet sentimentality, leaving audiences with the w</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">arm
and fuzzy feelings and dopey ear-to-ear grins that come from being thoroughly
charmed and entertained.<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: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030"><FONT size=3>The stage
version of this musical – which premiered in 2004, had a brush with Broadway in
2008, and has been on national tour ever since – is currently on stage at
PlayhouseSquare.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #303030"><FONT size=3>That it
garners the same goose bumps as the original work is a Christmas miracle.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Well, a “White Christmas” miracle.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>For more of this review, go to: <A
href="http://www.news-herald.com/article/20141203/NEWS/141209793">http://www.news-herald.com/article/20141203/NEWS/141209793</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>