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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #252525; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
size=3>Lakeland’s ‘Violet’ is a fool’s journey worth taking<?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'; 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 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; 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'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #252525; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">If
scar tissue could sing, its music would be written by </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Jeanine
Tesori with</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"> words by<SPAN
class=apple-converted-space> </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Brian
Crawley.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Rarely
has a composer and </SPAN></STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">lyricist-librettist
<STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">joined
forces to produce as tender, touching and unconventional a musical about the
scars we bear – inside and out – as “Violet,” currently on stage at Lakeland
Civic Theatre.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black">“Violet” was adapted
from Doris Betts’ short story ”The Ugliest Pilgrim” for an award-winning one-act
off-Broadway run </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">in 1997,
a <SPAN style="BACKGROUND: white">staged concert in 2013, </SPAN>and a
full-length Broadway<SPAN style="COLOR: black"> production in 2014.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><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: black"><FONT size=3>It tells
the tale of a horrifically disfigured young woman who, in 1964, takes a bus trip
from her back-woods home in Spruce Pine, North Carolina to the healing powers of
a TV preacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>with stops in Kingsport, Nashville,
Memphis <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>and Fort Smith.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>She believes that if her damaged face
could be miraculously replaced with Ingrid Bergman’s cheekbones and Rita
Hayworth’s skin, her damaged soul would be repaired as
well.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><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: black"><FONT size=3>It is a
fool’s journey, but along the way she learns to open herself up to two fellow
travelers – soldiers on their way back to camp – and discovers that if she can
see beyond one man’s skin color and another’s beauty to find what lies beneath,
she can certainly do the same for herself.<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: black"><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: black"><FONT size=3>And so can
we.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><o:p>To
read more of this review, go to: <A
href="http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_1b1685f0-aa54-11e4-b054-0b35bdaba92e.html">http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_1b1685f0-aa54-11e4-b054-0b35bdaba92e.html</A></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>