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<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: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Isn’t it
rich:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Porthouse’s wonderful ‘A
Little Night Music’<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><?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><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','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: 'Times New Roman','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: 'Times New Roman','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: 'Times New Roman','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: 'Times New Roman','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: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Of all the music
in “A Little Night Music” – Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s melancholy ode
to discovering love, reviving love and outliving love – “Send in the Clowns” is
the show’s signature number.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And,
thanks to numerous cover versions by popular artists, it is its most
recognizable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #252525">Sondheim
wrote the song in 1973 specifically for actress Glynis John, who originated and
won a Tony for the featured role of Desirée Armfeldt, </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">the worldly </SPAN>Scandinavian<SPAN style="COLOR: black">
seductress who is now a</SPAN><SPAN style="BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: #252525">
flirtatious middle-aged actress </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black">barnstorming
across Europe during the turn-of-the-last-century.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The song is sung
in the second act, after Desirée comes to the painful realization that the man
she is with means nothing to her and the dream of reuniting with her now-married
former lover, Fredrik Egerman, is just a delusion.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: black">Dame Judi
Dench starred as </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: black">Desirée<SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: white"> in the musical’s 1995 London revival and, based
largely on what Variety called a “brilliant, wrenching” performance of “Send in
the Clowns,” won the Olivier award for Best Actress.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND: white; COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">With Bernadette
Peters in the lead role during the show’s Broadway revival in 2009, The New York
Times noted that “Send in the Clowns” was sung “with an emotional transparency
and musical delicacy that turns this celebrated song into an occasion of
transporting artistry [and] an indelible moment in the history of musical
theater.” <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Yes, that’s the
baggage that comes with this character-defining, show-stopping, highly
anticipated musical number in a show that Sondheim fans claim is filled with
them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">In this dazzling
Porthouse production, Terri Kent’s Desirée is strangely reserved and her “Send
in the Clowns,” though beautifully supported by five string instruments (special
kudos to Dan Peters on cello) under Jonathan Swoboda’s superb direction, is
neither transportive nor memorable.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">But most else
is.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white; tab-stops: 4.5pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">For
more of this review, go to:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><A
href=""><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><FONT
color=#0000ff>http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT
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