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style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-style: italic"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT color=#252525>Porthouse Theatre delivers a deeply
stirring ‘Violet’ </FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; tab-stops: 1.0in 5.25in"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><BR></SPAN><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ">From a short story
by Doris Betts to a one-act play </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">to a <SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">staged
concert to a </SPAN>full-length Broadway<SPAN style="COLOR: "> musical, “Violet”
has had quite a journey before finally arriving at Porthouse Theatre.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
color=#252525 face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
color=#252525>Which is appropriate for a show that largely takes place on a
Greyhound bus and which allows us to share a young woman’s </FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#1f1f1f>pilgrimage </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: ">(Amy Fritsche) from
her back-woods home in Spruce Pine, North Carolina in 1964 to the healing powers
of a TV preacher (Paul Floriano) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with stops in Kingsport,
Nashville, Memphis and Fort Smith.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="COLOR: ">Violet, who was horrifically
disfigured and emotionally scarred </SPAN><SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#1f1f1f>from a childhood accident,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: ">
believes that if her damaged face can be miraculously repaired to resemble
Ingrid Bergman’s cheekbones and Rita Hayworth’s skin, her damaged soul can be
mended as well.</SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#1f1f1f face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman">It’s a fool’s journey, but along the way Violet learns to
open herself up to two fellow travelers – soldiers on their way back to camp and
then Vietnam – and discovers that if she can see beyond one man’s skin color
(Jared Dixon) and another’s beauty (Ian Benjamin) to find what lies beneath, she
can certainly do the same for herself.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT face="Times New Roman">
</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN><FONT color=#252525>These discoveries occur by way
of deeply stirring songs with music by </FONT>Jeanine Tesori and </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ">words by<SPAN> Brian Crawley.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman">And every song gets our undivided attention, for this
play and director Steven C. Anderson’s delicate production of it revel in
understatement. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">For the rest of this review, go to </FONT><A
style='href: "http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/"'><FONT
color=#0000ff
face="Times New Roman">www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></A></SPAN></P>
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style="COLOR: "><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN></SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"></I> </P>
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