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style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>What Were They Thinking: Larry In The First Row</FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></SPAN></B> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Arial>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Arial>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>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" align=center><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Arial>Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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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"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>When we theatergoers take our seats, lost in the anticipation of an
evening of live entertainment, so much around us goes unnoticed or
underappreciated.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT color=#363636>The ornamental rosettes, acanthus leaves, and
assorted curlicues that decorate crown molding.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>The meticulous notes from the dramaturg buried in the middle of the
playbill.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>Larry in the first row.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>If you’ve ever attended the repertory performances of The Great Lakes
Theater, subscribed to Ensemble or Dobama, or visited Mercury Theatre, the CVLT
or Rabbit Run… there, overlooked and innocuous, is Larry – the patron saint of
local theater – always in the first row. </FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>To say that Larry loves theater is an understatement.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is his primary passion and his most
fulfilling pleasure.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It does not
define him, but theater most certainly completes him.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>Larry is an arts advocate.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>He is an adoring admirer and voracious promoter with the discerning eye
of a professional critic.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He is
equally appreciative of equity performers and earnest amateurs, is unabashedly
open to theater in all its many manifestations, and greets every production as
if it was his first and has the potential to be the best.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>Larry is an innocent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He
is astoundingly unaware or unconcerned that he is the only man at “Menopause:
The Musical,” the only straight man in the audience of an all-gay revue, and the
only octogenarian attending children’s theater without a child in
tow.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>Larry is a Caucasian Jew at a Karamu House production of “Black
Nativity.” <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There he is in the first
row.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><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"><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>For
the rest of this article, </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">which was written
on Father’s Day in 2009 for the Chagrin Valley Times</SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>, go
to </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><A
style='href: "http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/"'><FONT
color=#0563c1>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></A></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ">.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Larry
passed away on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the age of 88.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT><SPAN></SPAN></P>
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