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align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; LETTER-SPACING: -0.75pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Dobama’s ‘Starcatcher’
leaves you clapping for more than fallen fairies </FONT></FONT></SPAN></H1>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><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: "><FONT face="Times New Roman">Cleveland Jewish
News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN></P>
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align=center><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=date style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman">The story of Peter Pan is still <SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">capable
of turning adults into children.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=date style="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: ">Not
an easy feat considering that growing old means growing out of and giving up on
childish things.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yet </SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: ">James M. Barrie’s <SPAN
style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%">tale
about a boy who won’t grow up continues to resonate with children of all ages.
</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=date style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: ">“Peter and the Starcatcher,” which opened on Broadway in 2012
and won five Tony Awards, is a very playful “Peter Pan” prequel that introduces
us to an orphan before he was Pan, a Captain before he was Hook, a strong-willed
girl before she birthed Wendy, and boys before they were lost.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This play was a</SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: "><FONT color=#333333>dapted for the stage by Rick Elice from<SPAN
class=apple-converted-space> Dave Berry </SPAN>and Ridley Pearson’s 2004
children’s novel, with some intermittent music by Wayne
Barker.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
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color=#333333 face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=date style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman">A good production of “Peter Pan” is defined by its
ability to get a greying audience believing in fairies and wishing it could
fly.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=date style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman">But the litmus test for a good “Peter and the
Starcatcher” – a show that is set on a naked stage, has its actors portraying a
range of characters, creatures and inanimate objects, and is blatantly
meta-theatrical in its presentation – is its resourcefulness.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=date style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: "><FONT
face="Times New Roman">The ensemble must turn ordinary rope, planks and ladders
into storytelling stagecraft, fashion the illusion of flight without wires, and
get an adult audience to willingly engage its imagination and play along.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=date style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Dobama
Theatre’s <SPAN style="COLOR: ">“Peter and the Starcatcher” </SPAN>passes the
test.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But barely.</FONT></P>
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face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ">For more of this
review, go to </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT
color=#0563c1>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ">.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
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