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style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Lakeland Civic Theatre offers a tepid
‘Into the Woods’</FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Bob Abelman</FONT></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
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face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald,
The Morning Journal</FONT></FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Member, International Association of
Theatre Critics</FONT></FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Since the 1970s, composer
and </FONT></SPAN><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><SPAN lang=EN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-ansi-language: en">lyricist</SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> Stephen Sondheim has been
transforming all that is simple and predictable and harmonious in American
musical theater into something that is more of an acquired
taste.</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Some theatregoers find his creativity
to be outside their comfort zone and beyond the reach of their archaic
expectations for musicals.</FONT><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Others, like Lakeland Civic Theatre
artistic director Martin Friedman, appreciate how Sondheim fills the air with a
dense stream of words and images, and places a disorienting discord beneath his
melodies. His stories are complex, as are the people who inhabit
them.</FONT><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
And </FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">“Into the Woods” – currently on stage
at Lakeland Civic Theatre – bears all these theatrical trademarks.</FONT><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
</FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Friedman understands this.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And yet his production is
uncharacteristically tepid and, at times, bland. </FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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face=Arial><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
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style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">For more of this article, go to </FONT></SPAN></I><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
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color=#0563c1>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN></I></FONT><I
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