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face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>Touring ‘Waitress’ a blue-plate special with a
side of extraordinary</FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
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face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning
Journal</FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
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face=Georgia>Member, International Association of Theatre
Critics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
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face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>There’s an old adage from the days of Rodgers
and Hart that a sign of a great musical is audience members humming a show tune
on their way out of the theater.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>While leaving the Connor Palace Theatre after
witnessing “Waitress,” several show tunes – with their close-knit harmonies,
coffee house/country bar sensibilities, and poignant lyrics – fight for
supremacy. </FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>It can even be argued that “Waitress” is all
about the music, for playwright Jessie Nelson’s faithful adaptation of Adrienne
Shelly's low-budget 2007 movie of the same name is a rather formulaic confection
about the hopes and dreams of small-town waitress Jenna, who helps run Joe’s Pie
Diner somewhere in the South.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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color=#333333 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>But the gorgeous songs by Grammy-winning
composer and lyricist Sara Bareilles provide personal insight into the hopes and
dreams of the show’s central characters and, by doing so, offer pitch-perfect
voice and a gorgeous melody to our own expectations and aspirations.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From the show-opening “What’s Inside” to
the finale “Everything Changes,” the songs air lift the storytelling that
surrounds them.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>So does director Diane Paulus' remarkable
staging, which adds a palpable heightened sense of reality to everything her
designers have to offer.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><I
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color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN></I><I
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