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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia>‘Misery’ is both title and critique for Great Lakes Theater
production</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
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align=center><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>Bob Abelman</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'></SPAN></P>
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align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'><FONT
face=Georgia>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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face=Georgia>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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</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></B><SPAN
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Georgia>Prolific novelist Stephen King earned his fortune terrifying his
significant fan base with horror stories that feature shapeshifting eldritch
monsters, walking dead abominations, demonically possessed cars and canines, and
everyday folks cursed by supernatural abilities.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
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face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">“</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">Misery,” his 1987 novel that
was turned into a 1990 film and a 2015 Broadway play, marches to a different
demon: a middle-aged sociopathic bibliophile named Annie Wilkes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
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style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
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face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><FONT color=#111111>Sadly, the
play lacks the novel’s n</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: arial">arrative voice, which assumes
the point of view of the sympathetic victim of the horrific acts that King so
skillfully describes and offers a carnival ride of suspense. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It also lacks the </SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic'>cinematic
storytelling afforded the B-movie rendition, which employed editing, camera
placement and camera movement to establish its stifling sense of claustrophobia,
create an atmosphere of fear and dread, and build immense dramatic
tension.</SPAN></FONT></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic'><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face=Georgia><FONT color=#333333>Shock is so much harder to dole out and sustain
in live theater.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#333333 face=Georgia></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Georgia><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-bidi-font-family: arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in'>For
more of this article, go to </SPAN></I><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: ; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/</FONT></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>