‘Tintypes’ at Actors’ Summit is a plague upon our houses Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal Member, International Association of Theatre Critics The eighth biblical plague that tortured Egypt was locusts. If the musical revue had been invented back then, the Egyptians would have caved quicker and Exodus 10:5 would have been a much shorter read. Popular during the Golden Age of bad entertainment, the musical revue is the ugly ancestor of musical theater sans storyline, soul and substance. Its place of performance has been largely reduced to cruise ships, amusement parks and, inexplicably, Akron. “Tintypes,” which offers us a tour through turn of the 19th century American history by way of 49 mostly public domain songs from 1890 to 1917, is currently on stage at Actors’ Summit. Linking the musical revue to locusts is a stretch, but “Tintypes” compares favorably to the plague of cicadas presently invading Northeast Ohio. While the cicadas surface every 17 years and live for only a few weeks at most, “Tintypes”– which was conceived by Mary Kyte with musical arrangements by Mel Marvin and Gary Pearle – appeared on Broadway in 1980 and ran for only 93 performances. Both the cicada and “Tintypes” are small in size and stature, have no bite or sting, and represent the most primitive and least attractive form of their species. Actors’ Summit’s staging is particularly unattractive. For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.