Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

Each year, Ensemble Theatre selects a classic play to be part of their season offerings.  Last year it was “The Iceman Cometh,” which was recognized by the Cleveland Critics Circle for “Superior Achievement for a Non-Musical Production.”  This year’s choice is Eugene O’Neill’s 1920 Pulitzer Prize winning, “Beyond the Horizon,” the author’s first full-length work.

A review of the first staging of “Beyond …more…

Compelling, humorous “Informed Consent” enlightens at Cleveland Play House

Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

If you were carrying a genetic factor that, in the future, doomed you with Alzheimer’s, cancer, or some other disease, even if science didn’t have a cure for the ailment, would you want to know it?   Would you be willing to allow your blood, bone marrow, or a tissue sample, to be used …more…

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

In 1968 “Hair,” dubbed the American Tribal Love-Rock musical, exploded on Broadway.  It shocked the nation, but gave an accurate picture of a world rocked with chaos.  The Vietnam war raged, the peace movement flourished, draft cards were burned, rebellion against traditional values exploded.  ”Drugs, sex and rock and roll” became the mantra of the day and were clearly exposed on stage.  …more…

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association & Cleveland Critics Circle)

A person’s identity is based on the culture in which s/he was raised.  It has been the custom in many Euro-American societies to raise women with the attitude that they are not complete without a man in their lives.  Unmarried women have been identified as “old maids,” or “spinsters.”  The implication is that these women are less than their married gender …more…

Roy Berko

(Member:  Cleveland Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association)

The wording on the gravestone of Kurt Weill comes from the song “A Bird of Passage” from his musical, “Lost in the Stars.”  It reads:  “This is the life of men on earth:  Out of darkness we come at birth.  Into a lamplit room, and then—Go forward into dark again.”

Weill’s life epitomizes that Maxwell Anderson poem.  Born into a secure Jewish-  German …more…

“As You Like It” comedic farce delights at Great Lakes Theater

Roy Berko
(Member, American Theatre Critics Association and Cleveland Critics Circle)

What do the phrases, “all the world’s a stage” and “too much of a good thing” have in common?  They are both quotes from Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy “As You Like It.”  As is true of that genre, the play, which was written early in 1600, deals with shepherds and the rustic …more…

Roy Berko

Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle

Picture this:  on a Thursday night, an American theatrical comedy, one-third of which’s dialogue was spoken in Hebrew, was viewed by an audience composed primarily of Hebrew speaking Israelis.  The setting:  Actors’ Summit in Akron.  Yes, Akron, Ohio with a small Jewish population!

How did this occurrence come to pass?  A group of Israeli teenagers were in the United States on an exchange …more…

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association & Cleveland Critics Circle)

Last year, none too fragile theater’s ON THE LINE was honored by the Cleveland Critics Circle as being the “Best Non-Musical Production of 1913.”  Their production of GIDION’S KNOT establishes itself as a candidate for the award this year!

Johnna Adams’ brilliantly written script, given a superb production, is riveting, disturbing, and emotionally wrenching.  Ironically, it is also funny at times.   …more…

oy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

On opening night, when Corey Mach made his first appearance on stage in “Flashdance The Musical,” the audience, after being prepped about his entrance by Gina Vernaci, Senior Vice President of Theater Operations, greeted him with a lengthy ovation.  During the curtain call, the audience exploded in vocal and physical adoration when Mach came on stage.  Then, when the 2006 Strongsville High …more…