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The Theatre of the Absurd…WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF @ Lakeland Civic Theatre

Roy Berko

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

Edward Albee, author of WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF,  now in production at The Lakeland Civic Theatre, is one of the best known Theatre of the Absurd American writers.  This form of theatre, which was at its apex shortly following World War II is based, in part on existentialism, and asks “what is the purpose of existence?”

Absurdist playwrights create situations in which …more…

Emotionally draining, intellectually satisfying DEATH OF A SALESMAN @ Ensemble

Roy Berko

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

Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning drama, now on stage at Ensemble Theatre, is universally recognized as one of, if not the greatest modern American play.   Others that are recognized as top classic plays are LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (Eugene O’Neil),  STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE (Tennessee Williams), OUR TOWN (Thornton Wilder), and WHO’S AFRAID …more…

Well-conceived THE SPITFIRE GRILL at Beck Cente

Roy Berko

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

 

Opening night of THE SPITFIRE GRILL was a special evening for the Beck Center for the Arts.  It was the start of the organization’s 82nd season and Scott Spence’s 25th anniversary as Artistic Director.

THE SPITFIRE GRILL, with music and book by James Valcq and lyrics and book by Fred Alley, which is based on Lee David Zlotoff’s 1996 film of the same …more…

Broadway legend John Kander to attended Musical Theater Project’s PERFECTLY MARVELOUS @ Allen Theatre

Broadway legend John Kander to attended Musical Theater Project’s PERFECTLY MARVELOUS @ Allen Theatre

Roy Berko

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

Liza Minnelli once said, “The greatest thing about [John] Kander and [Fred] Ebb is you sing their songs and you feel good.”  She was referring to the multi-award winning Broadway writing team who gave the world such songs as, “How Lucky Can You Get?,” “Maybe This Time,” “All That …more…

Ken Ludwig’s world premiere of A COMEDY OF TENORS delights @ Cleveland Public Theatre

Ludwig’s world premiere of A COMEDY OF TENORS delights @ CPH

Roy Berko

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

The Cleveland Play House opened its 100th season in a lavish and theatrically exciting way.  An invitation only group of CPH financial supporters, politicians, and theatre enthusiasts, draped in tuxedos and high fashioned gowns, entered the beautiful Allen theatre lobby to have their pictures taken with the 2015 Best Regional Theatre Tony …more…

Well acted, overly long IN A FOREST, DARK AND DEEP at none too fragile

 

Roy Berko

Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle

 

Neil LaBute, the author of IN A FOREST, DARK AND DEEP, now on stage at none too fragile theatre, is noted for writing plays and movies filled with hatred, distrust and disdain for humans and human nature.

His writing style, where characters hold supreme over the plot, are filled with terse, rhythmic and language-oriented speeches.  Much like his mentor, David Mamet, he also …more…

Surprising OR, at Dobama

Roy Berko

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

Dobama Theatre’s mission statement indicates that it is its purpose to “premiere the best contemporary plays by established or emerging playwrights.”  Why, then, are they opening their 2015-16 season with a play set in 1666-1670?

According to Nathan Motta, the theatre’s Artistic Director, OR, “is intrinsically intelligent, sumptuously sensual, persistently playful, full of frivolity, and is chock-full of surprises.”  That explanation, even though …more…

The under-belly of politics well-explored at Ensemble Theatre; In Memoriam: Kyle Jean-Baptist

Roy Berko

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

What could be more appropriate in this year, which leads up to a presidential election, than to examine the political hacks who run the campaigns.  Voilá,  for the start of its 36th season, Ensemble Theatre has chosen Beau  Willimon’s 2008 drama, FARRAGUT NORTH, which examines the lust for power among political hacks.

The play is very loosely based on Willimon’s experiences with Howard …more…

TEAR IT OFF, a romance novel comes alive at convergence continuum

Roy Berko

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

 

Book buyers spend an estimated $1.08 billion dollars each year purchasing romance novels.  Since 1972 when Avon printed Kathleen Woodiwiss’s “The Flame And The Flower,” supposedly the first U.S. published book of that genre, almost 55% of all paperbacks sold in the U.S. have centered on romantic relationships with optimistic endings, whose covers usually feature a handsome buff man saving a helpless …more…

Classic ‘OUR TOWN’ gets nice traditional read at Blank Canvas

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)
I consider OUR TOWN, which is now being performed at Blank Canvas, to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. It not only won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, it has become one of the most performed and studied plays in the English language.  It, along with Arthur Miller’s DEATH OF A SALESMAN, Eugene O’Neil’s LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO …more…

Cleveland Orchestra and Blossom make for a superb evening

Roy Berko

 

There is probably no outdoor venue in the country that matches Blossom for sheer beauty and musical delight.  Wolf Trap in the Virginia countryside near DC, and Tanglewood, home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra are fine, but when you throw in the Blossom setting, and add the Cleveland Orchestra, nirvana has been reached.

 

Blossom, now in its 48th season, was founded not only to act as a summer venue for …more…

2015 Fall Cleveland Theater Calendar

Roy Berko

(Cleveland Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association)

 

Though the weather is still warm, soon the leaves will be turning and the Fall 2015 theatre season will be upon us.  Here’s a list of some of the offerings from September through December.

 

You can track my reviews on http://www.royberko.info, or contact me to get on my direct review list.  You can see a synopsis of the local reviewers’ capsule comments about the …more…

Must see ‘Hairspray” leaves ‘em dancing in the aisles Porthouse Theatre

Roy Berko

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

 

The farcical yet message-loaded “Hairspray” is the type of musical that in a bad production falls flat, but in a good production leaves the audience energized and dancing in the aisles.  Fortunately the must see production at Porthouse Theatre is dynamic, creative, full of joy!

 

The stage musical based on the 1988 John Walters movie with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott …more…

A Clevelander’s view of the Shaw Festival—2015

Roy Berko

 

Jackie Maxwell, the Shaw Festival’s Artistic Director, states, “I have always found that theatre is at its best when the audience spans several generations – a guarantee that the story being told on stage is being taken in and reacted to in a variety of ways, enriching the experience for all.”

 

Maxwell’s belief is well-developed in the Shaw Festival’s 2015 season.  “Peter and the Starcatcher” is a magical adventure for …more…

A lovely night at Blossom: Michael Feinstein entertains and educates

Roy Berko

The evening was warm, the crickets in full voice, the pavilion almost filled, the lawn covered with bodies, blankets, bottles and baskets, sounds wafting from the big band musicians, melodic words, and a spoken and sung pleasant voice entertaining and educating.   It was the program,  “Michael Feinstein A Big Band Tribute to Frank Sinatra” at the beautiful Blossom Center.

Diminutive Michael Feinstein’s musical career started at age 5 in Columbus, …more…

GROUNDWORKS DANCE THEATER CAPTIVATES AT CAIN PARK

Roy Berko

(Member, Dance Critics Association)

As the capacity audience was settling in on opening night of Groundworks Dance Theatre’s summer concert in Cain Park’s Alma Theatre, there was a loud electronic sound stage right.  As the eyes shifted in its direction, a lawn mower was pushed on stage.  This was followed by a series of other sounds and actions of everyday occurrences including playing golf, sunbathing, and living in suburbia.

“House Broken, …more…

Green Day’s “American Idiot” is a mixed bag at Beck

Roy Berko

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

Local theatres each tend to have a niche audience based on the venue’s play selection.  Dobama leans toward intellectual contemporary which are having their local premiers.  convergence-continuum tilts toward off-beat writers and plots, many with homosexual themes. Cleveland Public Theatre thrives on a diet of creative, often devised theater offerings.  Beck Center for the Arts is noted as the place for family …more…

“Violet” blossoms at Porthouse Theatre

Roy Berko

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

Musicals can, among other things,  be loud and brassy (think “Gypsy), filled with high drama (“Les Misérables), emotionally wrenching (“Carousel”), delightful (“Something Rotten”), filled with romantic, lush music (“An American in Paris”), farcical (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”), political (“Cabaret”), or historical (“1776”).

“Violet,” the musical by Jeanine Tesori (music) and Brian Crawley (lyrics and book), which is …more…

Abstract “The Train Play” confounds at convergence continuum

Roy Berko

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

Liz Duffy Adams, whose play, “The Reckless Ruthless Brutal Charge Of It, or The Train Play” is now on stage at convergence continuum is noted for being an American abstract writer.  The word “abstract” may be the key to confronting “The Train Play.”

The play may well represent “the derailment of American dreams and apocalyptic nightmares,” as it was described by a San …more…

Opinions differ on TRIASSIC PARQ THE MUSICAL at Blank Canvas

Roy Berko

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

As I sat shaking my head in disbelief of what I was seeing and hearing on the Blank Canvas Theatre stage, those around me were howling with uncontrollable laughter.  What I was seeing was ridiculous, unbelievable, and basically poorly performed.  I’m not sure what was making my audience-mates laugh so hard,  but I heard one of the young ladies behind me confide …more…

“Prepare Ye”–Updated musical arrangements and script ,“All for the Best” in Cain Park’s GODSPELL

Roy Berko

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

 

The story goes that in 1970, while attending college in Pittsburgh, John-Michael Tebelak went to church on Easter Sunday.  A theology student before he decided he wanted to be a theatrical director, he found the service to be devoid of feeling.

Afterward, the long-haired Tebelak was stopped by a policeman and searched for drugs.  (Remember, this was the era of student protests, hippies, …more…

Chris Howey reveals all in the funny, often sad, always compelling EXACT CHANGE

Roy Berko

Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle

In her book, “Dress Codes: of three girlhoods—my mother’s, my father’s and mine,” Noelle Howey writes, “I have a dad who is a woman much like me, but with better legs.  And when he was still male, I had a dad possibly like yours: sullen, sporadically hostile, frequently vacant.  I had a dad who became a woman in order to be nice.”  …more…

Honky Tonk, Nashville, and pop music sounds invade Actors’ Summit

Roy Berko

Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle

ALWAYS…PATSY CLINE, now on stage at Actors’ Summit, is a well formed musical review in which a Patsy Cline-imitator wails away Cline’s signature songs, including “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “She’s Got You,” “Anytime,” “Stupid Cupid,” “Lovesick Blues, “Faded Love,” and “Crazy.” The songs are interspersed with comments by a Cline fan and Cline, “herself.”

Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in 1932, …more…

Pulitzer Prize winning THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA @ Beck Center

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

On the surface, Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, THE YOUNG MAN FROM ATLANTA, now in production at Beck Center, tells the tale of the Kidders (Will and Lily Dale), a Houston, Texas couple who, in 1950, take different paths in coping with the death of Bill, their only son.

Beyond the surface tale, the script probes into the consequences of false dreams, misguided …more…

Disappointing DONTRELL, WHO KISSED THE SEA @ Cleveland Public Theatre

Roy Berko

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

About fifteen years ago, an African American student on a Semester at Sea around the world educational cruise jumped overboard.  The ship was sailing toward the Suez Canal, with Africa on the port side.  The ship turned in the Gulf of Suez, and miraculously found the college student.  The young man, after arriving back, stated that he had jumped overboard because …more…