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Winter ’13 Cleveland Theater Calendar

Don’t just hunker down during Cleveland’s upcoming season of discontent and snow, support the local theatres.  BTW…tickets or gift cards to local theatres make great holiday presents!

CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE

216-241-6000 or go to www.clevelandplayhouse.com

January 11-February 3

BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE

A classic comedy in which a beautiful and sexy witch, who is frustrated by a lack of romance in her life, is smitten by her handsome neighbor.

February 15-March 10

THE DEVIL’S MUSIC:  THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH

This soulful musical takes place in a private parlor in Memphis, circa 1930, where sexy and sassy Bessie Smith takes center stage.

February 27-March 9

IDENTITY THEFT

(A CPH/CWRU MFA Acting program production)

Asks, “who am I” by examining seven lives filtered through the ideas of August Strindberg.

March 22-April 14

GOOD PEOPLE

Margie Walsh, in this funny 2011 Tony nominee, wants to escape from Southie, a Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo and lots of beer.  She may have found her exit route when an old flame, now a big success, comes back.

April 19-May 22

RICH GIRL

A take on THE HEIRESS, this comedy about women and their relationships finds a sheltered girl falling in love with a starving artist, but, her mother, doesn’t approve.

DOBAMA

216-932-3396 or dobama.org

December 7 – January 6

4000 MILES

A drama concerning 21 year-old Leon, who comes to his feisty, 91 year-old grandmother (portrayed by Dorothy Silver, the Grande dame of Cleveland Theatre) for solace.  In a single month they infuriate, bewilder, and ultimately reach each other.

February 22-March 17

SONS OF THE PROPHET

In this comedy/tragedy, Joseph, a distant relative of Kahlil Gibran, author of THE PROPHET, desperately tries to keep his Pennsylvania Lebanese-American family from breaking apart.

PLAYHOUSESQUARE

216-241-6000 or go to www.playhousesquare.org.

January 15-27

PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT

An outrageous tune-filled musical which tells the story of a trio of uninhibited friends who find themselves on a battered old bus in the middle of the Australian outback.

February 5-17

YOU SAY TOMATO, I SAY SHUT UP, A LOVE STORY

Real life partners/actors/comedians/writers probe what happens when two people in a thirteen-year marriage suddenly decide that “we’re just not that into us.”  (Not recommended for children.)

February 5-10

LES MISERABLES

A return visit of the 25th anniversary production of the legendary smash musical based on the Victor Hugo novel.

February 12-17

THE BLUE MAN GROUP

The wildly popular show, appropriate for all ages, combines makeup, comedy, music and technology.

February 22-March 22

JOSHUA SETH’S BEYOND BELIEF

Award winning Joshua Seth returns for a one-man show, called “amazingly captivating,”  featuring laughter, mind-reading and magic.

March 5-17

SISTER ACT

A musical based on the movie SISTER ACT, tells the story of a wannabe diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a crime and hides out in a convent.

April 9-21

WAR HORSE

The amazingly staged World War I story of a horse, a boy and the meaning of loyalty.  A must see experience!  The puppetry and special effects are breathtaking.

Beck Center

216-521-2540 or http://www.beckcenter.org

December 7 – January 6

ANNIE

The comic  book inspired musical of a spunky Depression-era orphan determined to find the parents who abandoned her on the doorstep of a New York City orphanage.

March 1-April 21

NEXT TO NORMAL

The Tony Award-winning pop rock musical that examines a suburban family dealing with the traumatic effects of mental illness.

March 22-April 21

THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES

John Guare’s Drama Critics’ and Obie Award winning play about an aspiring songwriter who wants to escape the life he despises and pursue a musical career.

Actor’s Summit

330-374-7568 or go to www.actorssummit.org

January 17-February 3

FICTION

A drama which centers on two successful writers whose passion for life, literature and artful prose leads to asking, “What is real?” and “What is the meaning of truth?”.

February 21-March 10

FREUD’S LAST SESSION

Investigates a fictional London meeting, on the day England enters WWII, between Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis and C.S. Lewis, the author of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, which cleverly probes God, love, sex, and the meaning of life!

May 16-June 2

MANNING UP

A comedy probing male bonding which finds two men preparing for a manimar (seminar), while fearing that they are becoming too sensitive as they practice their tales of manliness.

CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE

216-631-2727 or go on line to www.cptonline.org

January 4-February 4

WATERWAYS (PART 1 OF THE ELEMENTS CYCLE)

Focuses on humans’ deep connection to water and the local proximity to Lake Erie, the production incorporates music, dance and other performance forms.

February 21-March 9

EARTH PLAYS (PART 2 OF THE ELEMENTS CYCLE)

Explores past, current movements, and future dreams, in order to highlight the relationship of humans to the ground on which they walk.

March 21-April 6

NICK & JEREMY

Reveals secrets of the universe by way of conspiracy theories, group hypnosis, coin flips, narcotic cocktails, idealistic propaganda, cynical detachment, desperate hope, and puppets.

March 21-April 6

STRUCK

The moving tale of one woman’s journey into her own mind and its recovery after a stroke.

May 2-May 18

TENDER NAPALM

A portrait of passion, destruction and examination of how love leaves a person shipwrecked, deeply burned and unquenchable.

May 9-25

THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS

After engaging in an extreme display of public affection on the lawn of a college campus, two professors must apologize or justify their behavior to students and the college administration.

My 23-June 8

RUSTED HEART BROADCAST

After a pandemic destroys most human life on the planet, one group of Clevelanders look for the way to stay alive.

LAKELAND THEATRE

440-525-7526 or http://www.lakelandcc.edu

February 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16

NEXT TO NORMAL

The 2008 Tony Award-winning musical addresses grieving a loss, suicide, drug abuse, and ethics in modern psychiatry as a mother struggles with her worsening bipolar disorder.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE

216-321-2930 or http://www.ensemble-theatre.com

January 25-February 17

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JAMES

Probes the tensions between memoires as two adult African Americans recount their experiences regarding the 1930 racial crimes in Marion, Indiana.

March 7-24 (performed in repertoire)

THE COLUMBI  NEW PLAY FESTIVAL

(COCOPELLI by Stuart Hoffman, LIZARD PLAY by Carol Laursen and ONE ON ONE by Ed Walsh & Robert Noll)

April 19-May 12

THE ICEMAN COMETH

Eugene O’Neill’s monumental morbidly funny drama about the homecoming of Hickey, a charismatic traveling salesman, by a group of drunks and dreamers.

GREAT LAKES THEATRE

http://www.greatlakestheater.org or 216-241-6000

February 22-March 10

BLITHE SPIRIT

A spook-tacular comedy classic about the aftermath of a “spirited” séance gone wrong resulting in a writer coming face-to-face with his dead wife and her disdain for his present wife.

 

March 29-April 14

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Shakespeare’s comic battle of wits and wills which centers on a scorching exchange of insults, and an attempt to save true love.

 

May 1-19

GUYS AND DOLLS

The American classic musical, based on the “New Yawk” stories of Damon Runyon, with a score by Frank Loesser, that concerns gamblers, the Salvation Army, showgirls, and lots of toe-tapping fun and romance. (Produced by Great Lakes Theatre as part of the Key Bank Broadway series)

none-to-fragile

www.nonetoofragile.com or 330-671-4563

February (dates tba)

A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE

A dark comedy exposing the obsessions, prejudices, madness, horrors, and above all, the absurdities that crawl beneath it.

convergence continuum

convergence-continuum.org or 216-687-0074

March 22-April 20

SORDID LIVES

When Peggy, a good Christian woman, hits her head on the sink and bleeds to death after tripper over her lover’s wooden leg in a motel room, chaos erupts in Winters, Texas.

To see a composite of the reviews of members of the Cleveland Critics Circle, go to www.clevelandtheaterreviews.com