The Diary of Anne Frank

I saw the Diary of Anne Frank this past Sunday at the Cleveland Play House. It was wonderful.   Tragic, because we know what's going to happen, but wonderful.   It really made Anne Frank into a human person, rather than the ideal I had imagined for all these years.

The set is in the middle of the Occault theater and it's a reproduction of the Secret Annex, minus the walls.   You really get a sense of how crowded the space was for those 2 years.   Also, parts of the diary that were omitted from the book (namely Anne's thoughts of her budding sexuality) have been restored! 

There is an intermission, but like the people in the novel, the actors are unable to leave the stage.   They go about with life stuff, and you really feel sorry for them.   I really recommend seeing this show.  Please bring tissues.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

We saw the Hunchback of Notre Dame at Great Lakes Theater this past Thursday.   I hadn't seen the movie until the week before.  I really enjoyed this production.   They made the ending closer to the book.   It was nicely un-Disney-like to remove the happy ending.   The music was lovely, lots of Latin.   Also, it is implied that the talking gargoyles may be part of Quasimodo's mind rather than the magical dancing characters seen in the animated film.   This is playing until November 4th, and I highly recommend it.

The Crucible

Last night we saw the Crucible at Cleveland Playhouse.   Long play but totally worth it!   It's the classic Arthur Miller play about the Salem witch trials.   He was definitely going through a rough time in his life with the McCarthism and accusations of communism.  The message of the play holds true in today.  A definite must see!

Every seat in this production is a good one.   The stage is in the center and the audience is on all four sides.  The set rises and falls and the effect really works.  The actors run around it and up and down the aisles.

We learned in the pre-show talk that the girls' costumes change from more innocent to more domineering as they gain more power in the town.   Pictured above: one of the scenes from the second act.

I really recommend seeing this show.   Check out this video:

Sweeney Todd

Just got back from Great Lakes Theater Festival's new production of Sweeney Todd!  Loved it!  Sweeney  Todd is probably my favorite Stephan Sondheim musical/operetta of all time.  The music is dark and evocative, and the anti-hero protagonists, you can't help but like them!

This production used 7 different types of stage blood!   In the pre-show talk, they said the different formulas were for dripping, spraying, or whatever special effects were needed for the gruesome killings.  The costuming was steampunk inspired.  Lots of black leather, buckled boots, and corsets. I particularly liked the red and gold dress that Mrs. Lovett wears in the second act.

They have added additional performances of this show because they keep selling out!  Go see it!

Merrily We Roll Along

We just got back from seeing Merrily We Roll Along: In Concert by Stephen Sondheim.  It was a collaboration between the Beck Center for the Arts, Baldwin Wallace University, and the Musical Theater Project.  I am a huge fan of Sondheim.  I had heard selections from this musical before, but I had never seen the whole show.  My mind is blown.

The story follows three friends, Charlie (a writer/lyricst), Frank (a musician), and Mary (a novelist) and their careers and friendship.  You might be puzzled that I have tagged this show as both a comedy and a tragedy.   The show starts in the most recent time period and goes backwards, similar to the movie Memento.  However, Sondheim produced this back in 1982, so this was ahead of its time.  It starts on a very destructive note, and ends on a very hopeful one where the characters first met.  It's a tragedy if the show is in chronologically ordered.  

This show contains a song that I really love, Not a Day Goes By.  Seeing it in its original context is incredibly powerful and moving. 

Also, note that this wasn't a fully staged show.  It was a concert.  All singers/actors (the senior music class of BW) have scripts and scores available in front of them on music stands.  It doesn't stifle the plot at all to not be fully staged.  I enjoyed the show, and left the theater feeling both happy and sad.