Ken Ludwig's Baskerville

We were at Playhouse Square last night and saw Ken Ludwig's Baskerville.  That was amazingly fun!  5 actors who play over 40 parts with various costumes, hairpieces, and quick changes.  Only Holmes and Watson do not have other roles.   Quick changes happen so far, in seconds.  And the clothing isn't cheap looking either.  Everything looks convincingly Victorian!   There are 4 dressers to assist with the changes.  This was funny and smart, as well as a delight to watch.  Go see it!

Fun Home

Yesterday afternoon, we got to see Fun Home, the Tony Award winning musical.  It started its national tour this past week in Cleveland.   The story is a true one, Alison Bechdel's coming of age tale, from a young 10 year old growing up in a funeral home, to a 17 year old college student at Oberlin, to her 43 year old self as a lesbian comic writer.

The story is non-linear.  We jump around in time through Alison's past.   We learn the biggest part of the story is her father's suicide as a closeted gay man.   Then it's all about watching the events unfold.

I really loved this musical.  The way that it's put together is so intricate.  It just works.   It's 90 minutes without an intermission.   Please bring tissues.  It's worth it.

Little Shop of Horrors

We got to see Little Shop of Horrors at the Cleveland Playhouse!  Let me start by saying this is one of my favorite musicals of all time.  It's darkly humorous and the music is fantastic! You can see a video preview here.

This production is a little different from your standard version of Little Shop.  The urchins (the girls) are also the band/orchestra this time.  They interact with the other characters and carry their instruments around on stage.  It's a great effect!  Plus, there are 2 more than usual.

The puppetry on the stage is also impressive.  I thought that Seymour was controlling the plant but you could see both his hands.  The actor who voices the plant is excellent!  You'd swear he was Levi Stubbs!   Please go see this show, it's amazing!

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Steve and I saw A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder the other day.  Absolutely loved it!   Hilarious Victorian tale of revenge and succession.  The pre-show talk describes it as Sweeney Todd meets Monty Python at Downton Abbey, and it's perfectly true!

Monty Navarro is a distantly removed heir of the D'ysquith family.  His mom was disowned for marrying for love.   There are 8 in the line above him and he successfully offs each of them in very creative ways.   There are two love interests, amazing costuming, and all of the D'ysquiths that Monty kills are played by the same actor (both men and women)!

The music is witty with terrific harmonies, reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan.   The lyrics remind me of the works of Stephen Sondheim.

We we ahead and purchased the soundtrack right after the pre-show talk before the show began!  It's really worth seeing!

Bullets Over Broadway

 Yesterday, Steve and I went to go see Bullets Over Broadway at Playhouse Square.  That was fun!   A terrific dark comedy that reuses popular music from the 1920-1930s in new ways.   It's based off of the Woody Allen movie of the same title from 1994.

 You have one struggling playwright, who is partially autobiographical to Woody Allen.  He will finally get his big break at getting a play on Broadway via money from the mob.  This is if, and only if, the gang leader's girlfriend is given a part in the play.   Oh, and she's hilariously awful.

 The girlfriend's bodyguard, Cheech, ends up making improvements to the author's play.  He makes the dialogue easier to understand.

You will never look at murder so cheerfully!   This is a fun show!

Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors

Steve and I just got back from seeing Cleveland Playhouse's premiere of Ken Ludwig's A Comedy of Tenors.  It was amazing!  I laughed so hard.  It's the sequel of Lend Me a Tenor, which we got to see this past season at the Beck Center.  

It's another wild romp of mistaken identity and operatic hi-jinks.  Ken Ludwig is a great Cleveland playwright and I'm very lucky to have seen his work.  I don't want to spoil too much here, but it's really worth seeing for the level of shenanigans.  Go see it!

The Book of Mormon

Steve and I just got back from seeing the Book of Mormon.  We saw it for the first time in 2013 when it was part of the Broadway Series.  This year, it was an extra, in the larger State Theater, and we paid for better seats.  Still amazing.  Go see it!

Lend Me a Tenor

Last Saturday, Steve and I went to go see Lend Me a Tenor at the Beck Center.  That was amazing!   I laughed so hard.   It's one of the best plays I've seen at the Beck in a while.  It takes place in Cleveland in the 1930s.   The opera company is putting on a production of Othello, and the Italian tenor is late.   Miscommunications occur, medications get overdosed, and it appears that the star has died.   This leads to mistaken identity, a non cast member fulfilling a dream of being on stage singing an opera, and lots of laughs.  

Seriously, go see this one.   You won't be disappointed.

Evil Dead: The Musical

Steve and I saw Evil Dead:the Musical last night.   I love this show!   It's wonderful mix of camp and horror, and of course gratuitous stage blood that douses the audience members.  It was the first musical we saw together at the Beck Center.  The one we saw last night was the North American touring company.

The music is really fun.  I found myself singing along to the lyrics.   The high point of the show is the epic zombie fight.  They do a Thriller type of dance followed by a chainsaw battle with Ash.  Each of the zombies is wearing a prosthetic that sprays blood out into the audience.  

We came right from work, so I made sure to get seats outside of the splash zone.  I really recommend this show.  It's one of my all time favorites!

[title of show]

We saw [title of show] at the Beck Center, and I loved it!   It's pretty unusual for two musicals to be going on at the Beck Center.  I definitely enjoyed this one much more than Forever Plaid.  

It's witty metatheater about the creation of a musical, namely, this one.   Two guys, Hunter and Jeff, decide to write a musical in three weeks and submit it to a festival.  Their friends Heidi and Susan help.  It's really quite clever.  There are lots of references to other shows within it.  There are even several quotations from other musicals.  

The show runs 90 minutes without intermission and is funny and self referential.   It never takes itself too seriously, but there are serious moments that don't kill the light bubbly fun.   If you are a fan of Broadway, this is definitely a show for you!

Young Frankenstein

We saw Young Frankenstein at the Beck Center on Friday with some friends from out of town.   That was truly fun!   Absolutely hilarious!  It's an adaptation/elaboration of the 1974 film featuring Gene Wilder and directed by Mel Brooks.

It's definitely a show for teens and above.   There's a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle innuendo, as well as excellent comedic timing and slapstick.   Two numbers that stick out in my mind are Putting on the Ritz and Roll in the Hay.  The Beck Center did a great job on this one!   Go see it!

Seminar

We just got back from seeing Seminar at the Beck Center.  That was powerful.   The show is billed as a comedy, but I think it's more of a drama.   It's played without an intermission.   4 writers in the making at private writing seminar with a thoroughly unpleasant teacher, who was once a big name in the business.   I laughed some, but mostly I felt angry.   I really just wanted to really deck the teacher for being so abusive, offensive, and mean.

Lessons gleaned from this show: 

• It is often about who you know.
• You have to go beyond your comfort zone.
• Sleeping with the teacher can get you places. (Yuck.)

It's an abusive show, but ultimately constructive with a happy ending.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

We just got back from seeing the new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I've actually seen this show twice recently.  The Beck Center had a production in 2010.  We also just saw our nephew in the children's choir of a production put on by my husband's high school.  I thought I would be really tired of the show by the time we got to see this production.   However, I find myself incredibly impressed by the technical aspects of the production.

This show featured extensive use of colored projectors.  Huge screens draped down from the stage and grew and shrank to indicate movement.  There were relatively few actual set pieces.  The projections made of for that.  They were so detailed!   The screens actually looked like they were stone, or gold, or whatever they needed at the time.  Also, this is the first production I've seen that doesn't feature a children's chorus.  It actually works really well without it!

Also, the most memorable part of the show was the song Canaan Days.   It's usually my least favorite musical number.   It's slow, and if it's done poorly, it can really drag down the energy of the show.   This US touring company really nailed it and made it extremely funny!    I liked the part where Joseph's brothers were dividing a rat to eat.  When the brother singing the song treats his siblings like a choir, hilarity ensues.

If you haven't seen Joseph before, definitely look into this production.   You'll have a lot of fun.

The Santaland Diaries

I just got back from seeing the Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris.   It's a one man show, recounting David's experience as an elf at Macy's in 1989.   It's funny, crass, and just well told.  I listened to the NPR recording in previous years, and I was expecting it to be very similar.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how much costumes and a set could do for the monologue. 

I was laughing out loud when David, as Crumpet the Elf, tells the little boy that if he's not good, Santa will take his stuff, at the mother's request.  You should see this show.  It's only an hour long without an intermission, but the laughs are frequent and hearty.  If you can't see it, I recommend searching the Internet for David Sedaris' reading on NPR.  

Potted Potter

We went out tonight to see Potted Potter.  Fun for the fan, and a funny Cliff notes version for people unfamiliar with the franchise.  It's two guys on stage going through all 7 Harry Potter books in a madcap romp!  Steve and I laughed pretty much the whole way through the show.   If you sit in the front section, beware of audience participation.

Voldemort and Harry clash wands.

Afterwards, we went to Starbucks and ordered something that tastes like a Butterbeer.  It tastes like the beverage at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but with whipped cream.  Yum!

She Loves Me

I just got back from seeing She Loves Me at the Beck Center.  It was so romantic and dreamy cute!   I heard it was about a couple who hated each other in real life but found out they were one another's beloved pen pals. I thought, well, that's like that movie, You've Got Mail, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.  In fact, the source material for the musical (a play) is the same play that movie was based on!

It takes place in Budapest, Hungary at a Perfumery.   It was absolutely delightful!  This year is actually the 50 year anniversary of the premier of the musical.  And remember, ice cream can make so many things much, much better.

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.

Monty Python's Spamalot

Just got back home from seeing Monty Python's Spamalot at the Beck Center.   I love this show!  I've seen Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail numerous times, and the addition of musical numbers and meta theater only makes it even better!   Well, I suppose the original movie does have meta theater and parody all throughout it as well.

I first saw this show about six years ago when the Broadway version was doing its national tour.   I bought the soundtrack.  It's very tuneful.   Seeing another production is fun.  I like comparing how different casts and crews do their scenery and acting choices.   If you love Monty Python, or just musicals in general, go see this show!  I ought to buy one of the killer rabbit plush dolls.

The Book of Mormon

I just got back from seeing The Book of Mormon and it was absolutely amazing!  Loved it loved it loved it!   It's the most popular musical in the world today!   Tickets on average are retailing at $475 dollars, and that's not even considering the scalpers outside of Broadway!

This is the opening number as performed by the cast at the 2012 Tony Awards:


The musical is by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (yes, the South Park guys) in collaboration with Robert Lopez (who was one of the masterminds behind Avenue Q, another one of my favorite musicals).  If you have watched any other musical works by Parker and Stone, you would be aware that those guys can really craft an earworm.  The duo can quickly crank out songs that will be stuck in your head for days at a time.

The musical is about a pair of young Mormons who are set off on their mission work at age 19, and are sent to Uganda.  The humor comes from the sheer incongruity of the situations the guys get into.  The music is really fun and catchy.   If you can get tickets, I really recommend seeing this show.

Guys and Dolls

Today we saw Guys and Dolls, a collaboration between the Key Bank Broadway Series and Great Lakes Theater.  We watched the pre-show talk beforehand, and it was described as a classic from the Golden Age of Broadway.  I was scared.  I dislike South Pacific, so my expectations were set pretty low.  However, I found myself really enjoying the show.

Like many classic shows (such as Anything Goes), romances abound.  In this case, there are two sets of couples.   A new couple is formed based on a bet that a gambler can get a missionary to fly to Cuba with him.  The other couple is an established one, a showgirl and another gambler, who have been engaged for 14 years.  This situation has caused the girl considerable psychosomatic ailments. 

The musical contains many classic tunes, such as Luck Be A Lady and Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat.   The comedy is excellent and the music really connects everything together.