Get On Your Feet

Last Saturday we went to see Get On Your Feet, the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan.  That was really good and much more emotional than I was expecting.   I cried during act two.  It was amazing to see Cuban music come to our country in this inspiring American Immigrant story. 

Hand to God

I got to see Hand to God the other day at Dobama Theater.  I enjoyed it and all of it's dark humor, but it wasn't what I was expecting.   It was advertised as a cross between Avenue Q and the Book of Mormon, two shows that I really love.  This show had puppets and a religious theme, but that's where the similarities ended.

Premise: a widowed woman works for the church and is trying to put on a puppet show.  Her son, Jason has a puppet (Tyrone) that has a very dark streak, eventually leading the group to believe that he is possessed by the devil.   

Tons of dark religious psychology in this show.  Eventually, Tyrone is revealed to be a manifestation of Jason's pain for his father's death.   Also, lots of violence and a gratuitous puppet sex scene.   This show is definitely for the 21 and over crowd.   It's not a musical, so you don't go home with a song in your heart.   Tyrone's last speech actually reminds me of Puck's at the end of A Midsummer Night's Dream.  The effect is eerie and fascinating.   :If you like creepy plays, watch this.  If dolls and puppets scare you, or if the religious overtones hit close to home, I'd advise you to avoid it.   It's not every day you see a guy bludgeon his own hand with a hammer.

How I Learned to Drive

I saw How I Learned to Drive this week at the Cleveland Play House.  It's a Pulitzer winning play from 1998.  The protagonist, Little Bit, takes us on a non-sequential ride through her memories of how she was groomed for pedophilia by her Uncle Peck with touches of humor and a Greek chorus.  The 1960's driving video clips are used to indicate what direction in time the clips are occurring.

We always go to the pre-show talk.  Our seat neighbors did not, and I overheard them say, "I think I know exactly what this is about!"  I decided to enlighten them a little so the subject wouldn't be a complete shock if they were expecting a light romp about 1960's driving school.  I recommend listening to this interview about the show.  It offers some insight into the second lead.

It's been a year of very emotionally hard hitting theater for me.   A Great Wilderness, Wait Until Dark, Body Awareness, and Fun Home all have deeply intense subjects.   I find myself thinking back of the events of this play.  I wonder how anyone could do such a thing and perpetuate a cycle of abuse.

Sex with Strangers

This past Wednesday, we saw the play, "Sex with Strangers" at Cleveland Playhouse.   It was actually about books, the internet, and what is considered public and private.  It was an amazingly moving show.   Not crying emotional, but definitely passionate.  The two actors are incredibly believable.  It's about where generations collide and have their differences, and of course, sex.   It's intelligent and witty, with extreme moments of clarity.

Body Awareness

Last Sunday, we went to see Body Awareness at the Beck Center.  It was advertised as a comedy.  Honestly, I would call it a drama, but comedy is technically correct because there is a happy ending and no one dies.   This play deals with mental illness and a family's functioning or lack there of.  Admittedly, there are humous moments, but overall, I consider this to be a very serious play.  It is continuous with no intermission.

Shining City

We just got back from seeing Shining City at the Beck Center.  It is a play, an hour and a half in length with no intermission.   Four players on stage.   A man comes in to see a therapist because he has been seeing his late wife in his house.  The play alternates between the inner turmoil of the man and the difficulties in the life of the therapist.  

These people are pretty screwed up.   I had trouble relating to them.  The person I related to the most was the ghost, Mari.   I did end up crying because of how messed up all of these relationships are.  The moral is value the people you have while they are there in your life.   I really appreciate my relationship after this one.

If/Then

We saw If/Then yesterday.   It's about a woman, Elizabeth, and the choices she makes in her life.   The unique thing about this musical is two parallel realities are shown in alternating turn.  The stories break off at a single choice at the beginning of the show.  It's really fascinating the way it is performed.  In one path, Beth pursues career and her dream of becoming a city planner.   In the other path, Liz chases love and family.   The lead actress is Liz when she wears glasses and Beth without them.  It works incredibly well.

The part was written for Idina Menzel.  The actress who is on tour was Idina's understudy for Wicked and for If/Then.   I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this show.   In fact, once I got there, it reminded me of how I play visual novels.   I usually alternate save files between different choices.   I liked it more than I thought I would.

My one criticism of the plot is when Beth mentions that she didn't have a real marriage because she didn't have children.  That line really devalues the marriages of people who choose to not have kids or can't have kids.  I really disagree with it.

Mothers and Sons

Steve and I just got back from seeing Mothers and Sons at the Beck Center.  It's an amazing play.  Extremely well acted.  Cal is a grown man who survived the AIDS epidemic of the late 20th century, but lost his lover.   Cue present day, he's happily married to his husband Will and has a young son.  Suddenly his deceased love's ex is visiting without a warning.  Tons of emotional turmoil ensues, including grief and guilt.

I really recommend seeing this show.   In equal measure, I wanted to slap and hug the mother in the play.  You can feel her pain and recoil at her homophobia.  You can see the differences in life now with marriage equality and alternative families and hear about what things were like in the past.

The Spitfire Grill

Yesterday, Steve and I saw The Spitfire Grill at the Beck Center.  I didn't read anything about the show.   I didn't know what to expect at all.  It's a very touching musical.  We follow one girl, Percy, as she moves from Detroit to Gilead, Wisconsin, fresh out of a five year prison term.   Lots of things are left a mystery, which works extremely well.  

Percy ends up working at the Spitfire Grill for Hannah, who has wanted to sell the place for years.   No one is looking into buying a restaurant in such a economically depressed location, but things end up in very surprising ways.  

My favorite musical number is Out of the Fire and into the Frying Pan.   It's one small part of the large story, but I can really relate to it.   I recommend seeing this show.

Dogfight

It's a two musical weekend for us.   We just got back from Dogfight at the Beck Center.  It's a regional premier for this one.   I was very moved.   I didn't even know it was originally a movie from 1991 starring River Phoenix.

A squad of Marines is spending their last night in San Francisco before shipping out to Okinawa, en route to what will eventually become the Vietnam War.  They have this contest where they have to bring the ugliest girl to a party to be judged.  Our male lead, Birdlace picks up Rose, a shy and socially awkward waitress.   He eventually has doubts about enrolling her in the cruel game, but it's too late.  Rose discovers the contest and things get ugly.  

The girl who plays Rose as an amazing voice.  It's so emotive.  I can see her playing Elphaba in Wicked someday.  

I got angry, I cried, I shuddered, and just ran through all of my emotions.  It's definitely a show to see.

Informed Consent

Just got back from seeing Informed Consent by Cleveland Playhouse.   It is the centerpiece of their New Ground New Theater Festival.   Good theater makes you feel something.  This was an amazing play, but it is not a cheery work.  In fact, I left feeling quite angry at the main character.   The play is based on a true story too.

Informed Consent is about a gross violation of informed consent.   The main character, Jillian, is a genetic anthropologist who lost her mother to early onset Alzheimer's disease.  She is going to develop the condition herself.   She gets a job to study an American Indian tribe for diabetes.  Blood to this group is sacred.   She then selfishly writes a hugely vague informed consent document and runs additional tests, embarrassing the tribe, causing emotional distress, and openly disagreeing with their mythology.

There are only 5 actors in the show who play multiple roles.  They also serve as chorus and narrator group.  This is an excellent show, especially if you are in the medical profession.   Informed consent is very very important.  This play shows how that violating it can break so many more things than trust.

'night, Mother

We just saw 'night, Mother at Beck Center for the Arts.   Amazingly powerful.   Steve and I both cried.   A woman, Jessie, portrayed by Laura Perrotta, is about to commit suicide.  She has set all of her affairs in order, and she tells her mother, Thelma, played by the extraordinary Dorothy Silver.  

The play is one continuous act performed without an intermission in 90 minutes.  The set was extremely realistic, a living room through dining room and kitchen with running water.

The family has troubles.  Jessie is a divorcee who has epilepsy and a wayward son.  She decided at Christmas that she would end her life, seeing that all she does is keep Thelma company.  You can feel the emotional scars ripping open fresh as the two women on stage talk to one another.   It should not be missed.  It's playing until May 4th at the Beck Studio Theater.

Venus in Fur

I saw Venus in Fur tonight tonight at the Cleveland Playhouse.  It was absolutely amazing!   The play has just two characters, and is about casting for a play, specifically, Venus in Fur, whose author is where we get the term masochism from.  It was intellectual.  You really had to think about the exchanges between the characters, which can be extremely quick.

You have a playwright (Thomas), who is adapting Venus in Fur, and extremely frustrated searching for a lead actress for his production.  Enter Vanda, an actress who just happens to share the name of the character from the play.  There is a lot of shifting of balance in the show, between male and female, fantasy and reality, and power and submission. 

The play twists in and over itself so many times!   You have to go see this!    It's smart and sexy, with superb acting. 

33 Variations

We just got back from seeing 33 Variations at the Beck Center.  It isn't a musical, but music is prevalent throughout the play.  The first thing you see when entering the theater is the grand piano at the side of the stage.  The pianist stays there through both acts and illustrates the musical work in the show.

We see two parallel stories in this show.  A musicologist struggling with ALS studies Beethoven's variations on a waltz, while we see the composer's struggles with hearing loss.   It is extremely well interwoven.  We see the musicologist and her daughter and their strained relationship, and we see the composer and his servant and the person who commissioned the variations mull over deadlines and expectations.  In fact, a good comparison is drawn between the daughter (in varied career choices that her mother is unhappy with) and the original waltz, which the original composer fears that Beethoven is mocking through variations.

I enjoyed this show because it touches two very important facets of my life, music and medicine.   I highly recommend seeing 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.

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.

The House of Blue Leaves

I just saw the House of Blue Leaves.  It's funny that the Beck Center would feature two works that feature mental illness in a family context simultaneously.  This play is about a zookeeper, Arnie, who dreams of being a musician for Hollywood movies in the 1960s.  He lives with his wife, Bananas, who suffers from schizophrenia.  Arnie currently has a relationship with their downstairs neighbor, Bunny, because his wife is so different from the woman he married.  Bunny and Arnie plan on leaving for California while committing Bananas to a mental institution.

This play has many madcap moments of comedy, but it is a black comedy.   I wish it had been more of a funny play.  You do feel for the characters.  The actors emote extremely well.  But overall, I feel that this is more of a tragic story.  The show runs until April 21.

Next to Normal

We just saw Next to Normal at the Beck Center.  Absolutely amazing!   I don't think I've cried so hard at a theater in my life.  The story is that powerful.  It is a rock musical.  The music is completely appropriate to the feelings expressed in the story.

Next to Normal is about a woman with bipolar disorder and how it impacts the life of her family.   It shows the struggles she experiences with medicines and treatment.   This is a very real portrayal of life with a loved one with mental illness.   I highly recommend seeing this show.  It is playing until April 21.  Also, bring tissues.

Blithe Spirit

This afternoon we saw Blithe Spirit, a comedic play by Noel Coward, presented by Great Lakes Theater.   It is the story of a botched seance that puts one man's current wife in touch with his late wife, and all the awkwardness that can ensue.   It runs about 2 hours and 40 minutes with two 10 minute intermissions.

Let me say that I enjoyed this play a whole lot!   I enjoy watching movies and plays with a bit of a supernatural twist.  They are just so much fun!  The delivery was excellent and the comedic timing was superb.   When Elvira is summoned from the great beyond, only her former husband, Charles, is able to see and hear her.  This leads to loads of misunderstandings with Ruth, the current wife of Charles Condomine.  One of my favorite gags is when Elvira is terrorizing Ruth with a house plant.   To Ruth, it appears to just be floating in the air, but we see the joy Elvira has as she runs around with it.

Blithe Spirit was adapted into a movie in 1945.  I am definitely going to have to check it out.  

Bell, Book, and Candle

We just got back from seeing Bell, Book, and Candle performed by the Cleveland Playhouse.  This is the play that inspired the television series Bewitched.  There is a community of witches living in New York City unbeknownst to their human neighbors.  When I was watching the play the main character, Gillian, describes witchcraft as taking shortcuts to desired outcomes.   I suppose you could call it life hacking.  People don't usually pay attention to the odd activities in the play because they dismiss it as a series of coincidences. 

Gillian basically decided to magic herself a little romance with her upstairs neighbor, Shep.  She casts a spell, and he falls madly in love with her.   When the spell is revealed, there is a lot of questioning about the nature of love.  Also, in the play's world, a witch loses her powers when in love, as well as gaining the ability to cry and blush.

I suppose I was expecting a more comedic play with lots of magic and trickery.   It was more of a philosophical play about the nature of love and the consequences of meddling with it.  I can definitely see how Bewitched could be imagined from this 1950's play.