Press Release

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s Raucous Fall Repertory Pairs A Solve-It-Yourself Musical With A Gender-Bending Comedy

August 24, 2009

GLTF opens season with Rupert Holmes’ Tony Award-winning The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Shakespeare’s enchanting Twelfth Night.
25% of the seats at every performance are priced at $25 or less.

CLEVELAND, OH – Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF) will commence its 2009-10 season in the company’s revolutionary new home at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, with a Fall Repertory that features Rupert Holmes’ Tony Award-winning, audience-interactive musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Drood), and William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy, Twelfth Night. The productions will be performed in rotating repertory September 24 – November 1, 2009.  The Fall Repertory features GLTF’s resident artistic company of actors performing two alternating plays on the same stage over six weeks.  Veteran Festival artist Victoria Bussert will direct The Mystery of Edwin Droodand GLTF’s Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee will direct Twelfth Night.

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s second season at the Hanna Theatre is presented with generous support from The Cleveland Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.  In addition, Great Lakes Theater Festival is generously funded by the citizens of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.  The production sponsor for Twelfth Night is The Reinberger Foundation.  Media sponsors for the Festival’s 48th season are Cleveland Scene, The Plain Dealer, WCLV 104.9 FM, WCPN 90.3 FM ideastream and WKSU 89.7 FM.

"We are thrilled to be back on the Hanna Theatre’s revolutionary Parker Hannifin Stage where our second season in our extraordinary home promises to be every bit as rewarding as our first,” said GLTF Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee.  “Our Fall Repertory productions and our Hanna Theatre performance space work together to provide a theatrical experience unlike any other in the region.  With our exuberant season-opener The Mystery of Edwin Drood, we’re able to highlight the exceptional storytelling ability of our artists - aided immensely by the Hanna’s intimate setting.  With Drood we’ll even invite our audiences to participate first-hand in the event by empowering them to vote on and select the musical’s ending.  And our production of Twelfth Night offers patrons the extraordinary opportunity to experience Shakespeare’s classic as it was originally intended – on a thrust stage that breaks the limitations of the proscenium and brings all of the energy of the performance out into the house - a venue that is technologically unparalleled in the region.”

GLTF’s Fall Repertory commences with Rupert Holmes’ audience interactive, Tony Award-winning musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.    Who’s responsible for the mysterious disappearance of Edwin Drood?  The audience decides!  Join the Music Hall Royale, a hilariously loony Victorian musical troupe, as they present their outrageous rendition of Charles Dickens’ final unfinished novel.  When the dashing Edwin Drood disappears during one stormy Christmas Eve, murder is alleged and everyone is a suspect.  The fate of the characters hangs in the balance until an audience vote determines the guilty party and the ending!  A winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood is a joyful, whodunit romp that will keep audiences on the edge of their seat.  (The original Broadway production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood was produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, Producer.)

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night completes the Festival’s season-opening Fall Repertory.  After a shipwreck on an unfriendly shore and the loss of her twin brother Sebastian, young Viola must pose as a man to survive.  Shakespeare’s sophisticated comedy of gender-bending mistaken identity is full of passionate longing and bittersweet romance.  Twelfth Night is an irresistible and poignant comedy that is one of the Bard’s most luminous plays.

GLTF’s 2009 Fall Repertory directing corps is comprised of familiar Festival faces.  Charles Fee, GLTF’s Producing Artistic Director, will stage William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.  Fee’s acclaimed productions of The Comedy of Errors (2009), Macbeth (2008), Hay Fever (2007), The Importance of Being Earnest (2005), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) (2004), Hamlet (2003), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2003) have led to an artistic and financial renaissance for Great Lakes Theater Festival.  Victoria Bussert will complete the Festival’s Fall Repertory directing duo when she helms Rupert Holmes’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  A Festival veteran, Bussert will celebrate her 23rd year at Great Lakes Theater Festival this season.  Her work was last seen by Festival audiences in 2008 when she directed Into the Woods and staged A Christmas Carol.  Over the past two decades, she has directed a host of memorable productions including A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Private Lives, Anything Goes, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, She Loves Me, The Most Happy Fella, Rough Crossing, Blithe Spirit, La Ronde, The School For Wives, Noel and Gertie, The Threepenny Opera, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.

Great Lakes Theater Festival will offer a new pricing structure this fall designed to increase accessibility for its audiences.  As part of the program, 25% of the seats at every GLTF Hanna Theatre performance are priced at $25 or less.  Furthermore, adult tickets for every performance always begin at $15 and all student tickets are $11 - making the Great Lakes Theater Festival experience one of the most affordable entertainment options in the region.  “It is absolutely vital to the mission and long-term health of our organization that we create affordable opportunities for every person in our region to experience live theater,” said GLTF Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee.

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s award-winning home at the Hanna Theatre features a visionary “Great Room” inspired design concept that integrates the artist and audience experience into a single unified environment.  Hanna patrons select from a variety of seating opportunities including traditional theater seats, club chairs, lounge/bar seats, banquette couches and private box seating.  Boasting a fully flexible hydraulic thrust stage, a complete array of state-of-the-art theatrical systems and an intimate 550-seat house arranged in a thrust configuration, the Hanna is one of the most innovative theaters in the country.  

Great Lakes Theater Festival will continue to afford patrons extraordinary access to the artistic process in 2009-10.  The Hanna always opens its doors ninety minutes before each performance allowing patrons to observe the complete pre-show preparation process of GLTF’s actors and technical staff.  Elements traditionally hidden from audiences such as stage combat rehearsals, dance calls, prop/scenic pre-sets, technical cue rehearsals and actor warm-ups will be conducted in full view of patrons, offering GLTF audiences an amazing glimpse into the theatrical process.

The Festival will also continue its unique series of social enhancement programming this season at the Hanna.  The programming, organized by day of week, is designed to augment the patron experience and highlight the Hanna’s new amenities. 

• “Salon Thursdays” will feature an engaging pre-show discussion/presentation beginning one hour before curtain with a Festival artist or local scholar.  (Offered:  Oct. 15, 22, 29) 
• “Happy Hour Fridays”afford patrons the ability to avoid the commute home from work and back to the theater in time for the show.  On “Happy Hour Fridays,” audience members are invited to meet at the Hanna’s bar and lounge immediately after work to enjoy a fine assortment of savory hors d’ oeuvres and a complete range of beverages for sale beginning ninety minutes before every performance.  (Offered:  Oct. 2, 16, 23, 30) 
• “Night Cap Night Saturdays”are designed to encourage audience members to stay after the performance and mingle with friends and family in the Hanna’s bar and lounge.  The Hanna’s bar and lounge is open until ninety minutes after the performance on “Night Cap Saturdays.  (Offered:  Oct. 3, 17, 24, 31)
• “Ice Cream Social Sundays” offer patrons the opportunity to enjoy a London theatre tradition brought state-side with family and friends.  Audience members are invited to purchase a cool personal ice cream treat before the show or at intermission.  Ice cream will be offered at every performance in GLTF’s Fall Repertory, but on “Ice Cream Social Sundays,” the treat is half price.  (Offered:  Oct. 4, 11, 18, 25 & Nov. 1)

Opening Night performances of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (September 26th) and Twelfth Night (October 10th) have been scheduled for Saturday evenings with preview performances of both productions scheduled for the preceding Thursday and Friday nights. The Friday previews of Drood (September 25th) and Twelfth Night (October 9th) have been designated as “Press Previews” – public performances that will also accommodate theater critics and other media representatives.  These nights also feature a half-hour pre-show discussion with the director beginning at 6:30 p.m.  Curtain times for all evening performances will remain at 7:30 p.m., with a 1:30 p.m. curtain time for Saturday matinees and a 3:00 p.m. curtain time for Sunday matinees. Both productions in GLTF’s Fall Repertory will continue to offer sign-interpreted and audio-described performances as well as the popular Playnotes pre-show discussion series.  (Consult enclosed performance calendars for complete date and time information.)

Single performance tickets for Great Lakes Theater Festival productions range in price from $15-$69 (Student tickets are $11 – any performance / any seat) and are available by calling (216) 241-6000, by ordering online or by visiting the PlayhouseSquare Ticket Office.  Groups of ten or more receive discounts of up to 38% by calling the Great Lakes Theater Festival Group Sales Department at (216) 241-5490 x302.  (Additional handling fees may apply and may vary depending on point of purchase.)

At a Glance: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

At A Glance: Twelfth Night

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Reviews: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

The Plain Dealer
October 02, 2009
'Edwin Drood' played with campy fun at Great Lakes Theater Festival
Tony Brown, Plain Dealer Theater Critic

Charles Dickens has been very, very good to Great Lakes Theater Festival. And Great Lakes has returned the favor yet again.

Mr. Dickens gave Great Lakes its greatest hit, "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby." In 1982, only seven months after the Royal Shakespeare Co. version closed on Broadway, the nine-hour marathon ushered Great Lakes into PlayhouseSquare's Ohio Theatre.

The cliffhanging chronicler of times smoggy and ill in old London Town also provided the theater with its longest-running hit, former artistic director Gerald Freedman's "A Christmas Carol," which enters its 21st season in December at the Ohio.

And now, Great Lakes is having a high old time at its new home, PlayhouseSquare's Hanna Theatre, with a campy-fun musical burlesque of Dickens' final, and unfinished, novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."

Or, as the show has it, repeatedly, "The Mystery of Edwin Dr-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-d."

The script and score might not be the unalloyed sterling of "Nick-Nick" or have the staying power of "Carol," but for sheer showmanship, this "Drood" belongs in such august company.

Using appropriately 19th-century British theatrical idioms – particularly pantomime and the music-hall acts that begat vaudeville across the Atlantic – "Drood" premiered in Central Park in 1985's New York Shakespeare Festival.

It transferred to Broadway and won five Tony Awards, including best musical, and best script and score for Rupert Holmes, a serious lyricist/composer saddled withthe success of his 1979 No. 1 hit (with umbrella), "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)."

The score, an odd mixture of froth and melodrama, is not Stephen Sondheim. But it does contain a few memorable numbers, including opium-den proprietress Princess Puffer's over-the-top "The Wages of Sin" and the ensemble number "Don't Quit While You're Ahead."

But, more important, it deftly fills in the incompleteness of Dickens' story (he died in medias res) by creating not one but two sets of characters.

The first is a ragtag company of swindlers and dollymops who work as music-hall entertainers, and the second comprises the roles they play in Dickens' story. It has been a favorite of classical companies, like New York Shakespeare, Canada's Shaw Festival and now Great Lakes.

Directed by Victoria Bussert, a former protege of Freedman's (who was in on the early days of New York Shakespeare), the Great Lakes ensemble jumps into this romp with comic, oversize feet, all within set designer Jeff Herrmann's witty false proscenium.

A paternal, supercilious Aled Davies is a sonorous master of ceremonies, Laura Perrotta has all the charms of an aging dope fiend as Puffer, and – in her finest turn at Great Lakes – Sara Bruner cocks her heeled boots rakishly in the title trouser role.

The entire company gets in on the joke – and performs Martin Cespedes' kooky choreography – with aplomb. Ian Gould's wannabe-actor stage manager, Emily Leonard's pale beauty and Matthew Wright's shrinking parson also stand out.

The audience gets in on the fun, too. After a slow-starting Act 2, the audience gets to vote on certain key outcomes, such as who the murderer is.

This might be frustrating for those who vote for a loser. But the audience is already a winner, thanks to Dickens.

Read the article here.

Cleveland Scene
October 1, 2009
A Ghostly Good Musical GLTF’s Drood Inspired by Ghosts of Theater’s Past
By Keith A. Joseph

Hollywood folklore has it that Katharine Hepburn elucidated the magic of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers partnership like this: "He gives her class, she gives him sex." Coincidentally, 70 years later, the same alchemy holds true for the marriage of the PlayhouseSquare's Hanna Theatre with the Great Lakes Theater Festival.

With last season's graceful swan dive into the Chekhovian canon, GLTF decidedly gave the refurbished old theater tone. Presently, with the same company's foray into British pantomime, the Hanna – where theater greats of the last century trod the boards and where their spirits apparently still linger – is lending saucy brio to the company's current production.

It would be simple to attribute the two hours of unrelenting fizz to the gifts of The Mystery of Edwin Drood's creator, Rupert Holmes, or to lots of rehearsal or a talented company of thespians. All of this is true, but so boringly pedantic.

Anyone who has shivered through The Shining or any of the countless incarnations of The Turn of the Screw has already intuited the deeper truth – in this production, the Hanna's ghosts have been revived.

The premise of the musical is a Victorian London troop enacting the unfinished gothic mystery by Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The show's greatest joy is its cunning encapsulation of 19th-century music-hall style. Its money-in-the-bank gimmick is letting the audience vote on the resolution.

Since winning the 1986 Tony for best musical, Drood has proven rather an enjoyable, if ephemeral, lark. In this particular incarnation, it has evolved into a far more substantial bird of paradise.  This fleshing out we can only attribute to the theater ghosts.

Everyone recognizes director Victoria Bussert's flair for unearthing the lusty aspects of any musical. Yet the unbridled Victorian carnality displayed here would lead us to believe that the deceased master of the musical, George Abbott, was whispering suggestions from the upper balconies.

An indelible image that will haunt audiences is the opium-induced dream sequence in which prostitutes silently emerge from the bed between the legs of the astounded Jasper (Jonas Cohen). Perhaps choreographer Martin Cespedes had a nudge for this brilliant bit from the specter of Jerome Robbins.

We can only speculate which designers' ghosts caused Jeff Herrmann to create detailed but astutely economical sets and Charlotte Yetman to concoct costumes with an artful combination of whimsy and gothic.

Was it John Gielgud, Claude Raines, Dame Edith Evans or perhaps the Lunts that coached the company into British music-hall perfection? Performances by Aled Davies, Jodi Dominick, Sara M. Bruner and Emily Leonard have an ectoplasmic glow. One haunting we can be sure of: Laura Perrotta as the mysterious proprietress of the opium den took on not only the appearance but also the mercurial luminosity that could only emanate from the effervescent Gertrude Lawrence.

If this ghostly trend continues, the Great Lakes Theater Festival will have to replace the tritely living Tom Hanks with that divinely departed blithe spirit Noel Coward to materialize for their next benefit. 

Read the article here.

Rave and Pan
September 27, 2009
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Great Lakes Theater Festival
By Christine Howey

DIY is very big these days, what with the recession inspiring or forcing all of us to save money and do things for ourselves. While do-it-yourself may work out fairly well for minor faucet repairs and income tax preparation (hey, it’s a snap when you have no income), it might be a dicey prospect when it comes to writing the ending of a musical.

But that is one of the interesting aspects of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, now at the Great Lakes Theater Festival. Written top to bottom by Rupert Holmes–yes, the guy who wrote the aggravatingly memorable Escape (The Pina Colada Song) – Drood is based on Charles Dickens’ last, unfinished novel. And the audience is called upon to help the actors finish the story at the point Dickens had laid down his pen and, after a devastating stroke, began his dirt nap.

This makes sense in context, since in this telling the Drood play is being mounted by a Victorian music hall troupe that is eager to please the audience, no matter what. This is a motley crew whose dancers double as ladies of pleasure and whose master of ceremonies, the redoubtable Mr. William Cartwright, pauses the action of the play to introduce popular actors as they appear on stage and toss off terrible jokes (“The church bell won’t ring tonight, because the vicar’s got the clapper!”). The play structure results in every GLTF actor playing two parts: the actor in the troupe along with his or her assigned role in the mystery.

As for the mystery itself, Edwin Drood, played by the English troupe’s famed male impersonator Miss Alice Nutting, is engaged to sweet song thrush Rosa Bud. But the swarthy and villainous John Jasper, Rosa’s music master, has designs on Rosa. And so does Neville Landless, an immigrant from Ceylon who has landed in England along with his exotic sister Helena.

Along the way, we meet the Princess Puffer, doyenne of an opium den which Jasper patronizes and where some clues are dropped about the imminent disappearance of Drood. We know these are clues because Cartwright stops the action and helpfully points them out.

As directed by Victoria Bussert, and under the astute musical direction of Matthew Webb, this is a lively and engaging free-for-all, and the GLTF cast handles it with an abundance of cheerful, tongue-in-cheek exuberance. Utilizing precise timing for takes and double takes, and having fun with the cheesy effects the troupe employs (an arm can be seen throwing fake snow into an open doorway, and the actors wave their own coats and gowns to suggest a blast of wind), the production is spirited throughout.

In the linchpin role of Cartwright, Aled Davies maintains firm control of the sometimes anarchic proceedings, and milks his various asides for all the laughter possible. As Jasper, Jonas Cohen has an appropriate dark and brooding look, and enough of a singing voice to carry his tunes. His fast-paced duet with Cartwright, “Both Sides of the Coin,” is a show highlight.

Sara M. Bruner is swaggering and confident as Drood (although her hissy fit as Alice Nutting could stand a bit more attitude), while Emily Leonard As Rosa trills nicely in her solo “Moonfall.” Other standouts include Ian Gould, who plays frustrated stand-in Mr. Phillip Bax, and Eduaedo Placer, whose Cheshire grin almost swallows his face as the volatile Neville Landless.

The excellent actor Laura Perrotta does what she can with Princess Puffer, but the role really requires a woman with more physical and vocal heft. And although Matthew Wright holds his own as Reverend Crisparkle (Neville and Helena’s sponsor), one wonders what hilarity might have ensued had GLTF stalwart David Anthony Smith been in the role.

In all, Drood is light as fluff and thoroughly enjoyable. And we assume this will hold true no matter which ending your audience votes for.

Read the article here

West Side Leader
October 1, 2009
Audience helps unravel ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood’
Great Lakes Theater Festival show is entertaining night in theater
David Ritchey

In 1985, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” received five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Music and Best Book.

Rupert Holmes (playwright, composer, lyricist) based the musical on Charles Dickens’ novel (or almost novel) of the same name. Dickens’ story “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” was serialized in an English publication. Dickens died after the publication of the third episode. He wrote a total of six episodes. At the end of the publication of the six episodes, all of London discussed what happened to Drood – was he murdered or did he simply disappear. The English studied the clues, the characters and looked at other stories by Dickens in hope of finding a solution to the mystery.

Holmes wrote the play sticking faithfully to Dickens’ version. So, in the middle of a big musical number in the second act, the cast freezes, and the Chairman announces that this is all that Dickens wrote.

To help the audience solve the mystery, the Chairman reviews the clues in the story.

Then the audience is asked to vote on several situations in the story. A detective, obviously in disguise, is investigating the mystery of Edwin Drood. No one is sure who that detective might be. The audience votes.

The audience is led to assume Drood was murdered. But was he? With the help of members of the music hall, the audience votes on the identity of the murderer.

Finally, we suspect a secret love affair, and the audience votes on the people involved in this liaison.

The story and the voting (which produces plot changes and new songs) provide an entertaining evening.

The Holmes version of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” is performed before us in a 19th-century music hall. The Chairman (Aled Davies) works as the host or the emcee of the music hall. He introduces performers and the roles they are to play; he reprimands the audience for not booing or hissing on cue; and he summarizes plot points so the audience doesn’t miss something that may help solve the mystery.

Dickens and Holmes bring together an interesting group of characters. For example, Miss Alice Nutting (Sara Bruner) is the leading male-impersonator of the English stage. Miss Nutting (a character) played by Bruner is Edwin Drood. A little gender bending helps add to the mystery and the confusion.

Princess Puffer (Laura Perrotta) runs an opium den, where certain characters go for a fix.

John Jasper (Jonas Cohen) is a church musician who is in love with the ingénue, Rose Bud (Emily Leonard), who is engaged to Edwin Droid.

Confused? Keep in mind this is a melodrama.

This brief synopsis doesn’t scratch the surface of the plot, which was Dickens’ only attempt at writing a mystery. The second mystery is why he attempted to write the first mystery.

Holmes’ score and lyrics challenge any performer and the audience. The words fly by so fast that I was tempted to shout, “Wait a minute; I can’t follow what’s happening.” The problem was complicated by the orchestra, which overpowered the singers.

Because the audience votes on the final plot points, what happened in the last half of the production when I saw it might not happen at other performances. One audience might vote that a certain character was the murderer and another audience might select someone else as the killer.

Director Victoria Bussert continues to be one of the best directors of musicals in Northern Ohio. She managed a large cast in a small playing area. She helped her cast members establish well-defined characters and play the melodramatic mystery genre to the hilt.

Musical director Matthew Webb led a seven-piece orchestra in the pit just in front of the stage. Webb and the musicians often were so loud that the singers, who wore microphones, couldn’t be clearly heard and important plot points were lost.

Costume designer Charlotte Yetman should receive an award for the costumes for the women. Yetman’s costumes for all of the characters were excellent. But she brought a sense of light and light-heartiness to the stage with the women’s costumes.

Don’t expect high content or a thought-provoking plot line. Simply relax and enjoy.

“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” continues through Nov. 1 in the Hanna Theatre, rotating with “Twelfth Night,” which opens Oct. 8.

Read the article here.

Cleveland Jewish News
October 2, 2009
‘Drood’ at Great Lakes
Fran Heller

Before there was reality TV, there was “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” a musical whodunit in which the audience determines who did it.

Based on the famously unfinished last novel with the same title by Charles Dickens, the 1985 musical was the creation of Rupert Holmes, who wrote the Tony Award-winning book, music and lyrics. It’s in rotating repertory at Great Lakes Theater Festival at PlayhouseSquare’s Hanna Theatre through Nov. 1.

“…Drood” is pure piffle, a trifling entertainment that is more style than substance.

Presented as a sendup of the English music hall tradition (predecessor of American vaudeville), the musical is a pastiche of song, burlesque shtick, and hopelessly convoluted plot that makes little sense and is impossible to follow.

The production’s chief merits under Victoria Bussert’s breezy direction are stellar comic acting, gorgeous costumes, tantalizing visual and aural effects, and interactive audience participation to charm young and old alike. It’s a fun-filled, feel-good show that pays affectionate homage to the joys of acting and live theater.

The setting is the Music Hall Royale in London, where a company of third-rate actors is about to present Dickens’s unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The troupe is presided over by the Chairman, a master of ceremonies who introduces all the characters and the actors who play them. Among them is schizophrenic choirmaster John Jasper, who lusts after his pupil Rosa Bud, betrothed since birth to Jasper’s nephew Edwin Drood. The arrival of Neville and Helena Landless, a pair of orphaned twins from India, sparks a rivalry between Edwin and Neville, who is also attracted to Rosa.

The second act, which takes place six months after Drood vanishes on a stormy Christmas Eve, is suddenly interrupted at the point where Dickens laid down his pen and died. The audience is asked to vote upon the mysterious identity of a sleuth named Dick Datchery and on who killed Drood, if in fact he was killed at all. The outcome of the vote determines which way the play will end.

Holmes’s score is serviceable but not memorable. Especially noteworthy is the duet between Drood and Rosa, who secretly decide to break off their engagement in “Perfect Strangers.”

The excellent Aled Davies is thoroughly charismatic as the Chairman, Mr. William Cartwright, who keeps the audience clued to the impending action. Patrons are invited to alternately boo and hiss, or laugh, or be duly chastened for not laughing at the ringmaster’s corny jokes.

Sara M. Bruner is irrepressibly delightful as the temperamental actress Alice Nutting, the company’s male impersonator who plays Edwin Drood. The supple Bruner gambols about with her whole being, lighting up the stage whenever she appears.

Emily Leonard reveals a rich soprano as the nubile Rosa Bud in her passion-filled solo “Moonfall.” Jonas Cohen is suitably villainous as the Jekyll and Hyde opium- addicted choirmaster John Jasper. Jasper’s drug-infused hallucinatory dream about Drood and Rosa is exceedingly well-done. Laura Perrotta is true to type as the opium den mother, called The Princess Puffer, but lacks sufficient vocal chops in several key solo numbers.

Matthew Wright is convincing as the upright, uptight Rev. Mr. Crisparkle, guardian to the twins played by a cool Jodi Dominick (Helena) and a hot-blooded Eduardo Placer (Neville).

Ian Gould is suitably over the top as the off-key Bazzard, while M.A. Taylor’s tipsy gravedigger Durdles and Danny Henning as his clueless Deputy add to the merriment.

Director Bussert’s tongue-in-cheek approach gets considerable heft from Jeff Herrmann’s mobile Gothic-like Victorian settings (a smoke-filled crypt and opium den among them), Norman Coates’s lurid lighting, and Stan Kozak’s stormy sound effects, with fistfuls of snow and maids ruffling their aprons to simulate wind added for good measure.

The mercurial mood music under music director Matthew Webb heightens the melodrama. Charlotte Yetman’s costumes are tantalizingly yummy. Martín Céspedes’s buoyant choreography includes a well- synchronized kick line in the company number “Off to the Races.”

Light and lively seems to be the mantra of Great Lakes’s 2009-10 season. Toward that end, the evanescent “…Drood” fills the bill.

Read the article here.

Reviews: Twelfth Night

Rave and Pan
October  10, 2009
Twelfth Night, Great Lakes Theater Festival
Christine Howey

If you enjoy a play with a substantial number of gecks* and coistrels**, along with lovers, jokers and a drooling and farting drunkard, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is your cup o’ mead.

And in this admirable production by the Great Lakes Theater Festival, director Charles Fee has nicely balanced the humorous, romantic and musical aspects of the play to fashion an evening of untrammeled enjoyment.

Complete with gender-bending tricks and outright practical jokes, Twelfth Night is one of Will’s most fanciful romantic comedies. And GLTF has plunked it down in an imaginary Persian-Moroccan setting of Illyria replete with tiled floors, elaborate screen walls and up-tempo scene change music that makes you want to get up and start whirling. But it’s best to restrain yourself, since the aisles are constantly filled with actors zipping on and off stage as this story of mistaken identities and yearning for love plays out.

On the romantic side of the equation, shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as young lad named Cesario, to avoid getting hit on. She is soon in the employ of Duke Orsino, who directs him/her to take his love notes to the lovely Countess Olivia. But Olivia is in a prolonged state of mourning over her brother’s death, so she’s not up for making whoopee with the Duke or anyone.

That is, until she lays eyes on Cesario, and soon Olivia flips over this slight blond dude. As Cesario, Sara M. Bruner cuts a rather dashing figure and executes some amusing double-takes as she sees Olivia swooning in her direction. Jodi Dominick convincingly portrays Olivia in the throes of sadness, but she doesn’t allow Olivia’s quickly evolving love for Cesario to play across her face as much as she might.

On the comedic side, Olivia’s besotted uncle Sir Toby Belch and his buddy, the flouncing and shallow Sir Andrew Aguecheek, show up to swill wine and party until the dawn. Always on the lookout for a new prank, Belch encourages Aguecheek to pursue his hopeless dream of wooing Olivia. He is joined in this sport by Olivia’s mischievous gentlewoman Maria and the clown Feste.

As Belch, Andrew May is a super-saturated souse from his red nose to his stumbling feet, and he generates plenty of laughter without tipping over (so to speak) into sheer burlesque. Ian Gould is equally amusing as Aguecheek, posing in mock grandeur when not cowering at the slightest hint of conflict or confrontation. Laura Perrotta’s Maria serves as an incisive, clever counterpoint to those two buffoons, while Eduardo Placer speaks and sings the role of Feste with gusto.

But some of the biggest guffaws come from David Anthony Smith, who makes Olivia’s priggish steward Malvolio a deserving butt of everyone’s jokes. His scene, when Malvolio tries to suss out the meaning of a fake love letter from Olivia, is a comedic gem as Smith sensuously chews every syllable like it was a slice of Corbo’s cassata cake.

Twelfth Night, properly done, should feel like a party, just like the Christmas holiday for which it is named. And this production by Great Lakes is a bash you shouldn’t miss.

Read the article here

Cleveland Scene
October 16, 2009
PLAY ON
GLTF Gives Us the Bard’s Food of Love
Keith A. Joseph

We who regard musical comedy as the Godliest art take special satisfaction in Great Lakes Theater Festival artistic director Charles Fee's simple but elegant rendering of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The reason for this giddy satisfaction is to see Fee — with one foot in Idaho — follow the template of Meredith Willson's beloved Iowa scoundrel, The Music Man's Harold Hill. Like Hill, Fee has ended up trading in his overwrought, houndstooth chicanery for a newborn tender sincerity.

As a matter of fact, we wish to appropriate 46 of Hill's 76 trombones to proclaim the company's lucid depiction of one of the English language's merriest gambols. Again it seems that those benevolent theater spirits at the Hanna are exerting their tasteful influence over the quality of performance there.

The cynics inform me, however, it is due to the intimacy and wonderful acoustics. Because the theater allows them to speak their lines more naturally than a less lively space would, the actors can create more psychological nuances. The intimacy allows us to witness the particulars, as a duke finds himself strangely attracted to his man (really a woman), or a brother and sister are reunited.  We are finally able to appreciate every word of the "food of love" speech. We further celebrate GLTF's blissful banishment of past infernal gimmicks and distractions — not a VW or a seemingly amphetamine-induced rant in sight.

When we first encounter Gage Williams' byzantine, aesthetically pleasing set, we suspect there is something fragrant in the state of Ohio. We get the impression that a Mozart opera is about to be sung here.

The introduction of Sara M. Bruner's nearly drowned Viola thrusts the evening into a swirling sarabande. Even in tatters she manages to exude thoroughbred effulgence. Put her in a pageboy disguise, and she is suddenly the sauciest Pan since Mary Martin retired her tights.

Bruner is indeed the evening's fulcrum, but every cast member adds his or her own share of joviality to the proceedings. We welcome back Cleveland's own leading man, Andrew May, skillfully reformulated as a padded Falstaffian clown, Sir Toby Belch. In the challenging role of Malvolio, David Anthony Smith balances on the tightrope between buffoon and villain. He turns outrage into soaring comic arias while keeping his character sympathetic and human.

In a splendid ensemble, there are a few especially joyous notes: Jonas Cohen's Duke of Illyria, Orsino, for his princely ardor and conflicted passion; Eduardo Placer for his cunning, fey jestering and lovely voice; Jodi Dominick's Olivia, for balancing screwball comedy with aristocratic hauteur; and Ian Gould for making Sir Andrew Aguecheek a splendid painted maypole and foil for Sir Toby.

Although Charles Fee may not have been born great, with the triumphant overhaul of the Hanna — and particularly this stellar season — he has most definitely had greatness thrust upon him. 

Read the article here.

Cleveland Jewish News
October 16, 2009
Very merry production of ‘Twelfth Night’ at Great Lakes
Fran Heller

“If music be the food of love, play on,” pines the lovesick Duke in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Twelfth Night.”

Indeed, the Spanish-inspired rhythms of the music and dance add immeasurably to the production’s charm at Great Lakes Theater Festival, where it runs through Oct. 31.

Director Charles Fee’s exuberant staging, a frolicsome ensemble, and a daring design team breathe fresh life into this popular and oft-produced favorite. The mirth grows contagious even before the curtain rises.

It begins with a gale, lapping water (Peter John Still’s transformational sound effects) and a shipwreck as the sopping wet Viola, washed ashore like a drowned rat, miraculously springs to life. Believing that her twin brother Sebastian is dead, Viola assumes the disguise of a boy in service to Duke Orsino.

Gage Williams’s Moorish architecture beautifully sets the stage for the mythical seacoast town of Illyria, where the Duke dispatches his newly hired page, renamed Cesario, to press his suit for the hand of Olivia. Like Viola, Olivia is also in mourning for a dead brother, vowing never to love another until seven years have passed. But Olivia soon falls head over heels for Cesario instead.

While the production tips decisively toward the bawdy and farcical, much weightier themes of madness, grief, sexual ambiguity and cruelty come across as well.

Love in its many guises is the glue that holds the play together. The romantic love of the Duke for Olivia, Olivia’s unrequited love for the disguised Viola, Viola’s hidden love for Orsino, Malvolio’s self-love, and love as friendship epitomized by Antonio all play a role in this comedy of mistaken identity and gender-bending.

Jonas Cohen is suitably self-indulgent as the melancholy Duke Orsino, smitten with the idea of love rather than with the object of his love. As the Countess Olivia, Jodi Dominick sheds her dolorous mien as quickly as her mourner’s weeds when passion for the Duke’s page overwhelms her. Sara M. Bruner’s disguised Viola deftly navigates the tricky terrain as both man and woman with consummate comic skill.

A well-padded Andrew May steals the stage as Olivia’s uncle, the besotted, hedonistic Sir Toby Belch, whose Falstaffian girth and manner add to the madcap humor. Though coarse of behavior, Sir Toby is highborn, a satiric commentary on the prevailing class system. The self-righteous Malvolio is quickly laid low by Sir Toby’s withering condemnation, “You are nothing but a steward.”

His face painted as a clown, Ian Gould is ludicrous as the cowardly and foolish Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby’s drinking companion and Olivia’s hapless suitor. The duel between a terrified Aguecheek and an equally reluctant Cesario is hilarious. Eduardo Placer delights as Feste, Olivia’s jester, whose wit and wisdom season the play with such immortal morsels as “Youth’s the stuff t’will not endure.”

Laura Perrotta is excellent as the feisty and cunning Maria, Lady Olivia’s gentlewoman who lays the groundwork for the gulling of Malvolio. Maria forges a letter in Olivia’s handwriting that tricks Malvolio into believing the countess is in love with him. It is Malvolio’s arrogance and self-love that inspires the ruse played on him.

As the preening Malvolio, David Anthony Smith’s exaggerated recitation of the fake letter, his fantasy about becoming Olivia’s husband, and his outlandish appearance in cross-gartered yellow stockings and Cheshire grin are all comedic highpoints. Malvolio’s cruel treatment is somewhat justified, for the steward’s desire for Olivia is not driven by love, but ambition.

A humiliated and crestfallen Malvolio’s final statement, “I’ll be revenged on the whole lot of you,” is uttered as a whimper, arousing an element of sympathy.

The confusion of identities is further complicated by the appearance of Antonio (Matthew Wright), the sea captain who saves Sebastian’s life and later befriends him. Kevin Crouch fills the bill nicely as the dazed Sebastian. His being mistaken as Cesario, aided by Star Moxley’s look-alike costumes, leads to all sorts of wondrous complications, including marriage to Olivia.

Director Fee’s pacing moves swiftly from scene to scene and from comedy to romance without skipping a beat.

The tone of “Twelfth Night” is one of high merriment. This buoyant production makes for an entertaining and very merry evening of theater.

Read the article here.

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier
October 16, 2009
GLTF’s ‘Twelfth Night’ places fun at forefront
Bob Abelman

Disguise and mistaken identity are favorite subterfuges in Shakespeare’s comedies.  The differences between outer appearance and inner reality drive the storylines and inspire much of humor in The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It, among others.

In Twelfth Night, currently in production by the Great Lakes Theater Festival at the Hanna Theatre, mistaken identity is the sole impetus behind the action and the comedy.

A pair of twins, brother Sebastian and sister Viola, are separated by a shipwreck and carry on their lives thinking the other dead.  Living in the coastal city of Illyria, Viola disguises herself as a man for protection and, calling herself Cesario, finds employment with the Duke of Illyria, with whom she secretly falls in love.  The Duke is in love with the Countess Olivia, and sends the cross-dressing Viola to woo her on his behalf.  The guarded Countess allows herself to fall in love with the disguised Viola.  When Sebastian happens into town, he is mistaken for Viola, is bedded by the Countess and then wed.  Viola, in turn, is thought to be her brother.

During the preview night production, mistaken identity took on new dimension when the actress playing Viola, Sara Bruner, succumbed to a back injury and Emily Leonard went on in her place.  With script firmly in hand, Leonard--listed in the playbill as a dancer--played Bruner playing Viola disguised as Cesario being mistaken for Sebastian.  Shakespeare would have been pleased.

The audience certainly was.  Despite the short notice, Leonard was a trouper and delivered a viable Viola, managing to deliver her lines with meaning, maintain the frantic pace of this high-energy production and, most importantly, stay out of the way of the other performers.

All this was facilitated by director Charles Fee’s vision for this production.  Twelfth Night’s numerous subplots provide ample doses of both comedy and melancholy, allowing directors to balance the two or opt to go with one over the other.  GLTF’s tendency—indeed, its reputation—is to go for the funny, and Fee embraces this big time in Twelfth Night.

The impeccable comic timing and full-forward momentum that veteran cast members Andrew May, David Anthony Smith, and Ian Gould bring to the table easily overshadow the awkward presence of an understudy.    

As the Countess’s cousin Sir Toby Belch and his moneyed drinking buddy Sir Andrew Aguecheek, May and Gould are given free rein to excavate all the comedy in the play and milk it for all its worth.  Their broad delivery and absolute comfort with Shakespeare’s prose give rise to brilliant moments.  

Smith as Malvolio, the self-impressed servant to the Countess who foolheartedly believes he can rise above his station and win her hand, is hilarious. Throughout the play, Malvolio is subjected to cruel ridicule by Belch, Aguecheek and fellow servants Fabian and Maria, played wonderfully by M.A. Taylor and Laura Perrotta.  Smith’s Malvolio is marvelously oblivious to their maliciousness and, thus, easy prey.  His reading of a letter of seduction supposedly written by the Countess but actually penned by Maria is priceless.

Keeping pace with these oversized performances are Eduardo Placer as Feste the fool and Kevin Crouch as Sebastian.  Lost in their dust is Jonas Cohen, as an overly subdued Duke, and Jodi Dominick, who’s portrayal of the Countess is a work in progress.         

A penchant for comedy is just one element of GLTF’s reputation.  So is spectacular staging, which is firmly established in this production by scenic designer Gage Williams, costume designer Star Moxley, sound designer Peter John Still and lighting designer Rick Martin.   They have created a romantic, textured Mediterranean backdrop, rich with Persian influences. 

Mistaken identity is central to many of Shakespeare’s works, but there is no disguising the fact that this GLTF production of Twelfth Night, with or without its featured actress (who has since returned), is a joy to behold.

Photos: Mystery of Edwin Drood

The fiery Neville Landless (actor Eduardo Placer, left) impresses his attentive audience comprised of Rosa Bud (actor Emily Leonard, bottom left), Wendy (actor Kathleen Rooney, bottom center) , Beatrice (actor Jennifer Noble, bottom right) and Helena Landless (actor Jodi Dominick, above) in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of the “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” - Rupert Holmes’ Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel – where an audience vote determines the show’s ending.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

Festival favorite Laura Perrotta takes center stage as Princess Puffer in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of the “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” - Rupert Holmes’ Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel – where an audience vote determines the show’s ending.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

Anything is possible in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” – Rupert Holmes’ Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel where an audience vote decides the show’s ending.  John Jasper (actor Jonas Cohen, center) looks on as an opium-induced hallucination (actor Kathleen Rooney, down center) rises from within his bed.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

Villain John Jasper (actor Jonas Cohen, left) embraces damsel (actor Emily Leonard, right) in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of the “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” - Rupert Holmes’ Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel – where an audience vote determines the show’s ending.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s resident acting company, led by actor Aled Davies as “Your Chairman” (center), solves “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” - Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel - with the help of an audience vote in the Tony Award-winning musical of the same name by Rupert Holmes at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

You decide!  An audience vote selects the murderer and determines the show’s ending in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of the “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” - the Tony Award-winning musical by Rupert Holmes inspired by Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s resident acting company solves “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” - Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel - with the help of an audience vote in the Tony Award-winning musical of the same name by Rupert Holmes at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

Edwin Drood (actor Sara M. Bruner) has seen “The Writing on the Wall” and sings about it in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of the “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” - Rupert Holmes’ Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ last unfinished novel – where an audience vote determines the show’s ending.  “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” runs in rotating repertory with Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)

The countess Olivia (actor, Jodi Dominick, left) is smitten as Viola (actor, Sara M. Bruner, right), disguised as a man, delivers an intoxicating message in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s gender-bending comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
Viola (actor, Sara M. Bruner), disguised as the boy Cesario, and Duke Orsino (actor, Jonas Cohen) share a laugh in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s gender-bending comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
Festival favorite David Anthony Smith takes center stage as the steward Malvolio in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
A Sea Captain (actor, Aled Davies) cares for the young Viola (actor, Sara M. Bruner) after they are washed ashore on the beach of Illyria following a violent shipwreck in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)		A rowdy bunch revels as Maria (actor, Laura Perrotta) struggles to keep her wits in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  Sir Andrew Aguecheek (actor, Ian Gould), Feste (actor Eduardo Placer) and Sir Toby Belch (actor, Andrew May) comprise the terrible trio behind her that is responsible for the ruckus.  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
Actor Eduardo Placer plays the fool Feste, and his guitar, to fantastically funny effect in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
In a surprise turn, the puritanical steward Malvolio (actor, David Anthony Smith) shows off his new, yellow, cross-gartered stockings as the trickster trio responsible for the prank watch on in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  The threesome in the background is comprised of Maria (actor, Laura Perrotta), Sir Toby Belch (actor, Andrew May) and Fabian (actor, M.A. Taylor).  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
Resident Festival actors Laura Perrotta (as Maria), Andrew May (as Sir Toby Belch) and M.A. Taylor (as Fabian) make marvelously merry in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
Olivia (actor, Jodi Dominick) and Sebastian (actor, Kevin Crouch) make a perfect match in Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)
Great Lakes Theater Festival’s resident acting company fills the Hanna Theatre’s Parker Hannifin thrust stage at PlayhouseSquare during the curtain call of the Festival’s Fall Repertory production of William Shakespeare’s enchanting comedy “Twelfth Night.”  “Twelfth Night” runs in rotating repertory with the Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” through November 1st.  (Photography by Roger Mastroianni)