Here is my interview with Gloria Gifford about presenting LOVERS AND OTHER STRANGERS live-streamed online as well as her Gloria Gifford Conservatory and how she is managing to keep her students active during the past year.
DEAR JOHN, WHY YOKO? with music by Anzu Lawson and Joerg Stoeffel, book and lyrics by Anzu Lawson, tells the untold story of a love that changed the world and defined an era fraught with the same type of protests taking place now. It is my hope by sharing your story, we may all be lucky enough to live out our own dreams in a world where peace and love really exist between all people and war is dead. And we will have John Lennon and Yoko Ono to thank for that vision.
Directed by Jenny Sullivan in the smaller Lovelace Studio Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts so that no matter where you are seated, Burrows will repeatedly pull you into the very private life of this American icon on two of the most traumatic evenings of her life. Act I takes place on the night of Robert Kennedy's win the 1968 California primary election, which guaranteed him the Democratic nomination for President. But the play begins just after Jackie saw her brother-in-law get shot on live television as he walked through the kitchen at the Ambassador Hotel after leaving his victory celebration. She is spinning out of control emotionally, smoking, drinking, and popping pills as she attempts to cope with the idea that the one man she has counted on since the death of her husband will soon leave her too, again due to a madman with a gun.
In December, 1968, about 50 Lorain County Community College students flew to New York. Some in the clean-scrubbed conservative group, coming from a campus void of political turmoil, had never traveled as far-a-field as downtown Cleveland.
Halloween Spooktacular is perfect for those who enjoy the lighter side of Halloween or those looking for a funnier way to celebrate the ghoulish holiday.
In 1968 'Hair,' dubbed the American Tribal Love-Rock musical, exploded on Broadway. It shocked the nation, but gave an accurate picture of a world rocked with chaos. The Vietnam war raged, the peace movement flourished, draft cards were burned, rebellion against traditional values exploded. 'Drugs, sex and rock and roll' became the mantra of the day and were clearly exposed on stage. The show's book was strong and the score was filled with top ten hits including 'Aquarius,' 'Good Morning Starshine,' 'I Believe in Love,' and 'Where Do I Go?' It became the seminal musical theatre offering illustrating 'theater representing the era from which it comes.'
Mamma Mia! Runs at the Hippodrome through Sunday night, Nov. 30
