Roy Berko - Page 2

On August 24th and 25th, The Musical Theater Project will open its 26th season with GREAT 21STCENTURY MUSICALS, a sampling and celebration brand-new musicals, with, according to co-host and author of the program, Sheri Gross, “a glance back at some new works from composers that have been covered before and fit into the timing.”

CHILDREN OF EDEN, has music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz.  He is the creator of such hit shows as WICKED, PIPPEN and GODSPELL.  Unlike those shows, EDEN had no Broadway or off-Broadway productions.

It is entirely appropriate that convergence-continuum, with its tendency of challenging conventional notions by choosing plays because they contain controversial topics, stage Stephen Karam’s SPEECH AND DEBATE, which examines teenage angst as it relates to love, self-acceptance and what happens when three teens are forced to confront the real world in which they live.

In 2010 a gay Mississippi high school student was banned from going to her senior prom by the school’s Board of Education because she wanted to bring her girlfriend as her date.  She challenged the ruling, which resulted in the cancellation of the prom.  The student and the ACLU sued the district.  The federal court found the school district guilty of violating the student’s first amendment rights and said the prom must be held.  

Terri Kent, the Artistic Director of Porthouse Theatre, Kent State University’s summer home on the grounds of Blossom Center, states in her program notes for ANNIE: I believe the arts have the power to transform lives and I believe in miracles.

What did our critic think of MJ THE MUSICAL at Key Bank State Theatre?

What did our critic think of BEAUTIFUL THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL at Beck Center For The Arts?

Musicals are born from many sources including books, movies, plays and comic strips.  None, however, has a more intriguing past than NUNSENSE, which is now on stage at Kent State’s Porthouse Theatre, on the grounds of the Blossom Center. 

What did our critic think of BIG FISH at Cain Park-Alma Theatre?

What did our critic think of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at Porthouse Theatre--KSU School Of Theatre And Dance?

What did our critic think of BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL at Key Bank State-Cleveland?

Western culture was struck by numerous changes in the late twentieth century.  Many monarchs fell, Socialism, Communism and Democracy made in-roads, the social sciences developed the concepts of psychology and sociology, the industrial revolution changed manufacturing, and the way the middle class would live was drastically altered. 

 It is only appropriate, since the National Spelling Bee wound down last week, that Cain Park, the Cleveland Heights outdoor entertainment venue, has mounted THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE.

What did our critic think of THE PROSPECT OF EQUALITY at Ensemble?

What did our critic think of SIGNIFICANT OTHER at Dobama?

What did our critic think of COMPANY at Connor Palace? Stephen Sondheim is generally considered the most important composer/lyricist of the 20th century American musical theater.  Many consider him to be the person who reinvented the genre.

Juke box musicals are stage theatrical presentations in which a majority of the compositions were written before the presentation was conceived, rather than being original music conceived for that show.  They tend to be long on songs and short on a well-conceived plot.

9 to 5:  The Musical is a theatre piece based on the 1980 hit film, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and a book by Patricia Resnick.  It is now on stage at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre.

What did our critic think of BACH AT LEIPZIG at Seat Of Pants?

Sir John Falstaff is at it again!  Yes, the chubby delightful bumbler, who was in the Bard’s HENRY IV, Parts 1 and 2, is now lighting up the stage in Great Lakes Theater’s THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, thanks to Elizabeth I.  The Queen was so infatuated with the character that, according to rumor, she asked Shakespeare to write another play with Falstaff, this time depicting the rogue in love.