There has always been dancing in Ohio Light Theater productions. But this year there is DANCING!!! I wish I could make that word flash in neon lights and sprinkle sparkles all over this page! That’s how I felt after watching the first two production of the 2016 season.
Kiss Me, Kate opened on Sat 6/18, and Annie Get Your Gun the following Thursday. Both shows are now rotating in rep with another new production opening every week until all seven are up and running by Wed 7/27. If you have any affection whatever for the dance, you’ll not want to miss this season, that’s for sure!
The new choreographer, Spencer Reese, who could be made of rubber he’s so flexible and lightweight, was able to step in after the previous choreographer retired. It’s possible he’s more attuned to American musical theater than the European repertoire, although I have no basis for thinking that. I’ll know more after seeing some of the other shows scheduled for this year. (Two more American, one French and one Viennese. Plus the Mikado, of course.) But I really loved what I’ve seen so far!
These first two shows had other things in common: they were both composed by titans of American musical theater — Annie by Irving Berlin and Kate by Cole Porter – and in addition, each composer wrote his own lyrics. The book for each, however, was written by somewhat experienced book specialists. In the case of Annie, it was Herbert and Dorothy Fields; for Kate it was Bella and Samuel Spewack. In each case, the result was theatrical magic!
Written within two years of each other in the mid-to-late 1940s (but 25 years before women’s lib began to take hold), they also featured a headstrong, independent female as the lead character. Annie was specifically written for Ethel Merman, and it’s a lucky theater indeed that can fill those demanding shoes. OLO hit the jackpot with Alexa Devlin, who could perhaps, even at her young age, give Ms. Merman a run for her money! She is by turns brash, bashful, determined and not afraid to hold her own against the men who surround her. When she tumbles, it’s because she wants to. And who could blame her when it’s the handsome Frank Butler (Nathan Brian) who catches her eye?
The sets by Kim Powers and costumes by Myron Elliott were ably complimented by the Brittany Shemuga’s lighting. Jacob Allen is the stage director, who kept the action flowing from one scene to the next. J. Lynn Thompson conducted the large and wonderfully talented 34-piece orchestra. They play larger than they are! The aforementioned Mr. Reese was the choreographer, and within moments of the curtain rising, you knew this was going to be a vibrant, exciting show. That it was.
Kiss Me, Kate is a love letter to theater. It’s both a play-within-a-play, and a backstage play, giving the audience almost a two-for-one kind of entertainment. Using Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew as the framework (the characters are in both sets of scenes), the real-life troubles between Fred Graham (Ted Christopher) and his former wife Lilli Vanessi (Sarah Best) are humorously mirrored by Shakespeare’s Katherine and Petruchio — and vice versa.
Lilli is now enamored of the businessman Harrison Howell (Clark Sturdevant), who may have a somewhat shady background. In this same predicament is another of the cast members, Bill Calhoun (Stephen Faulk), who has a serious gambling jones which he is desperately trying to hide from the younger actress Lois Lane (no known relation to Superman, but superbly played by Hannah Kurth). Fred, in the meantime, is having (or trying to have) a romance with that same Lois. The two gamblers who advise others about Shakespeare are expertly portrayed by Kyle Yampiro and Royce Strider.
Being that this is a backstage play, there are no slamming bedroom doors, but it’s not too hard to imagine them in this creative direction by Stephen Carr. Set designer Ken Martin cleverly uses props and scene cases to provide various small spaces usually tucked away in the innards of the backstage area. Costumes by Stefanie Genda are bright and colorful, and wonderfully illuminated by the lighting of Kent Sprague.
The dancing in this show is nothing short of magnificent! The rubber-legged Mr. Reese gets a start turn in the opening number of the second act, “Too Darn Hot.” Indeed. Numerous solo turns by the multi-talented cast are a real eye-opener! The jazzy orchestra, complete with saxophones, was conducted by Steven Byess.
You may travel far and wide, and pay a lot more money for tickets, but you’ll not see better anywhere than 70 miles from Cleveland. For more information about any events at Ohio Light Opera or to purchase tickets, go to ohiolightopera.org or call the box office at 330-263-2345.
For an additional treat, to read more about and hear clips of some of the music for each of the shows, go here.