REVIEW
Backwards in High Heels @ Cleveland Play House 1/12/11
For the last few winters the Play House has presented a musical biography, including works on the life of George Gershwin, Ella Fitzgerald, and Mahalia Jackson. Each has been very well done, and a highlight of the season. This year’s presentation Backwards in High Heels: The Ginger Musical — based on the life of dancer Ginger Rogers — is no exception.
The show features the multi-talented Ann Aimee White as Rogers, and the cast of Heather Lee, Christianne Tisdale, Matthew LaBanca, Benjie Randall, and James Patterson playing a variety of roles, including Rogers’ mother Lela; Rogers’ five husbands; and a variety of celebrities including Fred Astaire, Jimmy Stewart, and Ethel Merman.
The show is about the music of Ginger Rogers’ life as well as dancing, and amongst the sixteen songs are terrific versions of “I Got My Guy,” “I’ve Got Rhythm,” “We’re in the Money,” “Fine Romance,” and “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket.” Gershwin, Kern, Berlin, and Dorothy Fields are all featured.
Backwards in High Heels: The Ginger Musical is a very good night of theater, and last Wednesday the audience enjoyed it tremendously. It is filled with dance, music, a little movie and theater history, as well as the personal life of Ginger Rogers. It was great entertainment on a cold winter night.
The musical is now running at the Cleveland Play House until Sun 1/30. For tickets or more information call 216.795.7000 or visit http://ClevelandPlayHouse.com. Coming up at the Play House is an adaptation of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful” starting Fri 2/4. Remember, this is the Play House’s last season at their Euclid Avenue complex near the Cleveland Clinic before moving downtown to the Allen theater complex.
Greg Cielec is a local writer who covers mostly music and sports for a variety of publications and websites. He is also a full time English and creative writing teacher at Streetsboro High School; an adjunct professor at BGSU Firelands College and Lakeland Community College; and a football coach at John Carroll University. He has published two books of fiction, My Cleveland Story (1998) and Home and Away Games (2006), and the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Michael Heaton has called him “the Mark Twain of Cleveland.” Check out his website and blog at http://www.GregCielec.com.