BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.0.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:503@coolcleveland.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York;VALUE=DATE:20260112 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York;VALUE=DATE:20260126 DTSTAMP:20260402T044155Z URL:https://coolcleveland.com/events/theater-review-stereophonic-playhouse -square-by-roy-berko/ SUMMARY:THEATER REVIEW: "Stereophonic" @ Playhouse Square by Roy Berko DESCRIPTION:\n\nWhat drama or comedy has received the most Tony Award nomin ations? The logical guesses would be Death of a Salesman\, A Streetcar N amed Desire\, or maybe Our Town.\n\nThe answer: Stereophonic.\n\n“The or iginal Broadway production of Stereophonic made history when it garnered 13 nominations at the 77th Tony Awards\, breaking the record previously held by Slave Play.” It ran 321 performances on Broadway\, exceeding its initial 14-week limited engagement.\n\nStereophonic\, now on stage at the Connor Palace\, is a four-act\, three-hour production\, written by Ame rican playwright David Adjmi\, with music composed by Will Butler.\n\nThe script has a unique background. Adjmi and Butler began working on the piec e in 2014\, with the idea of creating a piece of theater that felt like th e audience was watching a documentary unfolding on stage\, while avoiding the piece becoming a full-blown musical in which songs and dances are seam lessly woven into the play’s fabric. This is not the same format as A Ch orus Line\, Fiddler on the Roof or Rent.\n\nThe play follows a fictional British-American band through a turbulent year in a studio. It kind of mi rrors Fleetwood Mac's messy interpersonal relationships and creative strug gles to produce their hit album Rumours\, so much so that there were lawsu its concerning the parallel of the stories.\n\n(In reality\, "Fleetwood Ma c producer Ken Caillat and co-author Steven Stiefel sued the creators of  Stereophonic in late 2024\, alleging copyright infringement for allegedl y stealing substantial parts of their memoir Making Rumours. A settlement in December\, 2024\, resolved the dispute and paved the way for future pr oductions.”)\n\nEach of the four acts has a specific date\, place and ac tion. For example\, in Act I set in July\, 1976\, in Sausalito\, CA\, an u nnamed band gathers at a studio in Sausalito to record their second album. The band rehearses new songs\, while their personal angst-filled lives un fold.\n\nIn Act II\, which takes place in September of 1976\, musical and aesthetic conflicts continue\, with different arrangements of various son gs being tried.\n\nAct III\, which takes place in late December of 1976\, continues to probe the album’s march toward completion\, while personal issues continue to thwart the progress.\n\nAct IV: First week of June 197 7\, Los Angeles\, CA reveals more of the nightmare of the recording proces s and the lies that are needed to accomplish the task.\n\nDavid Greene\, t he Senior Vice President of Programing for Playhouse Square writes in the show’s program notes\, “At its heart\, Stereophonic is about the creat ive process—exhilarating\, exhausting and often brutal.” He goes on to state that after he saw the show in the Big Apple\, “The play lingered with me for days\, not because of its spectacle\, but because of its hones ty.” He also states that\, in his opinion\, “The show is unforgettable .”\n\nI wish I\, and as it appears\, much of the audience\, agreed with Greene.\n\nMy attention started to wane about a half hour into the show. I t was about the same time that I noticed audience members starting to exit the theater. After intermission\, when my wife asked\, “Do we have to s tay?\,” I became aware that the two rows in front of us were basically e mpty. A glance to the left indicated that that section\, which had been to tally occupied\, had lost many of its members.\n\nAt the show’s conclusi on\, when the nice local audience is usually on its feet giving a show a s tanding ovation\, many of this assemblage were flooding toward the exits\, having given meager applause.\n\nIs the show bad?  I think not. It is contains conflicts that seem contrived\, and a fragmented soap-opera story \, which doesn’t always flesh out what is going on. These are overlaid o n a marvelous musical score. If only the script was of the same quality as the music.\n\nI’m not sure what motivated the Tony nominators and voter s to give the show its many honors\, but it appears that not only I\, but some of the local audience\, were not as enthralled.\n\nThe less-than-enth usiastic reaction is not aimed at the cast. They were excellent. Their sin ging and musicianship were of the highest level. In addition\, David Zinn ’s studio set was perfection. Director Daniel Aukin paced the show well. \n\nMaybe the problem was editing of the original script to what is now du bbed “The Radio Edit”—the cutting of the running time to three hours . Maybe something was lost in the paring. Maybe it was vastness of the Con nor Palace and the loss of the needed intimacy. Maybe it was all the award s\, setting the audience’s expectations too high. Whatever. . .\n\nCAPSU LE JUDGMENT: The touring production of Stereophonic was\, in the mind of t his observer\, unfortunately\, less than expected. I wish I had seen the B roadway show as the basis for comparison.\n\nStereophonic\, part of the Ke y Bank Broadway Series\, runs through January 26. For tickets 216-241-6000 or go to playhousesquare.org.\n\nNext up at the Connor Palace Theatre fro m February 3-22: the acclaimed Tony Award-winning musical Suffs about the brilliant\, passionate\, and funny American women who fought tirelessly fo r the right to vote.\n[Written by Roy Berko\, member: Cleveland Critics Ci rcle\, American Theatre Critics Association]\n[mappress mapid="3354"] ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://coolcleveland.com/wp-content/uploads/202 6/01/Stereophonc.jpg CATEGORIES:Performance,Theatre,----WRITERS----,Review,Roy Berko END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20251102T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR