Proof, Lakeland Civic Theatre

(Mitchell Fields as Robert and Elizabeth Conway as Catherine)

Just as it’s impossible for us to realize we’re on a planet that is spinning at 1000 miles per hour, while we’re standing still, it’s often difficult for a mentally imbalanced person to recognize their condition.

That is only one of the myriad concepts that arise in Proof by David Auburn, a fascinating play being given a superb production at the Lakeland Civic Theatre. Revolving around a father and daughter, both of whom are gifted but troubled mathematicians, the play peels back layers of both science and humanity—but in a continually entertaining and deeply affecting way.

Auburn’s skill as a playwright is shown from the first scene, which ends with a surprising revelation. And that information fuels the rest of the play, a story that involves heady discussions of mathematical proofs and proof of authorship—not to mention professional ethics and familial trust.

The father, Robert, was a renowned professor of math at the University of Chicago, but his latter days are dogged by a mental decline. His daughter Catherine is also a math whiz but fears she may also share her father’s mental difficulties since she is often depressed and confrontational.

When an astounding mathematical proof is found, Catherine claims authorship but her sister Claire doubts it and Hal, one of Robert’s students, also has his doubts. The interweaving of these four characters is masterfully handled by playwright Auburn, and delivered with professional assurance under the sensitive direction of Martin Friedman.

As Hal, Aaron Elersich is completely natural and affecting as the nerdy Hal, nurturing his growing interest in Catherine while clinging to his inbred skepticism as a scientist. Although a bit too brittle at first, Laurel Hoffman eases effectively into the difficult role of Claire, a balanced woman with a successful life who feels so apart from her sibling and her dad.

Mitchell Fields is brilliant as Robert, displaying both warmth and the core resolve that drive him in his careet. His later scene when he realizes how far his mental capabilities have deteriorated is quietly, profoundly devastating.

And major kudos must go to Elizabeth Conway, who brews up a rich portrayal as Catherine. Walking many fine lines while never overstepping or going for the easy choice, Conway is utterly convincing as this troubled woman endowed with a genius mind. Plus, she’s funny at times, giving the play a much-needed breath of relief now and then.

Proof won a Pulitzer and a Tony for good reason. And this production displays all the reasons why it’s an experience not to be missed.

Proof

Through October 7 at the Lakeland Civic Theatre,

Lakeland Community College, Rt. 306 and I-90, Kirtland, 440-525-7134

Xanadu, Beck Center

 When it comes to light and frothy musicals, the froth doesn’t get much airier than it is in Xanadu, the jukebox musical now at Beck Center.

Featuring the 1980’s era pop stylings of Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra, with many parody references to the film of the same name that bombed (and then became a cult fave), the play is a self-aware festival of harmless schlock and a bushel of meta jokes at its own expense.

For the uninitiated, the muse Clio, renamed Kira, has come down from Mt. Olympus—disguised as an Australian girl wearing roller skates and leg warmers—to help Venice Beach chalk artist Sonny realize his life’s ambition: opening a roller disco.

So they approach a hot shot real estate agent, Danny, who is also a failed clarinetist. See, he was inspired years before by Clio (in another guise), but he chose the path of making money and shunned the arts. Losing Clio’s heart in the process.

Two of Clio’s six muse sisters, Melpomene and Calliope, try to sabotage her efforts by making her fall in love with Sonny and thereby forcing her to lose her standing as a goddess.

Of course, silliness ensues, all in the service of familiar soft-rock songs such as “Strange Magic,” “Evil Woman,” and the title ditty.

Goofy as it is, that doesn’t make it easy to play. The tendency with this kind of fluff is to overdo the shtick until the play is stuck is a death spiral of actors straining to hard to nail every song and kill with each gag.

This production directed by Scott Spence exhibits some of those unfortunate traits, with several familiar tunes screeched instead of sung, and a few punch lines punched so hard they go cross-eyed.

But the nine-person cast develops a workable vibe thanks in part to Martin Cespedes’ tongue-in-cheek choreography, much of which would fit nicely into a Partridge Family TV reunion special.

In the central role of Kira, Kathleen Rooney has the requisite blonde good looks and a strong voice, although her obvious attempts at singing with an Aussie accent sometimes go awry. As Sonny, Sam Wolf has the blank expression of a clueless ‘80s dude and happily underplays some of his lines.

The comical combo of Melpomene and Calliope is portrayed by Amiee Collier and Leslie Andrews with varying degrees of success. When they relax into their characters, they’re very funny. But when they’re forcing the jokes, it feels like you’re being jabbed in the ribs once too often.

Greg Violand lends his smooth singing as Danny, although it’s too bad there’s no clarinetist in the band to give voice to his character’s licorice stick.

The other four sisters dance and sing backup. Kathleen Ferrini and Maggie Stahl handle their duties with style but most of the laughs go to the cross-dressed Ben Donahoo and Matthew Ryan Thompson (who also turns in a smooth tap number as young Danny).

This Xanadu, while not exactly a pleasure dome throughout, is often diverting and certainly looks handsome on Trad A Burns’ set featuring Greek columns with disco lights inside.

Xanadu

Through October 14 at the Beck Center, 11801 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood, 216-521-2540

The Merchant of Venice, Ohio Shakespeare Festival

(Robert Hawkes as Shylock, brandishing his flesh extractor.)

Everyone loves a good courtroom scene where clever arguments are launched, the tables are turned and the bad guy comes up a loser. And with all due respect to Perry Mason and the books of John Grisham, nobody has ever done it better than Shakespeare, in his climactic scene in The Merchant of Venice.

Shylock argues, persuasively if not compassionately, for his “pound of flesh” from Antonio, and Antonio’s lawyer (Portia in disguise) at first agrees with Shylock and then attacks with telling legalities. And it’s all done with style in this Ohio Shakespeare Festival production, directed with brisk assuredness by Terry Burgler.

Trouble is, it’s not very easy to identify who the real bad guys are, in the court or elsewhere. And that’s a good thing. Indeed, nothing about this play has ever been easy, since it’s a romantic comedy in which the most compelling character, the Jewish usurer Shylock, is written as a monster with what many have claimed are definite anti-Semitic touches by the playwright. Are you laughing yet?

In the keystone role of Shylock, Robert Hawkes is the anti-Pacino, portraying a soft-spoken man with slumped shoulders and gentle gestures, but hardened by a spine composed of hardened, annealed anger. Hawkes’ Shylock is wedded to the hate he has developed over years of religious discrimination in Venice, and he wears it comfortably. And that makes his stubborn insistence on vengeance, by legally carving up Antonio, even more disturbing than if he were ranting and foaming.

Meanwhile, the humorous side of the play is handled with dispatch. As Portia, the rich heiress who is continually auditioning potential mates, Lara Knox is as enticing as she is clever. She is attended by Nerissa (Tess Burgler), a woman who adds her own layer of witty commentary. The scene when two hapless prince/suitors (Derrick Winger and Mark Stoffer) try to select the right treasure chest and thereby win the hand of Portia is a delight. 

The merchant in the title, Antonio, is given a solid if not particularly magnetic treatment by David McNees, and Joe Pine makes Bassanio a very sympathetic suitor for Portia.

Inevitably, the comedy and drama sometimes clash—it’s hard to chuckle about the "missing ring" lark after Shylock has been divested of his money and property and forced to become a Christian(!). Especially if you view him, justifiably, as more victim than perp.

It all just gives you more to haggle about on your trip home from Stan Hywet. But make sure, on your trip there, to leave early enough to see the Greenshow, directed by Ms. Burgler, that starts a half-hour before curtain. This time, the featured piece is a mash-up of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, complete with finger cymbals. It’s a hoot.

The Merchant of Venice

Through August 19, produced by the Ohio Shakespeare Festival at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, 714 N. Portage Path, Akron, 330-673-8761, info@ohioshakespeare.com.

One Night with Janis Joplin, Cleveland Play House

(Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin)

If you ever want to replicate the singing voice of Janis Joplin, at home in your spare time, it’s easy. Just have a friend tie your ankles to the bumper of a car and have him pull you slowly through a long, shallow pit filled with broken bottles, fish hooks and angry wasps. Just remember, while you’re screaming, to stay on tune and on beat.

Then again, you might just prefer to listen to someone else do it, and do it splendidly, in One Night with Janis Joplin, now at the Cleveland Play House. This is CPH’s second bite of the Joplin apple, having produced Love, Janis back in 1998. The new production is the world premiere of an entirely different touring show created, written and directed by Randy Johnson.

While the previous show may have had more heart, as it was built around the real letters Janis wrote to her family and friends, the current effort has plenty to recommend it.

 First, of course, is the person playing Janis: Mary Bridget Davies. Initially slated as the understudy in the production, Davies stepped in a day before opening and is ripping the hide off the ball, as they say.

This isn’t a surprise, since Davies performed as Janis in the earlier show (along with a couple other performers) and tours with Joplin’s signature band, Big Brother & the Holding Company. Davies channels many of Joplin’s stage mannerisms and brings a quarry-load of gravel to her vocal riffs.

Many of JJ's key songs are here, including “Piece of My Heart,” “Cry Baby,” “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder),” “Ball and Chain,” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” (Sadly, there’s no “Get It While You Can,” the climactic song in Love, Janis.) And Davies throws herself onto the pyre of each of these sizzling tunes, screeching out the soulful loneliness and driving passion that made Joplin an icon of the 1960s.

Much of the show is structured around Joplin’s musical influences such as Bessie Smith, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin. These blues singers are played and sung by the sublime Sabrina Elayne Carten, who swings assuredly from an operatic turn on “Summertime” to full-tilt rock mode in Franklin’s “Spirit in the Dark.” The two lead singers and two backups are supported by an eight-person rock band, with horns, that captures the sound and spirit of these memorable songs. 

The production is also visually captivating as it's performed within a welter of pinpoint lights, homey little lamps, crazily pivoting searchlights, furled lavender chiffon and gleaming structural steel. That set and lighting, which serves as a pretty accurate metaphor for Janis herself, is designed by Justin Townsend. There is also a video screen in the background where photos of Janis' paintings are projected (to mixed effect), along with groovy patterns and images from the era.

While the show’s music is loud, brash and intoxicating—it is virtually impossible not to stand up and join in as Davies and company rock out—the script only pays lip service to the superstar’s inner demons and desires. As a result, the eventual reference to her death, at the young age of 27 from a drug overdose, seems more of a cold biographical detail here than a tragedy.

But if you love Janis, or if you want to introduce someone to her particular brand of psychedelic magic, you could do much worse than this production.

One Night with Janis Joplin

Through August 19, produced by the Cleveland Play House, Arena Stage and One Night Productions, at the new Allen Theatre, 1407 Euclid Avenue, 216-241-6000

Once Upon a Mattress, Mercury Summer Stock

Sometimes, bad things happen to good theater companies. And this is the case with Once Upon a Mattress, now at Mercury Summer Stock.

At best, the musical that made Carol Burnett famous is a vehicle for a gifted comic actress, who plays the role of the super-sensitive Princess Winnifred who can feel a pea way down there under a stack of Sealys.

At worst, the music by Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer is often meandering and vaguely unpleasant. And the book by the troika of Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Barer is not much better. There are lots of “filler” scenes and songs that attempt to plump up a simple story that can be told in one sentence: “Princess feels pea, Princess marries prince."

What is required is a tight production with sharp comic actors in key roles. And despite the many minor miracles that this talented company often pulls off, here they struggle to make the play work at all.

Dialogue scenes are often poorly paced, with little character delineation, and the dance numbers struggle for a charm that is often lacking. Part of the problem may be that the talented director, Pierre-Jacques Brault, is playing a major role As Queen Aggravain.

Brault does a competent although not particularly varied job channeling Cruella DeVil in this role, and he cuts a fine form in an off-the-shoulder dress. But his ministrations are clearly needed in his usual (and exclusive) directorial role.

Brian Marshall as the Minstrel adds some punch to the weary script with contemporary references to Tom Cruise's marital difficulties and such. And Dan DiCello has a couple of clever moments as Prince Dauntless, the mama’s boy who falls for Winnifred.

As Winnifred, Kelvette Beacham labors long and hard to wring some antic humor from the part. But she is hampered physically and vocally from making this star turn as memorable as it should be.

In addition, the set design of the show is un-credited, and fortunately so. In this, the second MSS show at Notre Dame College, the set is fixed and mostly unchanging: a collection of ornate, empty picture frames.

Sure, the actors stand behind them now and then to mug for the audience. But this is a sad trend at the new home of MSS, as the set is more reminiscent of a static concert stage rather than a theatrical design. This lack of variety, with no ability to place different scenes in different locations, detracts from the storytelling.

However bad the set design is for the show, it offers a telling metaphor for a production that is below Mercury’s usually high standards. This one is, sadly, is an empty picture frame.

Once Upon a Mattress

Through July 21, produced by Mercury Summer Stock at Notre Dame College, 4545 College Road, South Euclid.

Mamma Mia!, PlayhouseSquare

 There is an understandable urge to resist shows that give off the aura of being entirely irresistible.

Take Mamma Mia!, the jukebox musical of tunes spun by the pop- rock group ABBA, which is now at PlayhouseSquare. It’s so cheerful and bright, and packed with infectious tunes, that you find yourself smiling and tapping your foot even when you’re trying to ignore the temptation.

Better to give in: ABBA is bigger than all of us, even though they haven’t recorded or performed as a group for 30 years. But no matter, Mamma Mia! will run forever, giving middle-aged actors the chance to dress in 1970's rock drag, and middle-aged audience members the opportunity to remember when they could boogie with the best of them.

The music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus is as bulletproof as always, and the direction by Phyllida Lloyd has been frozen in amber since the show's 1999 debut.

In this iteration, the older women are led by slim Kaye Tuckerman, who gives taverna owner Donna a wired, slightly hyper presence. Although Tuckerman can’t hit the low notes with much oomph, she nails “The Winner Takes It All” near the end of the second act.

As her back-up rock group now gone to seed, Alison Ewing is a nicely jaded and breast-enhanced Tanya. Mary Callanan plays Rosie with a sweet affect that could stand to be a little earthier and more edgy. But they both sing well and look appropriately out of place in their glam-rocker outfits.

As for the old dudes who used to date Donna, one of whom might be the father of her daughter Sophie, it’s a mixed bag this time around. Paul Deboy handles the “head banger” role of Harry Bright with good-natured ease, and John-Michael Zuerlein has a couple interesting moments as the Aussie.

But Christian Wheelan never quite connects as Sam Carmichael, the guy Donna clearly has the most current vibes for, both positive and negative. And his singing feels forced, as if he’s stretching every neck tendon to hit his notes, which is a less than attractive way to approach most love songs, be they ballads or soft rock.

Among the young tikes (the 20-sometings), Chloe Tucker is fun and endearing as Sophie, and the aptly named Happy Mahaney plays her fiance Sky with a nearly permanent smile that warms rather than irritates.

The book by Catherine Johnson blissfully ignores simple resolutions to the problems set forth (paternity tests? hello?), but all the confusions are eventually resolved in a welter of more songs.

And that’s just what the audience wants, ending with a mini-concert that sends everyone off humming and waiting for the next touring company of Mamma Mia! to roll through town.

Mamma Mia!

Through July 22 at the Palace Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, 216-241-6000. 

The World Goes ‘Round, Porthouse Theatre

(Lisa Kuhnen leading the Cabaret crew.)

There is something slightly perverse about building a stage show around songs collected from a particular composer’s oeuvre.

Since those songs were all intended to further the storytelling of the play they were written for, isolating them in an entirely different environment is a bit like leaving your child on a strange street corner and then driving away. (Okay, it’s not like that at all, but you take my point.)

Still, these shows exist and as the genre goes, The World Goes ‘Round now at Porthouse Theatre is a particularly enjoyable example of the species. Featuring the melodies and lyrics by, respectively, John Kander and Fred Ebb, it features ditties from their blockbuster shows such as Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

A phalanx of more than 30 songs is performed by this summer’s collection of Porthouse young people—college-age actors singers and dancers who often demonstrate talents that belie their tender years.

Overall, these kids are being taught well, as each approaches his or her songs with a clear intent to tell a story, not just hit notes and navigate cascading trills. Even though the results are sometimes mixed, this cast has their priorities correctly ordered.

For instance, Lauren Culver kicks things off with a powerful rendition of the title song. And Jennie Nasser shines throughout, particularly on ”How Lucky Can You Get” from Funny Lady and “A Quiet Thing” from Flora, The Red Menace.

Likewise, Lisa Kuhnen delivers on all fronts with humor (in “The Grass Is Always Greener” with the comical Anastasia Arnold) and in a capable (although not particularly decadent) version of “Cabaret.”

Lucy Anders turns in an affecting “My Coloring Book” and Mackenzie Duan does what she can with “Isn’t This Better,” a lame song out of its Funny Lady context that is performed concert-style with “Maybe This Time” (Culver) and “We Can Make It” (Samuel Rohloff). Duan fares better in the funny “Class,” swilling drinks with a plotzed Culver as they lament (urp!) the lack of sophistication around them.

The men also have their moments although they have notably fewer solos. For example, Kyle Kemph gets lip-smacking laughs with an ode to “Sara Lee,” and later he raises a few neck hairs with his stirring “Kiss of the Spider Woman. ”

But the talented Jack O’Brien isn’t fragile enough to make the lovely “Mr. Cellophane” evoke the right amount of compassion—even with a clever ending. Michael Glavan, Parke Fech, and Nathan Mohebbi (who does an excellent mute version of The Fonz in “Arthur in the Afternoon”) all contribute mightily to the ensemble numbers.

And one of those, “Coffee in a Cardboard Cup,” is a verifiable showstopper. But don’t come late, it’s the third song.

Director and choreographer Sean Morrissey has tutored his charges well, and come up with some inventive staging twists that keep things interesting. The result is a plethora of musical delights, just right for a summer evening.

The World Goes ‘Round

Through July 21 at the Porthouse Theatre, Blossom Music campus,

 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls, http://dept.kent.edu/theatre/porthouse/index.html