CVLT serves comfort-food musical
by Bob Abelman
The News-Herald, April 25 2008
Sometimes theater is a rich, multi-course gourmet meal, carefully
prepared and magnificently served. Each mouthful stimulates the taste
buds, fills the senses and nourishes the soul. At other times, theater
is fast food - overly processed and full of meaningless calories. Each
helping is void of good taste, hard to swallow and difficult to digest.
Is There Life After High School? - being served up by the
Chagrin Valley Little Theatre in Chagrin Falls - is comfort food.
Uncomplicated and calming, the show goes down easy, requires little
effort to chew and leaves you absolutely satisfied. After Saturday’s
production, audience members wanted little more than to push themselves
away from the table, sigh with contentment and loosen their belts a
notch.
Inspired by Ralph Keyes’ best-selling book with the same title,
the musical is little more than a collection of songs, skits and
soliloquies that take a wistful look back at high school. There is no
story line per se, just a common theme.
Nine performers take on a variety of roles in an assortment of
situations reflective of the pains and pleasures of adolescent formal
education.
When not handled properly, this show can easily turn into a
nostalgic, sugary confection. It is, after all, chock full of corny,
sentimental stuff. In one syrupy song, composer Craig Carnelia actually
rhymes "stars and stripes" with "holy cripes." That, no doubt,
contributed to the show’s short-lived Broadway run of only 17
performances and to an outbreak of diabetes in the greater metropolitan
area.
At CVLT, in the capable hands of experienced director Don Edelman,
Is There Life After High School? maintains its integrity and
balance. Edelman’s astute sense of showmanship, coupled with Ida
Porris’ fluid choreography and Edmond Wolff’s solid set and lighting
design, make for a very enjoyable, absolutely charming production.
Shows like this are custom-made for the intimate CVLT stage.
Most of the credit goes to the exceptional cast of players. As a
collective, Don Bernardo, Darlene Fowler, Chris Hunter, Steve Kay,
Sharon Lloyd, Pat Mazzarino, Libby Merriman, Eric Oswald, and Maggie
Wise produce some of the best harmonies and strongest vocal
performances ever heard on the CVLT stage. They owned the audience
halfway through the opening number.
As individual performers, each member of the cast is natural and
immediately likable. Stand-out performances include a best-friend duet
by CVLT veteran Sharon Lloyd and newcomer Darlene Fowler, which nearly
stopped the show, and Maggie Wise’s stunning solo performance in “Diary
of a Homecoming Queen."
The one distraction in this production is the age of the players.
Ideally, the cast should be old enough so that high school memories
resonate but not so old that they haunt or torment. This cast is too
old, and its age range of nearly 30 years is way too broad. This is an
unfortunate occupational hazard in community theater, but one that is
easily dismissed once the singing begins and the seven piece orchestra,
under the superb direction of Regis Bookshar, kicks in.
Comfort food is home-cooked, tasty, familiar fare. Is There
Life After High School? most certainly fits the bill. Sidle up to
the buffet.
CVLT
was voted 'Best Community Theatre' by Cleveland Magazine Readers, and
'Best Theatre Group' on the Fox 8 HotList in 2007.
Chagrin Valley Little Theatre is generously funded by
Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and is
supported by the Ohio Arts Council.