2010-2019 PERFORMANCES
Lend Me A Tenor
Written by Ken Ludwig
May 2011
Whose Wives are They Anyway?
A Farce by Michael Parker
February 2011
Ghost of a Chance
Written by Flip Kobler & Cindy Marcus
November 2010
The Cemetery Club
Written by Ivan Menchell
September 2010
The Three Musketeers
Adapted for stage by Ken Ludwig
Written by Alexander Dumas
May 2010
Coming Apart
A romantic comedy by Fred Carmichael
February 2010
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This night in September of 1934 is the biggest in the history of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company world famous tenor Tito Morelli is to perform Otello, his greatest role, at the gala season opener. Saunders, the General Manager, hopes this will put Cleveland on the operatic map. Morelli is late; when he finally sweeps in it is too late to rehearse with the company. Through a hilarious series of mishaps, Il Stupendo is given a double dose of tranquilizers which mix with the booze he has consumed and he passes out. His pulse is so low that Saunders and his assistant Max believe he is dead. What to do? Max is an aspiring singer and Saunders persuades him to get into Morelli's Otello costume and try to fool the audience into thinking he's Il Stupendo. Max succeeds admirably, but Morelli comes to and gets into his other costume. Now two Otellos are running around in costume and two women are running around in lingerie, each thinking she is with Il Stupendo!
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The Ashley Maureen Cosmetics Company has been sold and two of its vice presidents, David McGrachen and John Baker, have planned a weekend off before the new C.E.O. arrives on Monday. With their wives safely off on a shopping spree in New York City, they check into The Oakfield Golf and Country Club intending to "golf their brains out." They unexpectedly encounter their new boss, Ms. Hutchison, and she insists on meeting the wives, commenting blithely "no one who went golfing for a weekend without his wife would ever work for me." So ... David and John have to produce wives. John persuades Tina, the hotel's sexy receptionist, to play the role of his wife, but the only one who can pretend to be David's wife is John. Inevitably everything goes wrong as John moves in and out of bedrooms, changing from male to female at a frantic pace. Hilarious chaos ensues when the hotel phone system goes on the blink, Tina has too much champagne and can't keep her clothes on, and, yes, the real wives arrive!
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Bethany is bright, strong, independent, beautiful and has zero self esteem. She has brought her finance, Floyd, and his mother, Verna, up to her cabin in the woods, the site of the hunting accident that killed Chance, her first husband. Much to her consternation, he or rather, his ghost is still there. Only Bethany can see him, so Floyd and Verna think she is crazy as she frantically tries to get rid of, well, it seems to them nobody. Chance, meanwhile, is doing everything he can to prevent Bethany from marrying Floyd. Bethany even brings in a delightfully kooky psychic to help deal with the ghost of Chance.
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Three Jewish widows meet once a month for tea before going to visit their husband's graves. Ida is sweet tempered and ready to begin a new life, Lucille is a feisty embodiment of the girl who just wants to have fun, and Doris is priggish and judgmental, particularly when Sam the butcher enters the scene. He meets the widows while visiting his wife's grave. Doris and Lucille squash the budding romance between Sam and Ida. They are guilt stricken when this nearly breaks Ida's heart.
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This adaptation is based on the timeless swashbuckler by Alexandre Dumas, a tale of heroism, treachery, close escapes and above all, honor. The story, set in 1625, begins with d’Artagnan who sets off for Paris in search of adventure. Along with d’Artagnan goes Sabine, his sister, the quintessential tomboy. Sent with d’Artagnan to attend a convent school in Paris, she poses as a young man – d’Artagnan’s servant – and quickly becomes entangled in her brother’s adventures. Soon after reaching Paris, d’Artagnan encounters the greatest heroes of the day, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, the famous musketeers, and he joins forces with his heroes to defend the honor of the Queen of France. In so doing, he finds himself in opposition to the most dangerous man in Europe, Cardinal Richelieu. Even more deadly is the infamous Countess de Winter, known as Milady, who will stop at nothing to revenge herself on d’Artagnan – and Sabine – for their meddlesome behavior.
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The play opens with the Kittridges saying simultaneously, "I want a divorce!" Both are conceited and rightly so: Colin is a successful humor columnist and Frances an equally successful romance novelist. There is rivalry between them and although they are still in love, each is too stubborn to give an inch. Stage right features an area into which they wander to play other scenes and other times. Here hilarious differences emerge as each remembers a different version of their meeting and the marriage proposal and each pictures a different future. They confide in Sylvia, their mutual agent, and in Bert, a financier who hears Colin's troubles at the club. The Kittridges played matchmaker for this couple whose help only complicates matters. Frances and Colin's attempts to divide their belongings as they continue to live in the same apartment for a six month waiting period are paralleled in a book Frances is writing called 'How to Survive a Marriage'. A funny, refreshing and delightful romantic comedy.
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OTHER SEASONS
Listed below are links to our seasons. We are currently working on collecting and scanning all the data for these performances. These web pages are works in progress, so please excuse any broken links. However, feel free to look around.
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