Page Two Hundred-Thirteen.
I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog some of the stuff which will be coming soon to Playhouse Square. This season (2013-14) is almost over, but you can still catch: Flashdance; Jersey Boys; Green Day's American Idiot (all 3 are Broadway's traveling shows); Shakespeare's As You Like It; A lecture by Bob Woodward; Jessica Lang Dance Company; Pinocchio; Ethan Bortnick; Eddie Izzard; The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra; Rent; Tracy Morgan; Elvis Costello; Beck and a couple dozen other things.
And then Playhouse Square's major events this summer will be lots of entertainment by and about the International Gay Games. The Gay Games will be in Cleveland this summer and the entire city is getting gussied up and rolling out the red carpet for that*.
Some of the entertainment for 2014-15 which has already been announced includes: Motown The Musical; Dirty Dancing; Disney's Newsies; Kinky Boots; Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella; Pippin; White Christmas (all previous shows are Broadway's traveling versions); The Little Foxes; Five Guys Named Moe; A Christmas Story, Stomp, I Love Lucy Live and probably another 100 or so things.
Seriously, I bet I could go down to Playhouse Square 100 nights per year and see something different. If that's an exaggeration it's not intentional. And almost all of those things would be superior or good quality. Not everything is good of course. Over the years, I've occasionally gone down and seen some things which were just terrible. I mean awful. But at least I got out of the apartment and ate a hot pretzel. Getting out to see a dreadful show and eating a hot pretzel is still better than sitting home, watching TV and inhaling stale air.
*The International Gay Games are essentially a gay version of the Olympics. They began in the 1980's and now attract over 10,000 athletes; the majority of them are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender but some are Heterosexual. The Games will be in Paris in 2018.
Showing posts with label Shakespeare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shakespeare. Show all posts
Friday, April 4, 2014
Monday, August 5, 2013
Cleveland's Playhouse Square
Page One Hundred-Seventeen.
Well, it's official: there's one spot in downtown Cleveland where I can purchase a good hot pretzel.
On page one hundred-thirteen of this blog I wrote about my displeasure with the current state of affairs concerning contemporary, American, hot pretzels. However, I mentioned that I did eat a good one recently while downtown at a performance. Well, it happened again at the same location. So, I think I've hit on something here.
Playhouse Square is here in Cleveland, downtown, at the intersection of East Fourteenth Street and Euclid Avenue. It's a conglomeration of about eight or nine stages with over ten thousand seats. It's the largest theater complex in America outside of Lincoln Center in New York City. The buildings and primary stages were all built in the 1920's at the height of the "movie palace" era though some were intended to be Vaudeville houses, too. The theaters had a great run until the late '60's when they began loosing customers to the suburbs. Then, fires and vandals were a real threat to the buildings and there was serious talk of tearing the buildings down.
The Playhouse Square Association, a non-profit group, was formed in the early '70's to purchase and save the buildings and stages. Over the next twenty years, The Playhouse Square Association was extremely successful in their renovations and marketing of the venues. So nowadays, you can go down and see visiting Broadway musical productions, dance, Shakespeare, student theater, avante-garde theater, the occasional Rock show, you name it. (One of my brothers tells the story of how he saw the Doors at Playhouse Square in 1968.) Almost any evening of the year you can go down and see two, three or four different wonderful things. Well... maybe not quite that much all the time, but often it really is that much.
So, right now, and for the next two weeks, they're showing classic movies at the Palace Theater. Last Thursday at the opening night of the 16th annual "Cinema at the Square" they showed Grease. And, not only that, but it was a Grease sing-a-long, with all the lyrics superimposed onto the screen. The Palace is huge, a few thousand seats, and it was packed. It was too fun for words and they served a great hot pretzel.
I was down at Playhouse Square a few weeks ago when I got the other really great hot pretzel, too. So I think I've hit a gold mine for good hot pretzels. (The play I saw a few weeks ago was awful, but the evening was glorious because of the wonderful pretzel.) On Sunday, August 11th, at 2PM, I'll be back down there to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I can't wait for that hot pretzel!
(Actually, I have quite a history with the Palace Theater. In the 1990's I was an extra in Cleveland Ballet's version of The Nutcracker for five or six years. So I was on that stage many times. Then in the late-90's I was once in charge of decorating the Palace lobby for a benefit party. It's a stunning, opulent theater. These are two separate stories that I'll share sometime.)
Well, it's official: there's one spot in downtown Cleveland where I can purchase a good hot pretzel.
On page one hundred-thirteen of this blog I wrote about my displeasure with the current state of affairs concerning contemporary, American, hot pretzels. However, I mentioned that I did eat a good one recently while downtown at a performance. Well, it happened again at the same location. So, I think I've hit on something here.
Playhouse Square is here in Cleveland, downtown, at the intersection of East Fourteenth Street and Euclid Avenue. It's a conglomeration of about eight or nine stages with over ten thousand seats. It's the largest theater complex in America outside of Lincoln Center in New York City. The buildings and primary stages were all built in the 1920's at the height of the "movie palace" era though some were intended to be Vaudeville houses, too. The theaters had a great run until the late '60's when they began loosing customers to the suburbs. Then, fires and vandals were a real threat to the buildings and there was serious talk of tearing the buildings down.
The Playhouse Square Association, a non-profit group, was formed in the early '70's to purchase and save the buildings and stages. Over the next twenty years, The Playhouse Square Association was extremely successful in their renovations and marketing of the venues. So nowadays, you can go down and see visiting Broadway musical productions, dance, Shakespeare, student theater, avante-garde theater, the occasional Rock show, you name it. (One of my brothers tells the story of how he saw the Doors at Playhouse Square in 1968.) Almost any evening of the year you can go down and see two, three or four different wonderful things. Well... maybe not quite that much all the time, but often it really is that much.
So, right now, and for the next two weeks, they're showing classic movies at the Palace Theater. Last Thursday at the opening night of the 16th annual "Cinema at the Square" they showed Grease. And, not only that, but it was a Grease sing-a-long, with all the lyrics superimposed onto the screen. The Palace is huge, a few thousand seats, and it was packed. It was too fun for words and they served a great hot pretzel.
I was down at Playhouse Square a few weeks ago when I got the other really great hot pretzel, too. So I think I've hit a gold mine for good hot pretzels. (The play I saw a few weeks ago was awful, but the evening was glorious because of the wonderful pretzel.) On Sunday, August 11th, at 2PM, I'll be back down there to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I can't wait for that hot pretzel!
(Actually, I have quite a history with the Palace Theater. In the 1990's I was an extra in Cleveland Ballet's version of The Nutcracker for five or six years. So I was on that stage many times. Then in the late-90's I was once in charge of decorating the Palace lobby for a benefit party. It's a stunning, opulent theater. These are two separate stories that I'll share sometime.)
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Feeding A Fifteen Year Old - Update
Page One Hundred-Three.
My relationship with the kid is progressing. Last Friday we got to talking about restaurant breakfasts. I told him about IHOP's early bird breakfast special: two pancakes, two eggs, two pieces of meat, coffee and the morning paper, all for $3.99. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best deal on the planet. They don't advertise it either, I discovered it purely by accident when I went in there very early one day a couple of years ago. I was placing my order and the waitress suggested that I'd save money with the special. She was right, but it's only available on business days 6AM-9AM. (I'm in Cleveland, epicenter of low prices. I don't know if the price changes in other cities.)
So Shem was amazed by this special and I suggested that we go check it out sometime. He was all for it and we decided on the following Monday, which would have been two days ago.
I said, "what time should I pick you up? 8.30? 8.45?"
"You can pick me up at 8."
"Do you really think you'll get up.
"Yes. For something like this. Yeah."
"I'll really be pissed if you stand me up."
He smiled.
"Seriously. You better not stand me up."
"I won't. I promise."
"Uh Huh."
He promptly stood me up. He was sound asleep.
So, when I went back many hours later to make him his dinner he came out and said, "I'm sorry".
I glared at him.
He started his well rehearsed apology. "Do you remember when you were a teenager?"
I busted up laughing. "That's the best opening line of an apology I've ever heard. Good for you. Congratulations on your creativity. I'm sure Shakespeare never was so creative."
He proceeded to explain that he got his days confused because of his summertime lack of structure. That's why he was up until who knows when playing video games. I accepted his apology and we'll reschedule for sometime next week. Also, he ultimately forgave me for inflicting feelings of guilt upon him because I made beef tips with sauteed mushrooms, red peppers and onions in thin sauce over wide noodles for dinner. Teenagers... What to do, what to do, what to do?!?!
We're getting along famously.
My relationship with the kid is progressing. Last Friday we got to talking about restaurant breakfasts. I told him about IHOP's early bird breakfast special: two pancakes, two eggs, two pieces of meat, coffee and the morning paper, all for $3.99. As far as I'm concerned, that's the best deal on the planet. They don't advertise it either, I discovered it purely by accident when I went in there very early one day a couple of years ago. I was placing my order and the waitress suggested that I'd save money with the special. She was right, but it's only available on business days 6AM-9AM. (I'm in Cleveland, epicenter of low prices. I don't know if the price changes in other cities.)
So Shem was amazed by this special and I suggested that we go check it out sometime. He was all for it and we decided on the following Monday, which would have been two days ago.
I said, "what time should I pick you up? 8.30? 8.45?"
"You can pick me up at 8."
"Do you really think you'll get up.
"Yes. For something like this. Yeah."
"I'll really be pissed if you stand me up."
He smiled.
"Seriously. You better not stand me up."
"I won't. I promise."
"Uh Huh."
He promptly stood me up. He was sound asleep.
So, when I went back many hours later to make him his dinner he came out and said, "I'm sorry".
I glared at him.
He started his well rehearsed apology. "Do you remember when you were a teenager?"
I busted up laughing. "That's the best opening line of an apology I've ever heard. Good for you. Congratulations on your creativity. I'm sure Shakespeare never was so creative."
He proceeded to explain that he got his days confused because of his summertime lack of structure. That's why he was up until who knows when playing video games. I accepted his apology and we'll reschedule for sometime next week. Also, he ultimately forgave me for inflicting feelings of guilt upon him because I made beef tips with sauteed mushrooms, red peppers and onions in thin sauce over wide noodles for dinner. Teenagers... What to do, what to do, what to do?!?!
We're getting along famously.
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