Another One About Playhouse Square

     Page Two Hundred-Twelve.
     Recently, Tuesday evening April 1st to be exact, I went down to Playhouse Square to attend

Artist's Rendering

 opening night of Broadway's Flashdance which is currently touring the country. It was good, not spectacular, but good. Honestly, I've seen better plays in my life, but also many which were far worse. I think it would warrant a 6 on a 1-10 scale. But that's  beside the point. As usual, I treated myself to a hot pretzel. Then, as I was leaving, all the leftover, unsold hot pretzels were left out for theater goers to take with them for free if desired. I took 2. They're in my fridge right now waiting desperately, nay anxiously, to be eaten.
     I'm glad to see that the Cleveland Powers That Be are finally exploiting our Playhouse Square. Here it is, the 2nd largest concentration of theaters, stages and seats in North America and nobody outside of Cleveland knows about it. (There are probably some people in Cleveland who don't realize it.) Well that's about to change. They're doing some audacious streetscaping to put it on the map. Right now they're in the process of erecting 4, large, permanent steel archways proclaiming "Playhouse Square" over each avenue into the district. They've already installed 10 feet high TV screens above each major marquees on the north side of the street to advertise the corresponding show in that theater. Soon, they'll be installing "Playhouse Square" in 9 feet high - 48 feet long, letters atop one of the buildings. There are already a couple of news tickers, but I guess they'll be installing more. Then, the coup de gras: according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest, permanent, outdoor chandelier in the world will be strung up smack dab in the middle of  Playhouse Square's primary intersection. Yeah, right. You heard me. Is somebody high?

Artist's Rendering

      General Electric has specifically designed this chandelier to allegedly survive a Cleveland, Ohio winter. This I gotta see. GE's lighting research facility is in Cleveland, a 7 minute drive from my apartment as a matter of fact. So you'd figure they'd know about our winters. Can you even imagine all those tiny little crystal tears crying because they're cold and lonely and just wanna go home? Lord help us.
     The chandelier will be installed in a few weeks. The concrete and steel support system is already up. Then on May 2nd, after everything is finished there will be a special celebration with fireworks and the whole shebang.
     So the next time you're here, in Cleveland, having surgery at one of the hospitals, going to a game, saying Hi! to the Beatles at the Rock Hall, or what have you, take in a show at Playhouse Square. Heaven knows there's no way you'll miss it (for the first time in it's 90 year history).