COOL CLEVELAND THEATER REVIEW: “Candide” @ Ohio Light Opera Whether or not this is the best of all possible worlds, I can not say, but this Ohio Light Opera production just might be the best of all possible Candides.  It maintains the lyric joyous foolishness Candide and Cunegonde learned from their idealistic teacher, Dr.  Pangloss, but [...]

  Ohio Light Opera Season’s Second Half Features Three Imports The first four productions of Ohio Light Opera this anniversary season were all not only OLO premieres, but all were also from the tradition of the American lyric theater. Go here to read the preview. Now come the imports. First, we’ll be treated to Iolanthe, [...]

  COOL CLEVELAND THEATER REVIEW: “Babes in Arms” @ Ohio Light Opera When the cat’s away, the mice will play. It works the same way if you substitute “parents” for cats, and “kids” for mice, especially in the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms. It is the second presentation in the 40th anniversary season of [...]

  COOL CLEVELAND THEATER REVIEW: “The Pajama Game” @ Ohio Light Opera In the mid-1950s, a dispute between labor and management was always serious. Thank goodness for this exception. Based on a book titled 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell, the story became an award winning musical comedy that is entirely plausible and realistic some 60+ years [...]

  COOL CLEVELAND THEATER REVIEW: “Fifty Million Frenchmen” @ Ohio Light Opera If you were the parents of a gorgeous, talented daughter and you wanted her to marry a Grand Duke, of course you’d take her to Paris in order to find this gem. Especially if it was 1929. But as that old saying has [...]