Troupes wowed large crowds with big-name shows
Few things spark excitement about theater more than powerful, popular productions that give people their first chance to see shows with name-brand appeal.
In 2017, CATCO, the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA), Shadowbox Live and Short North Stage were among the leading central Ohio arts groups that embraced that savvy strategy, transforming the best theater into mustsee events.
Short North Stage nearly sold out with the extended Ohio premiere of one of the hottest Broadway plays, “Hand to God,” Robert Askins’ devilish comedydrama about adolescent angst and the disruptive power of belief.
Artistic Director Edward Carignan staged the brilliant production, starring Danny Turek in a puppet-enhanced double role that ranks among the year’s best performances, to put theatergoers up close on both sides of the reconfigured Green Room — proving anew the versatility of one of the area’s most adaptable performing spaces.
With 27 performances attracting 1,961 people, the play broke box-office records (previously set by the 2016 production of “The Fantasticks”) in the Garden Theater’s smaller Green Room.
Short North Stage also attracted attention with timely revivals of “Angels in America,” a vivid puppetenhanced reimagining of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer FEB. 2 TO MARCH 12: Prize-winning two-part fantasia, and a glamorous “Dreamgirls,” which attracted a record 3,854 people in the Garden Theater’s Main Stage.
CATCO seized the initiative to become the first Ohio theater troupe to mount “Fun Home,” the 2015 Tony winner for best musical.
Broadway in Columbus, in association with CAPA, usually presents Tony-winning musicals on tour. Yet, “Fun Home,” an intimate chamber piece about the coming-of-age and troubled family of lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel, might have been lost within the huge proscenium stages of the Ohio or Palace theaters.
CATCO’s heartfelt arenastyle production, sensitively staged by Producing Director Steven C. Anderson in the Riffe Center’s Studio Two Theatre, was the ideal way to bring the landmark show home to Columbus.
CAPA and CATCO also scored by presenting Deaf West Theatre’s powerful bilingual version of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo.”
Shadowbox Live, meanwhile, generated excitement and crowds with homegrown world premieres that capitalized on worldrenowned artists.
Shadowbox created “Circle of Blood,” an innovative multimedia musical blend of video animation with live action based on David Mack’s best-selling “Kabuki” graphic novels about a female assassin in a futuristic Japan.
“Evolutionaries,” a timely tribute to musicians Prince and David Bowie, had a nearly-nine-month run thanks to strong word of mouth — becoming the troupe’s second-longestrunning production.
Shadowbox Live proved its mettle as the country’s largest resident-ensemble company by producing 18 new shows — including the new holiday musical “Cratchit” — and presenting more than 500 performances in 2017.
Remarkably, the resilient company maintained its brutal year-round schedule and created several world premieres during the predominant absence of president/co-founder Stev Guyer, who went on hiatus a year ago after receiving a cancer diagnosis. (Guyer, still undergoing treatment, continues to provide creative input when he can.)
Tantrum Theater, a two-year-old professional summer-theater company launched by Ohio University at the Abbey Theater in Dublin, racked up another stellar season — from a beguiling and eclectic “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the family-favorite Irish fable “Into the West” to the poignant and operatic “Caroline, or Change.”
Other theaters succeeded with fresh takes on classics — including Otterbein University’s charmingly minimalist approach to “My Fair Lady,” Actors’ Theatre of Columbus’ nimble and graceful “Pride & Prejudice,” and Red Herring Productions’ intimate, arena-style “The Road to Mecca.”
With such quality shows generating excitement and attracting crowds, central Ohio theater companies have every incentive to raise their game further next year.