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Theater moves on with 'Legacy'
(by Herb Hammer - April 25, 2011)
THEATER, BY HERB HAMMER
Theater moves on with 'Legacy'
Many important plays ask you to stay alert and to use your senses. Not so when it comes to "Legacy of Light," the final offering ever at the Cleveland Play House Drury Theatre. Karen Zacarias' light-hearted play washes over you as a pleasantly packaged comedy.
The play is the centerpiece of the sixth annual Fusion Fest, the Play House's continuing arts festival.
What Miss Zacarias has done in her delightful play is to focus on two women, both scientists but living in different centuries. The women, Olivia and Emillie, have much in common. Both are troubled by the upcoming birth of their babies.
With the help of set designer Takeshi Kata, scenes move almost magically from mid-1970s France to modern-day America. Miss Zacarias is able to tell two related stories virtually at the same time.
Emillie du Chatelet is an actual historic figure, a mathematician who discovered a principle that discredited much of Isaac Newton's theories. French author-philosopher Voltaire is placed at the scene, angered by Emillie's affair that rendered her pregnant.
As we do a little time traveling, we find Olivia, an astrophysicist who has discovered a new planet. Though truly excited about her find, she is troubled by her inability to bear a child. Finally, she has found a surrogate who will give birth to her husband's child.
While Emillie, at 42 years old, fears she will die in childbirth before her work is completed, Olivia, also 42, is beginning to lose her desire for the new baby now that the young surrogate is about to give birth and to hand the newborn over to her.
Before long, the centuries collide, bringing the ghosts of Voltaire and Emillie into modern times. Here the play becomes more fun, especially when the ghost of Emillie is involved in a bit of successful CPR.
The play is slightly flawed by the over-long speeches of Michelle Duffy, as Olivia, who explains her discovery and all it means. Miss Duffy, on the other hand, cruises through the role.
Cerris Morgan-Moyer, otherwise brilliant in the role of Emillie, explains in detail her theories, and again we are stuck in the moment.
Lenny Von Dohlen plays Voltaire, a role that makes the entire play his for the asking. His Voltaire steals all the comic moments and carries much of the play.
Four of the characters play dual roles and are required to do some fancy footwork. The quick changes are remarkable.
Director Bart Delorenzo has made a complex plot rather simple. The sudden changes appear quite natural under his talented hand. He and costumer David Kay Mickelsen have made "Legacy of Light" a complete and entertaining picture.
Now the Play House will move downtown. The theater we have grown up with is headed to a revamped Allen Theatre, which will eventually have three playing areas. Many will miss the Play House at 8500 Euclid Ave. We wait for this new adventure with anticipation.
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