The Iceman Cometh – Mini-Review

icemanSince moving to Cleveland in December, we have been seeing two or three plays a month. By far the best production was today: The Ensemble Theatre’s production of Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece The Iceman Cometh. A play more talked about and admired than produced, Ian Hinz production made one of the most difficult of American plays seem easy; and that is the mark of artists-at-work. The play requires an ensemble and that was evident in spades. The play also allows just about every actor a solo at bat, and the Ensemble actors knocked the ball out of the park each time they came to bat, echoing the Indians on a good day. The Mark Reynolds of the production was Dana Hart’s Hickey. The Nick Swisher was Robert Hawkes’ Larry Slade. The Carlos Santana was Michael Regnier’s Harry Hope. And the Ryan Rayburn, a normal bench player who stars, was Valerie Young’s Cora. The four hours flew by and we didn’t even think of the Indians game happening at the same time. Now that’s great theater!

Comments are disabled for this post