Holly Hanna! The new home for GLTF Takes a Bow

Warning: don't even think about unwrapping a crinkly candy during a performance at the newly redesigned Hanna Theater. How live are the acoustics? Just ask my mortified seatmate: after handing me a Tic-Tac, she snapped her purse closed and the clasp echoed through the space like a gunshot. It's not just the clear sound that's impressive at the new home of Great Lakes Theater Festival, where a stylish production of Macbeth opened this weekend. The sightlines are...well, close to divine. Every plush, comfortable seat feels close to the stage, which thrusts out into the audience. On the main floor, where I spent the first act, the action spills past you in the aisles.

I moved to the upper deck after intermission, just out of curiosity, and was mightily glad I did. The birdseye view is spectacular, and the sound even better -- every whisper floats up to you unimpeded. The balcony is steeply raked, very much like the Globe Theatre of Shakespeare's time, and each row is separated so that each feels like its own private loge. There's even a handy flat railing, the better to put your drink on.

Oh, didn't I mention the bar? Yes, there's a bar inside the space itself that's open pre-show, at intermission, and afterwards. There is even cabaret-style seating near it, with tables where you can put your personal bottle of wine. But make sure to get your order in, because they close it the minute Artistic Director Charlie Fee begins his welcome speech.

There's also informal seating at the rear corners, in a plush curving banquette, perfect for a group meetup. I talked to some young folks perched there during the press preview, who gave it a big thumbsup. "There's even good sound in the bathrooms," one told me. "They pipe in the sound, you don't miss a thing."

Fee's production of Macbeth shows off some of the new features of the redesign. A huge section of the stage raises and lowers on silent hydraulics, revealing batwinged witches. The Taiko drums on each side of the stage boomed and clanged, as the huge shield-shaped cymbals shimmered under blood-red light. New effects will be revealed next week, when Victoria Bussert's production of the musical Into the Woods opens the second show of GLTF's Fall Repertory.

Many of us in attendance have fond memories of the Hanna's past as a touring house. I heard stories about Master Harold and the Boys with James Earl Jones, repeated viewings of Menopause: The Musical, even "the ghost of Ethel Merman." All the Hanna's assembled ghosts must be applauding her latest incarnation: Cleveland's Grand Dame of Theater looks and sounds utterly swell.

Learn about Great Lakes Theater Festival at the Hanna by visiting http://www.greatlakestheater.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein lindaATcoolcleveland.com
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