Tony Mastroianni Review Collection
10th Season -- Musicarnival
Cleveland Press July 12, 1963
The setting seemed rustic enough at the time for a summer theater. It wasn't as far out in the country as some, to be sure, and you didn't pass a dozen farms to get to it. Still, there was plenty of land around.
Today, 10 years later, Musicarnival's familiar blue tent is being hemmed in by modern buildings as suburbia creeps past it. A modern city hall is right next door now. Across the road the Sohio Research Lab tracks satellites. A few steps away are 26 apartment buildings.
Warrensville Heights has since become a city and the professional theater that operates there for four months every summer is one of the community's assets and a major taxpayer due to a 3% city admissions tax.
But there are those who remember when village officials looked with suspicion on the arrival of wicked actors from New York.
But under the canvas matters remain pretty much the same. Producer Johnny Price still rushes down the aisle every evening to greet the audience from the arena stage. And after every performance he's out in the parking lot with a personal goodbye for everyone.
There's still the nucleus of professionals from the New York theaters along with the aspiring youngsters looking for a break in show business.
The show still goes on every night of the week and most afternoons are reserved for rehearsals of the following production.
It may be a tent but Musicarnival seems to have all the permanence of a brick-and~mortar institution.
PHOTO CAPTIONS:
MUSICARNIVAL'S FAMILIAR blue tent is up for a 10th season on Warrensville Center Rd. in Warrensville Heights. This is the fourth piece of canvas to go up over the permanent concrete base. The same tent is used in Musicarnival's Florida operation during February and March.
