Cleveland Play House’s ‘Freak The Mighty’ sings

“I never had a brain until Freak came along and let me borrow his for a while, and that’s the truth, the whole truth. The Unvanquished truth, is how Freak would say it.” With this opening teaser we are hooked for the next two hours as we witness a brilliant musical, Cleveland Play House’s production of “Freak The Mighty” with book and lyrics by Anthony Drewe and music by Ryan Fielding Garrett. The show is based on a novel by Rodman Philbrick.

Maxwell Kane (Netza Jimenez) is a large thirteen year old boy who suffers from a variety of emotional problems brought on when he witnessed his convicted father Kenny “Killer” Kane (Wade McCollum) strangle his mother when he was four years old. He has trouble at school having been failed twice in the eighth grade due to problems understanding math and English. He is a loner and is constantly picked on by the other students who also fear him because of his size and his father’s incarceration. He lives with his grandparents Gram (Astrid Van Wieren) and Grim (Christopher Gurr) in their basement that he calls the “down under”.

All changes for Maxwell when new neighbors move next door. Kevin Avery (Cornelius Kittrell) is 12 years old and suffers from a rare strain of Morquio Syndrome. It means that Kevin is a dwarf who walks with crutches and leg braces and whose inner organs are growing larger than his diminutive frame can handle. Kevin lives with his mom, Gwen (Kanoa Sims) referred by Kevin as “The Fair Guinevere” whose husband disappeared when Kevin was born.

The two boy’s relationship begins rocky but soon Max realizes that Kevin does not fear him and is also extremely smart having memorized much of the dictionary. Soon, Kevin has Max reading a book about King Arthur and going on various quests. Kevin loves to use big words and is obsessed with acting out King Arthur fantasies. He also is fascinated with robotics thinking that this science will supply him with a cure. Kevin assures Max that the doctors are working on a secret bionic body built just for him.

When the two boys attend a fireworks show, Kevin complains about always having to look at “knees, shoes and asses”. Max grabs the smaller boy and hoists him up on his shoulders giving Kevin an entirely new perspective. Thus “Freak The Mighty” is born.

As with all things Cleveland Play House the production values of this show are extremely high. The casting is impeccable. Netza Jimenez lives the role of Maxwell showing the pain that is suffered when living as an outsider. Cornelius Kittrell as Kevin brings a tremendous physiology to the role as he maneuvers the stage as a cripple. Astrid Van Wieren as Gram and Christopher Gurr as Grim are perfectly cast as the caring yet fearful grandparents. Kanoa Sims as Gwen is superb as the caring yet no nonsense mother of her afflicted son. Wade McCollum as the unrepentant father of Max and with ulterior motives is the man you love to hate. The ensemble cast is superb as well. The eight piece orchestra under the direction of Patrick Sulken is fantastic. The show is smartly directed by Michael Barakiva with choreography by Patrick McCollum. The terrific stage set is by Wilson Chin with costuming by Suzanne Chesney. Miriam Nilofa Crowe does the lighting design with Ken Travis as the sound designer.

In each of our lives there is that one person who made a huge difference in how we turned out. This is a show that emphasizes the positive influences that we all need to be put on the right track. It is a story of inclusion, honesty, acceptance, humor and redemption with side travels into bullying, trauma and grief. It is, in short, a complete musical that you will love.

The Cleveland Play House production of “Freak The Mighty” will be on stage in the Allen Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio through June 21, 2026. For more information and tickets go to https://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/ or call (216) 241-6000.