Technical difficulties have postponed this evening's preview of the Cleveland Playhouse production of Eliot Ness...In Cleveland. The show's schedule picks up tomorrow, Sept. 27, with what will be the first preview performance.

The Sept. 26 show was canceled yesterday and the theatre company scrambled quickly to switch tickets. A box office spokesperson said, "The show will begin tomorrow evening, and anyone with a Sept. 26 ticket can come to any other performance during the run that they want to see."

The Cleveland Playhouse said it has successfully switched most of the Sept. 26 tickets and that there are enough shows scheduled in the run to accommodate its remaining patrons.

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As reported earlier, the Cleveland Playhouse production of the musical, Eliot Ness...In Cleveland kicks off the Cleveland Playhouse's 2000-2001 Mainstage season. The show, featuring music and lyrics by Robert Lindsey Nassif and a book by Peter Ulian opens Sept. 29 and runs through Nov. 5. Ness stars Tony and Drama Desk nominee Alison Fraser (Secret Garden, Romance/Romance) and Drama Desk nominee Burke Moses (Disney's Beauty and the Beast.)

The creative team comprises director David Esbjornson (former artistic director of NYC's CSC), choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett (Swing!), and casting director Elissa Myers.

Ness followed his success in Chicago by going to Cleveland to fight corruption and to work on the "Torso Murders." The Cleveland production follows this story and is described in production notes as "part psychological thriller, part film noir" in tone. Eliot Ness was workshopped in New York at the Director's Company in 1997 through the Hal Prince Musical Theatre Program. It later premiered at the Denver Center Theatre Company in 1998.

The Cleveland Playhouse features eight mainstage productions and three children's productions. For further information contact the Cleveland Playhouse box office at (216) 795-7000.

-- By Murdoch McBride