Bingham (Justin Mohr) director of Quail Valley Country Club, holds great animosity towards Dickie (Dewayne Curry), director of the Crouching Squirrels Country Club whose team consistently wins the annual interclub golf tournament. This year feels differently for Bingham. He has a new team member, an incredible scratch golfer. Confident of victory, Bingham makes a $100,000 wager with Dickie and recklessly throws in the ownership of his wife Muriel’s (Misty Challingsworth) much loved antique shop. Upon learning that his star golfer has defected to join Dickie’s team, Bingham is frantic to find a replacement golfer.
Fortunately, he discovers his new assistant Justin (Cole Vecchio) is an amazing golfer—with one important codicil —–To ensure his expert playing, Justin must be kept calm and be kept away from any potentially stressful situations. The tournament is going very well for Justin, until it isn’t.
Bedlam ensues and the hilarity shifts into high gear. Just when it seems to be clear where the plot is headed, BOOM! Another dizzying plot twist hits.
Dewayne Curry – Dickie (back couple) Misty Challingsworth – Muriel (back couple) Emma Brown Baker -Pamela (front couple) Justin Mohr – Bingham (front couple) Photography: Hawk Photography and Multimedia LLC
The entire cast is to be congratulated on their high energy, physicality and spot on comedic timing.
Vecchio’s Justin is played with an innocence that endears him to the audience. His emotional fragility and vulnerability are sweet,
Mohr plays Bingham with an understandably frenetic desperation considering what is at stake. He’s both likable and sympathetic.
Curry’s Dickie is loud mouthed and obnoxious. His swagger and grating, braying laugh are perfectly annoying. The man you love to hate!
Julia Yeomans is adorable as the love struck, naive, ingenue Louise.
Emma Brown Baker is a personable (at times), sophisticated Pamela who radiates contempt for Dickie, her ex. Perfect demonstration of the adage, “If looks could kill.”
Misty Chillingsworth is Bingham’s wife, Muriel. Before she is onstage, she is depicted as an overbearing battleax. Her humanity becomes clearly evident when she comes onstage. She’s a woman of strength with a soft side.
Fun Fact: Playwright Ken Ludwig was born in York, Pennsylvania!
Director Lisa Ann Goldsmith keeps the cast’s electrifying energy on high voltage. The actors fast paced physicality excites.
This hilarious farce flies from scene to scene and delights with its unexpected turns and surprise revelations. Look no further if you are in the market for a delightful evening out!
-LtTL
“A the Fox on the Fairway” runs until November 10 at the Little Lake Theater, 500 Lakeside Drive, Canonsburg, PA 15317. For more information, click here.
Standing arm in arm outside Maser Galleries along Walnut Street in Shadyside, the Maser women, Brenda and her two daughters, Katie and Kristen, reminisced to a crowd of family, friends, former athletes, community members, city councilpersons, art lovers, and various spectators about what this business has meant to them since it first opened on September 27, 1974—50 years ago to the day.
Katie applauded her parents, noting that “50 years is huge accomplishment for a business, especially an art business.” She called Walnut Street “an extension of home,” and Kristen expressed similar sentiments, stating that her childhood “orbited around this gallery” and referred to it as her “home base.”
Maser Galleries aims to have “something for everyone”, art for every generation to enjoy
As the story goes, Maser Galleries begins with one man—Ronald Maser, affectionately known as “Lefty”—a Pittsburgh-area native, McKeesport High School graduate, former University of Pittsburgh student-athlete, and multi-talented visionary, whose baseball career aspirations with the Los Angeles Dodgers fell short because of an arm injury that led him to answer a newspaper advertisement promising “unlimited opportunity” with Arts International, which was the biggest chain of galleries in the country back then. According to Lefty, during the Arts International interview, he and the interviewer just talked about baseball. By the end of the interview, the guy pitched him the keys and drove back to Chicago, leaving Lefty to learn the art business on the fly.
Years later, Lefty branched out on his own, founding what is known today as Maser Galleries. The gallery started out at Seven Springs Resort in the Laurel Highlands, east of Pittsburgh. There was already a gallery at the ski resort and the space had become available for a new owner/occupant. Originally, Lefty says, he drove up to Seven Springs to express that he wasn’t interested, but whether it was the drive, the connection with ski and sport, or something else, after he got up there, he changed his mind and said yes. Like many things throughout Lefty’s life, he just went with his gut… and it worked.
Brenda, who grew up at Seven Springs and was working there had an art background, minoring in art, practicing in photography, and dabbling in painting, so when Lefty needed someone to work at his new gallery, Brenda became Lefty’s right-hand woman, so-to-speak.
“My part of business has changed over the years,” Brenda recounts. “I helped Lefty. Lefty was in charge. He made all the decisions.”
From left to right, Bobby Franklin, former Point Park University basketball star; Brenda Maser; The Honorable Dwayne Woodruff, former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback and current Allegheny Court of Common Pleas Judge; Chris Seneca, former Bucknell University basketball star; Clarence Thompson.
But as for Brenda’s part in the business, Kristen surmised, “Mom is the heart. Dad is driving force,” while Brenda refers to herself as “the people person.” She says, “I love people. I love talking about the art, I love being with the art, selling the art. Lefty was the person responsible for the success of that gallery without question. He could sense what people would love, what people would buy. He was not highly trained in art. I mean, he was a math student [at the University of Pittsburgh]. He had a sense of what was beautiful and what people would love to have in their homes.”
She adds, “Buying is the key to any business, and certainly to the art business. He just had a wonderful sense of the best pieces of an artist, he could pick them. I learned from him. I learned everything I know about that from him.”
Brenda’s own art background has, in her words, “worked out beautifully in this gallery.” She remembers, “I had a dark room for a while and did photography and that skill served me very well working in the gallery. There were so many things that needed photographed over the years that it was a really wonderful fit for me.”
Once a former dry cleaner, Lefty transformed the space into Maser Galleries in 1974
Brenda also points out, “Lefty has an art background, too.” While maybe not as well-known as his baseball stats, “When he was a young student, he went to McKeesport High School, which was a huge high school at the time, booming, thriving, and there were only two students picked to take art classes at the Carnegie Museum and he was one of the students who was picked. So, he has some art talent, but he never developed that. But he had art talent, and he always had a love of beauty.”
Even as a baseball player, fans and friends described Lefty as “art in motion.” Brenda says, “When I think of Lefty running [this] business that was art in motion, watching him run [Maser Galleries]. He was in the flow in the same way that he was when he was pitching. He was a natural. The creativity, the ideas just flowed out of him.”
Eventually, once the gallery in Seven Springs was established, Lefty got the idea to move and open another Maser Galleries location in Shadyside. “The first time I came to Shadyside was 1974, right when we opened. It was the arts festival,” Brenda recalls.
The building, where Maser Galleries remains 50 years later, was a former dry cleaner when Lefty first rented it. “Lefty hammered every board on that wall. Those barn wood walls, every nail was hammered in by him… There was nothing he couldn’t do.” But back then people thought Lefty was out of his mind to open another gallery along Walnut Street, which ironically, was right across the street from an Arts International gallery, his former employer. Doubting Lefty’s can-do attitude, naysayers thought Maser Galleries would be out of business within six months, incapable of withstanding the competition of a powerful chain like Arts International. However, not long after Maser Galleries arrived on Walnut Street, it was Arts International that closed its doors, not Lefty.
Brenda Maser embraces her daughters, Kristen and Katie, in front of Maser Galleries on Wood Street
Brenda describes what Maser Galleries was like on Walnut Street in the 1970s, “When we first opened, Walnut Street then was almost all, if not all, independent owners, many different types of shops, and a lot of hippies. We had lots of arts and crafts items, we had shelves and shelves of crafts and little metal sculptures, paintings on marble, paintings on fungi, we just had all different little things. And as the street evolved, we evolved. So as the more upscale shops came in, so did we. Also, the timing was so perfect because the 70s was a time when art was really exploding and graphics were just coming out like Normal Rockwell, Erte, Simbari, LeRoy Neiman. It was just an amazing time when these limited-edition graphics were available for the first time, and we were on the ground floor of that.”
She continues, “Lefty always loved illustrators. We loved Nat Youngblood. He did all the illustrations for the Pittsburgh Press for 30 years. We published a lot of works by him. Lefty published a number of local artists John Shryock and Thomas Mosser, and then he reached out to some nationally known artists, and we had a whole publishing division for many years. We went to the art expo in New York, and we were not only on the end of buying art for the gallery, but on the end of selling artwork to galleries.”
The artworks of many of these mentioned artists are still available at Maser Galleries, along with other Pittsburgh natives who’ve achieved reputable success with their art, like Burton Morris, Fritz Keck, and Linda Barnicott.
Posing with sculptures, Kristen, daughter of Maser Galleries founders, Lefty and Brenda Maser, and co-founder of For Good PGH with Gisele Fetterman (also pictured), quips “these are our siblings”—everyone is treated like family here
In its early days, the Maser Gallery at Seven Springs reflected the clientele there, Brenda recalls, “tons of ski posters, craft items, gift items, and oil paintings.” Nowadays, she says, “We reflect the people of Pittsburgh. We always want to have something for everyone.”
As for the Maser family, Brenda, like her daughters, admits, “Our lives revolve around the gallery.” Despite previously having galleries in Seven Springs, Oxford Center, and even Market Square over the years, Maser Galleries along Walnut Street in Shadyside has stood the test of time. “We were all over at the gallery as much as we were at home,” she says.
Brenda acknowledges, “The greatest honor of my life has been to work there. It’s been such an honor to be surrounded by this beauty and by wonderful people. I always feel that the door is a filter and only special people come through our door. I’m so grateful for having could spend my life here in this place. Everybody who comes in, they have an extra sensitivity and awareness and appreciation for art and for life.”
Stepping through the doors of Maser Galleries is an opportunity to experience art almost like a sports memorabilia collector, stumbling upon a rare, autographed baseball card, except here the signatures are of beloved artists upon artworks, each with a unique style and flare. Unlike an art museum, where the pieces must stay put on their walls, here, visitors are welcome to purchase the pieces that catch their eye and take them home. When it comes to art galleries in Pittsburgh, Maser Galleries is a grand slam.
-GM
To experience Maser Galleries, visit: https://www.masergalleries.com/ or stop in at 5427 Walnut Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15232 and explore their ongoing 50th Anniversary Sale.
“Black Angels Over Tuskegee” is a fictious story about six real life black soldiers and their quest to become aviators during World War II.
Potential recruits Percival (Kenneth Browning), Theodore (Lamar K. Cheston), Elijah (Anthony Goss), Quentin (Layon Gray), Abraham (David Roberts), and Jeremiah (Reginald L. Wilson) meet for the first time in preparation to take the exam that allows them to continue on as potential aviators. Quentin and Abraham are brothers.
Their initial interaction with one another involves backslapping and general information-seeking as they evaluate each other.
Jeremiah is the only recruit who remains aloof. Tired with what he deems as simple banter, he challenges them to think about the upcoming exam. To him it is the essence of success. He does not smile.
Settling down the men begin to prepare for the exam, testing one another in the fine points of airplanes, engines and general flight concepts.
They do get serious about the one thought in all of their minds – how they have to succeed. Success for them is harder to attain, not due to their abilities but because of their race. Between nostalgic conversations about their backgrounds, they talk about the racism they’ve experienced. Jim Crow laws are still in effect at this time.
Layon Gray, Writer, Director, Choreographer.
These six talented black men succeed in their quest to become aviators. They land in Tuskegee, Alabama, become licensed aviators and are sent off to war as part of the famous Tuskegee Airmen. It’s just a shame that they were segregated in war just as they were at home, but what American heroes they were!
This production is well-executed and is well-worth seeing!
Gray is both aggressive as he argues with his brother but is gentle and sympathetic as he talks about his girlfriend and their soon-to-arrive baby.
Anthony Goss (Elijah).
Roberts is bubbly and excitable, prodding and teasing his brother but carefully watches out for him. He is high energy.
Goss attempts and sometimes successfully lessens the tension between the men. He is more temperate than the others.
Cheston is delightful as the music-loving aviator. His comedy skills are apparent in his pantomime to Billie Holiday’s recording of “God Bless the Child”.
As Percival, Browning is both tender and furious as he retells a story about his young daughter’s school experience with racism.
Wilson’s character is intense and unwavering. His performance is exceptionally riveting as we finally discover why he is aloof and unsmiling.
Collectively the six aviators’ roles require intricate choreographed dancing, fighting and simulated flying. They all do this brilliantly.
Narrator Thaddeus Daniels (Man) provides the background for “Black Angels Over Tuskegee,” relaying each stage of the six aviators journey from exam to training class to actual combat. It’s apparent that he has a particular interest in the six aviators and his narration is both humorous and emotional.
In a small role, P. David Miller plays Major Roberts, the commanding white officer in charge.
Diego Villada (Fight Choreographer) does an excellent job coordinating the many fight scenes and the flight simulations.
“Black Angels Over Tuskegee” was written and directed by Layon Gray.
-CED
“Black Angels Over Tuskegee” runs until October 27 at the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall, 621 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
On my latest traipse through the tangled timber of Western Pennsylvania, I happened upon three weird sisters who offered prophecy: I will write another review with random references, I will become Pittsburgh’s preeminent theatre critic, and you will see Hobnob Theatre CO.’s production of Macbeth, directed by Ken Smith, now running at Hobnob Theatre Studio in Butler, PA.
Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play” (no, not Braveheart: The Musical) concerns itself with the titular character and his descent into madness. As his sanity slips, he practices some heavy handed acupuncture, bonds with Lady Macbeth, and suffers from hallucinations and paranoia like he’s just patronized a shifty apothecary. All leading up to an ecologically inspired skirmish that seems to have influenced military strategy from American Colonists to the Viet Cong.
Aside from the evergreen themes explored in the story, this classic tragedy is replete with wonderful performances. From the eerie opening to the show’s closing moment, the cast simply mesmerizes. Right away, audiences are unsettled by The Weird Sisters (Kari-Anne Innes, Amy Dittman, Casey Hoolahan) whose creepy choreography makes skin crawl, in tandem with their body movements, line delivery, and makeup (Delaney Gatenby). Similarly, The Murderers (Daniel Williams, Kari-Anne Innes, Craig Adams) evoke a palpable dread that’s often overlooked in other iterations or interpretations.
Contrasting with the play’s horror is a spot of comedy courtesy of The Porter (Jack Senske); his meta-humor offers a brief respite from the chaos and violence. Senske’s scene is a standout with his delightful combo of verbal and physical comedy.
In regard to more psychologically fraught portrayals, there are plenty of phenomenal performances from the principal players. Casey Bowser, in addition to appearing as The Doctor and serving as assistant director, is terrific and terrifying as Banquo, MacBeth’s congenial compatriot-turned-victim. Even in death, Bowser brings the character to life, plaguing his treacherous friend with ceaseless haunting and chilling stares.
Daniel Williams is remarkable as Macduff, the opposing nobleman to Macbeth who eventually does “Mick Dagger” in. He holds nothing back, surrendering to Macduff’s emotional volatility, delivering moving speeches and showcasing his intensity in the scenes in which he appears.
Kevin Vespaziani (Macbeth) and Deanna Sparrow (Lady Macbeth) Photo Credit: Michael Dittman
The Macbeths, one of literature’s favorite toxic couples, are brilliantly depicted by Kevin Vespaziani and Deanna Sparrow as Lord and Lady Macbeth, respectively. Their chemistry is compelling and cringe-inducing, the latter meant as a compliment. This dastardly duo slaughters soliloquies and murders monologues as they masterfully demonstrate their twisted devotion to fate and to one another through powerful dialogue, odd embraces, and conspiracy. Sparrow makes fantastic use of her own physicality to highlight Lady Macbeth’s loss of self and sanity amidst inescapable guilt and suspicion. Vespaziani’s turn as the off KILTer Scotsman is incredible. His spellbinding execution of the manic intricacies of the skittery dictator is on full display as he succumbs to his predestined possession for power by any means necessary.
Sound design by Ken Smith is superbly orchestrated. Not only are the actors’ voices seamlessly amplified, but the voice modulation for certain characters is also a nice touch; it really works well with the Weird Sisters. Costumes by Vikki Safran really fleshed out the world and helped make it more immersive. The props greatly elevated the gravity of the performances, and it was cool that they were primarily supplied by the stage manager/sound console operator, Carrie Allio, as well as the cast themselves.
While nearly every date is slated to run at Hobnob Theatre Studio, opening night was held at Big Rail Brewing in Grove City. Having to produce a show of this magnitude in the middle of the woods would be daunting for most companies, especially with all of the technical dressing that complements the astounding acting, but Hobnob handled it with a seasoned ease, having cut their teeth putting on Shakespeare in the Park shows for as long as they existed. And what an epic opening night they had; optimal weather conditions, a sizeable crowd, cozy beverages, and crackling flames that worked in concert with the lighting by Stephen Fogle. What better way to celebrate theatre than to bring together two things a person probably shouldn’t jokingly mention in one: Macbeth and fire. For those upset about missing a chance to imbibe while being cultured, fret not. Tannin and Tonic by Porchvue Winery have made specialty cocktails that will be sold at their location in addition to the lobby of Hobnob Theatre Studio on show nights—a move that The Bard would certainly approve of.
Whether in their space on Butler’s North Main Street or a stage somewhere else, Hobnob puts on a marvelous production. Oscillating between tried and true theatrical staples and amazing original plays—on top of their other artistic endeavors—makes them an indispensable part of this area’s theatre community. An undeniable passion for creating something special, coupled with a willingness to take risks, continues to prove why anyone who enjoys live performance should check out Hobnob’s shows.
-JS
Macbeth continues its run Oct. 19-20, 25-26 at Hobnob Theatre Studio in Butler, Pennsylvania. For more information, click here.
Laura Benanti, Tony award winning artist opened the first event in the 2024-2025 Trust Cabaret Series on Monday, October 14.
Benanti started off with a recap of “My Fair Lady”, interjecting between vocals her comedic telling of the well-known musical. Her voice is spectacular and powerful as she sang “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” (with a Cockney accent), “The Rain in Spain” and “I Could Have Danced All Night”.
Her comedy chops were highlighted as she took us on a journey through many aspects of her theatrical career and personal life. Only eighteen years old at the time, she interjected the adventure and mishaps encountered as she played Maria in the “The Sound of Music” as she sang that famous theme song.
Photo caption: Laura Benanti. Courtesy of the artist.
In 2002 Benanti played Cinderella in “Into the Woods” and we segue into her own Cinderella story (she thought) with a fellow actor. It turned out to be not so enlightening but as usual, the way she told it was hilarious.
She fondly remembered and praised the late Chita Rivera who was kind to her, especially when Benanti broke her back. Benanti starred with Chita and Antonio Banderas in “Nine.”
She paid homage to her mom who gave up a promising singing career to rear her and her sister.
Benanti proudly announced that’s she’s been married for twenty years. After a pause she coyly indicated that it wasn’t to the same person. The discussion then continues about those other marriages, again told in a hilarious way.
Her impression (vocal and facial) of a former first lady was spot on.
She had an instant rapport with the audience, often directing her comments with asides and facial expressions especially for their benefit. With excellent timing, a beautiful voice and a touch of self-deprecation, she held court.
During the evening Benanti mentioned that she was a people pleaser, always wanting to please others but now “on a people pleasing recovery journey”. Fortunately, she hasn’t fully recovered because a “pleased” (very pleased) audience enjoyed time with this multi-talented artist.
Excellent piano accompaniment by Todd Almond.
The next show in the Trust Cabaret Series is on Monday, November 18, 2024 featuring Jason Robert Brown.
-CED
Laura Benanti was presented by Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, part of the 2024-2025 Trust Cabaret Series on Monday, October 14, 2024 at 9:30pm in the Greer Cabaret Theater, Theater Square, 655 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. For information on upcoming shows, click here.
Siblings Sheila (Mia Hill) and David (Charlie Kennedy) are on their way home, sloppy drunk. Floundering through a park, they appear to fall down into a deep sleep.
Waking up the next morning, standing up ready for the challenges of a new day, they can’t move their feet. They’re grounded! Rooted like trees.
Family, friends and strangers come to commiserate, support or just stare at this phenomenon.
Sheila and David’s grandmother, Baba (Cecilia Staggers) demonstrates her support by pitching a tent near her two grandchildren.
David’s partner, Jared (Sam Gibson) learns of his dilemma through the newspapers. He is appalled at David’s situation and quickly dumps him.
Friend Charlotte (Giovanna Marino) pops in, spending more time bemoaning her mother’s dependency than commiserating with Sheila’s dilemma.
Terry (Audrey Klein), a local vendor occasionally stops by selling snacks.
Saul (Logan Kearney) travels from Cleveland in pursuit of what he believes is a religious happening.
Julian (Camani Campbell) and Tavish (Adrian Escalona) join the group.
Norman (Christopher Rone) literally comes out of the bushes to join the others.
Their experiences as a community are filled with the same angst and tensions that any community or group encounters. It is also a community where everyone is welcome and equal including gays, straight, religious and those of different races.
Protecting and supporting Sheila and David is the group’s main concern.
They are able to thwart the occasional threats from local government concerning their setup in the park.
Photo by John Altdorfer
Jumping ahead seven years the group is still aligned with the “planted” siblings. New members now include 5-year-old Ezra (Jaylan Gardner) and Sheryl (Morgan Zeidman). It is apparent that they have collectively and individually grown.
The groups’ survival and real threat comes into question when a developer is determined to build a mall where the group and the “trees” reside.
Note: This is a great production of a bizarre play. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that you don’t think about and ponder how David and Sheila handled bodily functions or survived winters in Connecticut. It is not a traditional play with a plot line and conclusion. Let your imagination fill in the missing pieces!
Hill is at first emotionally stymied by the change in her world, worrying about missed flights and pending appointments in her home in Seattle. She comes to terms with her new world and is frankly content.
As David, Kennedy is pragmatic about his new closeness with nature. Kennedy shows much of his character’s emotion through great facial maneuvers and side looks.
Imagine playing a part in an English-speaking play speaking entirely in Polish. That’s what Staggers does brilliantly and effectively as Baba.
Marino delights as Sheila’s self-centered friend popping in and out of Sheila’s life as the mood suits her.
As the flamboyant gay, Jared’s timing is excellent. His movements and facial expressions add to his comedic timing.
Kearney’s earnestness is palpable and is convinced that Sheila and David’s novel situation is truly a religious event.
Klein develops Terry from the pesky small time snack vendor into a formidable entrepreneur.
What a wonderful ensemble of actors.
Lighting Designer Andre Segar provides striking visual movements behind the seven large symbolic trees on stage. These movements display without comment a change in season or the environment in general.
Tremendous job by Language Coach Eva Kamienska-Carter with excellent direction by Adil Mansoor.
“The Trees” was written by Agnes Borinsky.
-CED
“The Trees” runs from October 10 to October 20 at Point Park Playhouse’s Rauh Theater, 350 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
Diss tracks have experienced a resurgence of sorts in 2024. While these poetic beefs seem confined to hip-hop, or at least more modern music, they are but the most recent iteration of an age-old tradition. Art has always been used to comment on itself, whether that be on a canvas, on a stage, or even in a weird-yet-well written review. In that spirit, The Pittsburgh Savoyards have resurrected Gilbert & Sullivan’s classic operatic critique of the aesthetic movement, Patience, as part of their 87th season, and they’ve brought it to The Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center in Ross Township, with stage direction by Patrick Daniels.
Reginald Bunthorne (Corey Nile Wingard) is a poet—ewww—who’s desired by all the ladies in town. He spends his days hanging around his estate, that he somehow can afford writing poetry; scribbling cheesy verse in a book; and being utterly infatuated with the local milkmaid, Patience (Kate Manuel), who he has like a 2% chance of getting with. The other women have a cow and become curious as to why Bunthorne desires someone common and potentially LECHErous, which ultimately does little to advance their own standing. But just as things start going smoothly, they quickly get spoiled by the arrival of, Archibald Grosvenor (Jordan Speranzo), a fellow poet—yuck—who can’t wait to start a life with Patience.
Patience is a production rife with fantastic performances, one of the most notable being by the live orchestra. Conducted by Guy Russo (who also serves as the show’s musical director) this group of musicians expertly soundtracks the songs and scenes throughout the story—using music to introduce the audience to the world being brought to life, all the way until the final notes are played. As far as the cast is concerned, every member is invaluable. The Chorus of Rapturous Maidens and the Chorus of Dragoon Guards are both heavily utilized, with many of the memorable moments coming from the teeming masses of talent.
The cast of “Patience.”
Supporting characters like Colonel Calverly (Andrew Mours), Lieut. The Duke of Dunstable (Zhen Yu Ding), and Major Murgatroyd (Don Gudenburr) are a delightful trio. Between ridiculous dialogue, silly physicality, and great chemistry as a group, these three bring ample amounts of comedy. Moving along, the main characters are brilliantly portrayed by their real life counterparts. Corey Nile Wingard is a phenomenal Bunthorne, getting totally immersed in the absurdity of the poet’s manufactured persona. Kate Manuel delivers a great performance as Patience, masterfully showcasing her struggle to figure out what she wants out of life while being an object of affection for two lovesick scribes. Jordan Speranzo rounds out the principal players with his amazing turn as Archibald Grosvenor.
The technical aspects of this show are executed by a superb production staff. Robert Hockenberry’s costuming is complemented by his extraordinary set design, the latter of which is a stunning castle and courtyard that hosts this show’s shenanigans. Lighting, helmed by Garth Schafer, is used to humorously heighten certain asides by casting performers in a red light that, infuses the horror with hilarity. A very interesting elements is the usage of screens to make the play more accessible to everyone, as well as a unique way for audience members to follow along.
What would a production of this size be without a proper stage? And what a stage it is! The Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center boasts an impressive theater, complete with sprawling hardwood and plenty of comfy seats. The rest of the space is interesting to explore during intermission, as there’s plenty of memorabilia and the like to look at. It’s great venue, and just one of the three The Pittsburgh Savoyards make use of to continue carrying on their legacy as a staple in local theatre. As they mount more productions and move beyond traditional shows with improv comedy nights and staged readings, they demonstrate why they’re on their 87th season.
-JS
“Patience” continues its run October 11-13th at the Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center in Ross Township. For additional details, please click here.
When Alannah Devlin (Sara Lindsey) gets an unexpected visit from her sister, Fianna Devlin (Phoebe Lloyd), all hell, literally and figuratively, breaks loose in Meghan Tyler’s “Crocodile Fever.”
If it’s not hell…it gets dangerously close. It’s hell adjacent.
The play is set during the height of the Troubles (Armagh, Northern Ireland in 1989) and tensions are already high before Fianna storms into the family homestead in hopes of reconciling with her sister after an eleven-year estrangement.
The Devlin sisters mix like fire and gasoline. The crazy gets kicked up a notch when they are together. They have only one thing in common…a paralyzing fear and deep-seated hatred of their father, Peter (Anthony McKay).
Alannah has dedicated her life to her invalid father, despite years of physical and verbal abuse. After an eight-year stint in jail, Fianna has joined the Irish Republican Army in hopes of freeing Ireland from the British rule.
Tyler’s play is filled with shock and awe. There are too many surprises to spoil the stew (there is actually a stew and the ingredients are also a secret). The play even has a special guest star that is comical and frightening. I hope not to see him later or in a while.
Take a Martin McDonagh play and imagine him being able to write strong women characters and you get Meghan Tyler.
From left to right: Fianna (Phoebe Lloyd) and Alannah (Sara Lindsey) try to reconcile their estranged relationship. Photo Credit: Patrick Hogan, courtesy of barebones productions
Lindsey plays Alannah as a devout Catholic girl with deep dark places in the nooks and crannies of her soul. She is marvelous.
Lloyd’s Fianna is brilliant. Fianna is a whirlwind of complex and complicated feelings and emotions and Lloyd jumps in with both feet. The play needed a strong, charismatic women to play the part and Lloyd is perfectly cast.
Max Pavel plays a British soldier with menace. Though the character only has a handful of lines, Pavel makes excellent use of each and every utterance.
Dialect coach Don Wadsworth does a terrific job with Alannah and Fianna’s Ulster accent, replete with phonemic vowels and colorful idioms.
Side note: To the next production company that mounts this insane play: Please consider adding a glossary of Irish slang in the back of the program or in a QR Code. Example: Craic (sounds like crack) is to have fun or make fun of someone.
Tony Ferrieri’s set is an Irish Catholic nun’s fever dream. It’s filled with more religious iconography than my nana’s house, complete with Heinrich Hofmann’s iconic print of “Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.”
In the middle of the play, there is a dramatic scene change that stunning, shocking and quite amazing. Kudos to Tolin FX and the stage hands for this macabre transition that is created in the dark with whip-like speed.
There is excellent lighting by 2024’s Pittsburgh New Works Festival Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Andrew David Ostrowski.
Director Patrick Jordan astounds with the closing play of barebones productions’ season.
While “Crocodile Fever” explores some dark territory it is filled with twists, shocks and…occasionally…belly laughs.
Parental advisory: This show is not for children, despite the fact that the box office held the most adorable and charming first-grader.
“Crocodile Fever” is a frightening fun house of a play filled with wit and audacity. It’s another Must-See in an incredible season of Pittsburgh theater.
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“Crocodile Fever” runs until October 20 at the Bingo O’Malley theater inside the barebones blackbox theatre, 1211 Braddock Avenue, Braddock, PA 15104. For more information, click here.
Reviewed by Dr. Tiffany Knight Raymond, PhD and Theron Raymond (6th grader)
At part of its 76th season, Little Lake Theatre Company brings Kate Hamill’s 2018 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s 1868 novel, Little Women, to the stage. While Alcott is typically associated with New England, she was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania.
Like many, I’ve read Little Women and seen multiple film versions (although not all seven film adaptations) from the 1933 version with Katharine Hepburn as Jo March to the most recent – Greta Gerwig’s 2019 Academy Award-nominated version. All this is to say Little Lake takes on the storied history with this much beloved, canonical classic.
[Editor’s Note: Be warned. Because of the popularity of the book and multiple film adaptations, the following information will not be considered spoilers.]
However, Little Lake is not daunted by the greats in bringing the four March sisters to the stage. Instead, they rise to the level of the greats thanks to director Meighan Lloyd Harding. Pacing-wise, the play does feel a bit long due to chronic set changes that slow the action and could be accelerated or simplified.
A barometric pressure test for any Little Women is to see if it has one tearing up at Beth’s passing. Harding’s production finds that valve with ease. Beth (Sophia Willis) is childlike. Willis is still in high school, occupying that liminal space between childhood and womanhood, which makes her Beth so authentic. She earnestly hugs her doll in nearly every scene. Prop designer Alex Keplar makes her doll heartbreakingly relatable with its matted hair – long-time lovie status made manifest. However, as someone long challenged with health issues, Beth also has a wisdom beyond her year and is a calming force as the “conscious” of the family.
The cast of “Little Women.”
Little Lake’s Amy (Kaylyn Farneth) is particularly petulant. She’s a bit exhausting and one-note as a tantrum-prone teen who’s coddled, yet quick to step on others with little disregard for their feelings. She’s the kind of neighbor who delights in reporting you to the HOA for overgrown hedges while simultaneously blaming you when her car clips your mailbox.
Meg (Carina Iannarelli) is often the least memorable March sister as she’s textbook conventional. Iannarelli upends that and shines. She transforms Meg from stern governess to starry-eyed bride to post-partum, exhausted mother of twins. Her character evolution is the broadest of the four sisters, and Iannarelli authentically conveys that spectrum-crossing journey. Meg stumbles back to her childhood home deranged with exhaustion and the toils of motherhood. Harding has Meg’s formerly coiffed hair askew in wanton tendrils, symbolic of her frazzled mental state.
Jo immediately embraces Meg’s return as a chance to return to the past. Meg recognizes the impossibility of that when she quietly asserts, “I’m Marmee now,” which is what the March girls call their mother. Parenting is wearing, but Meg will keep showing up.
Authoress Jo (Adrien-Sophia Curry) is the nucleus of Little Women, and Curry finds new depths in Jo. Jo is not just a woman determined to write in an era where that was unconventional. She’s also trapped between worlds. She is the most resistant to change, and her commitment to playing dress-up and acting out her plays of their childhood has a wistful nostalgia to it. The times have moved on, but she feels a bit stunted. Ultimately, it is her writing that saves her, not Laurie (a heartfelt performance by Sam Lander), the boy next door who wants to save her.
After a particularly bitter fight with Amy, Jo announces the two sisters have “nothing in common.” Watching Harding’s realization of Little Women, what strikes one is Hamill’s adaptation uses the four March sisters to literalize Robert Frost’s famous poem from 1915, “The Road Not Taken.” Frost pauses at a juncture and muses: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both / And be one traveler.” The four March sister emerges from the same childhood, and yet they travel four different roads.
Hamill helps us see the conventional Meg is no better or worse than her opposite, the unconventional Jo. All four sisters are a paradox in different ways that leave each pulled between worlds. Little Women ultimately still resonates 150+ years after its publication because it explores the conditions of the human condition. We can each only be one traveler, and yet, we long for more.
– TKR, Ph.D and TR
Little Lake Theatre Company’s production of Little Women runs through October 13, 2024 at Little Lake Theatre (500 Lakeside Drive, Canonsburg, PA). Purchase tickets online at https://www.littlelake.org/.
When five college kids, led by Ash (Brett Goodnack), convinces his friends to sneak into a supposedly-abandoned cabin in the woods, he has no idea what sort of mayhem he’s about to unleash in “Evil Dead – The Musical,” a musical based on the campy Sam Raimi horror-comedy franchise, “The Evil Dead.”
Ash takes his girlfriend, Linda (Kamilah Lay), his sister, Cheryl (Sabina May), his best friend, Scott (Brecken Newton Farrell) and a girl Scott picked up in a bar, the ditzy Shelly (Zanny Laird) to the haunted cabin.
The cabin’s previous occupant, Professor Knowby (Damon Oliver, Jr.) was secluded inside researching an ancient Sumerian text, the “Necronomicon Ex-Mortis,” when he recited an incantation in the book and all hell broke loose, literally and figuratively.
Somehow the mystical tome unleashes all sorts of carnage. It possesses people, it animates the trees in the forest to do its evil bidding, and even causes a mounted Moosehead to come alive and start talking trash.
The demons guarantee that the blood will flow. So much so, it gets all over the first couple of rows of the audience. There will be blood – and it will be hilarious.
Side note: Bring a poncho.
If any of this sounds insane, you’re absolutely correct. The insanity is the fun of “Evil Dead – The Musical.” The plot doesn’t matter. Sit back, embrace the craziness and have fun.
Annie (Zanny Laird) and Ash (Brett Goodnack) prepare to take on the demon zombies.
Ash is a dim-witted, self-important S-Mart employee with a heart of gold. Goodnack reprises the role he has played several years in a row for the Pittsburgh Musical Theater, and he is the perfect Ash. Aside from Goodnack (and the original actor, Bruce Campbell), it’s hard to imagine anyone else strutting around the stage, reciting the pithy tongue-in-cheek dialogue.
Laird, in a dual role as oversexualized bimbo Shelly and erudite, yet also oversexed, Annie, lights up the stage. The roles are vastly different, but Laird plays them with such verve.
Farrell’s Scott is a douche bag, but the actor manages to find his sensitive side, ironically, in a song, “What the F*@k Was That?”
May’s Cheryl is a demonic delight. She is the first to turn to the dark side, and uses her evil powers to deliver groan-worthy puns that even the corniest dads would dad-joke about.
The thing about a show like this is that the whole cast has to go balls-to-the-wall and tits out, and they do. Nick Mitchell directs the show for the fifth time and hasn’t lost the enthusiasm for the show. It is as kinetic and frenetic as it was in the first sold-out run back in 2017.
There’s some terrific music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris and George Reinblatt. The tunes will haunt you…in a earwormy way.
Side note: This reviewer danced the Necronomicon all the way back to his car, and hummed it all the way home.
“Evil Dead – The Musical” is for any Halloween aficionado, horror fans, comedy fans, and people who want to be soaked in fake blood. Grab a poncho and head to the West End.
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“Evil Dead – The Musical” runs until October 26 at the Pittsburgh Musical Theater, The West End Canopy, 327 South Main Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15220. For more information, click here.
