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Lyle Kessler’s comic drama, ORPHANS comes to Lawrenceville’s Aftershock Theater, 115 57th Street, May 31 through June 23rd.
ORPHANS is a dark and devastating family comedy centered on two orphaned brothers and their life-changing encounter with a wealthy and mysterious businessman.
The standalone production of 16 performances is directed by Ingrid Sonnichsen and produced by and starring Max Pavel, Dylan Marquis Meyers, and Ken Bolden. Sonnichsen has taught acting at CMU for decades and has staged such acclaimed productions as THE PINK UNICORN and BYHALIA, MISSISSIPPI. Pavel, Meyers and Bolden are familiar to local audiences from their extensive work at PICT Classic Theatre, Quantum Theatre, and Pittsburgh Public Theater.
The production team includes Cotter Smith (Netflix’s MINDHUNTER and RULES OF SECONDS at barebones), who consults on the production around a new rehearsal technique based on Active Analysis.
Playwright and Philadelphia native Lyle Kessler saw ORPHANS first produced in 1983 at The Matrix Theater Company in Los Angeles. It has been produced at companies such as Stepphenwolf in Chicago with a production that moved to Off-Broadway. In 2013, ORPHANS played on Broadway, garnering a number of award nominations and an enthusiastic fan base.
It’s one thing to get up on the wrong side of the bed, but it’s especially troubling when there’s someone else in the bed who doesn’t belong there.
That’s the dilemma Bill (Michael Greer) faces on his wedding day. Problem is that the woman in the bed is not his bride-to-be.
Fibs, untruths, lies, misleading conversations, exaggerations, role playing, mistaken identities unfold as Bill and his unwilling friend, Tom (Tim McGeever) attempt to create a charade, keeping bride-to-be Rachel (Hope Anthony) from finding out about Bill’s errant behavior. Pulled into the ruse unwittingly or under duress is “bed partner”, Judy (Julia Geisler), Julie the maid, (Julianne Avolio) and Rachel’s mom, Daphne (Christine Laitta).
This frenetic comedy takes place in the honeymoon suite of a fancy hotel; with a sitting room on half the stage, and the bedroom on the other. The actors make the acrobatics look effortless. The slapstick comedy is flawless and is essential to the success of “Perfect Wedding.”
As the play progresses, each character’s anger level and comedic characterizations increases as the fibs are unraveling and new fibs are created in their place. The chaos and conniving finally comes to a surprising conclusion.
Julie Geisler grabs Tim McGeever and drags him off the wedding cake in the promotional art for “Perfect Wedding.”
All the actors have great comedic skills and as an ensemble and they are uniformly talented, complementing one another. This is a comedy with complex scenarios that would not work without a coordinated group of actors.
McGeever is brilliant as Bill’s friend who gets pulled into the ruse. His melt down scene when he discovers that his girlfriend has been unfaithful is spot on.
Greer’s character initiates an entire scenario of events. He is a talented physical comic.
Anthony grows from an unaware bride-to-be to an effective, vocal, and determined bride-to-be.
Avolio’s delivery is excellent, her facial expressions are priceless. She is a natural comedienne.
In one of the only calm scenes, Geisler transitions from the agitated “bed partner” into a thoughtful, caring person.
Laitta is on mark as the overexuberant mother of the bride.
Michael Barakiva brilliantly directed Robin Hawdon’s script.
“Perfect Wedding” is an energetic romp designed to tickle your funny bone.
CED
“Perfect Wedding” runs through August 12 at Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, go here.
Everyone – or nearly everyone – has read a poem or two in their lives. Some of us may have even written one. Picture your angsty teenage reflection toiling over a line about the hunky high school football star or the unfairness of an allowance reduction by the despotic leaders of your family circle.
Poetry is cathartic. It releases the primal feelings of love and hatred, loneliness, poverty, desperation – all the feelings that come very naturally with being human and all the situations that we sometimes fail so gloriously to articulate. Spoken words have even greater power; thrusting-out the emotions that lie two dimensionally on a page.
Pittsburgh is home to some amazing poetry slammers. These are men and women who serenade us with the same passion, the same intensity that forced their pens to move. Slam poetry is performance poetry, and some refer to it as three-dimensional poetry. The participants get to experience the feelings in the moment by hearing the words spoken with the same unadulterated passion the poet felt at the moment they were drawn write.
“Backpack” Jeff Young demonstrates his poetry prowess at the mic. Photo Credit: Stacey Christe (Coraopolis Business Association).
Coraopolis is the newest home to one of these poetry slams. Financially sponsored and organized by Christopher and Tiffany Myler, who are the owners of a local holistic healing business, Raion Zou Holistic Healing, the Coraopolis Poetry Slam came to life on January 13th. Some people may ask how you make the connection between the business and the poetry slam. To Christopher Myler, who spent his formidable years slamming around Pittsburgh, the connection is simple – anything that allows us to express ourselves, who we are, and how we feel in the present moment is healing.
The rules are simple: all poets must bring three original poems. Being a competition, it is a three round elimination. Judges are selected randomly from the audience, and poets are scored on a 0 – 30 basis founded in how the poem moves each judge. The mean of each score is used to determine who advances to the next round. In the final elimination round, the poet with the highest score wins a cash prize.
The Coraopolis Poetry Slam has attracted the attention of slammers from all over the Pittsburgh area, and as far as Uniontown, PA. It is hosted by Andy Theobald, owner of Anchor Anvil Coffee Bar in Coraopolis. Anchor Anvil was proud to be the host site for the poetry slams. The Coraopolis Poetry Slam occurs on a bi-monthly basis, and it is free and open to the public.
The next slam is June 23rd beginning at noon, and sign-ups are open. If you wish to participate or observe, for more information, click here.
A lyricist collapses from an arteriovenous malformation in his brain, and needs a craniotomy in William Finn’s semiautobiographical musical, “A New Brain.”
While trying to compose a song for a children’s show, Gordon Schwinn (John Wascavage) starts to unravel. He’s writing pabulum instead of producing great work and the frustration is wearing him down. At lunch with his agent, Rhoda (Meredith Kate Doyle), he gets dizzy and hallucinates. He pictures Mr. Bungee (Matthew J. Rush) the tyrannical puppet master and puppet from the kid’s show he works on. Before his entrée arrives, he slumps over. Soon, paramedics arrive and he’s off to the hospital. His mother, Mimi (Becki Toth) rushes to his side, trying to whole-heartedly convince herself that everything is going to be A-Okay in show-stopping number, “Mother’s Gonna Make Things Fine.”
Gordon is attended by two nurses – one mean nurse, Nancy D. (Lauren Maria Medina), and one nice nurse, Richard (Brady D. Patsy). Dr. Berensteiner (Pierre Mballa); and the Minister (David leong) also tend to his needs – medical and spiritual (though Gordon has little use for the padre).
Before going under the knife, our hero is awaiting the arrival of his boyfriend, Roger (Jeremy Spoljarick), who is off sailing. Roger docks before the operation. The boyfriend pleads for one last night together before the operation, but Gordon chooses to work on peppy kid’s tune, “Yes” for the TV show instead.
Snarky side note: They won’t be doing this one at the Palisade Playhouse.
As Gordon awaits his operation, the audience gets a glimpse into the lives of the people around him, Roger, Mimi and even the flamboyant, nice nurse, Richard. We also peer into the life of Lisa (Drew Leigh Williams), a homeless woman looking for change – monetary and…perhaps some physical, spiritual or mental change as well.
Additional snarky side note: Drew Leigh Williams is very attractive and the production team dressed her down in jeans and flannel to portray Lisa, but she still looked too lovely to be homeless. Her look is reminiscent of Lucille Ball, when Lucy Ricardo would dress up like a bum but still wear her famous matte red lipstick and Max Factor eye shadow.
There are a lot of peripheral characters in “A New Brain” and they all get some nice moments. A Waitress (Mei Lu Branum) sings about the specials of the day. Homeless Lisa gets a song (HomeLisa). Big Gay Richard gets a song. Everybody gets a song! It’s like an iPod set to random. It’s a bit disjointed. Luckily, they are all glorious little tunes, and they are all sung beautifully.
The cast is perfect. Every single one of them.
Wascavage is a delight as the neurotic composer. Finn’s Schwinn is hard to like. There’s an edge to Gordon’s acerbic personality; Wascavage softens it, but never dulls it.
Toth is outstanding. She belts out every tune, and hits every note. She’s Pittsburgh’s very own Ethel Merman. Mimi is very much like every Merman character from Rose in “Gypsy” to Mrs. Marcus in “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World!” She’s a joy to watch in every scene and every song.
Spoljarick does a fantastic job as well.
Rush is (literally and figuratively) armed with the world’s cutest despot, Mr. Bungee, the Anti-Kermit, who is more martinet than marionette. Rush is magnificent as the malevolent Muppet (say that three times fast).
Patsy gets some great moments to shine with “Poor, Unsuccessful and Fat” and “I’m Eating Myself Up Alive” are really fun songs delivered beautifully with his rich, deep voice.
Williams gets several bright moments as well. Her duet with Spoljarick, “A Really Lousy Day in the Universe” is stunning.
A live orchestra led by Deana Muro is seated somewhere below the stage, invisible but invincible.
There’s a wildly imaginative set by Frank Blackmore. Picture it, a piano with pages and pages of music sheets flying upward toward the ceiling in a tornado of potential melodies.
Director Connor McCanlus does a marvelous job directing. The pace is quick and the wit is served very dry. It’s a very brisk and kinetic.
Side note: There is no intermission: watch your fluid intake and plan accordingly.
While “A New Brain” is a heavy subject for a musical, and the characters and plot are scattered like the sheets of music on the set, but it’s still a wonderfully fun work of art.
“A New Brain” is at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, click here.
When a military man returns home after a three year absence, he learns that his family unit has undergone radical changes in Taylor Mac’s “Hir.”
Isaac (Tad Cooley) might not expect hero’s welcome home after being dishonorably discharged for a drug violation, but he does not expect his family home to be completely upended. When he arrives, the formerly pristine home is in chaos, piles of clothes on the floor, dishes in the sink, nothing in the cupboards. It’s a pigsty, squalid and disgusting. However, it’s nothing compared to the changes his mother, father and sister have made.
Isaac’s father Arnold (Douglas Rees) is a lumbering Frankenstein monster with make-up, a clown wig and a house dress; a stroke made the violent dad a docile creature. Now that she’s no longer under his thumb, Isaac’s mother Paige (Helena Ruoti) has freed herself from the shackles of her unhappy marriage and jumped into the driver’s seat. And, to top it all off, Isaac’s sister Maxine is now Max (Liam Ezra Dickinson), transitioning from female-to-male.
Paige explains the alphabet soup of the LGBTQQIAAP community to Isaac who is struggling to make sense of all the bizarre changes his family has undergone. The eponymous title comes from the Trans community vocabulary, a combination of his and her. There is another word, ‘Ze’ that is morphed version of he and she that is bandied about in the play.
Isaac’s head spins at the profound developments. Suddenly his crystal meth addiction seems tame in comparison to the new family dynamic.
Sympathies for the characters in “Hir” shift constantly like tectonic plates in the San Andreas Fault line. Sometime you’re fully on Paige’s side – until you’re not. Sometimes Isaac seems like the most reasonable normal one – until he isn’t. You can love and hate all four at the same time, but you will never feel indifference. Their passions consume them and it’s easy to get swept up in the pandemonium.
The play is about gender fluidity, toxic masculinity, physical abuse, drug abuse and more. It’s remarkably funny and tragic at the same time. There’s a lot to absorb. The first act is funny, but a little preachy. The second act hits you like a punch in the face. Like Hawaii’s Kilauea, “Hir” bubbles beneath the surface until it explodes, producing fissures in multiple directions.
A bizarre family photo; Arnold (Douglas Rees), Paige (Helena Ruoti), Isaac (Tad Cooley) and Max (Liam Ezra Dickinson). Photo Credit: Duane Rieder.
The play is perfectly cast and the performances are brilliant.
Ruoti is a firecracker. She embraces Paige with gusto. Every line reading is special. At one point, she tells Isaac that his father – after working thirty three years for the same plumbing company – lost his job to a Chinese-American woman she announces, “It was fantastic!” She’s slap-happy with schadenfreude.
Rees lumbers and shambles around the room like the Addams’ Family’s stoic butler, Lurch, on Quaaludes. Deep down, however, Arnold is a swirling miasma of brutality. It’s incredibly nuanced performance from an actor with so few lines of dialogue.
Isaac’s reactions are comical at first, but the character gets progressively darker. Cooley handles the role with aplomb.
Dickinson is Trans playing Trans. Not to overstate it, but it feels like a defining moment in the Pittsburgh theater scene, considering that, in larger American cities, Cisgender performers were cast as Max. It’s not just stunt casting, Dickinson is marvelous in the role.
Kudos to director and barebones founder Patrick Jordan for producing a subversive and funny play.
Special shout out to fight director Randy Kovitz for realistic and unnerving scenes of brutality.
“Hir” is disturbing in all the ways theater should be. You may love it or you may hate it, but it will move you. The play stays with you long after you leave the theater. It’s a winning production.
-MB
“Hir” runs until May 26 at the barebones black box theater, 1211 Braddock Avenue, Braddock, PA 15104. For more information, click here.
A hotshot marine regrets his participation in a misogynistic competition when he starts to fall for the allegedly unattractive woman he brings to an Ugly Date Contest in “Dogfight.”
In 1963, Birdlace (Adam Speers), Bolland (Ryan Hadbavny) and Bernstein (Michael Tarasovich), AKA the Three B’s, are given shore leave in San Francisco one night before they deploy to Vietnam. On their one free evening, they – along with a few other marines – decide to fuck with some ugly women by holding the aforementioned unseemly competition.
P.S. If you’re offended in the use of the F word in the review, the show is definitely not for you. The men curse more often than they break into song in this musical.
Birdlace meanders into a diner where he hits on the proprietor Mama (Stephanie Ottey) and then moves in on to the daughter, Rose (Kristin Welch). Rose is by no means unattractive. She does have one unfortunate handicap. Rose was born without any fashion sense. She wears a big poufy dress with a bright yellow bow in her hair.
Birdlace lies to her, cajoles her and then invites her to the party. On the way to the main event, Birdlace begins to have doubts about inviting this shy, awkward girl to the heinous affair.
Rose reveals, in song, that it’s her first date. She’s excited to be on the muscly arm of the marine.
There’s one rule to this soiree: The men are not allowed to use prostitutes to participate. Bolland breaks the rule and invites Marcy (Ashley Harmon), a hooker with a set of false teeth, who spills the beans to Rose in the ladies’ room. Rose is crushed and runs out.
The Three B’s decide to continue their carousing, drinking and hiring prostitutes. When a weary hooker (Candice Fisher) wants to call it quits for the evening, the troupe…um…insists she assist Bernstein with his rite of passage to manhood, literally ‘twisting her arm’ into it. Birdlace realizes how awful his comrades are and rushes back to apologize to Rose and tries to win her back.
The Three B’s – Bolland (Ryan Hadbavny), Bernstein (Michael Tarasovich), and Birdlace (Adam Speers) – are out on the town. Photo credit: Friedman Wagner Dobbler.
Way inside theater reference: “Dogfight” is like “Violet” told from Monty’s perspective.
Welch is the shining star here. She looks like Sally Field in “Gidget.” She’s cute, perky and lovable – even in the poufy dress. The girl can sing! She is a powerhouse, and the number one reason to see this show.
Tarasovich is also wonderful. He’s the most nuanced of the Three B’s. He makes Bernstein likable with a few deft gestures and a bright smile.
Fisher is hilarious in three different roles. The actor made each character unique and distinct. It’d be challenging to pick a favorite of her character roles, but the nearly silent and comical Ruth Two Bears is way up there.
Jeff Way is delightful as a snooty Maître D of a high-priced San Francisco restaurant.
“Dogfight” is tough to watch in our #metoo world. Women are treated extremely badly and the men brush it off in song (Hometown Hero’s Tickertape Parade), and excuse it away with, “Your dad did it. Your grandfather did it” as if reprehensible behavior should be considered a tradition. It’s important to shine a light on the subject, but it is tough to watch, especially in a musical.
When Birdlace returns from Vietnam, a hippie spits on him. You’re supposed to pity his sad welcome home, but he kinda deserves it.
Jeremy Eiben’s costumes and Cara Walkowiak’s hair and wigs will bring you back to the 60s.
There’s some fun music in “Dogfight.” Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have a few repetitious lyrics but they are catchy, and Cara Walkowiak does some brilliant work with the choreography. Director Rob James also does a remarkable job with a troupe of community theater actors.
It won’t be long before Welch levels up to Equity. You should see her just so you can say, “I knew her when…”
“Dogfight” runs through May 20 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here.
Important historical figures of the Twentieth Century converge at a Parisian bar for wine, frivolity and intellectual discourse in Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.”
A young patent clerk named Albert Einstein (Steve Gottschalk) is an early arrival at the titular bar, the Lapin Agile, which roughly translates into Nimble Rabbit. He’s so early, that the owner Freddy (Jenine Peirce) points out that he has, indeed, arrived out of order, according to the play’s program. He’s forced to leave, only to return minutes later, after Germaine (Lee Lytle) makes her entrance. It’s a surreal moment at the beginning of the play that lets the audience know that they’re in for a silly bit of fun.
Before the aforementioned artist arrives, a cast of bizarre characters haunt the watering hole. Gaston (Patrick Conner) is a lecherous old Frenchman, who reminisces about his former sexual conquests, meets Suzanne (Hannah Brizzi), a young woman who is hoping to have another chance encounter with Pablo Picasso (Nico Bernstein).
Other barflies include Sagot (Samantha A. Camp), a swaggering art dealer, the self-aggrandizing Schmendiman (Chris Duvall) and the mysterious Visitor (Stephen Ray), who breaks the barrier of the Time/Space Continuum to raise a glass with the masters of art and science.
“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is not Martin’s best work. Literarily, it’s closer to “Cruel Shoes” than “Shop Girl,” but there are several laugh out loud moments. It’s absurd and pseudo-intellectual. Think Steve Allen’s “Meeting of the Minds” meets Jay Sommers’ “Green Acres.”
Warning: The Fourth Wall will break so often you’ll expect Deadpool to show up.
There is a profound statement underneath all of the humor. The beginning of the Twentieth Century is defined by science and arts, and the latter half is defined by rock n’ roll. One can only imagine where the Twenty First Century will end up.
Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon or The Young Ladies of Avignon from 1907.
“Lapin Agile” is brimming over with witty bon mots, and, in places, it’s riotously funny.
Gottschalk is a cute Einstein. He gets a huge laugh from a referential portrait of the famed scientist.
Conner’s Gaston is a trip. He is charismatic and charming even while being lecherous.
Bernstein is a portrait of an artist as a young man. His costume looks as if it fell out of Renoir’s “Boating Party.” Costume designer Alex Righetti draped him in a marinière and beret, an outfit of a French sailor.
Duvall cut through the scenery with a knife. He plays a larger than life character larger than life! He’s hilarious every second he’s on stage.
Alas, Martin’s play would not pass the Bechtel Test. In the text, the only time women spoke, they spoke of men or love. Director Dan Freeman, however, evened the playing field somewhat by casting women in the roles of Freddy and Sagot; particularly talented women in Peirce and Camp.
Peirce’s Freddy gets some of the best lines. When one bar patron adds “No pun intended,” Freddy quickly quips, “No pun achieved.” Her performance is one of the best in the show.
Many puns are intended in “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” but not all of them are achieved. However it’s a bright and enthusiastic cast and a lively ninety minutes up until Elvis has left the building.
“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” runs May 4th to May 12th at the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre space, 937 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
A sullen, young man, still grieving from his father’s death, learns that there’s something rotten in the state of Denmark in William Shakespeare’s iconic “Hamlet.”
Warning: Spoilers ahead. In fairness, it is a five hundred-year-old play.
Hamlet (Matthew Amendt) discovers his father has been murdered by Claudius (David Whalen). He just doesn’t have any proof. After all, the truth was revealed to him by a ghost (Darren Eliker), and they are not the most reliable sources. Here’s where the family tree gets very gnarled. Claudius was the king’s brother, Hammy’s uncle. Paging Dr. Phil! Stat!
The young Dane says, “A little month, or ere those shoes were old with which she followed my poor father’s body, Like Niobe, all tears—why she, even she(O, God, a beast, that wants discourse of reason – Would have mourned longer!), married with my uncle, my father’s brother, but no more like my father than I to Hercules.”
Note: You may not remember this from your high school Humanities class, but insults fly from Hamlet’s mouth like Don Rickles at Caesar’s Palace. He’s chock full of good poetical zingers.
Everyone, except his best bud, Horatio (Andrew William Miller), thinks he’s bonkers. The royal advisor, Polonius (Matt Sullivan), believes his madness springs from his yearning for his daughter, Ophelia (Jenny Leona). His behavior frightens his mom, Gertrude (Caris Vujcec), who just wants Hamlet to accept that she’s now married to his uncle.
But Hamlet is shrewd. He’s playing crazy to catch the newly crowned king in his deceit. He must ascertain his uncle’s guilt and avenge his father’s death. His procrastination, however, causes untold tragedy.
Fasten your seatbelts. It’s a quick ride. One of the best things about Ted Pappas’ direction is the dialogue and monologues are delivered swiftly. It’s less Sir Lawrence Oliver and more “Gilmore Girls.”
Matthew Amendt as Hamlet holding the skull of Yorick. Photo credit: Michael Henninger.
Amendt is amazing as Hamlet. He commands the O’Reilly stage as if he owns it. He is magnetic.
Side note: In 2009, the Royal Shakespeare Company adapted a version of the play for the small screen with David Tennant in the titular role. Amendt’s interpretation of the Prince of Denmark was reminiscent of Tennant’s performance.
Whalen rules as Claudius. He is riveting as the murderous king. There’s a magnificent soliloquy where Claudius prays for forgiveness after his evil deed. It was an electric performance.
Vujcec is a strong Gertrude. It’s hard not to want to jump up from your seat when she drinks from the poisoned chalice (Spoilers – you were warned).
One of the hardest roles in “Hamlet” is Polonius. Play him too large and the doddering, old fool becomes too broad and ridiculous. Play him too small and the audience will overlook the satirical nature of the character. Sullivan gives us the Goldilocks moment and plays it just right.
Constantin Stanislavski’s once remarked, “There are no small parts, just small actors.”
Hamlet is brimming with small parts, but not small actors. Tony Bingham delivers a deliciously humorous monologue as a gravedigger. Alan Synder and Luke Halferty bring a lot to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Erika Strasberg, Quinn Patrick Shannon, Don DiGiulio, Darren Eliker and Monteze Freeland are big actors in small roles. They each bring joy to the stage in each of their brief appearances.
In the last act, there’s dynamic sword work thanks to Fight Director Randy Kovitz.
Scenic Designer James Noone is elegant but sparse. The set is simple but lavish. A series of columns stand at attention, guarding a rotunda. The rotunda acts as the throne room, the palace walls, a bedroom, etc.
This is an effervescent production. While Pappas hits some of the jokes a little too hard, particularly the bawdy line, “Do you think I meant COUNTRY matters?” Overall, it’s a glorious final bow for director Ted Pappas, who is stepping away as the Producing Artistic Director for the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and handing the reins over to Marya Sea Kaminski.
Gentle reader, I implore you. If the Bard doth please you, get thee to the O’Reilly!
-MB
“Hamlet” runs until May 20 at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
A young woman uncomfortably awaits the birth of her baby in the company of her cranky mother and her unemployed husband – – unaware that the child’s arrival will cause immediate chaos in Evan Linder’s “Byhalia, Mississippi.”
Tensions are frayed between Laurel (Erika Cuenca) and her mother, Celeste (Virginia Wall Gruenert), as they await the arrival of the long overdue child. Celeste decides to go back home to Jackson, MS, but not until she unleashes a litany of complaints about her son-in-law Jim (Brandon Meeks), who, unbeknownst to mother and daughter, is listening to the argument over the baby monitor while smoking a joint on the roof of the house.
Note: While watching “Byhalia, Mississippi” one must pay close attention to the baby monitor. It’s an object of great importance. It’s a gun and a Deus ex Machina. Let’s call it Chekov’s baby monitor.
Jim had returned from job hunting when he discovered the aforementioned baby monitor. During his job search, Laurel learns that he approached her boss, the high school principal, looking for a position there.
Additional side note: While we never see the high school principal, his presence looms large over the show.
When the Caucasian couple finally gives birth, it’s immediately clear that Jim is not the father. Call Jerry Springer! Stat! Jim jumps to conclusions and accuses his best friend, Carl (Lamar K. Cheston), of the infidelity, pummeling him into submission on the living room floor.
Celeste reacts poorly to having an interracial grandchild. Then, there’s the surprise visit from Ayesha Price (Hope Anthony), the wife of the high school principal.
Jim (Brandon Meeks) and Laurel (Erika Cuenca) enjoy a moment of quality time on the roof of the house. Photo credit: Heather Mill
Director Ingrid Sonnichsen has a masterful touch, but she’s also blessed with a very talented cast.
Cuenca is magnificent as the young woman struggling to keep all the pieces of her life together in one pile. It’s a beautiful performance.
Gruenert is a powerful presence on the stage. Her Celeste is brash, loud and controlling, issuing ultimatums that go unheeded.
Meeks is delightful as the affable slacker who believes his whole future is shattered by the skin color a small baby. He has an engaging smile that, most likely, lets him get away with far too much.
Cheston and Anthony have smaller parts but each of them gets a chance to shine, and they shine brilliantly.
Anthony is in a tricky situation. It would have been easy for her character to fall into the angry black woman trope, but she finds nuances in the role.
Adrienne Fischer’s set is tribute to the height of white trash culture – if there can be such a thing. Think Roseanne Connor’s iconic living room, sans C.M. Coolidge’s “His Station and Four Aces” i.e. “Dogs Playing Poker.”
Linder tackles some hot button issues in “Byhalia, Mississippi,” but, basically, the show is about acts of forgiveness. Mark Twain once said, “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” While “Byhalia, Mississippi” delivers some crushing blows, there is a pleasant release.
-MB
“Byhalia, Mississippi” runs from April 20 to May 5 at the Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main Street, Carnegie, PA 15106. For additional information, click here.
The things you learn on an evening out! I always thought that gauchos were found in the pampas of Argentina, which they are. But the gaucho culture spills over national boundaries into Uruguay, Chile and Southern Brazil, especially in the state of Rio Grande do Sol.
South American cowboys, gauchos are famous for barbecue, like their American cousins. They like to build fires in trenches, then place large chunks of meat on skewers, position them on poles and slowly rotate them for an amazing result.
A bit of Southern Brazilian gaucho has arrived in Downtown Pittsburgh this week with the opening of a Brazilian churrasqueira in the building that once housed Sax Fifth Avenue. Named Fogo de Chao (Portuguese for fire on the ground) the stylish restaurant is one of 53 locations worldwide including 12 in Brazil and two in the Middle East (Dubai and Saudi Arabia).
Abuzz with activity the evening of my dining experience, the restaurant is spacious with the bar to the right of the entrance followed by a wall of wines behind glass panels. Further back, the open kitchen sports three vertical rotisserie grills, each capable of fire roasting 36 rotating skewers of meat.
Interior of Fogo de Chao. photo: Bill Rockwell
In the middle of the room, the Marketplace, really a huge salad bar with (would you believe it?) over 60 different items and a make-it-yourself feijoada bar where you can build your own version of Brazil’s national dish. Grab a cup, spoon in some rice, ladle onto some black bean/ beef/sausage soup and finish it with a dusting of yucca flour (farofa) and hot sauce made with the malagueta chile.
Under the watchful eye of Paixao Cortes peering down from a 15-foot plaque in the center of the room replicating the statue in Porto Alegre, Brazil, of the man prominent in gaucho culture, I filled my salad plate with tidbits like smoked salmon, hearts of palm, slices of cheeses from around the world, charcuterie, lentil and quinoa salad, and quinoa tabouli – everything labeled for easy identification.
Fresh and Nutritious- Something for Vegetarians and Carnivores Alike – photo: Bill Rockwell
Once the salad course was over the real nitty-gritty begins. Simply by turning over the coaster given every diner at Fogo from the red side to green, you summon the parade of waiters who come by singly dressed in white shirts with red kerchiefs and gaucho pants that balloon from the knee up. They arrive with a long skewer of meat placed on a silver boat to catch the drippings and cut off slices you’re supposed to grab onto with a pair of silver tongs.
What makes the experience extraordinary is that you’ll be able to sample to your hearts content 17 different meats. These include three lambs (ribs, steak and leg of), several chicken, drumsticks marinated for 24 hours in brandy and beer, linguica sausage, pork ribs and Parmesan coated loin and more than a half dozen different cuts and styles of beef.
A Friendly Server/Gaucho with a Skewer of Marinated Chicken Drumsticks. photo: Bill Rockwell
To accompany the carnivorous feast, servers put down a plate of cheesy bread puffs, some caramelized plantain, polenta logs and creamy mashed potatoes. With all the red meat to consider, I opted for a glass of Fogo de Chao Malbec, a label made specially for the restaurant. Interestingly enough, there are several selections of Brazilian wines from the Serra Gauche region sold only by the bottle.
General manager, Nick Croge, says the parade of skewered meat is a show within a show or what he also calls “organized chaos.” Actually, I was quite amazed at how smoothly and synchronized everything went on preview night, three days before the official opening on April 23.
You might want to start or end your meal with a caipirinha, Brazil’s answer to the mojito, made with cachaca (a potent sugar-based whiskey), sugar cane and lime wedges. There’s also a Brazilian Gentleman, made with Knob Creek rye, passion fruit puree, gum syrup, Ramos Tawny Port, Amazon Chancho bitters and honey elixir.
And yes, there are desserts, nine of them in fact, but my tip is to try the Tres Leches Cake.
Croge said about 90% of the beef is Angus from Texas with the remaining 10% Angus from Wisconsin. The lamb hails from New Zealand. The salad bar is also said to be 90% gluten free (so watch out for the Italian bread) and the entire menu is 90% gluten free as well.
For pescatarians, there are several fish and seafood options (the seafood tower sounds wonderful and is served with mango malagueta relish). Vegetarians can comfortably and adventurously graze through the copious salad bar and even order special grilled vegetables.
Fogo de Chao, located on the corner of Smithfield and Oliver in Downtown Pittsburgh, is open for lunch and dinner 7 days a week. Brunch on weekends.. Phone 412-312-5001 or visit website.
