Category: The Shaker

 

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

God (Marcus Stevens) comes down to Earth speak with humanity in David Javerbaum’s comedy, “An Act of God,” and all hell breaks loose.

The Creator, accompanied by two of his best buds, Angels Gabriel (John Shepard) and Michael (Tim McGeever), complete with white linen robes and feathery white wings, trek down to Terra Firma to enlighten us mere mortals. God has got a lot on his omnipotent, omniscient mind.

By the way, the Supreme Being looks like Marcus Stevens for a reason. The Almighty is using Stevens’ body as a Holy Sock Puppet, speaking his words of wisdom through the beloved Broadway actor (and Point Park graduate). You see, God thinks middle men like Moses, Muhammad et al. have mucked up his holy message. The Lord is here to set the record straight.

It’s Life, the Universe and Everything in a brisk 90 minutes (no intermission). Jehovah’s perspective is decidedly different. Papa’s got a brand new bag. The Most High might refer to Javerbaum when he wrote the show. It’s pretty out there, and it’s sure to offend the most devout of any religion, be ye Christian, Muslim or Jew.

Picture Fractured Fairy Tales of the Old and New Testament. Things do get real when God does express remorse for the life and death of his middle child, Jesus. Though, the Christ child comes off like Jan Brady in God’s version.

Javerbaum started the story with a Twitter handle called, TheTweetOfGod, and morphed those tweets into a full-fledged Broadway play.

The actors are fantastic. Stevens is effervescent as the Eternal Father. He bounces around on stage filled with spirit (Holy or otherwise). His gap-toothed smile lights up the theater. He’s a joy to watch.

Shepard is an actually dressed like a shepherd…of God (with the aforementioned heavenly wings). The actor has a commanding voice and a big presence. Though his role is small, he makes it big.

Nerd Note: His character is similar to Gwen DeMarco/Lt. Tawny Madison (Sigourney Weaver) in “Galaxy Quest,” repeating words that flash on an overhead projector.

McGeever is only performing in plays with God in the title this year. He went from City Theatre’s “Hand of God” to the Public’s “An Act of God.” Ironic, don’t you think?

McGeever’s Michael is sort of the every man angel. His character says the things we’re thinking; and voices the questions we want to ask. He performs with precision and aplomb. It would be hard to imagine any other actor in the role after seeing McGeever’s interpretation.

Director Ted Pappas keeps things moving along with sharp pace (no intermission helps the evening move along nicely).

Sound Designer Zach Moore and Lighting Designer Andrew David Ostrowski bring in thunder and lightning to the stage. Scenic Designer Michael Schweikardt’s stage is walk in the clouds with some tasteful white furnishings. It’s an absolutely heavenly combination of sight and sound.

The only drawback, and it’s a rather large one, is that “An Act of God” is more thoughtful than humorous. It’s billed as a raucous comedy, and it is, at best, mildly amusing. Not nearly as funny as “Buyer & Cellar” or even as witty as “Tru,” past Public productions (say that three times fast).

It may, however, challenge your world view. The play may either enlighten you or piss you off. You get to make the final judgement.  It might not be the funniest comedy, but it is certainly a revelation, and the cast is worth the price of admission.

“An Act of God” runs through Sunday, July 2 at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.

– MB

 

by Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

When you think back to Christopher Isherwood’s “Cabaret,” you might think that Germany’s cabarets were all about the songs, sex and wild times. But the cabaret was more than a just a place to eat, drink and be merry. It was a place of resistance. It was more than just fun times. It was a movement.

There’s a new cabaret in town, and you can resist and be entertained at the same time.  On Thursday, June 1st, you can attend “Existence, Persistence, Resistance, ” an evening showcasing women that is also a special benefit for Planned Parenthood. A roster of local talent will be performing songs written by award-winning female artists, as well as several new works by local writers. Hear local talents such as Cassidy Adkins, Elizabeth Boyke, Hilary Caldwell, Cynthia Dougherty, Catherine Gallagher, Natalie Hatcher, Caroline Nicolian, Gena Sims, Monica Stephenson, Katie Trupiano and Sandy Zwier belting out some tunes for an important cause.

Caldwell, who organized the event, chose the Off the Wall Productions at the Carnegie Stage for specific reasons. She said, “Off the Wall Productions is one of the theaters in this city consistently taking risks with their seasons. [Executive Artistic Director Virginia Wall Gruenert] picks shows that are extremely topical, heart-wrenching, soul-searching, visceral and funny. All the shows, ultimately, explore what it means to be human. Their mission is so clear, and the dedication they have to the promotion and welfare of female theater artists is admirable. They understand, at the heart of what they do, the importance of inclusiveness in the community, and I responded so immediately and instinctively to that.”

Catherine Gallagher (“A Pirates Tale”) said, “When Hilary [Cadwell] invited me to join this cabaret, I knew I immediately I had to get involved. It is an extraordinary experience to share the stage with such powerful, driven women, but to do so for such a relevant and universal cause made my decision a no-brainer. I think in the current political climate, we are all looking for a way to help. You may feel overwhelmed or like you can’t make a difference, but you don’t have to protest on a large scale. Start small. Lend your talents, lend your time.”

Gallagher added, “Imagine what we can do if every woman in this country took those steps. I am proud to support Planned Parenthood, and I am honored to perform on June 1^st for such an impactful organization.”

Caroline Nicolian (“Toxic Avenger: The Musical”) is also thrilled to be participating in the cabaret.

Nicolian said, “Planned Parenthood has helped me out when I didn’t have any health insurance. It is an absolute necessity to keep them thriving in the community.” She added, “I am so happy to support them in any way possible.”

All of the proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood.

You can join the resistance, by going to “Existence, Persistence, Resistance” on Thursday June 1 at 7:00 pm at the Carnegie Stage, 25 West Main Street, Carnegie PA 15106. For more information, click here

– MB

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli

Land ho! The Tony award-winning show, “Peter and the Star Catcher,” just came ashore in Carnegie. The play is based on the young adult novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson of the same name. Think of it as tall tales with tall sails. The YA novel was adapted into a play by Rick Elice. Barry, Pearson and Elice add to J. M. Barrie’s original stories about the boy who doesn’t want to grow up.

Batten down your hatches, there’s a lot of plot to cover. When Lord Leonard Aster (J. P. Welsh) sets sail for Mollusk Island on the H.M.S. Wasp, he is charged with protecting very important steamer trunk for the queen of England (God save her!). A nefarious game of bait-and-switch causes the cargo to fall under the care of his daughter Molly (Casey Duffy) who is on a separate ship, the Neverland. The trunk contains a precious treasure, and on the high seas, treasure is often plundered by pirates. In the immortal words of Oda Mae Brown, “Molly, you in danger, girl!”

Molly and her nanny, Mrs. Bumbrake (Cody Sweet), have been consigned to their cabin (for their own safety), but that doesn’t stop the free-spirited girl from abandoning Bumbrake and exploring the vessel. The girl meets a Boy (Nate Willey). He is a capital B Boy since the orphan has no name of his own.  He and his companions, Prentiss (Jake Smith) and Ted (Charles Buescher Rowell) are captives on the ship (paired down to two from the swarm of boys in the novel version). The boys are destined to be crock meat once Bill Slank (Jim Froelich) hands them over to the natives on Mollusk Island.

Enter Black Stache (Brett Goodnack) and his band of unscrupulous-yet-incompetent pirates. Molly and her newfound friends must triumph over the pirates and keep the treasure safe.

In case you were wondering the trunk contains starstuff, magical dust from a comet’s tail. The starstuff’s magical properties turn a fish into mermaid, a bird into a pixie and a Boy into a legend.

If you haven’t guessed by now, “Peter and the Star Catcher” is Peter Pan’s origin story. There are some wonderful and magical moments from Messrs. Barry and Pearson and Elice, but all three of them are no match for J. M. Barrie. It doesn’t have the heart and soul of Peter Pan, but there are some nice moments. Blame the overabundance of scatological jokes in the play. There are so many jokes about flatulence that body odor is practically a subplot.

While there’s a plethora of juvenile jokes, a gem sneaks in every now and again. There are a few particularly hearty laugh out loud moments. Guffaws are especially robust when the second act opens to a kick-line of dudes dressed as mermaids. P.S. Once all the exposition is out of the way, the second act sails along smoothly.

Not everyone is made of starstuff in this show, but I came to praise Peter not pan him. Willey does a great job as the Boy who believes in fairies. The real hero in this story is Molly and Duffy does a marvelous job as the lead.

Smith and Rowell do a fine job as Molly’s accomplices, and Sweet is hilarious as the nanny in bad drag.

But it’s the black-mustachioed villain who takes the cake, and whatever else he can lay his hand on (ten points for Gryffindor if you can guess the pirate’s true identity).  The show sparkles when Black Stache is afoot, and Goodnack chomps the scenery like it’s a Primanti’s Cap & Cheese sammie after a bender. The role is meant to be wildly over-the-top and it plays to the actor’s strengths. He is boisterous, brash and silly.

Director Spencer Whale does some fun things with the bare bones stage, using actors to set the scenes with bits of rope and twine.

There is one trivial gripe of this show since it premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse lo those many years ago. There’s every indication that the show is a musical but it really isn’t. It’s a play with very few songs. Very few. Also, “Peter and the Star Catcher” should be marketed more effectively to children. It’s clearly a kid’s show trying to act older than it is. Make sure you bring the tots.

“Peter and the Star Catcher” runs till May 21 and it can be found at Stage 62, at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here. And if all else fails, it’s the second star to the right, and straight on till morning.

-MB

by Claire DeMarco, ‘Burgh Vivant

Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, leaving a path of destruction and death through many parts of New Orleans. “Hercules Didn’t Wade in the Water” presents this tragedy as the national and local disaster that it was, but with several sub plots involving people in Chicago and in New Orleans specifically affected by it.

Much of the stage is set in an apartment in Chicago. Seamless transition between Chicago and New Orleans occurs through lighting cues. There are mini-sets on the stage that represent the action taking place in New Orleans.

An over-sized TV screen in the background is pivotal and vital to the play, consistently presenting reports on the status of Hurricane Katrina, relaying the horror which is to come, building tension as each storm update grows.

Tupelo (Sam Lothard) and Char (Shaun Nicole McCarthy) portray a Chicago couple. Lothard finds himself in New Orleans when Katrina strikes. He is there to make more money so that he and McCarthy can purchase a home and marry. Maxine (Shanita Bivins) and Eugene (Corey Lankford), also in Chicago, have more serious, possibly unsolvable issues. New Orleans resident Youngblood (Lamar K. Cheston) has life-threatening financial problems. He owes money to the wrong people.

Lothard and Cheston are isolated on a New Orleans rooftop, trapped by the hurricane.

In the program, Director Wali Jamal spoke highly of his actors. The director said, “All that remained for me as a director was to assemble the right actors to give breath and a pulse to these well-written entities. I must say that I could not find a better cast if I tried.”

The play is well cast. Lothard is particularly strong as a man determined to better his circumstances, to reach his goals. His actions when he and Cheston are trapped on the rooftop continue to show strength and the confidence and perseverance that they will survive.

So, why is “Hercules” part of the title? Perhaps it is Cheston’s unorthodox knowledge of Biblical characters that “passeth all understanding,”  providing comic relief in an otherwise dramatic, serious play.

“Hercules” is ultimately about hope and forgiveness. A play powerfully written, directed and performed.

“Hercules Didn’t Wade in the Water” runs through May 21^st at the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater, 937 Liberty Avenue, 3^rd floor, Pittsburgh PA 15222.  For more information, click here.

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli

In a cold, remote part of 1950’s southern Ireland, the Glavin family gets an offer they can’t refuse in John B. Keane’s “Sive.” It’s an offer full of dark consequences.

Mena (Karen Baum) and Mike (Michael Fuller) Glavin run a ramshackle cottage, working every day to make ends meet. They are not the sole occupants. Mike’s mother, Nanna (Sharon Brady), and his niece Sive (Cassidy Adkins) live with them. It is not exactly a happy home. Mena and her mother-in-law despise one another. A torrent of caustic barbs fly back and forth between them, like bullets over a battlefield.

One day, Thomasheen Sean Rua (James FitzGerald), the local matchmaker, enters the Glavin cottage and makes an unscrupulous deal with Mena. He has been offered a large sum of money to procure Sive for marriage to a rich-but-old neighbor, Sean Dota (Charles David Richards).

A chasm of years stand between the nubile Sive and the wizened Dota, but he is willing to pay big money for her hand. Rua would receive a healthy sum and the Glavin’s would also profit from the deal. Thomasheen Sean Rua sweetens the pot by promising Mena that Sive would most likely want to take her grandmother with her, freeing Mena of the bickering pipe-smoking crone who constantly criticizes her.

Mena convinces her husband Mike that the deal is legit. He reluctantly agrees to help make the match.

Sive, however, has other plans. She’s in love with Liam Scuab (Tom Driscoll), a local boy whose family has tenuous ties to the Glavin’s family history.

The scheming and conniving reach a crescendo and soon Mike and Mena become horribly aware of their own greed. Innocents will suffer.

“Sive” is lyrical, melancholy and sad. Everything you would expect from John B. Keane, the author of “Sharon’s Grave.” Unfortunately, “Sharon’s Grave” a piece PICT produced in the past (pardon the alliteration), is a superior play, with a rich metaphysical and mythological subtext. “Sive” is the poor stepchild to “Sharon’s Grave.” Mostly, because the characters are so unlikable. There’s no one to really root for.

Sive, herself, is an underdeveloped character. She is a cypher. Her beau, Liam, is also barely in the play. The reasons are obvious. Keane, most likely, sought to spare the audience of any sort of Romeo and Juliet retread. Though, the elements are all there for such a tale.

More than anything else, the story is about avarice, and how money can make good people into monsters. Mena is Machiavellian in her search for financial freedom. Baum plays her with Mena with brutal fierceness. Her scenes with Brady’s Nanna are riveting. There’s a twisted joy to watch them attack each other with such fire and ferocity.

What “Sive” does have is a plethora of quirky characters, especially Pats Bobcock (Martin Giles) and his sidekick, Cathalawn (J. Alex Noble). Marvelously played by Giles and Noble. They ignite the stage in their brief appearances.

FitzGerald’s Thomasheen Sean Rua (a mouthful that rolls off the tongue) is delightfully evil. The serpent tempting a greedy Eve. A rat with a bit of cheese. Off stage, FitzGerald is a beautiful human being, but you’ll want to smack Thomasheen Sean Rua with a shovel and bury him in the bog.

The set is a dilapidated Irish cottage, masterfully designed by Johnmichael Bohach, and excellently complemented by Keith Truax’s moody lighting.

While “Sive” isn’t as moody, lyrical or as moving as “Sharon’s Grave,” it is a quintessentially Irish play from Pittsburgh’s quintessentially Irish theater company, and a fine cap to a fantastic season.

Grab a Guinness and get to the theater.

“Sive” runs till May 20, 2017 at the Union Project, 801 N. Negley Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15206. For more information, click here.

 

 

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

When a man spends a lifetime digging his own grave, he must, at some point, lie in it. Instead of being a smiling, smooth-talking salesman, Willy Loman (Zach Grenier) threatens, cajoles and bullies his way through life. Even though he’s just 60 years old, it’s easy to see his death looming in “Death of a Salesman.”

The eponymous title is its own spoiler.  Death is most definitely coming for Loman, but will he make amends or burn the bridges behind him? Oddly, Loman does both.

More spoilers lie ahead, but the show was first produced in 1949. We can assume you heard about some of it already.

The titular salesman is hoping his sons, Biff (Alex Mickiewicz) and Happy (Maxwell Eddy) will become great men. They are not.

Happy is a jerk of a clerk. He spends most of his time carousing with women (Kristiann Menotiades and Daina Michelle Griffith). But what Happy does, doesn’t seem to matter much, because Willy is obsessed with Hap’s big brother, Biff.

Biff wants a simple life. He wants to be an outdoorsman, a farmer, but his father expects him to have a million dollar plan. He does not.

An incident from the past has caused a riff with Biff. The father/son dynamic has always been a dangerous cocktail, with equal parts love and hatred.

Loman is guilt-ridden from the aforementioned past event.

Psst! It involves ladies hosiery and beautiful, scantily-clad lady (Tressa Glover).

Loman spends a good deal of time getting his children to like him. Charley (Randy Kovitz) sums it up wonderfully in the second act, when he says to Loman, “Why must everybody like you? Who liked J.P. Morgan? Was he impressive? In a Turkish bath he’d look like a butcher. But with his pockets on — he was very well liked.”

Oddly, he never worries about whether his wife, Linda (Kathleen McNenny), likes him or not. Not only does she like him, she adores him, even though it threatens her relationship with her adult children. If only she knew the truth! Hint: see above referenced woman and pantyhose.

Miller won multiple awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, when he wrote “Death of a Salesman.” While it holds up in most places, it seems overwritten by today’s standards. Though it is a little long, there is some great dialogue.

The smaller roles are performed expertly. Menotiades and Griffith’s roles are infinitesimal, but they do a fantastic job, and seeing Glover on any stage is always delightful.

Kovitz’s Charley is sensational. The character has his own love/hate relationship with Loman and it’s played admirably. You can almost see the pity in Charley’s eyes when he hands Loman a wad of cash.

The boys, Biff and Hap (Mickiewicz and Eddy), do a great job. Eddy’s Hap is particularly charismatic and charming.

There is great expectation in seeing Zach Grenier, television’s smarmiest divorce lawyer, David Lee of Lockhart/Gardner (from “The Good Wife”), unfortunately with great expectation comes a disappointment. Grenier dials up the mumblecore to eleven, making “Before Sunset” look clear and concise. He muttered his way through the role. He plays Willie Loman as a downtrodden Donald Trump on a radio station that isn’t quite on the right frequency, loud yet garbled.

As for McNenny’s Linda, one couldn’t help but think that there are plenty of “women of a certain age” who would kill in that role. They would crush it. McNenny seems to be too young and too pretty for the character. Linda should look more like Barbara Bush, and less like a young Sharon Lawrence. Even though, Sherry Deberson does her best to gray McNenny’s hair, she still looks too beautiful for Linda.

The audience is meant to have a tremendous sympathy for Linda, but its hard here. She is acting older than she is and its distracting.

Not as distracting as the dissonant flute sounds that punctuate this play.

Normally, the set at a Public show is a crowning achievement, a veritable showcase (like the sumptuous set of “Daddy Long Legs”). James Noone usually does remarkable work.  Unfortunately, the “Death” set was perfunctory, utilitarian; most likely due to the multiple scene changes. Eerie lighting design by Dennis Parichy made up for it. There are flashback/visions of Ben (Tuck Milligan) and the Woman (Glover) that were downright haunting.

“Death of a Salesman” is an American classic, and it’s an important work. It does resonate so much with today’s society, and, after all, attention must be paid.

“Death of a Salesman” is at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.

– MB

 

by Claire DeMarco, ‘Burgh Vivant

Sibling rivalry has been around since Cain and Abel.  “True West” continues that tradition with the two main characters, Austin (Max Begler) and Lee (Evan Saunders).

Both brothers, who have always had a troublesome relationship, find themselves together at their mother’s house in Southern California in the early 1980’s while she is vacationing in Alaska.  Austin is house-sitting. Lee, who normally hangs out in the desert, also ends up at mom’s place.

Austin is the younger brother embracing a traditional life. He is college-educated, married with children, and enjoying a successful screenwriting career.   Lee is a loner, an excessive drinker, and always confrontational.  He is also a petty thief (with a penchant for stealing household appliances).

Tensions escalate between the brothers when Hollywood producer, Saul Kimmer (Hayden Lounsbury) visits to discuss potential opportunities for Austin.  Through sheer nagging and persistence, Lee ingratiates himself into convincing Saul that he, too, can write a screenplay.

Conflict grows between the brothers as Lee threatens to break into Austin’s settled, controlled world.

How will this heightened conflict change the brothers’ relationship?  Or will it?   Does one of them change? Just wait till their mother (Christina McElwee) shows up!

Begler takes Austin from a relatively quiet, controlled figure to someone more belligerent and outspoken like his brother, while Saunders sustains the energy and intensity of Lee throughout the production.

McElwee and  Lounsbury complete the cast with shorter, but clever character interpretations.

One of the many toasters that Austin pilfers actually worked. In the second act, the entire theater filled up with the familar smell of toasted bread.

Michael Makar skillfully directs this production of  Sam Shepard’s American classic, “True West.”

“True West” runs through to April 30th at the Genesius Theater, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, click here.