'Burgh Vivant

By: Joseph Szalinski

Every family has that one relative who’s probably better off sequestered from society, at their own volition or otherwise. If you’re struggling to think of someone who fits the bill, you’re likely that individual. And what better place to live low than in the basement? Granted, my family kept me in an attic, where I was free to worm through the crawlspace, but basements are a solid option for most people. It’s in a basement that we meet a rather peculiar trio in BLT’s production of Downstairs, directed by Jud Stewart, and produced by Jessica Sanzotti, now running at Butler Little Theatre in Butler, PA.

Written by Theresa Rebeck, Downstairs begins with Teddy couch surfing at his sister Irene’s place following a momentary setback, all the while avoiding Irene’s husband, Gerry. During his stay, the siblings bond while reminiscing about their deceased mother and absentee father. All goes fairly well until Gerry finally decides to pay a visit…

The acting is phenomenal. Shows are always demanding on the performers when the number of characters is so few, but this cast rises to the challenge magnificently. They’re even in charge of their own wardrobes! Jud M. Stewart is fantastic as Teddy. Channeling his charm through wiry physicality and impressive feats of dialogue, whether he’s monologuing or playing off of one of the other actors, his dedication pays off beautifully.

Teddy’s sister, Irene, is wonderfully brought to life by Elizabeth Smith. Irene’s the most dynamic character in terms of temperament, going from concerned relative to friendly sister to skittish housewife, and so on. Smith effortlessly embodies every iteration of the character when required. Even though she’s enjoyable throughout the entire show, she really shines in the first half when it’s just Irene and Teddy for 45 minutes or so. When the two of them are seated at the table, recalling childhood memories, she lets out a warm, sincere laugh that one can’t help but relish as they bond.

Every story needs a villain, and Tom Smithyman is astoundingly sinister as Irene’s husband, Gerry, who, much like Linda Patrik, isn’t a huge fan of his brother-in-law, Teddy. The most menacing element of Smithyman’s approach is the reserved attitude he brings to the character. He’s cruel and calculated, cautious to compromise his carefully crafted façade until it’s necessary. Physically imposing, he attracts the audience’s attention with every step but is still considerate enough to cede the stage to his scene partners when it’s their turn to show off their skills. He complements the production with his seething rage and his biting insults that leave crowds flabbergasted.

While not a character in the standard sense, the basement set almost functions like one. Designed by George Arnold and constructed by him, Glen Bittner, Art Black, Gayle Funk, Larry Scott, Jud Stewart, Rachel Wayne, and Katy Wayne, it is something to behold. Every single detail is incredible. Equally unique and eerily familiar. I’d love to crash there. Props to George Arnold and Jud Stewart, who handled, well, the props that really flesh out the scenes. Lighting by Philip Ball and stage manager Min Barlowe assist in illuminating the brilliant cast and set. Matt Leslie, Katy Wayne, and Rachel Wayne provide the necessary backstage magic that allows the show to operate as it does.

Butler Little Theatre is a great venue and theatre company that has been staging stellar productions for the better part of a century. Since its inception, it’s drawn attendees from down the street and from towns away to marvel at the majesty of live performance. A beautiful building, BLT provides a reason to venture up north for a show. Despite reservations some might have about visiting the “Birthplace of the Jeep,” Pittsburghers have no ground to be pretentious. They are doing themselves a tremendous disservice by missing out on an historic arts and cultural scene.

Downstairs continues its run March 24^th-28^th at Butler Little Theatre in Butler, PA. For more information or tickets, click here. 

By Michael Buzzelli

I’m sitting in the theater watching Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen’s [Title of Show], and I am wondering if the review can be as meta as the actual show. I think, “I can’t insert myself into the review. That goes against the journalistic AP style I grew up with,” but I decide, “Fuck it. I’m going for it.”

I write a review in three parts: I provide a teaser synopsis without spoilers. I then describe the talent involved, actors, set designers, lighting designers, musical directors, choreographers, directors, etc. Then, I close with a summary paragraph.

Let’s get started:

As I’m sitting there, watching actors playing Hunter (Jake Froelich) and Jeff (Noah Kendall) come out on stage and talk about writing a musical for the New York Musical Theater Festival. As they riff on possible ideas, they decide that this should be the show. The duo is actually using their lives to write the show as the show. It’s the George Constanza moment, “This! This should be the show!”

I get to write about how Heidi (Chelsea Davis) and Susan (Rebekah Hukill) show up and help them create the show that doesn’t have a title, until the foursome are filling out the submission form, when they have to list the title of the show. Hunter and Jeff decide that the title of the show should be [Title of Show].

Meta meets meta, and my mind is blown watching the actors dance and sing on stage. Things get crazier and crazier as they narrate their lives with scenes, songs, and dance.

This is the part where I write about the actors:

The four stars of the show are fantastic.

Froelich gives a tremendous performance as Hunter. He fully commits to the role, having to bare his soul… and his chest. The real Hunter Bell exposes some of his darker impulses, and Froelich plays the scenes with such honesty that it’s almost hard to watch when he decimates his friends during a photo shoot.

Kendall, who has been praised for his performances before at ‘Burgh Vivant (inside joke inside the show and now inside the review). It was no surprise that he nailed the role of Jeff Bowen.

Hukill is delightful as Susan. She plays the harried part-time actor who has let her day job take over her life with such sincerity.

Davis is charismatic in the role of Heidi. She has total Heidi energy (ebullient, bubbly, and a joy to watch).

Now, I come to the part where I discuss other pertinent points; things with the construction of the set by Jamie McDonald and Jamie Brunner, or the costumes by Randi Ippolito and Dana Schulte (I enjoyed seeing Kendall’s classic Justice League T-shirt, since Jeff Bowen is a comic book collector and avid Wonder Woman fan).

Travis Rigby is the musical director and the character of the musical director, Terry. There are some great sympathetic moments for the character, the fifth wheel in the story. They do a great job with a few lines, and the music is superb.

Then, I say something about the director and the choreographer. Caitlin Dobronz does a fantastic job getting the actors to immerse themselves in the roles.

I usually close with a summary of the show. This show is pure gay joy. It’s also for everyone and anyone who wants to get in touch with their creative side. Everyone who has to kill their vampires – those inner critics that try to take you down when you create anything, a play, a song, a painting, or even a theater review. This is a must-see show.

I run a check with Grammarly before posting, since I’m my own editor. If there are any mistakes, someone will let me know and I’ll fix them. Trust me, I made a major mistake in my “The Tragedy of Richard II” earlier today and the director reached out to me to get it fixed ASAP.

Case in point:  I had forgotten to credit the photography, but I have revised it.

I close with my initials, and below that, in italics, I will post the details on how to get tickets. I can’t stress this enough… get tickets!

-MB

[Title of Show] runs until March 28 at the Three Stories Theatre, 937 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information or tickets, click here. 

 

 

 

By Timothy Ruppert

Romantic intrigues, marital betrayals, and a “slightly loaded gun” figure among the innumerable twists and turns comprising Sandy Rustin’s period-comedy The Cottage, a play in which deceptions abound and secrets get revealed like Matroyshka dolls opened one after another after another. Taking place in 1920s England, this one-set, continuous-action show gives us three couples whose passions shift with the speed of an oncoming train in the London Underground. Note, though, that The Cottage is more than a map of infidelities. Beyond its musical-chairs hilarity, the play tells an important story of women’s empowerment, all the while evoking the style, milieu, and satiric wizardry of Noël Coward, particularly as we find these in plays such as Hay Fever and Fallen Angels. Accordingly, The Cottage demands intelligent interpretation and resourceful staging. The Bobcat Players prove eminently suited to this task, showing great thought and greater heart in bringing Rustin’s play so lovingly to life in a show under no circumstances to be missed.

Keith Zagorski, a talent long associated with Bobcat, sagely directs The Cottage so that the play’s high-velocity humor does not ultimately overwhelm the crucial messages at its core. The time-faithful set and beautiful costumes (credit the latter to Patti Ross) effectively place us in the English countryside of a century ago. Thus transported through time and space, we discover a cast of smart performers who know when silly is fun and when absurdity is life-changing. Even as our six characters surprise us with redirected affections, delight us with hurried defenses, and appall us with easy cruelties, we never lose the thread of what this play has to say with respect to women’s rights and power. As the well-off Beau Van Kipness, Jeff Carey nicely delivers aristocratic insouciance spiced with an Oliver Hardy-like impatience at the ever-steepening antics.

Andrew Mayle, as Beau’s brother Clarke, successfully embodies the “Baldwin conservative” whose reasonableness quietly smacks of the reactionary. Bridget Yeager sparks laughs with her Marjorie, who, seemingly moments away from going into labor, juxtaposes dour propriety and indelicate physical comedy. Kat Bowman as Dierdre brings high spirits and unflagging sincerity. As Richard, the ever-likeable Bruce Travers finds nuance and humaneness in a character purported to be a cold-blooded murderer.

At the center of this group is Sylvia Van Kipness, played with Lynn Fontanne-flourish by Erin Berger. Berger’s exceptional performance grounds the quirky whimsicality of the goings-on with a worldliness that lends gravitas to the tangled affairs pursued by this flighty collection of lovers. In effect, her Sylvia functions as both chorus and protagonist, commenting on and interpreting the romantic chaos to which she ongoingly contributes. Berger ensures that we see in Sylvia the intelligence and autonomy needed for the play’s anti-patriarchal challenge, fully revealed late in Act Two, to work. With her delightful castmates, Berger guides the play’s trajectory from fluff and farce to this moment of lasting empowerment.

With Sandy Rustin’s The Cottage, The Bobcat Players give us a vibrant, laugh-out-loud play that strikes me as a perfect way, after a fierce winter, to celebrate springtime’s return. The production is charming and clever, and I daresay Noël Coward would approve.

-TR

“The Cottage” runs until March 28 at the Ed Schaughency Theatre, Beaver Area Senior High School, 1 Gypsy Glen Road, Beaver, PA, 15009. For tickets and additional information, please visit https://www.bobcatplayers.com/tickets.

  

 

 

 

By Michael Buzzelli

“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.” – William Shakespeare

When Henry Bolingbroke (Cameron Nickel) accuses Thomas Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk (Bobby Tramontina), of embezzling crown funds, Richard II (Maxine Coltin) banishes the two lords from England.

Then, Bolingbroke’s father, John of Gaunt (John Reilly), dies shortly after delivering the play’s most famous speech. Since Henry is banished from the kingdom, Richard II seizes his goods and property. When the word reaches Henry, he’s enraged and decides to lead an army to overthrow the king.

His men dispatch Bushy (Jess Uhler) and Green (Katie Kerr) with haste…and an anachronistic gun (there’s also a landline in late 1390s England for some reason, hundreds of years before Alexander Graham Bell invented them). The joy of theater is that the story could be told in any era, especially since it’s a story about greed.

Coltin is a terrific Richard II. They have a regal command of the stage.

Nickel is excellent as the young Henry IV, usurper to the throne, and father to the notorious Henry V.  Nickel has the stage presence suited for the role. He has some great moments, particularly when he is told about Richard II’s death at the end of the play.

Reilly does get the best speech in the play, and he nails it.

It’s a great cast. There are a few standouts in the gigantic cast, particularly Adrien-Sophia Curry as the Duke of Aumerle and Ella Mizera as Henry “Hotspur” Percy.

Juliana King-Brooks creates beautiful costumes. She also pulls triple duty on the stage as Lord Berkely, the Earl of Salisbury, and a Groom.

King-Brooks’s costumes are stunning. Coltin’s Richard II has a sparkling kingly raiment, complete with crown and scepter.

Jonathan Heidenreich’s direction is bold and beautiful. He manages to get squeeze out every drop of humor in the text. This isn’t one of Shakespeare’s wittiest, but there are some chuckles along the way. Elena Falgione’s Duchess of York gets some beautiful moments playing “Boot, Boot, Who’s got the Boot?”  Falgione has superb comic timing.

“The Tragedy of Richard II” is ever timely. Sadly, men scheming against one another for power and privilege may never go out of fashion.

The play is rather long,  but the sharp acting will hold everyone’s attention. It’s probably not anyone’s favorite Shakespeare play. It is an excellent opportunity for completists who want to see all the Bard’s works. It’s exceptionally well done on a budget and works so well in the intimate space.

-MB

‘Richard II” runs this weekend, from March 20-22, at the Glitterbox Theater, 210 W. Eighth Street, Homestead, PA 15120. For more information, click here.

By Michael Buzzelli

“There are many ways to the Divine. I have chosen the ways of song, dance, and laughter” – Rumi.

You wouldn’t think a play about a divisive topic such as Anti-vaxxing would be filled with glorious laughter, but playwright Jonathan Spector somehow manages to make it work in his play, “Eureka Day.”

At the Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, in 2018, a mumps outbreak among the kids sparked a war among the adults over the dos and don’ts of vaccinations.

Don (John Shepard), the school administrator, who could teach a class called, “Zen and the Art of School Board Administration,” desperately tries to maintain control of the school’s inner circle, which includes co-founder Suzanne (Daina Michelle Griffith), Meiko (Desirée Mee Jung), Eli (Max Pavel), and newcomer to the board, Carina (Jalina McClarin).

Queen Bee Suzanne is both a mom and a martinet, who hides the tight reins of control behind a genial composure.

Meiko is a single mom seeking respite from loneliness. She is desperate for affection and finds it in Eli, who claims he’s in an open relationship, though his wife would argue the finer points of their relationship.

We navigate the uncharted waters of the private school through Carina’s eyes. She is the newbie trying to assimilate and stand up for herself among the strong personalities of the group.

Things are going swimmingly until there’s a mump in the road.

The riotous “Community Activated Conversation: A livestream event,” that gives personalities to every username in the chatroom, erupts into chaos. It’s both brilliant and hilarious. Spector nails it.

While each actor gets a moment to shine, John Shepard gives a standout performance. His Don is a quirky, let ‘s-get-in-touch-with-our-feelings sort of administrator.  He is a wiser Phoebe Buffay running a Montessori School and quoting Rumi.

Griffith’s Suzanne is a passive-aggressive anti-vaxxer with strong opinions and strong emotions. Her character continually tries to rise above her swirling tornado of emotions while plastering a smile on her face.

Pavel’s character is so pent up with nervous energy, Eli is a boy in an adult body, and the character can’t help but touch every squishy prop in the room.

McClarin’s Carina is brimming with enthusiasm and joy until she realizes what she’s up against, and she has to learn to take a stand. She is delightful.

Jung’s performance is also terrific. She gets a few unhinged moments and executes them perfectly. While her actions are heightened, she never goes over the top.

Sasha Jin Schwartz makes masterful use of the space, designing the room to resemble the library in an upscale elementary school. The large windows denote day and night thanks to Xuewei (Eva) Hu on lighting design.

Spector is a master at crosstalk; the conversations are replete with unfinished thoughts and sentences, giving the actors naturalistic dialogue. It’s the Altman-esque technique that made “M*A*S*H*,” “The Player,” and “Gosford Park” hit films.

Adil Mansoor directs with verve. He gets amazing performances out of his actors. Moving them around with frenetic pace, especially in the slower sections that are filled with much-needed exposition. Mansoor, like Rumi, posits that the characters in “Eureka Day” are a universe in ecstatic motion.

The ending is the perfect punchline to accentuate the craziness of the early 2020s.

-MB

“Eureka Day” runs until March 26 at the City Theatre, 1300 Bingham Street, Pittsburgh, PA. For tickets and additional information, click here. 

By Michael Buzzelli

When Hailey (Darby Baublitz) tells her mother, Jess (Joanna Getting), about an exciting new addition to the St. Patrick’s Day holiday, the new made-up tradition upends every family on the block in Brian Knavish’s “There’s A Leprechaun Now?”

First, there was Elf on a Shelf, and there’s a leprechaun now.  The parents, Jess and her husband Mike (Nick Grosso), have to scramble to learn the details about the event since their five-year-old (Baublitz in a severe case of Dawson’s Casting) isn’t a reliable source.

Note: Dawson’s Casting is the practice of casting older actors to play younger characters, made popular by the show “Dawson’s Creek.”

Jess forms a phone tree with the other parents in Hailey’s class to get the deets.

Mike tries to get a hold of the teacher who has left on a cruise for Spring Break. He encounters Tanya (Cole Rygalski), who doles out some excellent advice from Improv 101 (“Yes…and…” it).

Soon, an inner circle is formed. Jess, Mike, neighbor Liz (Jennifer Bett), and single dad Jack (Andrew Huntley) decide to create all the rules for the spritely visitor.

Things start silly and get sillier!

Getting’s Jess is delightful. She plays a harried housewife. She has great comic timing. The actor wasn’t afraid to fully commit to the insanity of the Knavish’s story. Getting also had great chemistry with Grosso’s Mike.

Grosso plays a father willing to do anything to keep the magic alive for his little girl. Mike’s manic panic and discovery of heretofore unknown improv skills is comedy gold for Grosso, and he mines every nugget (pot o’ gold reference).

Liz is an adversarial character, but Bett reveals a softer side to her. The character is as multifaceted as a prism, and Bett plays the full rainbow.

Rygalski’s part is smaller than a leprechaun but uses all of his lucky charms. He chews up the sparse scenery with Tanya’s gigantic personality.

Huntley’s zoned-out cuckold was hilarious. Knavish wrote the character an unhinged rant, which Huntley delivers with aplomb. When Liz suggests medical marijuana, his character shifts from raving lunatic to passive snacker.

The cast includes two stagehands, Ciaran and Isobel Macik, dressed up as leprechauns. While they are silent and mostly just moving around the furniture, they add an extra layer of joy to the production.

At the end of the show, the cast Shamrock Shakes to parody lyrics, “I saw Mommy Kissing…Leprechaun” in kilts, no less. It’s a moment of pure bliss.

Director Andy Kirtland gets a lot out of his actors for a one-night performance.

The show should be performed in early March every year, like December’s “A Christmas Carol,” or “The Nutcracker.”

Side note: “The Nutcracker” is annual holiday fun. Take that, Timothee.

“There’s a Leprechaun Now?” has a fast, frenetic first act that slows down a bit in the second act, but it’s amazing that Knavish and Kirtland are able to sustain the action and comedy for as long as they did. In the end, the show is about parents doing whatever it takes to keep their children wide-eyed and innocent, and it’s a premise that is needed now more than ever. The show was magically delicious.

-MB

This one-time performance, a benefit for Throughline Theater Company, took place at the Greer Cabaret Theater. Learn more about the company and their upcoming event, the Annual Living News Festival, on their Facebook, Instagram page, or their website here. 

By Michael Buzzelli

The Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall brought in Joshua (Mr.) Messado for a terrific evening of entertainment on Saturday, March 14.

Messado astonished audiences with a variety of card tricks. He performed the Shell Game, while teaching the history of magic. He selected several audience members to “aid” him with his magic (Hint: He didn’t need help, but the interactive portion of the show made it even more enjoyable).

While the magician lives in the Steel City, Messado is nationally known for his ring trick, an illusion or sleight of hand trick that defies logic, even while said volunteers from the audience stood next to him as he performed.

Messado delivered his tricks with style, grace, and a whole lot of humor. The show had a few groaners (the magician’s version of a Dad Joke), but Messado can be easily forgiven (he teaches magic to little ones).

Originally from Philly, Messado relocated to Pittsburgh, calling it his ‘forever home.’ It’s best not to ask where he stands on an Eagles/Steelers matchup.

The show ran a quick 90 minutes, with magic, jokes and shrimp cocktail.

The Saturday Soirees are intimate settings in the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall’s basement. The basement with exposed white brick, small circular tables covered in black cloth and adorned with flickering electric candles give the space a jazz nightclub vibe. The pre-paid tables each have an Arabic numeral to identify your seat, giving the jazz club a hint of the library above.

The ticket price includes a delightful collection of hors d’œuvres, including various cheeses, crackers, shrimp, fruit, nuts and a sample of desserts (cookies and cheesecake bites). For a small donation, you can select a red or white wine to go with your snacks.

The Carnegie Carnegie (so nice you say it twice) Library is doing a marvelous job bringing in talent for their soirees. Stay local and check out the library.

-MB

You can find out more information on the Saturday Soirees at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Blvd., Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information on upcoming Saturday Soirees click here.

By Joseph Szalinski

The world is full of dummies. Despite the genocide I’ve recreationally waged against my brain cells, I like to think I’m not one of them. I mean, I can count the number of people who are smarter than me on one hand. Although that’s as high as I can count. We smart folk have all attempted to prove our intellectual superiority in various ways, some benign and some more dangerous. Decades before geniuses could show off by making random references in theatre reviews, one of our only outlets was crime. And it’s under these conditions that the scene is set for Hobnob Theatre Co’s production of Rope, directed by Duane Peters, now running at Hobnob Studio Theatre in Butler, PA.

Written in 1929 by playwright Patrick Hamilton, the long-lost brother of Alexander, and the writer who is often associated with being the scribe behind the play Gaslight, of which he is not the author. I wrote it. Everyone knows that—Rope follows Wyndham Brandon and Charles Granillo after they have murdered a younger classmate named Ronald Kentley. The duo of British Jeffrey Dahmers then hosts a buffet, which is served off a chest that contains Kentley’s body, in the first-ever Trunk or Treat event. Paranoia is stoked, and things get awfully tense in the presence of Kentley’s friends and family, which is expertly expressed by the cast.

Leading the charge is Sam Thinnes as Wyndham Brandon, who is marvelous in this malicious role. His accent and mannerisms creepily convey Brandon’s sense of superiority and misguided genius. Likewise, his movements are cautious and calculated until his manicured façade gives way to the frightened wretch within.

Second banana to Brandon is the fearful Charles Granillo, who has something to get off his chest, or rather, out of effortlessly embodied by Giancarlo Zingarelli. Granted, he’s great in concert with the other performers, but he really shines in his nonverbal moments of mounting madness, which are terrifically telegraphed.

Greg Crawford is masterful as the cunning Rupert Cadell, a hobbled mentor to the two murderers who realizes something fishy is afoot. When not teaching or authoring poems (who likes doing that?), he enjoys reading Nietzsche, academia’s favorite misquoted syphilitic. Whether he’s monologuing, playing off his scene partners, or silently leafing through a book, Crawford commands the stage.

Leila Arden and Kenneth Raglan, two of the younger guests at the party, serve as refreshing foils to the suspicious and serious cohorts who invited them over. These spirited comic reliefs are respectively portrayed by Laila Tyler and Cole Myers, both of whom do a splendid job of lightening the mood when it’s dreadfully needed.

Rounding out the cast are Molly Miller as Sabot and John Heny Steelman as Sir Johnstone Kentley. The former brandishes a fun, French accent and accentuates tense dynamics with Brandon, while delighting in Cadell’s basic respect. The latter projects sincerity and innocence, making the crime committed against his character’s son all the more heartbreaking. Really chokes one up.

What would a show be without its technical elements? Costumes by Danyle Verzinskie, Elizabeth Smith, and the cast help bring the characters to life. Props and set decorations by Danyle Verzinskie, Alyna Sanchez, Steve Kalina, Ron Verzinskie, and Steve Kalina Sr. litter the land of make-believe with tangible tokens of terror. Director Duane Peters brilliantly conceives set Design, while Verzinskie and producer/sound designer Ken Smith expertly handle its construction.

Hobnob Studio Theatre’s intimate venue is perfectly immersive as Brandon and Granillo’s apartment, cloistered quarters that gradually become a little too claustrophobic for the characters inside. Hobnob not only knows how to curate shows that constitute tremendous seasons, but also productions that skillfully use their space.

-JS

Rope continues its sold-out run March 19^th-21^st at Hobnob Studio Theatre in Butler, PA. For tickets and additional information, click here. 

 

By Timothy Ruppert

Step right up, folks! The ever-spirited creative team at R-ACT Theatre delivers yet another delightful production with Murder Under the Big Top, an interactive show in which jokes and clues alike emerge like clowns from a tiny car.

Colorful balloons, calliope music, and a poster of Pickles the Clown render a properly carnivalesque atmosphere for the Segriff Stage as Ringmaster Larry Spinnenweber, the show’s playwright and director, prepares us to meet the principals of the once-beloved but now-imperiled Schnitzel Brothers’ Circus. These performers, who in time become suspects in a brutal homicide, include the romantically involved trapeze artists Danny Dubois (Calvin Brookins) and Bibi Bennett (Alexa Burak); the clairvoyant Magda Petrovsky (Joan Schwartz), whose insights seldom go beyond the patently obvious; the animal specialists Lillian Graham (Jenn Rian), who trains the elephants, and Rex Maxwell (Brian Shumaker), who tames the lions; Joey Grimaldi (Zack Mitrecic), the irascible roustabout; and the wisecracking Willie “Pickles” Emmett (Tom Abbot), who seeks mirth even in the direst of situations. Pickle’s merrymaking gets tested with the arrival of devil-hearted attorney Charlene Twitch (Apryl Peroney), a partner in the Amber, Grombie, & Twitch Law Firm, who gleefully delivers the news that the circus’s late owner died without a known heir – barring the reappearance of a Schnitzel family relative,

Twitch will auction off the circus, permanently dispossessing its performers. Because Twitch bullies and outrages each character, it is understandably difficult to discern who arranged for the lawyer’s hilariously performed off-stage death at the paws of a voracious lion. After the murder, and with each character under suspicion, both the cast and audience have an opportunity to interview each of the suspects.

The ensemble works together superbly. Brookins demonstrates his talents for physical comedy as he crafts a likable counterpart for Burak’s guileless, sweet-voiced acrobat. Schwartz anchors several scenes with her unflagging attention to detail, particularly in the Eastern European accent she affects. Shumaker and Mitrecic execute their roles with appropriate emotional investment, and Abbott wonderfully blends the joie de vivre of Clarabell with the existential angst of an Albert Camus protagonist.

As Twitch, the always-exceptional Peroney strikes the sadistic lawyer chord perfectly. Jenn Rian gives an especially noteworthy performance, playing the long-heartbroken elephant handler with a terrific sense of a character who weaves between Blanche DuBois and Blanche Devereaux. Her dynamic interpretation, in concert with the other performances, sharpens the wit and elevates the heart of this new and highly enjoyable comedy. Praise also goes to Max Boffo for the technical features of the show, as both the lighting and sound design were superb. Consider also that the costuming and make-up prove impressive, particularly Charissa McMahon’s work in rendering a classically detailed appearance for Pickles. And Eric J McAnallen’s knife board certainly adds thrills to a very nicely designed show.

Despite several characters’ assertions that Schnitzel Brothers’ Circus offers “the most mediocre show on earth,” I found the goings-on there invariably fun and engaging, and the mystery presents an authentic challenge. Overall, “Murder Under the Big Top,” like cotton candy at a circus, is a splendid treat.

-TR

“Murder Under the Big Top” runs until March 20, with tickets available at R-ACT’s Segriff Stage, 134 Brighton Avenue, Rochester, PA 15074. For tickets and additional information, please visit

https://www.ractproductions.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Claire DeMarco

Tim Finnegan (Michael Patrick Trimm) is an Irish immigrant (now American citizen) who like multitudes before him came to the United States for a better life and more opportunities.

He resides on Amity Island in Massachusetts, hoping for the environment that will invigorate and release his artistic side. He’s a writer.

Finnegan relies on his income as a bartender to support his American-born wife and young son while pursuing his dream.  When he loses his bartending job and his young son faces serious illness, he is faced with financial ruin.

A local car crash on Amity Island highlights the underlying theme of the play.  Amity Island is a haven for wealthy people whose current inhabitants’ ancestors have lived there for generations.  The crash involved two cars and two people. An illegal immigrant runs into a young, native Amity Island resident and kills him.

Tensions have already grown between the native islanders and immigrants in general, whether legal or not and this accident only amplifies their feelings.

Finnegan is exposed to a deeper look at the world of some illegal immigrants.

Ramifications of the car crash set the stage for Finnegan to take a different path in his life – one that could lead to financial stability. The choice is his!

Trimm is outstanding as the aspiring writer and Irish born American citizen. Although this is a one man show there are a multitude of unseen co-stars. Trimm plays all of those co-stars, telling his story through the conversations he has with them and they with him. Whether it’s his wife, or a Spanish-speaking man or woman or American brother-in-law, he takes on the accent, characteristics and nuances of each player.  The tones, sex identity and accents he converts are excellent and often occur seconds apart.  The transitions are seamless and smooth!

Occasionally Trimm interacts with the audience, either pulling them briefly into the conversation or mixing drinks at the bar and serving them.  There is a lot of physical movement as he dashes around the stage.

Note: Trimm’s dialogues and narratives are delivered in rhyme.

The play is not all doom and gloom.  Dark comedy is scattered throughout as we watch and listen to Finnegan’s tales.

“The Smuggler” exceeds all expectations! A tour-de-force performance and production.

Sound Designer Adam Davy’s sound effects, often subtle like the soft noises in the evening or more vigorous like a few lines of the Star-Spangled Banner at the opening and ending of the play are effective.

Dialect Coach Lisa Bansavage delivers as she guides Trimm through multiple accents throughout the play.

The set is dark but not gloomy. The main prop is the bar where Finnegan spends much of his time. Some of the theater patrons are seated in small circular tables on either side of the stage.

-CED

“The Smuggler” is a production of PICT (Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre).  Performances run from March 13th to March 22nd at Carnegie Stage, 25 W Main St, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here.