Guy (Stuart Ward) is an Irish musician, creating music and playing at a Dublin pub. The Girl* (Esther Stilwell), a Czech immigrant and the mother of Ivanka (Lauren Ivory Vail), is taken with Guy’s music, and begins a conversation with him. Both love music but their connection begins when Girl discovers that Guy’s day job is repairing sweepers in his father’s shop. And surprise! The Girl has a Hoover that needs fixed.
*Note: We never get their real names, they’re just – the Guy and the Girl.
Guy’s life is consumed with music but he’s lost his enthusiasm. His girlfriend left him to pursue her dreams across the pond. Girl is entranced by his music but at the same time understands his low spirits. She is able to encourage and cajole him out of his depression.
Girl drives the friendship, pushing Guy into publishing his music, enticing Billy (Paul Whitty) to provide a piano, encouraging Bank Manager (Andy Taylor) to issue a loan for the cause.
As time passes their friendship becomes stronger with both Guy and Girl definitely past the “in like” stage of their relationship. Girl tells Guy that she loves him (in Czech) and it doesn’t translate. She also indicates that she is married to Ivanka’s father and he is expected back in Dublin shortly. Guy confesses that he has reached out to his ex in New York. Even though his songs were written about his former girlfriend, he now sings them about the Girl.
How does this all end? Does Guy leave for New York? Does Girl reconcile with her husband or was this just a brief interlude between two people who for a moment in time needed one another?
The Guy (Stuart Ward) meets the Girl (Esther Stilwell) in Once.
The unique factor about this show is that the characters are also the musicians and they all perform beautifully.
Stilwell provides a comedic slant to her character as she intertwines her Czech accent into conversations with her Irish cohorts. But Stilwell also conveys a hidden sadness, often heard through her music.
Ward plays Guy as a tormented soul. His duet with Stilwell in “Falling Slowly” is powerful.
Whitty pulls it off as the rough and tough music store owner.
Taylor is funny as the business professional who thinks (erroneously) that he, too, can become a star musician.
The central set design is the pub and images of Dublin street are projected. Subtle movement of the props, whether it’s a piano or a bench, suggest changes in the location.
“Once” won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical. Book by Enda Walsh. Music and Lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová.
This is a fine production directed by J. Michael Zygo.
-CED
“Once” is presented by Pittsburgh CLO at the Benedum Center and runs from July 30 – August 4. For more information, click here.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Seven with Sue, a Q&A series with local creators and artists. Each edition will ask seven questions (plus demographics) exploring the creator’s experience and views on all things arts and culture in Pittsburgh. The questions are crafted by our in-house Q&A contributor, Sue Kerr. Responses may be lightly edited, but we strive to allow the questioner’s authentic voice shine through.
Up first is Nicole Gallagher, a resident artist with folkLAB and creator of the one woman show Mija: one bitch’s tale.
folkLAB is dedicated to creating more equity and representation in the Pittsburgh performing arts. All shows are created in intensive 3-4 week processes. Debuting on July 21 is their current project: “Mija: one bitch’s tale” an interdisciplinary, autobiographical one woman show by miniMythologies resident artist Nicole Gallagher (co-founder of Fair Moans). Nicole is a queer, bi-racial Latina with a diverse skill set and history.
The show is directed by Ayne Terceira (Uncumber Theatrics) with videography by Julie Mallis (BOOM! Concepts).
The show runs for five short days next week: Wednesday, July 31st – Sunday, August 4th and takes place at Beauty Shoppe’s Terminal Building in South Side. The project is also sponsored by Beauty Shoppe.
Your Affiliation(s): member of Fair Moans Collective, member of Sex Workers Outreach Project
How do you describe your identity? Queer, anarchist, Latinx/multiethnic person, Native Chicagoan, Leo
Tell us about an under-appreciated or underutilized cultural resource in this region.
Pittsburgh has a strong and rich labor union history. Sadly, I think it is something that is fading out with older generations. When I moved to Pittsburgh nine years ago, I was told by a friend, who worked as a union organizer, that the union density in the city was over fifty percent, including service workers. Our city is quickly becoming more globalized and gentrified and with that, we’re getting an influx of new businesses and transplants, like myself, who don’t hold that history dear to their hearts, who aren’t inspired to keep it alive and revitalize it with all of the new industry. I am generalizing though. There are still pockets of workers coming together to take charge of their workplaces still. I tip my hat to all of the librarians organizing, the UPMC workers and adjunct professors and faculty in this city.
With whom in the Pittsburgh region would you like to collaborate?
I would love to collaborate with Moriah Ella Mason (goes by Ella). She is one of the cofounders of the SWOP Pittsburgh chapter I organize with. I think she’s such a badass, super organized, creative and just a great person. She created a one woman show a few years ago, Sex Werque, about her time as a dancer in Pittsburgh and it was fantastic! So inspiring! I’ve often thought about how I’d love to strip, but I don’t want to shave my body hair or wear heels! In conversations with Ella, we’ve bonded over the idea of creating a space for all bodies and all identities to make money being sexy in their individual ways on stage, the way strippers do.
Pittsburgh is a City where many identities literally intersect, but we are very attached to notions of unity and shared identity, ‘one Pittsburgh’, ‘The Steeler Nation’ ‘Most Liveable’ and so forth. How can intersectionality help all of us reconcile our individual and collective identities in this place called Pittsburgh?
To be quite honest, I have struggled with my identity in this city. It has taken me years to feel like I connect to any larger cultural identities. I felt very alone as an ethnically mixed, Lantinx person here nine years ago. I wasn’t a student and that’s where the majority of non-white, non-black Americans where– the school campuses. I worked in corporate service industry, which thanks to the unions and job security, was full of a lot of older, mostly hetero folks (again, generalizing, not trying to box everyone in). I have found a home in different activist communities over time. It is the place where I have seen old school Pittsburgh come together with newer voices- queer, brown, artistic, beautiful freaks. It is where I see people breaking down class and cultural divisions to create something new in Pittsburgh. So I am all for people coming together in their communities, workplaces, in our city at large, to have a voice, to effect change. Through getting out and involved, people build together and move beyond superficial barriers.
How do the arts contribute to a livable city in Pittsburgh?
The arts are a vehicle for many diverse voices to be heard. We are able to connect and understand each other more through hearing and empathizing with one another. Sharing those stories and perspectives is building a stronger foundation for our city to rest on.
Your production Mija; one bitch’s tale is part of your miniMythologies residency with folkLAB. Why did you pursue this opportunity to create and produce your one-woman show?
I work with Abi, the founder of folkLAB, at the Ace Hotel, and she’s been encouraging me to take this project on for over a year now. I would come into work and tell Abi about things I was working on in my sketch troupe or about my stand-up comedy class, my personal life stories, my perspectives on politics and life. She would keep saying, “I’m serious, you need to consider putting this altogether in a show, Nicole.” I have been trying to find my voice as a story-teller for years. I’ve explored different arenas for years, learned a lot, but nothing has quite stuck, so I finally agreed that this could be the opportunity I’ve needed to test all the skills I’ve acquired out. I’m very interested in writing and collaborating with other artists to create shows in the future.
Most people are familiar with sex worker characters or roles on stage and on-screen (Vivian Ward, Fantine, Holly Golightly, Iris, Joe Buck, Satine, Gypsy Rose Lee, Sin-Dee, Alexandra) and familiar with media created about sex in general. It is rare to experience performance art about sex work where those workers actually control the narrative and the production of their own stories. Are there any stories from Pittsburgh with sex work themes that should reach wider audiences, either as existing works of art or potential future projects?
There are a ton of sex working artists in Pittsburgh, they may not label themselves as sex workers, because that work is stigmatized, but you would be surprised how many shows you’ve seen in Pittsburgh by sex workers. My work with SWOP Pittsburgh has been to lift and unify the voices and needs of our sex working community. We had a beautiful event on December 17, 2018 to commemorate International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers where we had sex workers submit and read short stories and poems. And I just need to say: wow! It was so powerful! There are so many perspectives and identities in our community.
I’ve mentioned the show “Sex Werque” by Moriah Ella Mason. Ella has a show coming up in a few weeks “Queer, Jewish” that I think folks should check out. I also have a friend from SWOP, Jessie Sage, who is a writer, sex worker, teacher and activist. You can find her work in the City Paper, Peepshow, and her podcast by the same name.
Please list two or three local creators to whom we should be paying attention and tell us why?
You should be paying attention to Ayne Terceira of Uncumber Theatrics. She is the director of my show and recently had the show “The Stray” an interactive show where the audience took on the roles of cats in the house of a recluse. Ayne has a unique imagination and sense of movement that really engages the audience. She’s been working in Pittsburgh for years and has trained and inspired many other production companies to use her style. She’s the sweetest, funniest weirdo I know. I feel so lucky to be working with her.
And:
Julie Mallis- a multimedia artist and educator working with digital media, paint, installation, performance, sound and audience interaction. Their work focuses on building community, audio-visual experiences, speaking truth to power, and imagining new landscapes. They are working on a video for my show so I’ve gotten first hand experience of how awesome their work and imagination are. They are affiliated with Boom Concepts, GFX, Bike Pgh and they’re now program director at Repair the World Pittsburgh.
Thank you, Nicole.
Readers can find Nicole on Facebook @fairmoanspgh and on instagram @fair_moans_collective. folkLAB is also on Facebook @folkLAB and Instagram @f0lkLab
The Bourbon Room is rocking the Sunset Strip in the mid-to-late 80s, and Lonny (Nick Druzbanski), our fearless narrator, wants to tell you all about excitement in and out of the club in the hit musical “Rock of Ages.”
Lonny not-so-subtly explains everything we need to know about the popular rock venue, it’s owner, Dennis Dupree (Gene Weygandt), the greedy German entrepreneurs, Hertz Klinemann (Jeffrey Howell) and his son Franz Klinemann (Nathan Salstone), who are buying up blocks of the Strip to gentrify the neighborhood, and the young woman, Regina – rhymes with vagina (Tiffany Tatreau) – who is trying to stop them.
Lonny also introduces us to the main story; a love triangle (two-parts love, one-part lust) between our hero, Drew (Justin Matthew Sargent), a sweet, young girl from Kansas, Sherrie (Tess Soltau), and famed Arsenal lead singer Stacee Jaxx (American Idol’s Ace Young).
Drew wants to rock but he’s stuck behind the scenes cleaning up the club, emptying bags of garbage and plunging toilets. No job is too gross for Drew, because scatological comedy is king in this musical, but he’d rather be the lead singer in a big 80s hair band than clean vomit out of the men’s room. Who wouldn’t?
Our hero meets Sherrie just as she arrives in town –straight off the bus from some unnamed town in Kansas. Drew gets her a job at the Bourbon Room and the two continue to flirt, but Drew accidentally locks himself in the Friend Zone.
Meanwhile, Dennis Dupree, the Bourbon Room owner and operator, wants to have one last big blow out concert before they have to close up shop for good thanks to the aforementioned schemers, Klinemann and Klinemann. He convinces the hit rock band Arsenal to play one last gig in the club. The pompous Arsenal lead singer Stacee Jaxx agrees. When Jaxx arrives, he immediately puts the moves on Sherrie, and the three individuals converge, creating said love triangle. It’s your typical “Boy meets girl, Boy loses girl to famous rock star, Boy tries to win her back” story.
When Sherrie is unceremoniously fired because Sherrie gives Jaxx “bad vibes,” she runs into Mama (Aurelia Williams) the lesbianic prison matron who – wait! That’s “Chicago” – she runs into Justice the lesbianic owner of the Venus Club, who gets Sherrie up on the pole, dancing for her money. Ironically, Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer” feels like the only rock ballad that DIDN’T turn up in the final cut of the show.
Sherrie (Tess Soltau) and Drew (Justin Matthew Sargent) go on a picnic high in the Hollywood Hills in “Rock of Ages.”
“Rock of Ages” is, yet again, another musical that weaves its plot around its songs – instead of the other way around. Some of those songs work and some are just jammed in there (a father sings a love ballad to his son and it feels super awkward). Bad puns go flying, some of them land with a thud. A vast majority of the comedic lines are merely groaners, but the superior cast kept “Rock of Ages” from being Schlock of Ages.
Young is charismatic as the charming but smarmy Jaxx. He lights up the stage, even when prancing around on a plush stuffed llama.
Sargent is perfectly cast as a fresh-faced Drew. He seems too earnest to be a rock star, and without spoiling the plot… probably is. He’s a good guy looking for a good girl and both he and Soltau are convincing.
By the way, Soltau can sing. She sings her way into Drew’s heart – and into the hearts of the audience. She also gets in a good comedic moment or two, particularly during a picnic high on Mullholland Drive – overlooking the Los Angeles cityscape.
Weygandt’s performance is reminscent of Bill Nighy in “Love Actually,” only less famous. He’s terrific.
Williams is a powerhouse. Even though there were some faulty microphones on opening night, it didn’t matter to Williams as she belted out the tunes. It was a grand performance.
Howell and Salstone are burdened with ridiculous German accents, but the duo makes the best of it. Howell chews the scenery. He’s the central villain in the story, but you can tell he’s loving every minute of it. Salstone steals the show with a rendition of “Hit Me with your Best Shot.” It’s, hands down, the most fantastic moment in the show (this critic is a big Pat Benatar fan).
Beowulf Boritt’s set design is spectacular and Gregory Gale’s original costumes are amazing. The show is popping with bright colors and bold patterns. The show is a huge spectacle with great live music provided by band members Robert Neumeyer, Dan Peters, John Anthony, Paul Thompson and RJ Heid.
Playwright Chris D’Arienzo wrote a clunky musical, but if you love 80s hair bands, like Guns & Roses, Styx, and Twisted Sister, “Rock of Ages” will rock you. Hard. Just the way you like it.
-MB
“Rock of Ages” runs through July 28 at the Benedum Center, 7th Street and Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
Marsha Norman’s 1978 Pulitzer Prize winning play, “‘night Mother,” recently crested its 40th birthday, and while some details are inevitably dated, the play’s themes are still relevant today. It’s a dark family drama centered on a middle-aged daughter, Jessie (Briauna Brownfield), a divorcee living with her aging mother, Thelma (Samantha A. Camp).
At the start, Jessie announces she is going to commit suicide, and the play unfolds real-time, making the 90-minute show the same duration as the play’s action. Norman’s writing is incredibly tight, creating an intense hour and half for actresses and audience alike.
“‘night Mother” is a character-driven, dialogue-heavy play, and the emotionally weighty subject of suicide requires exceptional acting. Unfortunately, Throughline thoroughly misses in casting Brownfield as Jessie. Jessie is middle-aged in the play, but Brownfield is closer in age to Jessie’s young adult son.
Age aside, Brownfield gives a steadily one-dimensional, monotone performance. Her relentlessly flat affect is tedious, leaving one to wonder if director Sarah McPartland ever attended a rehearsal. The theater is small, and the close proximity visibly betrays Brownfield is often simply trying to remember her lines, which removes the potential for emotional nuance. Jessie’s compiled a list of personal questions to ask (“Did you love Daddy?”) and perfunctory information to share (the dryer repair number is taped to the side of the machine). Both the banal and the secret are unified under the same void expression, which prohibits the play from reaching its emotional valence. Brownfield’s only nod to tension is to touch and straighten her glasses, which may just be a nervous tic.
Jessie (Briauna Brownfield) comforts her mother, Thelma (Samantha A. Camp), after shocking her with a disturbing announcement.
Age-wise, Camp would be better suited to play Jessie. Brownfield’s phone-in performance definitely helps Camp shine as the stronger of the two actresses. Thelma’s character limps and uses a cane, which Camp observes with flagrant degrees of inconsistency, another missed opportunity for director Sarah McPartland. Camp does exhibit emotional range in her parade of reactions to Jessie’s suicide pronouncement that includes everything from total dismissiveness to downright panic to blame and self-pity. At one point, Thelma angrily knocks her crochet basket off of the coffee table, and it’s a moment of palpable tension where the fourth wall feels compromised as the basket comes hurtling towards the audience. Thelma loves candy, and in a thoughtful detail from McPartland, a hidden sweets stash comes flying out from beneath the yarn.
Tucker Topel’s set design is a praiseworthy bright spot. Visually, the set is rife with details that thoughtfully coalesce and immediately express this is a lower-middle class home, including a poor man’s cabinet door of a curtain on a slightly sagging string beneath the kitchen sink. The most resounding detail is partially exposed lath and plaster walls showing the inner layers of the home in a way that beautifully parallels the characters peeling back their own layers and exposing their truths over the course of the night.
A costume designer is conspicuously absent from the crew list. Both actresses appear to have been left to their own devices without directorial guidance from McPartland to visually unify them. To Camp’s credit, her Thelma is on point. She shuffles about in gray house slippers with faded black socks. She’s appropriately fashion-forgettable in her coral top as the hemline of her polyester skirt flirts with the top of her socks. The skirt’s floral pattern is trying to emerge from an unappealing chocolate brown background, mirroring Thelma’s own quagmire.
Jessie never leaves the house, and the play notes her getting house slippers for holidays, a woman old before her time. Yet, Brownfield’s sneakers read more hipster than house shoes, and she’s sporting an anklet that may fit her personal life but should be shuttered for the show. She’s supposed to be wearing her son’s clothes, suggesting the degree to which she decries caring about her appearance, but Brownfield’s form-fitting denim overalls are decidedly on-trend and feminine. The play takes place on a Saturday night, which is when Jessie does Thelma’s manicure. While the dialogue explicitly refers to Thelma’s chipped nails, her manicure look salon-fresh. The small, intimate venue makes visible these cumulative cracks that compound and diminish impact.
Despite the fact there are only two actresses in the show, the program’s cast list has their names reversed. It’s symptomatic of the show’s collective lack of attention to detail. The production feels premature, as if we’re seeing a rehearsal, so it may come together more tightly as the production run progresses. Norman’s writing is worth experiencing. She doesn’t shy away from the intricacies of how families hurt each other, even if the intent is good, and her exploration of a woman contemplating suicide is even more relevant today as suicide numbers reach all-time highs.
-TR
“‘night Mother” plays through July 27 at the Aftershock Theater, 115 57th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201 (on a seasonal note, fans are abundant, but the theater is not air conditioned). For more information, click here.
Sophie Sheridan (Alysia Vastardis) is getting hitched on a small, Greek isle. She wants her father to walk her down the aisle when she gets married. The problem is – Sophie doesn’t know who sired her. Her mother Donna (Stephanie Ottey) had three suitors twenty years ago; any one of them could have been Sophie’s dad. So, the bride invites all three possible biological fathers to her wedding in “Mamma Mia.”
Meanwhile Donna’s best friends – and backup singers from her heyday singing as “Donna and the Dynamos” – Tanya (Sara Barbisch) and Rosie (Missy Moreno) rush to the aid of the mother of the bride to prep for the big day.
Then, Sam Carmichael (George Heigel), Bill Austin (Nick Mitchell) and Harry Bright (Chris Martin) all show up on the island for Sophie’s impending nuptials. While the men are purportedly intelligent, none of them figure out why they were invited to the wedding (it takes the entire first act for them to work it out). Any one of them might be Sophie’s dad.
P.S. the bride did not tell her mother than she planned to bring the men to the island.
Chaos – and a lot of ABBA music – ensues.
The cast of “Mamma Mia” poses for a wedding photo at the end of the show.
The plot of “Mamma Mia” is flimsily framed around the songs of Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (Benny and Bjorn are the two middle B’s in ABBA). If you have a favorite ABBA song, playwright Catherine Johnson has wedged it in somehow – sometimes – with a sledgehammer.
No one has ever gone to any musical for the plot, especially “Mama Mia.” It’s all about the singing and dancing, and “Mamma Mia” has oodles of singing and dancing. It’s infectious, effervescent and joyous.
There’s a lot of talent in this cheery, little production. Kudos to co-directors Stephen Santa and Drew Praskovich for mounting such an energetic show. It’s perfectly cast. They bring a lot of spectacle to it on a shoestring budget.
Vastardis belts out quite a few of the songs beautifully.
Donna transforms from downtrodden taverna owner to disco diva in a few pithy tunes, but Ottey makes it work. She’s a star. Her version of ‘The Winner Takes it all” is a showstopper.
Heigel matches her in intensity with “Knowing Me, Knowing You.” Heigel has been in many Stage 62 productions, but he finally gets a bit of the spotlight here, and he deserves every minute of it. He shines bright here.
Martin is always fun to watch. His character HB is supposed to be British, but the accent sort of comes and goes (maybe he’s just peppering his conversation with British words). He does, however, have impeccable comic timing.
Mitchell does a fine job as the intrepid explorer. His reactions to Moreno’s “Take a Chance on me” are so unbelievably stoic (he deserves an award for being nonplussed through the whole, sordid song).
Moreno is a comedic force of nature. Even the grumpiest of theater goers will guffaw at her antics. Major LOL’s resounded from almost every audience member.
Clayton Edwards and Ivan Bracy Jr. bring a lot of charm and personality to Pepper and Eddie, respectively.
There is kinetic choreography from Emily Christ and peppy tunes from the orchestra.
Shout out to the set designer Rob James for a stunning Aegean backdrop and gorgeous costumes by Jessica Kavanagh.
Take a chance…Take a chance…Take a chance…on “Mamma Mia.”
-MB
“Mama Mia” runs until July 28 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here.
Three young men in suburbia Johnny (Jeff Way), Tunny (Jacob Krupitzer) and Will (Jordan Schreiber) are restless, bored and generally discontent with their lives. They feel trapped and want to escape, and move on to a more exciting place where they make their own rules and “find themselves.”
Will wanted to leave with his buddies but stays back in suburbia when his girlfriend Heather (Karli Sutton) discovers she is pregnant.
Johnny and Tunny head for the “big city” but after a time both find that city life isn’t exactly what they expected. Both men face the same restraints and traps they encountered in suburbia.
Heavy into drugs, Johnny stays in the city and finds Whatshername* (Chelsea Bartel).
*Note: Yep, that’s right. The poor girl doesn’t even have a name!
Johnny slowly entices his nameless girlfriend into his drug world. His alter-ego and figment of his imagination St. Jimmy (Allison Burns) is not a saint as she goads Johnny into more inappropriate behavior.
Tunny leaves the city, joins the military and is seriously injured in the war. While in the Middle East he falls in love with Extraordinary Girl** (Lydia Halkias).
**Note: And another nameless female!
Will, still in suburbia, lives his life vicariously through television, watching other people pursue active existences. He is bored and boring.
Johnny and Tunny eventually come back home to suburbia and reconnect with Will. Did they leave their rage behind? Did love prevail?
Jacob Krupitzer (as Tunny) plays the guitar while the cast of “American Idiot” looks on.
The seed for the musical opera “American Idiot” grew from the album of the same name produced in 2004 by the band, Green Day. Music was written by Billie Joe Armstrong. Book by Billie Joe Armstrong
Note: The time frame of the original musical reflected the early 2000s. This production is definitely indicative of 2019 as evidenced by the quick projected television images of the current President.
Way’s interpretation of Johnny as the angry, self-centered wise ass is spot on as is his rendition of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
Schreiber is believable as Will as his movements and facial expressions indicate his much slower-paced life and indifference.
Bartel’s rendition of “Letterbomb” is powerful.
Burns’ portrayal as the psychotic, evil St. Jimmy is riveting.
Krupitzer successfully conveys the deeper feelings of Tunny as he grows from a restless youth to a gentler soul.
Set design is eclectic, simplistic, but striking. Sections of plywood (with the occasional stream of green bubble wrap) surround the stage. The plywood slabs are used throughout the musical to catch images of current events or silent symbols associated with the characters on stage. Hats off to Set Designer, John E. Lane, Jr.
Choreography by Assistant Director/Choreographer Nora Nee and Assistant Choreographer Mikayla Gilmer and the entire cast made the energetic, frenetic movements on stage appear seamless.
The Live Band is the delicious icing on the cake.
This production directed by Justin Sines.
Please note that this show contains adult content and strong language that may not be suitable for all viewers.
-CED
“America Idiot” runs from July 11 – 28 at the Genesius Theater, Duquesne University, 1225 Seitz Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (adjacent to the Mary Pappert School of Music). For more information, click here.
Let’s get this straight – Mark Toland does not possess supernatural skills, but, sometimes, it’s hard to tell. His show, “Mind Reader” seems very convincing, but Toland will be the first to admit that he is merely fooling you with tricks and not actually reading minds. The tricks are unfathomable (and I promised not to divulge any of them).
Mentalism is a performing art and it’s not to be confused with numerology, psychometry, Tarot card reading or speaking to the dead. It seems like he knows your birthday, your profession and where you want to go on vacation – he really doesn’t use telepathy or ask your deceased relatives. It’s a trick. And a darn good one.
Toland is an award-winning mentalist, winning rave reviews for his talents and tricks throughout the world. He won a five-star review at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. The Chicago-based mentalist’s 2017 “Mystery Tour” earned him praise from coast-to-coast.
Magic is 10% tricks and 90% presentation. Toland not only astounds, he puts on a delightful show with witty banter and clever crowd work. He is also 100% charming.
When you go to the show, expect the unexpected. You can expect gasps and shouts of glee with an occasional mutterings such as “How did he do that?” and “What the heck?” Don’t try to understand it. Just go with the flow. The audience is very involved. Toland picks people at random by making them throw around a miniature stuffed version of himself (a Tolie bear?). Because the mind reader is choosing different audience members each night – the show is different every evening. Toland uses a lot of improvisational skills with his magic tricks, and it’s really fun watching him work with the audience.
Liberty Magic is the perfect venue for Toland’s show. Nearly everyone gets a chance to participate in the show at the intimate little cabaret setting of Liberty Magic (be sure to catch some pre-show entertainment with Mark Tierno performing sleight-of-hand card tricks).
“Mind Reader” runs until August 4 at Liberty Magic, 811 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
In the current climate of theatre in America, the staging of ancient Greek and Roman plays has become a tricky business among the trends of 90-minute shows and economic casts of three to four actors. They have at times been dodged by producers and audiences alike, presumably due to the fear of the pieces lacking appeal. Shakespeare suffers a similar treatment to some degree, though it seems he’s been spared the level of avoidance that has befallen the ancients of Greece and Rome. The dilemma is almost inconceivable when considering that these works were the original blockbusters: immensely popular in their time and influencing all drama and comedy to follow for hundreds of years. To argue that the premise or period of any such work is dull, boring, or uneventful is fruitless when considering the numerous serial dramas that have borrowed from them and found their way to millions of weekly watchers through HBO and Showtime, among other subscription networks who have peppered in just enough sex and violence to insure mass appeal. So were then is the disconnect between the Acropolis of Athens and the modern stage? I refuse to concede that the answer lies simply in the absence of blood and nudity. Instead, I believe it to be in the translation.
When Sophocles wrote Electra circa 400 BC, the very concept of theatre as it is known today was in its infancy. Storytelling had evolved to form a more dimensional means of presentation and thus, the actor was born. Despite the razzle dazzle of movement, characters, and chorus, plays were still in the habit of telling a story rather than allowing one to unfold realistically before an audience. Many plays of the era were mired in exposition, leaving it to an actor to monologue events that happened, were happening, or were going to happen, rather than producing them. When accurately translated, these scripts don’t leave much room for compelling dialogue or interesting staging that most modern audiences might expect in a night out at the theatre. Adaptations tend to be more palatable, but deny us the glimpse of how these stories were originally told. It’s a classic “catch XXII.”
The production of Electra staged by Little Lake Theatre Company, as well as its translation by Robin Bond, can boast authenticity as one of its stronger points. Bond’s text recalls Sophocles’ tragedy of Electra (Rachel Pfenningwerth) who with her brother Orestes (Brendan Karas) enacts vengeance upon her mother Clytemnestra (Ponny Conomos Jahn) for the murder of her father, King Agamemnon. Director Jena Oberg makes good use of the theater-in-the-round and minimal set, keeping the tale focused and moving throughout one 90-minute act.
Bond’s accurate translation takes little liberty in the use of poetic language, and on top of Sophocles’ narrative approach to dialogue, stifles the enjoyment of the story. When this equation manifests in performance, the line between drama and melodrama becomes a fine one that is straddled precariously throughout. The cure for this comes by way of Ponny Conomos Jahn’s performance as Clytemnestra and Carly Adams’ performance as Electra’s sister Chrysothemis. Both actors illuminate the text and the stage with irrepressible presence and a thorough mastery of their roles. In their handling of the language, the inherent dust that can sit upon the delivery of ancient Greek drama quickly vanishes. Even Jahn’s stillness while berated by Pfenningwerth’s Electra emanates great power.
When engaged beyond the role of set dressing, the Chorus, comprised of Mona Bapat, Kerry Benson, Ina Block, Lexi Feldman, Kathi Finch, Heather Friedman, and Gretchen VanHoorelbeke, presents itself as a strong ensemble and compliments the stage action well.
SEE IT FOR: An authentic treatment of an ancient Greek tragedy. The performances by Carley Adams and Ponny Conomos Jahn.
Electra continues at Little Lake Theatre through July 13. For tickets and more information, visit www.littlelake.org
Just before Violet Stoner dies, she grabs her sister Enid (Jessie Wray Goodman) and chokes out her two final words, “band” and “speckled,” in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s play, “The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes.”
The young lady died under mysterious circumstances just prior to her engagement to Scott Wilson (Ethan Saks). An investigation of her death yields inconclusive results, though the town grocer, Mr. Armitage (Wali Jamal) suspects that she was murdered by the lord of the Stoke Manor, Dr. Grimesby Rylott (Sam Tsoutsouvas).
Though Rylott is a cruel man, Enid is hesitant to believe that her stepfather, Rylott, is capable of murder. She does, however, report to the Coroner (Martin Giles) that she heard strange music the night Violet died.
Two years later, Enid is now engaged and the strange music begins again. She believes she will suffer a similar fate. She calls upon her friend Dr. John Watson (James FitzGerald) for aid. Watson believes he can help her, because he, in turn, has a friend who might be able to get to the bottom of the mystery. Any mystery! A man named Sherlock Holmes (David Whalen).
Dunt dunt da!
Rylott seeks to keep Enid from marrying. He is aided by his valet, Ali (Arjun Kumar), his maid, Mrs. Staunton (Lisa Ann Goldsmith), and, unwittingly, his doddering butler Rodgers (David Crawford).
The killer’s identity is crystal clear by the end of the first act. We don’t need Sherlock to solve this mystery. Heck, Scooby Doo could have figured it out without the help of Shaggy, Velma, Daphne or Freddie. But “The Speckled Band” isn’t really a whodunit. It’s more of a “Will he do it again?”
Sherlock must outwit the villain to save Enid in time. It’s a nail-biter more than it’s a mystery. The game is afoot!
Dr. Rylott (Sam Tsoutsouvas) threatens his stepdaughter, Enid (Jessie Goodman) in “The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes” at Charity Randall Theatre.
Director Andrew Paul assembles an outstanding local cast, and brings back Pittsburgh’s favorite Sherlock, David Whalen (a former native now living in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina). Paul moves the actors around the stage organically. The actors move with purpose and intent.
Tsoutsouvas chews up Johnmichael Bohach’s stately scenery. He rails against Enid, bullies his butler and threatens Sherlock. It’s a grand performance.
Goodman is so charismatic as the girl in peril. Her accent equally charming thanks to dialect coach, Lisa Ann Goldsmith.
Whalen is Sherlock. He’s reprised the role so many times, it’s difficult to imagine anyone else under the deerstalker hat. He thrives, playing the iconic detective masterfully, with a bounty of brilliance and soupcon of arrogance, relishing every moment.
FitzGerald is once again his foil, Watson. Watson would be the smartest man in the room, until Sherlock enters the scene. It’s a joy to watch Watson get outwitted by his friend, every single time. Whalen and FitzGerald’s chemistry is delightful.
Crawford is hilarious as the bumbling butler.
Giles takes on two disparate parts, the Coroner and a Milverton, a slimy blackmailer. He is amazing in both roles. Giles is some sort of mad genius who is at his peak when he immerses himself into crazed characters.
Other standouts include Jamal’s Armitage, Goldsmith’s smug and imperious maid, and Sherlock’s new major domo, Billy (R. Daniel Murphy).
If you’re going for the sake of solving a perplexing, Sherlockian mystery, you will be a little disappointed. But if you’re going because you want to see a bunch of Pittsburgh’s best and brightest actors romping through a suspenseful tale of greed and murder, get a ticket right away!
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“The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes” runs through June 30th at the Charity Randall Theater inside the Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. For more information, click here.
Magician Billy Kidd is in Pittsburgh astonishing audiences in her new show, “Bridging the Gap” at Liberty Magic. The magician has been seen on several television shows, such as Discovery Channel’s “Breaking Magic,” SyFy’s “Wizard Wars,” and Penn & Teller’s “Fool Us.”
Kidd has a very theatrical flair. She opens the show with a bit of performance art, talking to a stuffed monkey who answers her back by clashing his cymbals at opportune times. There’s a bit of storytelling with her tricks. She weaves a delightful tale of her origins with magic, beginning as a street performer. Kidd’s story is told with a lot of humor.
Most of her magic is the standard sleight of hand type, making objects disappear and reappear with a sharp, quick gestures. Kidd is considered one of the preeminent sleight-of-hand and close up magicians. She does, however, perform one or two feats of magic that made the audience squirm (Kidd expels a bean from her eyeball).
Billy Kidd poses with one of her many, many deck of cards for her show “Bridging the Gap” at Liberty Magic.
There is a big show-stopping number where the aforementioned monkey plays a larger role (no spoilers).
Kidd’s show is full of fun, little surprises. She is exuberant and enthusiastic. There’s a sense of wonder in her eyes. She’s still a kid (pardon the pun) at heart. And “Bridging the Gap,” unlike many shows down on Liberty Avenue, is suitable for younger audiences. It’s also a short show, at seventy minutes (no intermission).
If you have an opportunity, splurge for the VIP tickets. You get a bit extra for your buck with a additional show in the back room of the venue. Kidd also lets her guard down and answers questions from the private audience.
Be warned: A lot of Kidd’s show is participatory. She called several audience members up on stage to get into the act. Some of the funniest lines came from the audience members who were either excited or frightened into participating.
Maybe you can get into the act at “Bridging the Gap.”
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“Bridging the Gap” runs until June 23 at Liberty Magic, 811 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
