Get ready for monsters, mummies and more at Yelp’s Monster Bash! You’re invited to the Mattress Factory on October 28 from 8-10pm for a free evening filled with spooky sights, sounds and snacks! The event is FREE, but a $10 suggested donation will benefit the Mattress Factory. Costumes are strongly encouraged. Dress up and get down to the Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, click here.
A Great Big Nightmare
Come out and see A Great Big World performing a FREE show at Nightmare on Hellsworth on Friday, October 30. Also performing will be Pittsburgh’s own Chris Jamison, Mish, Nick Bramlett, C.J. Mitchell & DJ Colt. Come out and in costume for the costume contest. Hellsworth is on blocked off section of Ellsworth Ave at Maryland Avenue. For more information, click here.
Cry Witch!
Prime Stage is getting witchy with it. They are presenting Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” In late mid-century Salem, Massachusetts, accusations of witchcraft are brought forth against a troubling number of young girls & adult women of the town. It’s at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, click here.
Watershed Moments
It’s not too late to catch the University of Pittsburgh’s production of “Water by the Spoonful.” A motley crew gathers in an Internet chatroom to share life’s fragile successes and help weather its bleak realities. It’s at the Henry Heymann Theatre, inside the Stephen Foster Memorial Theater, 4301 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. 15213. For more information, click here.
The Day After
Once Halloween is over, there’s one more place for to see people dress up. Come out and see the best male and female impersonators in Pittsburgh at Kierra Darshell’s Drag Brunch on November 1. It’s at the James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy, 422 Foreland Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, click here.
A sad-faced orphan sings for his supper in the classic Charles Dickens tale, “Oliver!” in Lionel Bart’s musical version presented by the students of the Richard E. Rauh Conservatory, backed by the talented CAPA Orchestra (with additional roles filled out by the professional artists of Pittsburgh Musical Theater).
When a workhouse boy, Oliver (Benjamin Godley Fisher), dares to ask for a second helping of gruel, his caretaker Mr. Bumble (Sky Bennett) decides the troublemaker must be removed from the premises. He doesn’t just kick him to the curb, but, instead, sells him to a local undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry (Brady David Patsy). The situation at the funeral parlor is bleak. Soon, Oliver is on the street. The young boy is starving for sustenance and affection.
While moping on the corner, Oliver has a chance encounter with a masterful young pickpocket, the Artful Dodger (Brecken Farrell). Dodger invites Oliver to to meet Fagin (Nathan Sudie) and the other boys (a legion of distressed-dressed moppets, both male and female in PMT’s version). Fagin teaches Oliver the local trade, telling him “You’ve got to pick a pocket or two.”
Oliver is out with the Dodger working the streets, freeing gentlemen of their burdensome wallets, but he gets nabbed on his first job, trying to steal from Mr. Brownlow (Nick Cortazzo).
Spoilers: The twist in Oliver Twist’s life, unbeknownst to both perp and victim, is that Brownlow is Oliver’s grandfather.
Meanwhile, Fagin schemes with the murderous Bill Sykes (Rush Hodgin) to get the boy back. Sykes bullies his girlfriend Nancy (Sabrina Picciani) into grabbing Oliver from Brownlow’s posh neighborhood.
But when Nancy decides she wants to return Oliver to Brownlow, all hell breaks loose. Not everyone gets a happy ending. Actually, Nancy’s storyline might be tough for some of the younger audience members. Her occupation and her fate might leave the kids with lots of questions.
For a musical “Oliver!” has a dark, dense plot. To make matters even more confusing some of the roles are double cast or switched out. For example, Sky Bennett and Rush Hodgin swap roles. One night Bennett is Bumble, while Hodgin is Sykes. The following night they pull the old switcheroo (this review will align with the opening night performance). The good news is that both performers were superb in their roles.
Be prepared, Lionel Bart’s lyrics will earworm their way into your brain (“Who will buy this Beautiful Morning” is rattling around in this critic’s brain right now).
The show rests squarely on the shoulders of the actor playing the titular Oliver. It’s an enormous burden for an actor so young, but Godley Fisher is up to the task.
Picciani is luminescent as Nancy. The musical is at its best when she is on stage. Her mellifluous singing voice was one of the show’s highlights. Farrell’s charismatic Dodger was another. Brady Patsy played a the undertaker, Sowerberry. While the role is small (Sowerberry is in two short scenes), his performance is big.
Additionally, Sudie’s Fagin is a lot of fun, chewing up the scenery with a whimsical song and a devious smile.
“Oliver!” is brimming over with scores of characters. There may be a few too many members of the ensemble, overcrowding even the ample Byham stage. However, the show is written with scores of characters, some of them important to the plot and other superfluous. Each of them have a few moments in the spotlight, luckily, under Lisa Elliott’s direction, most of them shine.
– MB
“Oliver!” runs through October 25th at the Byham Theater, 101 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, please click here.
Start your weekend early with the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington. Jack along with all the denizens of Halloweentown are about to invade Christmas in “Disney In Concert: Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.” The movie will play on the big screen while the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra plays the music from the film. Head to Halloweentown at Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
Supper Time
An unusual dinner is served in “Brainpeople.” As the peculiar dinner progresses, reality unravels, sanity fractures and futures are irreversibly altered. The dinner bell rings at the Grey Box Theatre, 3595 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201. For more information, click here.
Fickle Fingers of Fate
On Friday, October 23, it’s ladies night at “WoManos the Hands of Fate,” a staged performance of the cult film, “Manos the Hands of Fate,” with an all-female cast. The show also features a blend of pulpy, cheesy longform improv inspired by classic movie serials! It’s at the Arcade Comedy Theater, 811 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
The Dickens You Say
An orphan falls in with a group of pick-pocketing hoodlums in the musical, “Oliver!” Cause, boy, you’ve got to pick a pocket or two. It’s a dark, twisted tale that only Charles Dickens can tell and you’ll find it at the Byham Theater, 101 Sixth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
Frightful Night
There are scary creatures vying for the presidency and John McIntire is ready to frighten you with the cold, hard facts, and some comedy at his “Dangerously Live Comedy Talk Show.” McIntire’s guests are Mayor John Fetterman who’s running for the U.S. Senate, Former U.S. Senate candidate and world-renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, and Handwriting Analyst Michelle Dresbold will sit down with him and talk the future of politics. It’s at the Oaks Theater, 310 Allegheny River Blvd. Oakmont, PA 15139. For more information and tickets go here.
In some undefined, otherworldly labyrinth, two women converge; the rich, rigid Olexzandra (Elizabeth Ruelas) and the peculiar and masculine Jill (Lisa Ann Goldsmith) in Andrea Lepcio’s “Tunnel Vision.” They are deposited in a cavernous room strewn with junk.
Olexzandra begins to build something with a scrap heap of metal, yarn, bits and bobs while Jill scratches at her skin. As luck would have it, Olexzandra happens to be a dermatologist and Jill happens to have dermatitis. The two form an uneasy alliance as they attempt to ascertain their whereabouts. The quickly discover that all roads of the labyrinth lead back to the junkyard they now occupy.
They don’t know how it is they came to be where they are. Olexzandra wants to retrace her steps, but then realizes the events leading up to her arrival in the junkyard are too intimate and frightening to recount. Jill is also reluctant to tell her story.
“Tunnel Vision” has a lot of half-spoken conversations. Some of those conversations are directed at the audience. There is an uneasy conceit of the play in which the audience is an active but mute participant in the drama. The characters are aware they are being watched and indirectly try to engage us. It’s a difficult trick to pull off. At one point, Jill poses a question to the audience and they are supposed to respond in a certain way. One couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if someone responded differently.
There is a poetry to the language of the play, but, like poetry, it’s sometimes difficult to understand. Like poetry, some of the questions of the story remain unanswered. Though there are a few witty moments, there are also long pauses of silence that are intentionally unbearable. One silent moment worked well. When Olexzandra soothes Jill with her ointment. It is a gentle, loving moment with hints of eroticism. However, when Olexzandra uses surgical tape to repair Jill’s ripped jeans, the moment plays out at an uncomfortably slow pace.
It’s a premiere work and it still has some kinks that need to be worked out. However, Goldsmith and Ruelas are engaging. Jill has some rough edges and could have made the character unlikable, but Goldsmith finds depth in the lost girl. Olexzandra is also a difficult character (her name is Olexzandra, for Heaven’s sake!), but Ruelas finds a sweet vulnerability in the dermatologist.
Director Melissa Maxwell does a fine job peeling back the onion-like layers of “Tunnel Vision.” Though, Maxwell spends a bit too much time in the aforementioned spaces between the words.
It’s hard to describe what “Tunnel Vision” is. It’s easier to describe what it isn’t. It’s not a ghost story, though there is a ghost story in it. It’s not really a romance, though there are romantic moments. It’s not a horror, even though it places its characters in a horrifying situation (trapped in a labyrinth with no exit). It’s a dichotomous tale wherein the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. Much like the junkyard setting, there are bits and pieces scattered about, partial ideas, unused concepts, and conversations that linger in the corner.
“Tunnel Vision” takes us on a circuitous route through and around the two characters, but there is hope, a gleaming beacon of hope. Two damaged creatures escape their wretched unfulfilled lives by finding salvation in the other; the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Tunnel Vision” is at the Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main Street, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here.
Many women struggle with the changeless of balancing motherhood and career. Playwright Andrea Lepcio examines said struggle in, “Tunnel Vision.” You can brave the Fort Pitt Tunnel or the Liberty Tunnel and go to the Carnegie Stage (formerly the Off the Wall Theatre), 25 E. Main Street, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, go here.
Once Upon a Time
The musical storybook mash up, “Into the Woods,” is back in the ‘Burgh. Follow the heroes, villains and woodland creatures into the woods at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. For more information, go here.
ADD Theater
If you’re off your Adderall, you might want to consider the “Ten-Minute Play Fest.” It’s a selection of 12 plays that are ten minutes or less. It’s also an inexpensive evening out at $3 to $5 dollar cover charge. It’s at the Community Activity Center, 113 N. Pacific Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224. For more information, go here.
Reeling
This is the final week of the Reel Q Film Festival. On October 17, the closing film is the director’s cut of “54,” about the famously wicked nightclub, Studio 54. Then, go to the after party at the Arthur Murray Dance Center on 136th 6th Street, for dancing, disco and a costume contest. The fun begins at the Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, For more information, go here.
Fall into Spring
What better time to celebrate spring than in fall? Join the Pittsburgh symphony as they perform music from Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” It’s considered a musical masterpiece. It will be performed along with Ginastera’s concerto for the Harp and Orchestra and the symphony premiere of Edu Lobo’s Suite Popular Brasileira. It’s all at Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, go here.
Joshua Grannell is returning to Pittsburgh. Grannell who wrote and directed the horror/comedy, “All About Evil,” is flying in for a screening of the film for Reel Q’s 30th Anniversary fundraiser on October 8 at the Harris Theater. Grannell was a film student at Penn State University almost twenty years ago. His senior thesis film, “Jizzmopper: A Love Story,” won the audience award at the annual Penn State Film Festival in 1996.
Grannell said, “I used to hang out in Pittsburgh. I used to watch screenings at the Beehive and I used to go to Pegasus. The Andy Warhol Museum was just opening when I left [May 15, 1994].”
The filmmaker is more commonly known by his on-stage persona, Peaches Christ, a character he first developed back in “Jizzmopper: A Love Story.”
Grannell said, “I was queer at a young age. I didn’t know I was gay, but I wasn’t interested in sports. I liked drama, theater and movies. I was always attracted to horror. I was obsessed with ‘Psycho.’” He added, “I was a sensitive boy, but I liked movies with dark subject matter.”
After graduating at Penn State, Grannell moved to San Francisco where Peaches Christ flourished. He began producing Midnight Mass, a midnight movie series. At Midnight Mass at the Bridge Theater in San Francisco, Peaches attracted a slew of special guest stars like Cassandra Peterson (“Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”), Mink Stole (“Desperate Living”), Tura Satana (“Faster Pussycat Kill Kill”) and John Waters (“Hairspray,” “Cry Baby,” “Pink Flamingos,” “Serial Mom” and more).
Mark Cuban (“Shark Tank”) took an interest in Peaches. In Midnight Mass’s tenth annual season, a six-part series, “Midnight Mass with your Hostess Peaches Christ” was filmed and televised on the HDnet Movie Channel produced by Cuban. Peaches went on to make appearances on VH1, AMC and IFC.
In 2007, the de Young Museum hosted a retrospective of Peaches Christ called, “Cattychism.” The exhibition featured artistic contributions inspired by Peaches, including ten years of iconic costumes.
But it was the connections that help launch “All About Evil.” Grannell said, “I became friends with people who were big inspirations to me.” The writer/director formed long-lasting friendships with Cassandra Peterson and Mink Stole.
He added, “We did a Midnight Mass with Mink Stole and screened ‘Desperate Living’ and she told me later that it was really important to her. She was always regarded as a member of the John Waters family, but at that screening she said, ‘I never received accolades without the others around.’ It was really special to her.”
Grannell said, “I was inspired by people like Cassandra Peterson.” There is a resemblance. Grannell hosts midnight movies, and Peterson hosted midnight movies as Elvira. Neither Grannell nor Peterson look like their personas without the hair and makeup.
The filmmaker was able to entice both Mink Stole and Cassandra Peterson to appear in “All About Evil.” The film winks at Bette Davis, Mae West and other movie stars. The movie stars Natasha Lyonne (“Orange is the New Black,” “But I’m a Cheerleader”) as a mousy librarian who inherits her father’s Movie Theater, but when she commits a grisly murder (inside a Bed, Bath and Beyond of all places) she becomes a horror genre sensation. Although the audience is unaware that the on screen murders are real.
At the Pittsburgh screening at the Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh, the San Francisco filmmaker will host special performances by Vinsantos, Janet Granite and Bambi Deerest. Local drag diva Sharon Needles will introduce the event. After the movie, the celebration will continue down the block at There Ultra Lounge, 931 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh.
Grannell will spend a few days in Pittsburgh before heading to a special screening at his alma mater, Penn State.
Grannell added, “I’ve got a couple of days in Pittsburgh, and Sharon Needles has offered to take me around.”
Picture it, Peaches Christ and Sharon Needles out on the town. It’s going to be a wild weekend in the ‘Burgh.
For more information about the event, please click here.
When an elderly man shows up uninvited to the wedding, all sorts of trouble ensues in “Prelude to a Kiss.” He only wants to congratulate the bride with a kiss, but it’s a pretty uncommon kiss that sets up a new dynamic for the newlyweds. The honeymoon begins at the Little Lake Theatre, 500 Lakeside Drive, Canonsburg, PA 15317. For more information, click here.
P.S. On October 11, you can support Little Lake by going to a party! Their annual Fall fundraiser is happening at the Valley Brook Country Club, 425 Hidden Valley Road, Canonsburg, PA 15317. At the event, Ina L. Block will receive the Will Disney Award and the 2015 Bob Jones Apprentice Scholarship will be presented. For tickets, click here.
Rivers of Babylon
Mark Delavan (Falstaff, Rigoletto, and Scarpia) portrays Nabucco in the epic story of the Jews in exile in Babylon in “Nabucco.” It’s a poignant story of betrayal and reconciliation at the Pittsburgh Opera (sung in Italian with English subtitles) and it’s at the Benedum Center, 719 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, go here.
Fruit Flavors
On October 3, the Frick Art & Historical Center opened an exhibition called, “Chris Antemann: Forbidden Fruit and Other Works in Porcelain.” Antemann’s major works, the Love Temple and Pthe Pleasure Garden (inspired by Fragonard’s famous Progress of Love series) will be on hand along with a selection of her other works. You can find it at The Frick Art & Historical Center, 7227 Reynolds Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. For more information, click here.
Dancing for Diversity
The August Wilson Center is open and ready to dance again! Across the nation and around the world, PHILADANCO is celebrated for its innovation, creativity and preservation of predominantly African-American traditions in dance. Founded in 1970, PHILADANCO has a legacy of breaking barriers and building bridges across cultural divides, consistently performing for audiences representing an amalgamation of people from diverse communities. Come out and join the celebration on October 9, 2015 at the August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, go here.
Screen Queens
Reel Q Pittsburgh’s LGBT film festival opens October 9 with “Out to Win” a documentary about aspiring and established LGBT athletes sharing their experiences on and off the field. The festival has a host of other LGBT selections comedies, dramas, docs and more at the Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Theater, Pittsburgh PA, 15222. For more information, go here.
PITTSBURGH- Familiar fairy tale characters, and a few new ones, get the musical treatment in Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning 1986 musical, Into the Woods.
Point Park’s Conservatory Theatre Company presents Into the Woods in the Rockwell Theatre at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave. A preview performance on Thursday, October 15 at 8 p.m. is $12 or Pay-What-You-Want at the door, beginning two hours before curtain, subject to availability. Into the Woods will run Friday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 25. Performances start at 8 p.m., Thursdays- Saturdays with matinees at 2 p.m., on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $12-24 and can be purchased by calling the Pittsburgh Playhouse box office at 412.392.8000, or at www.pittsburghplayhouse.com. Group, senior, and student discounts are available.
Once upon a time… The Baker and his Wife were struggling to put a bun in the oven, so to speak. When the Witch next door reveals the source of their problem, they set out on a journey to reverse the curse. Along the way, they encounter Little Red Ridinghood, Jack, Cinderella, some randy princes, a nefarious wolf, and plenty of other characters who teach them that anything really can happen in the woods. It’s a parable about what we really get when we get what we want, set to a dazzling score by Stephen Sondheim.
Into the Woods debuted at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986 and premiered on Broadway on November 5, 1987, winning several Tony Awards that season, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical for Joanna Gleason’s performance. Disney’s film version, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, and Johnny Depp, was released in 2014 and nominated for several Academy Awards, among others. Music and lyrics are by Stephen Sondheim, book is by James Lapine.
Into the Woods is performed by the students of the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University. Zeva Barzell is director, Camille Villalpando Rolla is music director, scenic design by Britton Mauk, costume design by Cathleen Crocker-Perry, lighting design by Scott Nelson, sound design by Steve Shapiro, projection design by Jessi Sedon-Essad, and Jessica Kate Matthews is stage manager.
Zeva Barzell (Director) is a performer, director, and choreographer. Professional credits include Off-Broadway, regional theater, summer stock, dinner theater, daytime television, industrials and national voiceover work. She holds a B.F.A. from Ithaca College and an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has also trained in London, England and New York City where she resided for many years. She presently serves as musical theatre coordinator for the Point Park University musical theatre program. Proud member of Actor’s Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Recognized actor/combatant by the SAFD with Examiners award for excellence in unarmed combat.
Let’s hear it for the boys! We go boy crazy this weekend with Jersey Boys, Altar Boyz and Choir Boy. Then, we go off to Carnegie.
Oh What a Night!
The Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning story about a quartet of blue collar kids who become the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. You’ll be singing hit songs from the 50s and 60s all night long. Croon along to “Sherry” at the Benedum Center, 7th Street (between Penn and Liberty), Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.
Boyz with a Z
Meet Matthew, Mark, Luke, Jaun and Abraham…the Altar Boyz. They will parody piety with pop songs such as “Girl You Make Me Wanna Wait,” and “Jesus Called Me On My Cell Phone.” Geez. Think of the roaming charges on that call! You can get down and pray with the Altar Boyz at the Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, go here.
Skip the Plural
In an elite boarding school for young African American men, one young man struggles with his sexual identity after he becomes leader of the gospel choir in “Choir Boy.” Meet him and his hymnals at
Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. For more information, click here.
Concert in Carnegie
Renowned violinist and former Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Concert Master Andres Cardenes and his wife, violinist Monique Mead, headline an eclectic roster of performers at “Menard Presents: Carnegie in Concert” on October 2, 2015. It is at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here.
Dinner, Drinks and the Donnas!
Sunday, October 4 is the 25th Annual Pittsburgh New Works Gala where actors, directors and playwrights are honored for their work in the Festival’s world premiere plays. On the silver anniversary of this year’s gala, meet WQED’s Rick Sebak and “The Chief,” Tom Atkins during a three course sseated dinner before the Gala. Or just go for the drinks and appetizers at the Gala itself. It’s at Cefalo’s, 428 Washington Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106. You can find out more about the Special 25th Anniversary Dinner and the 25th Anniversary Gala right here.
Stranded on the roof as the flood waters rise, we find three men, bible-toting Malcolm (Jomo Ray), angry E-Z (Maurice Redwood) and the deceased Lowboy (Sam Lothard) in Beau Willimon’s “Lower Ninth.” The two living men are coming to terms with the death of the third in their own unique ways. Malcolm recites liturgy while E-Z broods impatiently. They are trapped and unable to do much else.
The dead man is the least of their concerns. They don’t know if anyone is coming for them, and they’re not sure they can work together to survive. When the levees broke, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina devastated the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans. During the deluge, many people climbed onto the roofs of their houses and awaited their fate. Some survived. Some didn’t.
The brisk one-act play is an exploration of God, man and brotherhood set during the flood. P.S. It’s only a matter of time before Malcolm mentions Noah. Though it’s an expected analogy, Willimon steers the ark in a new direction with an interesting take on racism.
There are quite a few laughs in “Lower Ninth,” but it is by no means a comedy, other than in the strictest tradition of the word. For the most part, the playwright is trying to milk every bit of pathos from this unusual circumstance. Deep down, it’s a story of two men and how they perceive each other. Obviously, there is more to their relationship that meets the eye, but telling you that would venture far into spoiler territory.
These men on the roof seem diametrically opposed to one another, and you can’t help wonder how they became entwined, but it gets worked out in a satisfactory way. There’s a really clever bit utilizing Lothard’s talents, but again, redacted for your spoiler-free review.
Willimon’s “Farragut North,” his first major work is far superior to “Lower Ninth,” but the latter title still has its own charm. Also, “Lower Ninth” doles out some meaty roles to a mostly unserved group of actors – – African American men. Unfortunately, one of the characters is a drug dealer feeding a particularly nasty stereotype. Luckily, the other two roles defy stereotypical conventions. There’s a lot more to each of them than the color of their skin.
There is very little to the set and the play hinges on the actors. Director Edwin Lee Gibson keeps everything moving. Ray and Redwood have terrific chemistry together. There is a scene near the end that is shocking, but it brings the two men together in an unexpected way. It’s a deliberate culmination of all that has gone before, and the payoff is more than worth it.
Caravan Theatre of Pittsburgh brought a terrific director and a talented cast together in the beautiful refurbished Elsie Hillman Auditorium in the Hill House.
Ultimately, “Lower Ninth” is about hope, and couldn’t we all use a little more of that in the world?
“Lower Ninth” is at the Elsie Hillman Auditorium, Kaufmann Center, Hill House, 1825 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.
