Tag: Theatre

by Michael Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

On Sunday, August 19, the City of Pittsburgh declared Bingo O’Malley Day in a special proclamation issued by Mayor Bill Peduto. Via video, the mayor called the iconic actor, “A true son of Pittsburgh” at a special reception held at barebones productions black box theater in Braddock.

Bingo O’Malley has appeared in film, television and theater. He’s known best for his performances in “Out of the Furnace,” “Love and Other Drugs” and “My Bloody Valentine.” He has a lengthy IMDb page, listing a multitude of credits.

O’Malley’s long and varied career started with very humble beginnings. He was once a parish priest at Our Lady of Fatima in Hopewell in the late 60s, and spent thirty years as a juvenile probation officer and school social-worker. He honed his craft working in theater in his spare time.

In 2004, Andrew Paul, now the artistic director of Kinetic Theatre, drove a van around Ireland (both North and South) with O’Malley with a production of “The Faith Healer.” Paul said, “It was the single most transformative and life-affirming experience I ever had in theatre. Life imitating art – imitating life. Bingo brought something authentic to the play – a genuine spirituality. We would sit in pubs after performances for hours discussing the play and his performance in it with the audience members.” Paul added, “He had a cousin in every town – all of his Irish relatives came out to see us.”

Rich Keitel, a local director/actor/Point Park Professor, said, “Someone once asked the great Director Elia Kazan what was the most important thing about directing. What is the first thing that you should do? He replied ‘Get Marlon Brando.’ Well, I’ve been acting and directing in Pittsburgh for the past 35 years and when anybody asks me the first thing a director should do, I reply ‘Get Bingo O’ Malley.’ I had the privilege of directing Bingo in City Theatre’s ‘American Buffalo’ in 1989. Bingo was brilliant as always. What makes Bingo such a great actor is there is no bullshit in his performances. You can not catch him acting when he acts. He acts with lightning bolts of honesty and truth.”

In 2006, O’Malley worked with Founder and Artistic Director of barebones productions, Patrick Jordan, in “The Grey Zone,” a drama is set in a Nazi concentration camp among the Sonderkommando  – Jews who staffed the crematorium in exchange for better treatment and a few extra months of life. O’Malley played Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jewish doctor who experiments on children to save his own wife and daughter.

Jordan recalls the first time he met O’Malley. “It was in the lobby of the city theater in probably 1999 or 2000. We hit it off right away, bonding over Pittsburgh, plays, playwrights and movies.”
He said, “Although we hit a speed bump when I told him I thought ‘Road House’ was an American classic, and that Sylvester Stallone was a genius. But we got past that thankfully. ” Jordan added,
“I still believe those things.”

He said, “I was lucky enough to work with Bingo several times. The first time I worked with him was on Arthur Miller’s ‘All My Sons [for Starlight productions].’ I had a small part, but I would come into rehearsal just to watch Bingo work – even when I wasn’t on call. I admired they way he dealt with director and the other actors, and how he treated everyone else on the crew. It was amazing. I learned a lot!”

Jordan celebrated Bingo O’Malley Day with a gathering of family and friends that included live music and testimonials by fellow actors and directors. Near the end of the evening, Jordan presented the actor with a portrait, created by director and teacher Melissa Martin. Then, he dedicated his stage to O’Malley.

Keitel said, “Patrick Jordan put together a beautiful tribute to Bingo. It was a magical evening culminating with Patrick renaming the barebones black box Theatre to the Bingo O’Malley Stage.”

Jordan founded barebones productions was founded in 2003 to facilitate the growth of local theater artists through the production of challenging, entertaining and thought-provoking plays. The company has garnered a reputation for producing high-quality, risk taking plays such as “Motherfucker with the Hat,” “Small Engine Repair,” and “Hir.”

Paul said, “Bingo is a special human being. I have never known or worked with anyone so kind, patient, wise and passionate about art and justice. I’m so pleased that Patrick is naming his new space in Braddock for this wonderful man!”

The barebones productions’ Bingo O’Malley Stage shares its space with Kevin Sousa’s restaurant Superior Motors on the spot of a former Chevy dealership in Braddock.

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You can attend a performance in the newly christened Bingo O’Malley Stage at Kenneth Lonergan’s “Lobby Hero” which runs from September 28 to October 20 at barebones productions, 1211 Braddock Avenue, Braddock, PA 15104.  For more information, click here.

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

In an episode of “Seinfeld,” George Costanza sighed and said, “Ah. What’s the point? When I like them, they don’t like me. When they like me – I don’t like them.” That comedic cry for help summarizes nine-tenths of the plot to Aaron Posner’s “Stupid F*****g Bird.”

Conrad (Chris Cattell) loves Nina (Sarah Chelli), but Nina loves Trigorin (Stefan Lingenfelter) who is dating Conrad’s mom, Emma Arakdina (Maura Underwood). While Conrad’s platonic pal Mash (Sara Ashley Fisher) pines for him, Dev (Matt Henderson) swoons for Mash. Love triangles interconnect and smash into other love triangles creating complex geometric shapes. It’s a love heptagon!

The lovers and friends all wrestle for attention on the estate of Dr. Eugene Sorn (David Maslow), who is the only character without a love interest.

When the characters are not busy wooing the wrong potential partners, they spend a great deal of time talking about art. They would probably make some salient points, if they weren’t so busy wrapped up in their own hearts and heads.

There are, however, some great points made about art, love family and failure, and a surprisingly skewered look at Shakespeare’s most quoted soliloquy that’s worth the price of admission.

Posner took Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull” and mixed in some fourth wall breaking “Deadpool” to create “Stupid F*****g Bird.” The play is metatextual, intertextual and chock full of subtext. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of text! It’s also a bit logorrheic (as it goes on a bit longer than it should).

Chekhov’s characters fail a lot. It makes them both funny and tragic. Conrad is flailing about as he’s failing. He’s a gigantic screw up and – worst of all – he knows it. Cattell, however, does a marvelous job as the downtrodden playwright. His asides to the audience are rage filled rants. They are poignant, eloquent and humorous all at the same time. When he rants, “You’ll all be back on your cell phones checking messages before you get out of the aisle of the theater,” he’s practically prescient.

Fisher’s Mash is more Wednesday Addams than the daughter of a Russian retired lieutenant, Ilya Afanasyevich (her father is written out of this version). Fisher gets some of the best lines in the play and she knows how to use them. She’s a delight.

Henderson’s sad sack Dev is so fun to watch. Henderson manages to eke out laughs from nearly every line, action or – in some cases – inaction. He’s goofy and charming at the same time. It’s as if he was born to play the role.

Underwood is flawless as the stone cold momma. Her Emma is a great actor who – ironically – can’t connect. Somehow Underwood garners a great deal of sympathy for the harsh creature she portrays.

Director Vince Ventura does a fantastic job with this top notch cast. He seems to understand this play instinctively and intellectually.

Scenic designer Hank Bullington makes art on a budget. The compartmentalized kitchen in the second act is beautifully rendered.

Since it wasn’t a faithful adaptation of “The Seagull,” it’s curious that Posner chose to write such a long comedy. Admittedly, “The Seagull” runs far longer at two hours and thirty minutes, but “Stupid F*****g Bird” is lengthy for a contemporary and satirical spin on the classic.

A few key notes about the title: “Stupid” is very smart. “F*****g” is in the title so don’t bring the kids (or grandma). The metaphor about the “Bird” is so sad and weird in all the best ways.

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“Stupid F*****g Bird” runs until August 12 at the Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre in the subbasement of the Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. For more information, click here.

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By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

When Lawrence Jameson (Matthew J. Rush), a charming bon vivant (oh heyyyy!) and dirty rotten scoundrel, meets Freddy Benson (Damon Spencer), an uncouth con artist, on a train bound for the French Rivera, he quickly realizes that Beaumont sur Mer isn’t big enough for the both of them in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – The Musical.”

Jameson has been scamming rich widows out of their money for years, but he doesn’t want to contend the young buck who breezes into town. Jameson convinces Benson to peddle his petty cons elsewhere. Benson is just about head for Spain, but a chance encounter with Muriel Eubanks (Cynthia Dougherty) convinces him there’s more to Jameson than meets the eye. A lot more.

Benson barges into Jameson’s villa. He is immediately overwhelmed by the beauty and opulence of his surroundings. The young grifter wants to learn at the feet of the master. Despite the warnings by his right-hand man, Inspector Andre Thibault (Leon S. Zionts), Jameson decides tutor him the artistry of the con.

Benson learns the nuances of scamming wealthy debutantes and widows, but grows bored quickly. Then, Christine Colgate (Stephanie Ottey) checks into the hotel at Beaumont sur Mer. The dastardly duo decide to compete for the young woman’s affections and $50,000 of her money. The game is afoot!

Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek’s musical is based on the 1988 movie with Michael Caine and Steve Martin. They have revised and reshaped the story only slightly to fit the format. However, if you know the movie, you will see the big twist coming from miles away. Knowing the ending doesn’t spoil it. It’s all about the journey not the destination, and there are plenty of laughs on the way.

Rush rules the roost. He is perfect as the king of the con. He’s so debonair and suave while singing and dancing throughout the show. It was a great role for Rush.

From the moment Spencer sidles up to a mark, the show kicks into overdrive. His energy and enthusiasm lifts the show higher. He shines in this role.

Ottey’s Colgate is so delightful. She’s charismatic and charming on stage.

Zionts is smarmy but charming as the French inspector. As far a crooked police inspectors go, he’s right up there with Casablanca’s Captain Renault (Claude Rains). His wry smile made a few jokes work that could have easily conked out in the hands of lesser actors.

Dougherty does an amazing job as well. She was the ideal choice for the role of Muriel Eubanks, oozing with sophistication but with a soupcon of naiveté.

Once again, Candice Fisher knocks it out of the park. Fisher was the highlight at the last Stage 62 show, and she brings all her sass back for this production.

There were some minor quibbles: The ensemble could have used a little more work perfecting their dance moves. There may have been too many of them for the size of the stage. At the Music Hall in Carnegie, the band always overwhelms, even though the actors had microphones. However, it was such a fun show it’s hard to complain – even though it’s my specialty!

It appears (from his brief bio) that it was TJ Pieffer’s directorial debut at Stage 62. It’s an admirable job for a new director. Let’s raise a glass to him! May he have a long and varied career directing around Pittsburgh (and beyond).

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“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – The Musical” runs through July 29 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Avenue, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here. 

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

Blanche DuBois (Ponny Conomos Jahn) finds herself at the end of the line (literally and figuratively) when she steps of the trolley in search of her sister, Stella (Jena Oberg) in Tennessee Williams’ classic tale, “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

The faded southern belle leaves her plantation Belle Reve and enters a small, ramshackle neighborhood – just outside of the French Quarter in New Orleans – named Elysian Fields. It’s a far cry from poetic Elysian Fields of myth and memory. In a tenement – in this ironically named parish – Blanche reunites with Stella.  There, in the squalor of her new surroundings, Blanche finally meets her sister’s husband, Stanley Kowalski (Buddy Wickerham).

Blanche finds him boorish and brutish. Stanley does not receive his sister-in-law with open arms. They are wary of each other, like cats circling one another, fighting for the same patch of sunlight.

It’s a big adjustment for the downtrodden DuBois sister as she goes from antebellum to urban. She has fits of panic and needs the occasional glass of liquor to soothe her nerves. Lying! She goes through bottles and bottles of it. Her only salvation comes in the form of a gentleman caller, Mitch (Gregory Caridi), or so it seems.

While Blanche has a tragic backstory, she twists it to her advantage, particularly in the presence of younger men. She obfuscates, prevaricates and humiliates Kowalski. Stanley, however, is determined to destroy her.

Spoilers – even though the play is nearly seventy years old – Stanley does triumph. He pins her down on the mat like a studio wrestler. It’s one devastating blow after another. He destroys her relationship with Mitch, damages her relationship with her sister and finally…rapes her on his marriage bed. She has a psychotic break with reality and both of the Kowalski’s agree to ship her off to a sanitarium. It’s a bitter end to the bitter queen of Belle Reve.

While there were a few shaky lines on opening night, Conomos Jahn does a spectacular job as the sultry and sullen southerner. She delightfully dominates in every scene – as any Blanche DuBois should.

Like Stanley everyone should be shouting Stella, or in this case Jena. Oberg does an amazing job. Make no mistake, Stella is culpable for Blanche’s fate as well. Oberg shows an incredible range of emotion making the final scene heart-wrenching.

Wickerham burns with intensity.

There’s a stellar(STELLA!) job from the rest of the cast: Aleta Richmond, Sadie Crow, Jared Pfennigwerth, Arjun Kumar, Shawn White (not the flame-haired snowboarder) and Dewayne Curry.

Art DeConciliis does a fine job directing his menagerie of actors.

There is an overabundance of scenery that obscures views of this bright and energetic cast. Almost all Little Lake Theatre productions are performed in the round, and that’s always going to be an issue, but a little bit less scenery could have mitigated the problem.

Also, the music and sound production overpowered the dialogue in some critical moments. I want to hear these wonderful lines spoken by this cast!

Note: On opening night, a set of rowdy theater-goers decided to make their own merriment and performed their own spoken word pieces through the majority of the second act, even after being shushed. If you can’t keep your trap shut, stay home and watch the movie version. It was Stanley Kowalski’s night to handle all the rude and uncouth behavior. Don’t overshadow his barbarism with your own!

“Memories,” by Panic! In the Disco, goes, “And it was beautifully depressing, like a streetcar named Desire. They were fighting for their love that had started growing tired.” Williams’ story is exactly that; beautifully depressing. Melancholy – artfully done.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” runs until July 28 at the Little Lake Theatre, 500 Lakeside Drive, Canonsburg, PA 15317. For more information, click here.

By Claire DeMarco, ‘Burgh Vivant

Hark! Listen! Pay Attention! Something funny this way cometh!

“William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged)” is based on an imaginary discovery of the Bard’s first play. Found in a hole in a parking lot in Leicester, England, this fictitious find is the first play written by a seventeen-year old William Shakespeare (and in his own hand). Tallied at over 100 hours of play time and approximately 1639 characters, this “masterpiece” contains every character Shakespeare ever created, every plot ever developed, every mistaken identity ever devised, every set of twins envisioned; an imagination gone wild!

Puck and others (Reed Martin), Hamlet, Shakespeare and others (Austin Tichenor) and Ariel and others (Teddy Spencer) take this hypothetical discovery and trim it down to a reasonable output.

The audience is also involved intermittently on how this huge work will be reduced from at one count, Act IV, Scene 2079 to something more reasonable.

Shakespeare finally concludes that there are perhaps 39 or more plays contained within this giant undertaking. Hamlet should be a standalone play, Puck and Ariel will not be paired together, Lady Macbeth and Hamlet did not have “a thing.” Perhaps more thought was also needed for some of the character names. Romeo and Ethel may need rework, fine tuning.

The stage is unadorned with a backdrop suggesting an outdoor façade with two open doorways.

Martin, Tichenor and Spencer transition from one character to another, changing costumes that reflect their new identity (whether male or female) to dialogue delivered in verse to natural conversation.

Their efforts are seamless and smooth. Comedic timing is perfect. Martin, Tichenor and Spencer’s actions are fast paced, but not frenetic. They segue easily between changes in character and costumes and deliver a potluck of innuendoes, puns, sarcasm and double takes.

Hilarious, amusing, farcical and even silly. Silliness is a wonderful sensation and should be succumbed to as often as possible.

It doesn’t matter if you love Shakespeare or not, funny is funny.

“William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (Abridged)” is written and directed by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor.

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Performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, “William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) runs through July 1, 2018 at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Avenue. For more information, go here.