Tag: Theatre

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

At the beginning of the 20^th Century, a happy-go-lucky spelunker Floyd Collins (Danny McHugh) is literally and figuratively in over his head when he discovers a giant cave in “Floyd Collins.” While attempting to find a new route to a system of interconnected caves in rural Kentucky, Collins became trapped in a narrow passageway.

Collaborators Tina Landau (book) and Adam Guettel (music and lyrics) take a true story of a Kentucky cave explorer and set it to music. In 1925, the event sparked national attention as America awaited news about Floyd’s rescue.

Just as in real life, the rescue operation is a media circus. Unlike the true events that inspired the story; a chorus of reporters sing and dance about the unfolding tragedy.

It’s an ensemble piece with very distinct, nuanced personalities. Floyd, his brother Homer (Nathan Salstone), his sister Nellie (Lindsay Bayer) and journalist Skeets Miller (Ryan Bergman) each go on their own heroic journey. Lantern-jawed Floyd and his charismatic younger brother stand front and center for most of the play. Meanwhile, Miller, the slim newsman,  goes to the central Kentucky to report the story, and becomes an integral part of the rescue team.  While Nellie is on the periphery of the events, pining away for her trapped sibling.

The Collins’ clan’s god-fearing father Lee (Daniel Krell) and Henry St. George Tucker Carmichael (Jonathan Visser) have antagonistic tendencies, but they are also trying to save the day; though their methods are at odds with the other members of the Collins clan.

“Floyd Collins” is a rare piece of theater. Calling it “a musical about a man trapped in a cave” is a wince-inducing logline, but “Floyd Collins” transcends its elevator pitch. The show works because of its superb cast.

McHugh is charming and affable as the titular, trapped hero. He manages to sing, yodel and dig his way into our hearts. In a powerful moment, McHugh and Salstone reminisce about their childhood, reliving the moments from their boyhood. It’s beautiful and heart-wrenching.

Bergman’s Skeets Miller is our everyman. We see this world through his eyes. He’s an excellent choice for the character.

Krell’s Lee is a broken man marred by his beliefs. Visser is masterful and commanding as Carmichael. Both men are powerful performers.

Much to director Rachel M. Stevens’ credit, there isn’t a bad performance in the show.  Under Stevens’ deft direction, “Floyd Collins” is perfection. There is some exquisite choreography from Alivia Owen (pay close attention to the precise, balletic movements of Mason Lewis).

Doug Levine’s orchestra is magical, but there is some incredible a cappella yodeling in the show. For the record, this reviewer never thought he would ever become a fan of yodeling. Front Porch Theatricals’ production of “Floyd Collins” is flawless and you should go, unless you’re stuck in a hole.

– MB

“Floyd Collins” runs until September 4 at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, click here.

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

The wedding of Peribáñez (Siddiq Saunderson) and Casilda (Isabel Pask) goes from joyous celebration to unexpected terror when a mad bull rampages the town of  Ocana in Lope de Vega’s “Peribáñez.” It’s an English translation from the original Spanish, “Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña.”

When the Commander (Mike Mihm) is nearly skewered by the bull, the wounded man falls for the beautiful newlywed, even though she’s a peasant and he is a high-ranking official. Nonetheless, the Commander formulates a devious plan to win the bride from her new husband.

He calls his lieutenant, Leonardo (Freddy Miyares), and his lackey, Lujan (Don DiGiulio) to aid him in his machinations to win Casilda.

Meanwhile, Peribáñez and Casilda are enjoying wedded bliss. They sing, write poems to one another and entertain their friends and family. Unaware that the Commander schemes to steal Casilda from her man.

Leonardo seduces Casilda’s naïve cousin Inés (Sol M. Crespo) to get closer to the bride and groom. Casilda rebuffs the Commander several times. Each time he is denied, his obsession grows. He goes mad with longing. You may guess that things aren’t going to end well for all parties, but there are no spoilers here. Hint: There will be blood.

“Peribáñez” was written sometime between 1604 and 1614, but tales of passion, obsession and jealousy never go out of style.

Quantum Theatre’s masterful production of “Peribáñez” is set in an idyllic rose garden (the Rose Garden in Mellon Park). It’s a delightful affair (no pun intended). As in all Quantum shows, the setting enriches the overall experience.

Saunderson is mesmerizing as the handsome hubby and Mihm is the perfect sparring partner. Both men are charismatic and charming in different ways. Saunderson plays a noble peasant in circumstances far above his head. Mihm’s Commander is both charming and malevolent, dashing and dastardly, chewing the sparse scenery.

Pask’s Casilda is beautiful, loving and faithful. Who knew faithfulness would lead to such trouble?

Every actor in the production (and there are quite a few of them) is worthy of special mention. Crespo’s dual roles, Inés and Florez, were distinctly different. Her Inés was a nuanced bridesmaid with love, fears and foibles, and her Florez was deliciously amusing (that tassel though).

Ricardo Vila-Roger played a Priest, a Painter, various guards and townspeople, each character was deftly portrayed. DiGiulio’s Lujan was hilarious. His character starts out as comic relief, but Lujan is given a treacherous job which redefines him as the play speeds toward the end.

The play is lengthy, but, as previously mentioned, the second act gallops to the end. Though a comedy, it has only a handful of big laughs, but it’s a joy to watch because of the slew of talent in the production. Kudos to the duo of directors, Megan Monaghan Rivas and Tlaloc Rivas.

Special mention to Costume Designer and Portrait Artist Samantha Pollack for her incredible talents, both on canvas and on the actor’s bodies. The costumes transport you to the small, Spanish farming community.

“Peribáñez” is the spectacular way to cap off your summer.

Quantum Theatre’s “Peribáñez” is playing through August 28 at the Rose Garden in Mellon Park, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. For directions and more information, click here.

– MB

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

Diane (Gayle Pazerski) nurses Nate (Nick Mitchell) back to health in an abandoned cottage after fleeing from an avian attack in Conor McPherson’s “The Birds.”  Even if you’ve never seen Alfred Hitchcock’s horror classic, it’s easy to figure out what’s going on here. The birds have turned away from worms, and they are going after humans. The world is in tatters. People are hiding from their former feathered friends. Diane and Nate are scavenging on scraps, living a hard-scrabble life at the end of the world as the bird assaults continue. Life is far from idyllic, but when they meet another survivor, Julia (Sara Ashley Fisher), their tumultuous predicament becomes even more chaotic.

“The Birds” starts with the basic premise from Daphne Du Maurier’s eponymous novella, but veers off in a different direction. Diane, through a series of voice overs, elucidates the audience with tiny morsels of exposition, just enough to get the gist and capture the craziness of the situation.

It’s called “The Birds” but it’s not really about the birds. The attacking creatures are superfluous. They could be werewolves, zombies or marauding elephants. It doesn’t really matter. It’s really about the humans and their varying reactions to their unusual circumstances.  Diane, Nate and Julia are forced back into primitive routines, hunting and gathering. Then, even more primal instincts take over. The play plays with the age old aphorism, “Two’s company, three’s a crowd.”

The plot plods along slowly, but the characters are compelling. Diane’s diegetic musings gently push the story forward. The voice over narration would have been more impactful if Pazerski if they were spoken and not recorded.

Mitchell is cast in two roles, Nate and Tierney. In some productions of “The Birds,” Tierney is played by a separate actor. Mitchell’s Nate is terrific. He is a flawed man with very real foibles. It’s easy to sympathize with him. It’s a great performance. His performance as Tierney is not as nuanced. The character is gruff and coarse but Mitchell hits it a little hard to overcompensate for his normal congenial personality. It would have been a great walk-on role for an older actor.

Pazerski is flawless. She plays Diane with tight mannerisms and cool aloofness. A great deal of the play rests squarely on her shoulders and she handles it with aplomb.

To say Julia is moody, is a massive understatement. She’s just left of crazy. You never know which way the character is going to go. Fisher is downright frightening at times. There are several shifts of allegiance in “The Birds,” and when you sympathize with Julia’s plight, you realize McPherson’s genius.

Director Vince Ventura relishes the moments where he spooks his audience. He plays up all the eerie elements.  The set is masterfully designed by Hank Bullington.

Sound Designer Angela Baughman set the mood with some frightening bird noises, lightning and bestial howls. Lighting Designer Andrew David Ostrowski conveys additional creepiness.  It was fascinating how the time of day was expressed by the lighting, early morning, mid-morning, afternoon, evening and the middle of the night were all illustrated perfectly by Ostrowski’s talents.

“The Birds” may cause nightmares, but it’s a thrilling, trilling show. Get your tickets now, everyone will be flocking to see it.

“The Birds” is at the University of Pittsburgh Studio Theatre, Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. For more information, click here.

– MB

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

Move over, Bucco’s, Pittsburgh just got another batch of Pirates in town. Shaun Rolly’s “A Pirate’s Tale” docked into Carnegie Stage on July 22. These pirates are a bunch of sword-carrying, swash-buckling, booty-hunting scalawags, and they’re a joy to watch.

Avast, Rolly’s pirates have traversed these Three Rivers before, during dinner shows on the Gateway Clipper. This was more than just a premiere performance for landlubbers. It is an extended feature-length yarn. It’s also a more robust tale with dark themes and sexual innuendo. While you could probably take children to the play, it’s not a strictly a kiddie story. The show is difficult to categorize. Parents should make the final determination as some material may not be suitable for all audiences.

“A Pirate’s Tale” has a complicated triangle at the center of the story. Tristan LaMarque (Ray Cygrymus) has promised a conquered vessel, the Raven, to both his first mate, Sebastian Palk (Michael Petyak), and to his lover, Cassandra McKaye, the Pirate Queen (Tiffany Joy Williams). Obviously, swords will be drawn and blood will be shed when a three-sided pirate war brews. A brawl set to a catchy score, with music and lyrics by Paul Shapera.

On opening night, the show was still finding its sea legs; there were few minor technical issues with lights coming up or going down at inopportune times. Despite a few glitches, the show was marvelous fun!

On a ship of thieves, head thief Tristan is the vilest villain of the bunch, but playwright Rolly adds nuance to the freebooter. Cygrymus is able to get at the depth of the character. Tristan hornswaggles his first mate and plans to sell prisoners into slavery. The scurvy dog! The final straw comes when he condemns his pirate queen to walk the plank. What a scoundrel! Yet, somehow, you feel empathy for him when he sings “Cassie, Losing You.” Cygrymus has a smooth vocal style and could probably sell ice to Eskimos if he sang about the deal.

One of the best songs in the show is “Hey Diddle-Diddle.” It’s all backstory on Cassie the Pirate Queen, beautifully rendered by Williams. There are a lot of great songs in the show and the cast performs them deftly. She is a charismatic lead and the stage comes alive every time she is on deck.

Another pirate, Abigail (Hope Anthony, last scene in “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” going from ho to “yo ho!”), does a jig, aptly named “Abigail’s Jig,” and it’s another showstopper. The distaff pirates (Sierra Zelmer and Sandi Oshaben joined with Williams and Anthony) sing an origin song together, and it’s not only a fun, little ditty, it has a powerful message about female empowerment. Note: While history books shows there were many real-life female pirates (Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Mary Crickett and more), it’s highly improbable that four women served on one ship and were treated equally, without having to disguise themselves as men (Mary Read became Mark Read in the 1690). Regardless, the women are central characters in the story.

P.S. “A Pirate’s Tale” passes the Bechdel Test with a flying colors.

The boys weren’t bad either. Palk is a meaty role and Petyak sinks his teeth into it. Enrique Bazan does a fine job as Eli and the rest of the crew of the Anne-Marie perform swimmingly. The entire cast is brewing over with enthusiasm (probably because it looks like so much fun). Shout out to Tim Tolbert’s Jonathan who provided the comic relief. Tolbert put the jolly in Jolly Roger, even when he has to deliver lines that would have made Rose Nyland seem like a Rhodes Scholar.

“A Pirate’s Tale” has a very minimalist set but Leah Klocko’s costumes bring the show to life. The show is finely choreographed by Lisa Moran Elliot, with fight choreography from Rolly and Fight Captain Jonathan Beckas.

Kudos for Catherine Gallagher for her bold direction and dramaturgy. Gallagher, with Rolly’s help, took the Gateway Clipper Fleet show and added depth and dimension, elevating the material.

When you see it, you’re going to want to grab a cutlass and join the crew! “A Pirate’s Tale” is a real treasure.

– MB

“A Pirates Tale” is at the Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main Street, Carnegie, PA 15106. For more information, click here.

By Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant

It is the last days of Jesus Christ (Jeff Way) as told by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in their rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and things are grim in Jerusalem. It’s just days before the execution of the so-called King of the Jews. Christ is racked with guilt, anger and frustration. It’s not his most godly moment. Hosanna in the lowest.

Considering the plump volume of source material, i.e. the Bible, there’s not much to the plot. Judas Iscariot (Mary Johnson-Blocher) is pulling Jesus one way; Mary Magdalene (Nina Napoleone) is pulling Him another.  The three-sided relationship is not unlike a love triangle, as lower-case L love competes with capital L Love. Things go FUBAR pretty quickly. You may have heard the story before.  But spoiler alert: Things don’t end well for Judas. And whether or not Jesus got a happy ending is up to interpretation.

Since it’s a rock opera, there is little to no dialogue that is not set to music, but there are some great songs. “Heaven in Their Minds” sung by Johnson-Blocher as Judas opens the show. It’s a fantastic number and Johnson-Blocher belts it out with the best of them.

There is a moving rendition of “I don’t know how to love Him.” It’s an emotional moment and beautifully rendered by Napoleone.

Near the end of the second act, there is a stand out over-the-top performance by J’Quay lamonte Gibbs as Herod.  Picture Rocky Horror’s Dr. Frank N. Furter condemning the savior.  Ironically, the big, showy character has the most down-to-earth lyrics. He simply begs Jesus to prove himself worthy, with lines like, “Prove to me you’re no fool…walk across my swimming pool.” If only Rice had written more lyrics like that.

The titular song, “Superstar” was superbly performed.

The orchestra, conducted by Thomas (appropriately named) Octave, was tremendous. The highest praise goes to the orchestra and the ensemble for blending together musically (pay attention to the caveat).

There are a few things wrong with the production.  The cast was excessively large, almost unwieldy. There were unnecessarily extraneous set pieces moving about far too frequently on the stage. It was not only distracting but dangerous. There were, at least, four accidents opening night. A head collided into a prop window hanging from the ceiling, a woman was nearly squished by a moving staircase, and two actors tripped over the main platform positioned in the middle of the set.  Let’s call it opening night jitters and hope the cast will get it together later in the run, but when Jesus was hoisted up for the crucifixion I feared that Way would be actually die on the cross. There was a high probability that the cross would topple into the audience and take out the first row.

The acting was big and broad, but there was a lack of emotion in many of the ensemble. A few members of the ensemble were just trying to get through it. Acting tip: Never assume that if you’re in the background no one can see you. We can always see you.

Also, the show seemed rushed, even at two hours long.  Though he does a great job, I wanted more Peter (Chris Martin). The fault lies with Rice and Webber. The creators could have fleshed out the character more and we would have gotten a stunning portrayal of the man who denies Christ.

“Jesus Christ Superstar” gets a very mild recommendation. If you go, keep your eyes and ears on Mary Johnson-Blocher, Nina Napoleone,  J’Quay lamonte Gibbs they are worthy of your full attention.

“Jesus Christ Superstar” is a Stage 62 production at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Blvd., Carnegie,  PA 15106. For more information, click here.

– MB