18. June 2011 by admin.

F. J. Hartland

Director Don DiGuilio has assembled a top-notch group of artists for the No Name Players’ production of The Book of Liz by Amy and David Sedaris.

Trouble is…they deserve a better script.

The Book of Liz plays like a lengthy sketch from Saturday Night Live.  In its favor, the play does have an ending—unlike most of SNL’s vignettes.

Liz, a devote member of the Squeamish (think Amish) leaves the sect and has a series of adventures that result in a life-changing decision.

Gayle Pazerski does an excellent job as the cherubic Liz, whose sweet disposition makes the best of any situation.  Pazerski captures the character’s good nature and outlook that everything is an adventure.

The ensemble of Jody O’Donnell, Kelly Marie McKenna, John Feightner and Allison Fatla play all the other characters—more than dozen total.  And they do a remarkable job!  O’Donnell and Feightner are probably at their best as the gay wait staff at the Plymouth Crock Restaurant.  McKenna is very funny as the love-smitten Sister Butterworth.  And Fatla does an excellent job as the sophisticated visitor from New York.

This cast represents some of the finest performers Pittsburgh has to offer…and they do not disappoint.  They manage to wring laughs out of a script that doesn’t give them much to work with.

If they had better material, they could soar!

The evening does begin with an odd “dumb” show set to music that really doesn’t add anything to the production.  There is also a lengthy curtain call.But other than that DiGuilio keeps the show moving along, flying through countless scenes.

Alanna James’ cartoonish set creates the perfect backdrop for the play.  And they are painted flawlessly.

It’s an enjoyable evening.  But I couldn’t help thinking that with all this talent, it could be so much more.

The Book of Liz continues at Pittsburgh Playwrights through June 25.

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16. June 2011 by admin.

F. J. Hartland

Surely everyone knows the story of Jekyll and Hyde, but for those of you who don’t…

Dr. Henry Jekyll is a mild-mannered physician who feels he has found the link between good and evil.  He drinks his chemical concoction and turns into the evil Edward Hyde…a murdering sadist.  In short each of us possesses a good side and an evil side…

So it is with Jekyll & Hyde, the musical, now playing at CLO.  It’s like the little girl with the little curl.  When she was good she was very, very good.  But when she was bad, she was horrid!

In the title role, Kevin Gray has an amazing voice and incredible stamina.  This is good.  Gray is also wonderfully menacing as Mr. Hyde—also good.  Where he doesn’t fair as well is with Dr. Jekyll.  There is a stiffness about his performance that keeps an audience from really liking the good doctor.  And if you don’t like Jekyll, the thrust of the show is lost.

To his credit, Grey does an amazing job as he transforms rapidly between the two roles in “Confrontation.”  (And manages not to look silly as David Hasselhoff did he played the role).  Too bad the light changes didn’t keep up with him during the number.

Also good: Brynn O’Malley as Emma (Jekyll’s intended bride) and Elizabeth Stanley as “bad girl” Lucy.

Both women are stunningly beautiful on stage…and talk about powerhouse voices!  WOW!O’Malley gives a soaring rendition of “Once Upon a Dream.”  Stanley performs the moving “Someone Like You” and “A New Life.” 

And when the two sing the duet “In His Eyes,” it brings down the house!

Not good:  Act One.  Slow and boring.  And director Robert Cuccioli creates some odd stage pictures.

Good: Act Two.  Not only is it shorter, but the tempo (and the songs) are better.

Good and bad: the set.  James Noone’s set features some gorgeous black-and-white drops.  Some of the other set pieces look cheap, though.  And it looked like not Dr. Jekyll’s entire lab made it on stage during Act One.  When the missing set pieces showed up in Act Two, I thought, “Did Mr. Hyde force him to re-decorate?”

Also good and bad: the ensemble.  When they have energy (like in Act Two), they are good.  Can’t say the same for the energy in Act One.

I had never seen Jekyll & Hyde live before, so I am glad to say I say it.  But like all of us humans, it has two sides, too: good and bad.

Jekyll & Hyde continues through June 26 at the Benedum Center.

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10. June 2011 by admin.

F. J. Hartland

First, hats off to Throughline Theatre Company on two counts.

Number One: They have founded (and kept afloat) a theatre company in difficult economic times to launch a second season.

Number Two:  They strive to bring art (particular classics) to the South Hills of Pittsburgh—and were recently recognized for this accomplishment by having a day named in their honor.

Now I wish I could say I loved their current production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 

But I can’t.

The trouble starts early.

Scenic designer Ryan Tierno has provided a set (and ground plan) that has saddled the director (also Ryan Tierno) with uncertain failure.

It’s a box set…that could almost work…if it weren’t for that gaping space on the back wall.  It looks like the two halves of the set don’t meet…or that they ran out of money or walls or something.  The overall impression is that wealthy Big Daddy’s fancy plantation home (which sits on more than 20,000 acres) is like a doll house.  The rooms have no back walls.

If you’re going to do a box set, do a box set. If you just want to use pieces to indicate the room, that’s fine, too.  But don’t mix it up.  It’s confusing and looks foolish.

It also causes some unintentional comedy.  Brick (Big Daddy’s son) questions Maggie the Cat when she locks the door of their bedroom in an attempt to seduce him.  “Why are you locking the door?” he inquires.  I wanted to answer, “Why bother when there’s no back wall and anyone could walk in on you both in bed!”

A lack of places to sit creates awkward stage pictures and often leaves actors standing around with nothing to do!  My heart went out to poor Maggie the Cat (played by Maggie Mayer) who is left standing for most of her famous opening monologue.  Overall, blocking is stiff and unbelievable for most of the production.

And what little furniture that exists is so oddly placed.  The bed (which should be center…this is a play teeming with sex, after all) is off to one side…blocking the only real door on the set. The sofa is angled against a flat on stage right making it impossible to see anyone sitting on the upstage end if two were sitting there.

I am glad there were levels…but again, they are so strangely placed that the bench meant for the bottom of the bed is actually downstage and on a lower level than the bed).

The lighting features hot spots and dark spots.  Sometimes actors are lit only from the neck down…sometimes not at all.  Poor Big Daddy had some amazing moments—but was standing in a dark spot at center stage when they happened.

Tierno did assemble some fine actors:  Maggie Mayer, Joey Yow, Mary Chess Randolph, Jack Goodstein and Bill Crean.  Of those, Yow and Crean fair the best.  Joey Yow as Brick has a lost-little-boy look that is perfect for troubled, alcoholic Brick.  Crean has some fine moments as patriarch Big Daddy.  But Tierno could have done so much more to find levels in Tennessee Williams’ nuanced characters.  This is a very difficult script, and the director has barely scratched the surface of these complex lives.  For example, Gooper and Mae (played by Eric James Davidson and Rachel Enck) come across like villains in an old Warner Brothers cartoon.

The play is set in the 1950’s, but looking at April May Ohms’ costumes, the play might be in the 50’s…or the 70’s…or now.  The children all look like an ad from this week’s JC Penney’s summer sale catalogue.  And again, poor Maggie Meyer is forced to perform in an ill-fitting slip.  It should cling to her body, giving her the sensuality of Maggie the Cat.  Also, wouldn’t a garter belt and hose been appropriate for this time period?

The devil is in the details.  Are Brick and Big Daddy really drinking out of plastic cups like you’d find in a room at Motel 6?  The bed is obviously just a platform with no padding because each time Big Daddy pushed Brick on the bed, there is a resounding clunk!  No wonder Brick prefers sleeping on the sofa!  And are we really to believe that anyone but a four-year-old could stretch out on that tiny wicker loveseat?  And when Brick references “the liquor cabinet,” isn’t he really referring to bottles placed on top of the television set?  If you’re going to do that, there needs to be irony or sarcaism in the remark to keep from looking foolish.

I do salute Throughline for tackling this classic (especially on Williams’ 100^th birthday), but also honor him by doing your homework.The production in is the un-air conditioned Seton Center Auditorium, so if this balmy weather doesn’t soon break, I suggest bringing a fan.  (Throughline graciously supplied bottled water to the audience on opening night).

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof continues through June 18. 

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3. June 2011 by admin.

F. J. Hartland

Civilization is what keeps us from all being Neanderthals.

But it’s just a very thin veneer according to playwright Yasmina Reza in her script God of Carnage, now playing at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre.  Scratch even gently—and you’ll see what’s lurking underneath!

Two perfectly civilized couples meet to have a perfectly civilized chat about an uncivilized incident involving both their eleven year-old sons on the playground.

The “chat” quickly disintegrates into a riotous funny farce as each character throws all etiquette and manners to the wind.  And the rum doesn’t do anything to make the meeting better!

Director Ted Pappas gives us a very fast-paced evening, filled with big belly laughs, clocking in at less than ninety minutes.

David Whalen is spot-on on the loutish husband who—when he isn’t glued to his cell phone—flat out admits his son is a “savage.”  And to him, that isn’t so bad.  After all, his hero is Spartacus.

Susan Angelo plays his nauseous wife with the cloying nickname “Woof Woof.”

In the role of Michael is Ted Koch, who confesses his is only pretending to be a liberal to please his wife Veronica.  He is all too thrilled to reveal that he belonged to a “gang” in his youth…and had to beat up another boy to gain admittance.

Stealing God of Carnage is Deirdre Madigan as Veronica.  She plays a woman who writes about art and Africa, buys tulips at $40 a bunch and is steeped in Dr Spock-like child-rearing.

Anne Mundell’s sleek and stylish set even fits with this idea of tearing away the veneer.  Ripping across this room, filled with shiny hardwood floors, crisp furniture and art books, there is a huge gash—revealing rough hewn logs.

Like her play Art, Reza uses a small cast, a single set, and lots of talking to make us question our core of values and beliefs. In less capable hands, Art and God of Carnage could be total bores.

Thanks to Pappas, his sparking cast and talented designers, this is a production not-to-be-missed.

God of Carnage continues through June 26.

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3. June 2011 by admin.

F. J. Hartland

Based on the movie with the same name, 9 to 5, The Musical harkens back to the days when women in the workplace were relegated to making coffee—not corporate decisions.

Three women, Violet (Dee Hoty), Doralee (Diana DeGarmo) and Judy (Mamie Parris), outwit their chauvinistic tyrant of a boss Mr. Hart (Joseph Mahowald) and turn their company around—for the better.

This is CLO’s first offering for 2011—and it jumpstarts the season on a high note.

Hoty, DeGarmo and Parris have amazing voices that soar!  And each woman creates a distinct persona.  Best of all, they have a real chemistry on stage that creates a believable camaraderie.

Also, each one gets a moment to shine.  Hoty sings and dances her way through “One of the Boys” with finesse.  DeGarmo brings irresistible charm to “Backwoods Barbie.”  Parris shakes the rafters of the Benedum Center with her powerful rendition of “Get Out or Stay Out.”

Dolly Parton (one of the films original stars) even makes guests appearances—providing video narration for the show.

Two of the featured cast members give most memorable performances.

Kristine Zbornik shines as office manager/spinster Roz.  (I apologize for the term “spinster”—but in those days, that’s how they were referred to).  Hopelessly in love with her boss, Zbornik is hysterically funny, particularly in the number “Heart to Hart.”

As the always drunken Margaret, Jane Blass knows how to land a punch line.  Staggering about with a multitude of pencils stuck in her bird’s nest of a hair-do, she is unforgettable…and makes an amazing transformation by show’s end.

Hats off to the chorus (which includes my old pal Janet Dickinson)!  Not only do they sing, dance and play multiple roles—they perform the numerous set changes smoothly and flawlessly.

And speaking of the set, it is beautiful and features a false proscenium that brings back many memories of the 1970’s.

The show is thin on conflict and things seem a little too “pat.”  And there are some transitions that don’t always ring true.  But this cast gives it 110% for all two hours and fifteen minutes.

Beware…the title song will be stuck in your head for days.  You’ll catch yourself singing it over and over—whether you want to sing it or not!

No, it’s not a great musical.  But 9 to 5, The Musical is an energetic evening of fun.

The show continues through June 5.

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