'Burgh Vivant

By: Joseph Szalinski

It was the best of times; it was the slightly less-than-best of times. It was 1994. A bygone age when airport security was fairly lax and those in the tech industry were still partying instead of advocating for surveillance states. A year when the U.S. found its way out of a recession, and people had the luxury to deliberate over taking a job. Good for them. This era marks the start of Red Barn Players’ production of Over the River and Through the Woods, directed by Johnny Gallagher, now running at Red Barn Theatre in Fombell, PA.

Taking its name from a referenced poem/song that evokes memories of Christmas and Thanksgiving, Joe DiPietro’s play explores Italian American heritage, family dynamics, love, and uprooting oneself for a career. Despite the company of his four grandparents in New Jersey, Nick wants to make a break for it, like his parents and sister, and move to Seattle for a marketing promotion. His family has other plans, hatching a scheme to make sure he doesn’t leave them behind on the East Coast.

This impassioned family is brought to life by quite a cast. Actors, in addition to providing their own costumes, deliver tremendous turns in their respective roles. Luke Carter is fantastic as the fretful, fawned-over grandson, Nick Cristano. His employment of physicality and line delivery allows him to assume the character with entertaining ease. John Brenner is a lot of fun as Frank Gianelli, Nick’s mandolin-playing grandfather. Lani Cerveris-Cataldi is a perfect complement as Aida Gianelli, Nick’s maternal grandmother, who loves to cook extraordinary meals. Tom Bickert, the show’s producer, is a delight as Nunzio Cristano, Nick’s paternal grandfather. He channels Nunzio’s penchant for storytelling perfectly, doing so with ample humor and charm. His wife, Emma Cristano, is brilliantly portrayed by Lauranne Ferrara. Rounding out the cast is Sarah Campbell, who also took the publicity photos, and is marvelous as Caitlin O’Hare, the woman whom Nick’s grandparents connive to set him up with.

Shows are often more than the sum of impassioned performances. This production features technical elements that have been laboriously crafted by folks who also have a desire to bring imagined worlds to life. Steven Burnsworth, Kim Smolka, John Brenner, Paul Brenner, Robert S. Hazen, and Tom Bickert handle the intricate set design and construction. Set decoration is managed brilliantly by Lauranne Ferrara. Robert S. Hazen’s sound and lighting design finds a competent operator in director Johnny Gallagher.

The Red Barn Players are a terrific company composed of many hardworking and talented artists who typically do double duty, with responsibilities both on stage and behind the scenes. Usually boasting familiar faces, the group is also more than welcoming to actors looking to join the fold or a production. Just like the summers of the past, Red Barn Players have a fantastic season planned.

Hosting events since 1955, Red Barn Theatre is a wonderful venue that’s surrounded by natural beauty. While the auditorium is rustic and old-fashioned, the rest of the facility is a little more modern. The perfect place to catch a summertime performance, Red Barn Theatre is a regional staple that more people should check out.

-JS

Over the River and Through the Woods continues its run June 10-13 at Red Barn Theatre in Fombell, PA. For tickets or more information, click here.

Reviewed by Dr. Tiffany Knight Raymond, PhD, and Theron Raymond (seventh grade)

Little Lake Theatre continues its Home Is Where the Heart Is themed season with actor (turned playwright) Jeff Daniels’ play, Pickleball.

As you guessed, the show capitalizes on the popularity of this racquet sport that was invented by three dads in 1965. That also makes pickleball 6 years younger than Little Lake Theatre Company, which is celebrating its 77th season.

Pickleball exploded during COVID as an age-inclusive, socially distanced outdoor activity. Daniels’ post-pandemic 2022 play brings the Little Lake line-up to the present day. You can easily envision future trivia questions inquiring about “What racquet sport spiked in popularity in the 2020s?”

This co-reviewing team will volley that answer. We’re regulars on the pickleball court. Our knowledge of the sport augmented the experience, but being a player, or even knowing the game, is not a prerequisite to enjoying this banger from Little Lake.

Like any sport, pickleball has its devotees. The play follows a quartet of competitors that includes the widow, Billie (Amanda Weber); bumbling womanizer, Larry (Cole Vecchio); recently divorced Spike (Darrin Mosley Jr); and retiree Sheldon (Ted Froats).

Thanks to director Michael Patrick Trimm, this foursome has an effortless chemistry. While they may have come together via pickleball, they are embedded in each other’s lives. Mosley Jr. captures Spike’s tension as a freshly minted divorcé trying to follow his ex-wife’s admonishment to “turn over a new leaf.” Froats counters with comic relief. He reminds his team he “blew out my butt muscles” and navigates the effects with some extraordinary feats of physical comedy.

The quartet’s bonds are tested with the introduction of the aptly named star pickleball player, Perfect (Maddie Kocur). Perfect also looks flawless, dressed in a dazzling white skin-skimming pickleball dress with a saucy sashay to match. Perfect consistently misremembers each character’s name, calling Billie “Barbie” and Larry “Lenny.” It’s as if she can’t be bothered with such details, but it’s all part of her manipulations.

While the performance capitalizes on the dedicated foursome, one character stands out for his distinctive headgear. Ralph’s (Gordon Robertson) forehead is, throughout the play, adorned with a pickleball splattered with (thankfully fake) blood. This innovative costume design is all the work of Little Lake’s clever prop and costume designer, Sylvia Sims-Linkish.

Not surprisingly, the show is set on a pickleball court where almost all the events take place. The court, while not regulation-sized, is depicted on the stage floor to give the audience a well-ordered visualization of the game. Scenic designer Alex Keplar skillfully extends the court into a third dimension by adding four sections of chain-link fencing hanging above the stage, each covered with a smattering of pickleballs.

Jeff Daniels light-heartedly capitalizes on the popularity of pickleball. This high-energy show has perfect seasonal timing. It’s a fun kickoff to summer that makes you eager to get outside and swing a pickleball racquet – or enjoy the outdoor summer activity of your choice, be it porch-sitting or parkour. Pickleball reminds us that whatever it is, it’s always better with friends.

-TKR, Ph.D. & TR

Little Lake Theatre’s production of Pickleball (recommended for 13+) runs through June 14, 2026, at 500 Lakeside Drive, Canonsburg, PA 15317. Purchase tickets online here.

by Claire DeMarco

If you think that men never talk to other men about diverse, personal topics, you’re wrong.

Four retirees gather at the local McDonald’s to ostensibly play chess, but generally they end up engaged in rather diverse commentary.  Topics like racism, ageism, and personal problems often take center stage. Many of the discussions are delivered with humor (sometimes not).

They are at the age where they all have more of the past behind them than the future ahead of them.

Eddie (Art Terry) is convinced that his wife wants to kill him.  She did, after all, point a knife at him.

Marty (Sheldon Ingram), a moral man and a Christian, is usually a mediator in any situation that gets out of hand.

Always on the quiet side is Hank (John Reilly), the guy who sets up the chessboard each time they all play.

And then there’s Joe (Alex Morris), flamboyant and blustering, who, although retired, still has his hands in real estate.

On the periphery is Gotdamnit (Kevin Brown), who appears to be homeless and infrequently comes into McDonald’s to grab some money from one of the men to eat.

Eddie, Marty, Joe, and Gotdamnit are black.  Hank is white.

Two females (never seen or heard) but often referenced play a part in the gentlemen’s lives.  Ms. Brulée recently moved into one of Joe’s habitats.  Her delicious coconut cakes are not the only thing she serves. A beautiful, nameless young woman walks by McDonald’s, much to the enjoyment and ogling of our retirees, who rush to the window as she passes.

These five men will all be affected in one way or another by the two females (never seen or heard) and the underlying secrets and knowledge that rise to the surface.

“Coconut Cake” is a wonderful production, a dramedy full of laughs and serious subjects.  The actors are a cohesive group, well-balanced and extremely talented.

This production is a “must-see.”

Morris is as dynamic as Joe. He is boisterous, loud, and constantly moving on stage.  He’s got some great comedy lines that he delivers with panache.  He is demanding and at times overwhelming.

As the unfaithful husband, Terry’s character is both a bit argumentative and certainly defensive, and extremely funny as he attempts to rationalize why his wife wants to kill him.

Ingram’s Marty is the group’s stabilizer.  He’s the go-to guy whom the others turn to for advice and support.  He is believable as the God-fearing church deacon – structured, supportive, moralizing.

Reilly’s characterization of Hank as a rather quiet, sad man who doesn’t do much talking initially transitions into a more vocal character who inserts himself into ongoing conversations.

Brown plays Gotdamnit as a troubled man on the edge (or already there) of mental dysfunction.  His enthusiastic religious display is genuine and believable.  He pops into McDonald’s occasionally, providing some comedic moments.

Set designer/carpenter Herb Newsome’s set is so realistic that one can almost smell the French fries.

Director Eileen J. Morris brilliantly choreographs the movements and dialogue of her robust cast.

“Coconut Cake” was written by Melda Beaty.

-CED

“Coconut Cake” is a production of New Horizon Theater, Inc.  Performances run from May 28th to June 14th at the O’Reilly Building, Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall, 3^rd floor, 621 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.

 

By Michael Buzzelli

Jeremy Seghers would like to tell you that he is directing “Hamlet: The Bad Quarto,” but he’s doing much more, including producing, lighting design, and set decoration.

It’s a project of love. A Shakespearean-sized love. For it, Seghers is going all the way back to the source material, the first quarto.

Seghers said, “William Shakespeare’s play, ‘Hamlet,’ was published in 1623. It is widely regarded as ‘the first folio,’ but earlier versions existed. some as early as 1603, twenty years earlier.”

He added, “Quarto [pronounced quart-o or cort-o’] refers to the size of the paper. It was quarter sheets.” Seghers gestures, miming the size of a pocket notebook. “About this big.”

Seghers said that the first quarto is a streamlined version, but it wasn’t found for over 200 years. Making it the earliest and least known text of William Shakespeare’s powerful and influential tragedy.

Over the past century, it has been dissected and debated. Character names are different. Dialogue is different. The exact “whos” and “whys” have largely remained a mystery, with several theories circulating in scholarly circles. Often dismissed as “the bad quarto,” one aspect is undeniable.  Seghers said, “It is more action-driven than any other version of the text.”

There are unique changes in the First Quarto; for example, Polonius is called Corambis. Seghers said, “Polonius was first proposed as a parody of Queen Elizabeth’s leading counselor, Lord Treasurer and Principal Secretary, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, but to conceal his identity from the crown (it was treason to mock the monarchy), his name was changed to Polonius after the death of the queen.”

Seghers would also like to showcase the talents of some remarkable Pittsburgh actors. Seghers said, “I cast the play with actors the age of the characters. Often, you see much older actors playing Hamlet (Derek Jacoby, David Tennant, Sir Ian McKellan, etc.), but Hamlet was in college.”

Seghers cast Ayden Freed, a recent graduate of Point Park University. The director said, “If you age down Hamlet, his mother would be in her forties instead of her sixties.”

He cast Joanna Lowe as Gertred (not yet called Gertrude), and Johnny Patalano as Claudius, with Brett Sullivan Santry as the aforementioned Corambis.

Side note: Lowe and Sullivan Santry last worked together on a spectacular production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” which you can reread here.

Another Point Park University student, Ailka Samora, will play Ofelia (not spelled Ophelia yet). Other notable actors in the show are Ryan Rattley as Laertes, Steven Gallagher as Montano, Andrew Lasswell as Barnardo, and David Nackman as the Ghost, among others.

Seghers is looking forward to showing one of the most popular and influential plays in the English language in a new light, a rare glimpse at a work before it became the play everyone knows today.

-MB

“HAMLET: THE BAD QUARTO” runs June 19-28 at the Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre. For additional information and tickets, click here. 

by Michael Buzzelli

“He stretched out his arms toward the dark water in a curious way, and, as far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. Involuntarily I glanced seaward—and distinguished nothing except a single green light, minute and far away, that might have been at the end of a dock.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald 

When World War One (called the Great War since WWII hadn’t happened yet) vet Nick Carraway (Joshua Grosso) moves to New York, he meets the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby (Jake David Smith), and his life changes forever in “The Great Gatsby – A New Musical.”

The titular character and his exploits are based on an American Classic by F. Scott Fitzgerald, required reading in high school from sea to shining sea.

Side note: You, dear reader, probably already know this.

Gatsby is in love with Nick’s cousin, Daisy (Senzel Ahmady), who, unfortunately, is married to Tom Buchanan (Will Branner). Daisy introduces Nick to Jordan Baker (Leanne Robinson), a tennis star who lives in the Buchanans’ guest house (just as Nick is living in Gatsby’s guest house).

Since it’s the Roarin’ 20s, morals are loose, and the bathtub gin is flowing. Tom has an affair with a married woman, Myrtle (Lila Coogan). When Nick sees the detestable Tom carry on behind his cousin’s back, he arranges a meeting between Daisy and Gatsby. The two had met years before the war and were madly in love, but status and the Great War prevented them from cementing a matrimonial union.

Meanwhile, the shady Meyer Wolfsheim (Edward Staudenmayer) is using a gas station owned by George Wilson (Tally Sessions) to run his illegal activities. In an amazing coincidence, George is married to Myrtle, Tom’s side piece.

If you haven’t read the book or seen the countless movie adaptations, you will be shocked by the turn of events that come roaring on. No spoilers.

“The Great Gatsby” is the tentpole of a fantastic circus, a brilliant story with, literal and figurative, fireworks. The entire production is a spectacle.

Since the story is about the crazy excesses of the 20s, all the excesses are on full display. There is the most beautiful scenery by Paul Tate dePoo II, with equally impressive projection design (also by dePoo). There are glorious costumes by Linda Cho (frilly, sparkling numbers that dazzle under Cory Pattak’s incredible lighting). The choreography, by Dominque Kelley, is astonishing as the chorus gyrates to Jason Howland’s delightful score.

Director Marc Bruni does a superb job of keeping the source material as poetic as intended.

A few songs are memorable, but they’re not songs you will be humming on the way to the parking garage. That said, the acting and singing were among the best.

The main cast each gets a moment to shine, and they all shine brightly.

Grosso’s comical acrobatics in “The Met” are spectacular. He slinks over the furniture like a rubber snake. He has a powerful vocal instrument.

Smith is oozing charisma (it’s a Gatsby requirement and he meets it with aplomb).

Robinson is a belter of the highest order. She gets to hit some amazing high notes. Jordan’s role seems expanded here, and it’s a wonderful choice that gives a stronger female presence in a male-dominated story.

Despite this reviewer’s dislike of Daisy Buchanan as a character, Ahmady gives a fantastic portrayal. She gives the character more depth than she deserves, and charms the entire audience (this Daisy hater included).

Note: Daisy defenders are welcome to comment (but I will play the Hit-and-Run card).

Unlike most musicals, there is a depth behind the pomp and circumstance. It’s not just visual cotton candy (though this show has visual delights to satisfy every appetite). The story is universal. It’s a tale of love and jealousy. It shows the rich and the poor, both struggling with matters of the heart.

“The Great Gatsby” reminds us that the heart and the soul can be far apart on a variety of issues.

If you want to instill the love of theater in a young mind (or any mind), this is the show that reminds you why “The Great Gatsby” is an American classic, and you’ll have a blast while sharing the story.

-MB

“The Great Gatsby” runs from Tue, May 26 – Sun, May 31, 2026, at the Benedum Center, Seventh Street and Penn Avenues, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For tickets and additional information, click here.

By Timothy Ruppert

“Magic is one of the world’s most honest professions,” Paul Gertner claims early on in Steel City Miracles. “We tell you that we’re going to lie to you, and then we do.” In truth, Gertner is among the very finest sleight-of-hand entertainers in the world of legerdemain, as his terrific new Liberty Magic show decisively proves. What is more, beyond the myriad illusions that he renders, Gertner evinces wonderful storytelling skills, and his facility with personal reflections and recollections places every trick within the framework of an engaging autobiographical narrative. These elements combine seamlessly, investing in the public spectacle of Steel City Miracles with private history and shareable feeling. The result is an especially dynamic evening of memory and misdirection performed with humor, wit, and heart.

Not surprisingly, Gertner’s act involves the manipulation of an assortment of props—coins appear from the air, dice materialize under cups, words form and reform on the edge of packs of cards. Yet Gertner takes care to contextualize his impressive repertoire of mirages within tales of his youth and career, thus ensuring that every physical object bears some relationship to experience and. continuing ideas. Given that Gertner grew up in Pittsburgh, his life stories include numerous references to the city: we hear of the steel mills, Carnegie Library, and neighborhoods ranging from Millvale to Shaler to Fox Chapel. These allusions help create a portrait of the artist as a young man, enhancing his bond with the audience while intensifying the glamour and prestige of his professional coups (such as fooling Penn and Teller with a wickedly unshuffled pack of cards). Indeed, his warmth and humility help Gertner not only to sell the tricks but to charm the onlookers; he endears his audience with home movies and an old leather-covered notebook in which his late father logged details of every film he had seen from his youth to the point of his untimely death at the age of forty-seven. This blend of elements works remarkably well in fashioning a hometown persona for an internationally celebrated wizard whose career journey features stops in Los Angeles, Madrid, and Boston (Gertner’s recounting of the legendary Charles Dickens mirror at the Omni Parker House is particularly fascinating). After all, some of the very first tricks Gertner learned involved ball bearings that the machinists at the mill where his father worked had rejected.

Toward the close of the evening, Gertner reminds us that “I told you I was going to lie to you—and I kept my word.” But he mentions too an ineluctable truth, delivered with the crisp wisdom of the Stage Manager from Thornton Wilder’s Our Town: “Many different miracles [get] performed sometimes without [our] even knowing it.” The confluence of top-tier magic and (seemingly) casual historiography makes Steel City Miracles not simply a delightful but a necessary theatrical experience.

—TR

“Paul Gertner in Steel City Miracles” runs through Sunday, 31 May. For information and tickets, please visit https://trustarts.org/production/104119/paul-gertner-in-steel-city-miracles.

By Michael Buzzelli

Another Monday rolls around, and everyone gets ready to punch the clock in “Working,” a tribute to the American employee (though the unemployed and the retired are also represented in the show). Women (Cadee Velasquez, Melessie Clark, and Vanessa Reseland) and Men (Matty Thornton, Dylan Pal, and Stefan Lingenfelter) trod off to their jobs, and the workers describe their daily lives in monologue and song, backed up by an impressive chorus.

Ironically, they are songs about the unsung: the millworker, the truck driver, the waitress, the nurse, the pride of the proletariat, from hookers to homemakers.

It’s billed as a new musical, but it’s newish, since most of the monologues are taken from the 70s source material, based on interviews compiled and written by Studs Terkel and adapted by CMU grad Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso with additional revisions (stay with me for a moment, we’ll get there).

This ode to the Union Label is Pittsburgh Proud and Pittsburgh Strong, or in terms your friendly neighborhood farmers market-goer would understand: “It’s locally sourced!”

The Steel City has a plethora of local talent, and Front Porch Theatricals has always sought to find the cream of the crop. The cast of “Working” is no exception. Director Daina Michele Griffith has gathered a superb lineup. It’s a strong group of performers, most notably the show’s leading ladies, Velasquez, Clark, and Reseland.

Velasquez brings a powerful singing voice along with a heap of charm.

Clark is delightful in a variety of roles. Her sassy “Woman of the Evening” is a particular joy.

Reseland is a new star in the Pittsburgh firmament, but by no means a new talent. They have performed all over the world on stage and screen. They serve up some of the most delicious scenes as a waitress.

Note: On opening night, Lenora Nemetz, who originated the role of the Waitress in “Working” on Broadway, was in the audience. After the show, there was a full-circle moment when Nemetz posed with Reseland in front of Front Porch Theatrical’s step-and-repeat.

Matty Thornton does a great job with some regional accents. His role as a trucker stands out in the slightly risqué ballad “Brother Trucker.”

Sefan Lingenfelter delivers a soul-crushing song about retirement that is perfectly executed, yet devastatingly all too real. We understand  [his character’s] Joe’s frustration. The musical doubles down by compounding the scene with health care workers singing, “A Very Good Day.”  Keep your handkerchiefs and facial tissue handy! It’s a 3-Kleenex moment.

Dylan Pal has some fun character bits, particularly as a customer service rep with rage issues. He’s not all fun and games. He portrays the health care worker, Utkarsh, with a poignant flourish.

Doug Levine’s musical accomplishments are exceptional. He’s backed up by an incredible band, Ken Karsh (guitar), Tim Nwranski (drums) and Paul Thompson (bass).  The band flawlessly creates heightened tension throughout the musical.

This reviewer rarely mentions the lighting design, but Andrew David Ostrowski’s work was exceptional. When Thornton portrays a fireman in the middle of a conflagration, Ostrowski’s lights tell the story, with dusky orange hues backlit on the actor’s frame.

While Studs Terkel’s original material has been updated by a legion of songwriters, including Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, and James Taylor, the show still shows its wrinkles through the facelift (more in the text than the music, but there are some significant signs of aging in the songs as well).

“Working” is meant to be a glorious affirmation of the common man and woman, but it tries too hard to appeal to everyone and gets a little lost in its attempt to serve all its customers. Some good acting and powerful singing keeps the show from feeling generic.

The musical is a hard sell for anyone who likes a cohesive beginning, middle, and end. It’s the poetry of the proletariat. There are, however, some triumphant moments, especially with this glorious cast.

-MB

“Working” runs until May 24 at the New Hazlett, 6 Allegheny Square, Pittsburgh, PA 15212. For more information, click here. 

By Michael Buzzelli

                              “That’s just a little bit of History Repeating”                                            – – Shirley Bassey and the Propellerheads.

Four students, Sharon (Mal MacKenzie), Naomi (Marissa Lily), Barry (Jack Senske), and Andy (Thomas B. Andrews), struggle with their inner thoughts at Buffalo State University, during the very real and tumultuous times of 1969 and 1970 in Michael Eichler’s “Sixty-nine/ Seventy.”

Sharon, raised by conservative Presbyterian parents, rides the line between doing what’s right and what’s expected of her.

Naomi gets to school on the SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation [originally Enlightenment], and Knowledge) scholarship.

Barry is farther left than the others, protesting everything. He is filled with righteous anger, but finds time to date (no spoilers).

Andy is a fastidious townie who is looked down upon by other university students, but he finds validation for his views and forms friendships with his older peers.

The play is a series of monologues, with only a tiny bit of interaction between the actors.

Four additional actors will take on the roles on alternative nights: Barry (Cam Webb), Naomi (Naomi Terrell), Sharon (Sarah Altomari), and Andy (Nick Grosso).

Lily is dynamic as the young Black girl trying to find acceptance on campus. She mines every utterance for comedic gold. A well-placed eye roll and an occasional hair flip have the audience in stitches.

Andrews is an avatar of the playwright. His character is filled with anxiety, blundering through college.

MacKenzie plays a controlled character, seething with hidden passions. They are marvelous in the role.

Senske delivers his monologues with verve.

Associate Director and Scenic Designer Rob James created several risers with uncannily accurate props (somehow he procured an ancient payphone).

The play opens with four video monologues, one from each actor, filmed by Adam Morgan. There is additional interstitial material, news clips, posters, etc. News by Dustin Wickett.

Tyler Hieb, lighting designer and lighting manager, uses the lights to direct the audience around the room, shining the spotlight on the actor when they are ready to share their section of the story.

Director Alex Manalo makes terrific use of the space (the lobby of the City Theatre building), moving the actors in a whirlwind of kinetic energy (Manalo is also a gifted choreographer).

Eichler’s play resonates repeatedly with the present as the students protest an unjust war, a bloodthirsty police force, a fraudulent president, and a population of citizens who believe the lies they are told. Sound familiar?

While the play could use a trim, it’s poignant, funny, and potent. The parallels between the “Sixty-nine/ Seventy” and 2026 are eerily relevant.

Note: Proceeds from the show will benefit the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work, MSW COSA (Community, Organization and Social Action) Program.

-MB

“Sixty-nine/ Seventy” runs from May 14 to May 24 in the lobby of the City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203. For tickets and additional information, click here.