So, before we bid farewell to 2018, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and see what everyone’s favorite shows were this year! And if you’re reading this round up and you’re not signed up for our email list, click here to sign up!
Yvonne – On the Town by Resonance Works | Pittsburgh
Valerie Rachelle, artistic director of the Oregon Cabaret Theater in her Pittsburgh debut, stages On the Town both cleanly and imaginatively. Rachelle makes good use of the orchestra itself as a playing area as well as a balcony against the brick back wall. There are some fun interactions with conductor Sellner and when props magically appear with the help of chorus members. The show flows in almost real time as the sailors very long day (like NYC, they never sleep!) is compressed into 2.5 hours. The entire company fills the intimate space where all seats are near or practically in the action, emphasizing the rarity of this experience. Click here to read more.
Linda – The White Chip by City Theatre
Bob – King Hedley II by Pittsburgh Playwrights
And within this examination, comes break-out, awesome performances. The actor Rico Romulus Parker, as the titular King, came in as a replacement two weeks before opening, purportedly performing with only nine rehearsals under his belt. This man absolutely kills this role. It is outrageous, the extent to which he sticks his neck out feeling the plight of this character who Life has betrayed and so chooses a dogma of chance and hustling. Parker gives such a candid, bright portrayal of the instability that comes with utter, existential frustration and really gives this play the strength to its driving madness. Click here to read more.
Brian – Up and Away by the Pittsburgh CLO
Right away, it’s clear that Greer and Wascavage have dynamite chemistry. They complement each other vocally, physically, and comedically so much so that it hurts a little bit when their lives start to diverge. Their energy is enough to propel the show through its flat footed opening section. Bookwriter Hammonds sets up the characters and their relationships well, but that development is weighed down by too much exposition and composer Bair’s only forgettable tune, opening number “Down on the Farm”. Click here to read more.
Megan – Dogfight by Stage 62
George H – HIR by barebones productions
Jordan’s direction and scene design, coupled with the very intimate Barebones Black Box performance space, provide us a portal into this dysfunctional family. It as if we are voyeurs looking in the living room of the house next door. Quickly we forget our seat in the theatre as we are enveloped in the sad and yet funny absurdity of it all. It is difficult to think of a situation as sad and challenging as the one Paige finds her family in. Yet as we leave the theatre, we realize we have laughed for most of this brilliantly written, directed and acted production. Click here to read more.
Tiffany – Sweat by the Pittsburgh Public Theater
Labor history is not studded with the triumphs of the masses, and Sweat shows us people fading into oblivion. The mill moves out the machines on July 4th, and it’s a harsh irony that the workers lose their identity as they’re celebrating America’s independence. Emeka doesn’t let us easily dismiss Tracey as a racist simpleton. It’s quietly poignant when she sits at the bar and recounts sitting on her couch and just picking at her cuticles. Her job gave her purpose, and without it, her hands are empty. Without a readily available replacement, these characters face real-world challenges as they piece together subsistence wage jobs or just tap out and succumb to drug addiction, outcomes that both materialize in Sweat. Click here to read more.
Ringa – Building the Wall by 12 Peers Theater
Bethea was wonderful in developing her character. She starts out polite and professional, and quickly develops a back and forth with this prisoner who she clearly does not agree with. She’s respectful and she listens to his side, and yet she doesn’t let up. She doesn’t let him off easy, and she makes sure he feels accountable for his actions. Her severity towards the end of the play was powerful and exactly right for the conversation. And Kolos plays completely in tune with her. He manages to pull anger and then sympathy from the audience within a couple sentences. While he is clearly in the wrong, you don’t end up see him as a villain. Kolos played the stereotypical conservative-and-proud-of-it man, and then a fragile and sensitive guy, until they blended together. Click here to read more.
Tyler – Grey Gardens by Front Porch Theatricals
Front Porch Theatricals has established themselves as THE boutique theatre company that relishes taking on complex, richly layered and challenging shows. Once again, Front Porch earns its marks with this production of Grey Gardens. Director Robyne Parrish and the producers have brought together an incredibly talented group of actors and designers. Parrish brings out the best of them, showcasing both the material and their interpretive talents…Good, compelling theatre leaves you wanting answers. Front Porch Theatrical with their mission to bring quality theatre to Pittsburgh’s audiences, actors, designers, and directors succeed again, on all fronts, with Grey Gardens. Click here to read more.
Alex – The Father by Kinetic Theatre
The Father runs an hour and 40 minutes without an intermission, not allowing a pause for the audience to take stock. We’re meant to experience everything along with the characters, and they don’t get a break. This may sound like a lot, but it doesn’t feel like it. Andre is, as Anne and Laura often say, very charming. While his frustration sometimes boils over, and his thoughtlessness – some of which he can’t control – can be hurtful to those who love him, in his good moments you can see why they do. Tsoutsouvas, a veteran with Kinetic Theatre and many others, captures the full range of this complex role and keeps the audience totally engaged. Click here to read more.
George P – Rhinegold by the Pittsburgh Festival Opera
So far as the singers went, all were well up to Wagner’s expectations, and several would have quite delighted him if he could have heard them last night. Kenneth Shaw as Wotan, ruler of the gods, was impressively costumed and made up, and sang with a powerful, booming and very musical voice through the most trying passages of the role, and acted the part quite remarkably. The part of Alberich, the power hungry Nibelung dwarf who tricks the Rhine Maidens out of the precious gold they guard and sets the chain of events into action, was very well sung and acted by Barrington Lee. The giants, Fasolt (Adam Cioffari), and Fafner (Andrew W. Potter), scenically were managed far better than is often the case, and were a fine looking pair who sang magnificently and acted impressively. Click here to read more.
Helen – Where the Star Fell by CCAC South in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival
The play is a faithful retelling of the historical events as they have been recorded. But is it more than that. It is an exploration of mystery, an expression of the unfathomable nature of the universe and the unexpected consequence of an encounter between the extraordinary and the ordinary. Actor Kendra McLaughlin as Older Ann gives an expert performance; she is emotionally present and honest, unforced and at ease on stage. Jim Froehlich as Ann’s husband Gene is low key and a solid foil for the much more emotional Ann. Linda Anschuetz has a nice sense of comedy as opportunistic landlord Birdie, and Julie Elizabeth Beroes is vulnerable if a bit overwrought, Younger Ann. Click here to read more.
Eva – La Strega at the Glitterbox Theatre
La Strega is also so divinely successful and enjoyable for the sheer amount of work that visibly went in to creating the show and, importantly, the experience of watching it. Watching a Glitterbox show is unlike most evenings at the theatre one will experience in Pittsburgh, and it is all the more enriching for that. Every moment of the show and every inch of the set and thread of the costumes exudes the heart of the labor that went into creating it. Glitterbox is grassroots, independent theatre at its most rapturously spunky, and La Strega is a premier example of the theatre at its best. Glitterbox co-owner Teresa Martuccio pulls off an astounding array of feats by writing, directing, starring in, and designing most of the set and costumes for the show. Her work passion for the piece is evident throughout, but particularly in her meticulous work on the props and costumes alongside her incredibly talented co-designers Amalia Kalisz, Stephanie Neary and Chris St. Pierre. Click here to read more.
Rachelmae – Hedwig and the Angry Inch by Pittsburgh Musical Theater
Emily – Big Fish by the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center
And that’s a wrap! Don’t forget to buy your tickets to our 5th Birthday party! If you can’t make it but still want to help us out, click here to donate!
Thank you so much, everyone! See you next year!
Categories: Feature