By SHARON EBERSON
It’s hard to imagine how a play with so much Pittsburgh heart and soul was met with such fondness in previous productions in Los Angeles and Chicago, and now that Andy Warhol’s Tomato is at last being performed in its hometown, it should be feeling the warm glow of a yinzer embrace.
The fictional play about an eventful connection in 18-year-old Andy Warhola’s life is by McKeesport’s Vince Melocchi, and marks a new beginning for Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre, under the leadership of Elizabeth Elias Huffman and in PICT’s new home, Carnegie Stage.
I have seen three iterations of the work (a reading, preview at The Andy Warhol Museum and now in Carnegie), directed by Huffman, with Matt Henderson as Andy and Johnny Patalano as McKeesport bar owner Mario “Bones” Bonino, and each time, there is a sort of reverie of how the enigmatic, magnetic artist emerged from a blue-collar town that seems so unlikely to have produced his singular career.
PICT’s comeback production, now at Carnegie Stage. (Image: Natalie Rose Mobray)
Andy Warhol’s Tomato imagines Warhol as a Carnegie Tech freshman, struggling to fit in at school and in life. Henderson’s Andy is a Warhol we’ve never seen among the King of Pop Art’s many stage and screen portrayals: the artist as a young man, before achieving the fame he so craved.
There is a photograph of Warhol at this stage of his life – attributed to the Pittsburgh-born artist Philip Pearlstein, and in the book Warhol, by David Bourdon) that seems to have been the model for Henderson’s look – so much does Henderson remind me of that particular portrait.
Henderson, an accomplished Pittsburgh actor often seen with Prime Stage Theatre, plays a young man filled with contradictions. On the one hand, Andy exudes confidence that he is bound for fame and fortune in New York; on the other, he can barely bring himself to show his sketches to the man who has come to his rescue. Andy winds up resting in Bones’ basement after the young man faints while accompanying his brother on deliveries of produce, including corn and tomatoes.
An effective joke about Warhol’s pale complexion is his explanation, “I’m Slavic.” In fact, young Andy suffered from a neurological disorder that caused involuntary movements and discoloration of his skin.
We see him having what appear to be panic attacks, and the question about his pallor comes out of concern for the teen’s well-being.
The revelation for me in this PICT production, although he has acted in other regional fare, is Patalano. The role of Bones Bonino seems to have been written with him in mind, so well does he fit the model of outwardly “mill hunk bravado.” That gruff exterior hides a kindhearted, self-educated guy’s guy, who fears repercussions if he reveals his sensitive side.
Knowing the genius at creating and re-creating himself that Warhol will become, Henderson’s young Andy effectively ping-pongs between awkwardly shy and obnoxiously confident, as well as determinedly authentic and desperately needy.
In the most unlikely of environments, the basement of a drinking establishment, and with the most unlikely companion, Andy finds a refuge and, in Bones, what today we might call a life coach.
To the blue-collar bartender, Andy talks and acts “funny,“ which he views as something to be hidden – not just for his own comfort, but for Andy’s safety. To be queer in 1946 Pittsburgh was not easy. The city passed its first ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination in 1992, and the fight for gay rights continues nationwide. Yet young Andy brings out a tolerant and fatherly side that Bones has seemingly kept to himself, particularly in the testosterone-fueled floor above them. Patalano shines in a mostly wordless scene in which his duality – as a macho former boxer and an artistic dreamer – comes into play.
a young Pittsburgh artist, circa 1946. (Image: Natalie Rose Mobray)
Melocchi’s play is filled with references for Pittsburghers and fans of Warhol, circa the year 1946 – a Campbell’s Tomato Soup Can, KQV on the radio, (Donora’s) Stan Musial, Latrobe’s Rolling Rock Beer n’at.
The set, by designer Tucker Topol, is deceptively simple, as a place of business and a refuge from the judgmental world above. Just as Andy and Bones slowly reveal themselves, the set itself has secrets of its own to reveal.
What comes through very clearly in this PICT production, about 90 minutes with no intermission, is the affection for this time and place, and these characters, by everyone involved.
Andy Warhol’s Tomato, each time I have experienced PICT’s presentations, has left me with feelings I don’t often associate with the artist – warmth and tolerance toward others, and almost as palpable, a sense of hometown pride.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
PICT’s production of Andy Warhol’s Tomato continues at Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main Street, Carnegie, Fridays-Sundays, September 20-October 6, plus Monday, September 30. Tickets: https://pictclassictheatre.ludus.com/index.php. The next Sunday Matinee Talkbacks at Carnegie Stage are: Uncle Andy Stories: The Pittsburgh Years with Don Warhola (October 6); Hidden in Plain Sight: Being Queer in Pittsburgh Before Decriminalization, hosted by Richard Parsakian.
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