onStage Pittsburgh dispatched Sharon Eberson and Jessica Neu to review Marya Sea Kaminski’s final production at the Public. You can read Jessica’s review here.
By SHARON EBERSON
Summer in the city just got a refreshing splash of in-your-face joy.
Pittsburgh Public Theater’s first Public Works production serves up a respite from the storm and stress of heatwaves, downpours and breaking news, along with the witnessing of wedded bliss: the marriage of a musical Twelfth Night and civilian performers working seamlessly alongside seasoned pros.
Marya Sea Kaminski, in her final director’s role before exiting as artistic director of the Public, has achieved a fond farewell, in a free production that is as entertaining as it is joyful and inspirational.
Before the show, with the company’s Public Works chief wrangler, Dominique Briggs, Kaminski spoke of the 18 weeks of potluck dinners, meetings and rehearsals that brought dozens of people from nearly a dozen organizations into the spotlight, on the O’Reilly Theater stage, for five performances this weekend.
The musical interpretation of Twelfth Night, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, with music and lyrics by Taub (Suffs), isn’t so much Shakespeare lite as Shakespeare bright, as in smartly reimagined for a 21st-century audience, musically dynamic and fun for all. The show leans into the comedy using mostly The Bard’s own words in dialogue, while lyrically busting out big solos and group numbers that make everyone’s intentions, conflicts and confusion crystal clear.
The core professional cast of new-to-Pittsburgh and local performers is top notch, in a production that flies in at under 90 minutes, with no intermission.
Gender and drag play a big part in the story of shipwrecked twins Viola (Chelsea Zeno) and Sebastian (Ethan Davis Butler), who each believe the other to be dead. Viola, feeling alone and insecure as a woman in the fictional realm of Illyria, disguises herself as a man named Cesario, and enters the service of Duke Orsino (Michael Campayno).
The Duke is in love with the Countess Olivia (Housso Sémon, a New York Public Works and Broadway performer, including Taub’s Suffs), who spurns his advances and falls for Cesario, while Viola falls for Orsino. Sebastian turns up, aided by Antonio (Victor M. Aponte), confusion reigns momentarily, and wedding bells are inevitable.
The road to who ends up with whom is paved with comedy borne of mistaken identities, foolhardy choices and obvious realizations, with the eye of the storm held by Zeno’s yearning and evolving Viola, Campayno’s painfully straight-laced Orsino, Sémon’s hot-to-trot Olivia and Davis Butler’s confused Sebastian.
Twelfth Night may be all about love – unrequited love, self-love, blind love and so on – but among its company are fools, foes and quick wits, the latter led by Feste, a dynamo with a big voice and an accordion, in the person of Caro Dubberly. The triple threat stands out with either a quick quip or a Broadway belt, as her Feste is central to the opening “Play On” (“If music be the food of love, play on”), and accompanies herself on the heartfelt “Is This Not Love.”
The too-drunk-for-days Sir Toby Belch, Olivia’s uncle, and her dim and ditzy suiter, Sir Andrew (Garbie Dukes and Brenden Peifer), with the help of devious Maria (Georgia Taylor), form a kooky comic trio as they scheme to torment the pompous Malvolio – a showcase role for the multi-talented Connor McCanlus.
On the way to his comeuppance, in a Golden Age-style musical number based on the Shakespeare line, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” McCanlus owns the stage, backed by a kick-line chorus, in a running gag that keeps paying dividends.
McCanlus has graced Pittsburgh stages for quite some time, always igniting a spark. Here, he shines brightly in a spotlight that seems tailor-made for his musical comedy chops, and he has the audience in the palm of his hands.
Zeno shines on Viola / Cesario solos, and her voice melds well with Campayno’s on too-few duets. In Viola’s disguise as a man, she is challenged and misled while misleading. In his mischief-making, Dukes’ Toby Belch plots to have “him” prove himself, in one of the show’s biggest numbers, “What Kind of Man RU Gonna Be.“
The title is a hint of what kind of musical this Twelfth Night is. At one point, while Orisino is still pining for Olivia, the thought is that this potential power couple might henceforth be known as Orlivia. Of course, the musical retains lines such as, “Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.”
The full-cast numbers fill the O’Reilly Theater’s thrust stage with no perceptible pitfalls, and the numbers of all sizes, under the leadership of choreographer Gustavo Zajac, are witty and play to performers’ strengths. The over-the-top physicality of characters played by Dukes, Peifer and McCanlus is comedic candy to feast on.
The named characters are backed by an ensemble listed in the program as Illyrians, Gossips, Revelers, Paparazzi and Dancers. The “Cameo Groups” represented are Big Storm Performance Company, Hill Dance Academy Theatre and Iron City Circus Arts.
Eight musicians, led by music director Tiffany Underwood Holmes, are mostly unseen, although a brass trio following recent widow Olivia has a New Orleans vibe, with comic intent. The staging by Sasha Jin Schwartz brings to mind the French Quarter here and there, and includes a grand staircase that lights up at key moments.
Twelfth Night is a play I have seen in several incarnations, including the all-male Original Practices version led by Mark Rylance, on the very same O’Reilly stage. As a musical, it’s a thrill ride of a romcom, with Shakespeare as the creator’s muse.
The Public Works Twelfth Night puts me in mind of a summer blockbuster musical: comedically bold, and heartfelt in intent and execution. The production provides a joyful ending to the Downtown company’s 50th anniversary season and, while parting is such sweet sorrow, to Kaminski’s seven years at the helm of Pittsburgh Public Theater.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The Pittsburgh Public Theater production of the premiere Public Works’ Twelfth Night is at the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown, through June 29, 2025. Some seats may still be available for the mostly sold-out run.
Visit https://ppt.org/production/94489/public-works-twelfth-night.
Note: Pittsburgh Public’s third annual Public Day is set for July 12, 2025. The free summer party includes beats by DJ TeeJay, Double Dutch PGH, salsa dancing and line dancing, plus a 50th anniversary installation. Also on tap are a special display from the August Wilson Archives, Henna by Aysiah, face painting and candle making. Visit https://ppt.org/event/28111-2024/public-day for details.
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