A night of local stars, in words and pictures
By SHARON EBERSON
Reaching back and passing the torch was a running theme of Front Porch Theatricals‘ 2026 season reveal on Monday, where it was revealed that Working and Come From Away will be their summer shows.
For the occasion of the annual fundraising cabaret, a songfest of local talent, the incomparable Lenora Nemetz, a Pittsburgher and a member of the original Broadway cast of Working, in 1978, told a funny story about how she got the role, then provided a heartfelt introduction for Marnie Quick, who sang the show’s waitress song, It’s an Art.
Working will be directed by Daina Michelle Griffith, with Douglas Levine as music director.
Front Porch will deliver the 2012 version of Working, with revisions by Gordon Greenberg of the original, which included a book by Wicked creator and CMU alum Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, music by Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, and James Taylor, and lyrics by Schwartz, Carnelia, Grant, Taylor, and Susan Birkenhead.
Aaron Galligan-Stierle, who starred in Sunday in the Park With George for Front Porch and is the current Bob Cratchit for Pittsburgh CLO in A Musical Christmas Carol, will direct Come From Away. Melissa Yanchak (Big Fish) will serve as music director.
In announcing the two musicals, Front Porch producers Bruce E.G. Smith and Nancy Zionts explained their pursuit of the rights to Come From Away, the day-after 9/11 musical, which has begun to show up regionally throughout the United States. The story of passengers embraced by the residents of a small Canadian town, forced to land while U.S. airspace was closed following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is especially moving for Zionts, a native Canadian who said she had first seen the show with her late husband and Front Porch co-founder, Leon Zionts, on his 60th birthday.
Mandie Patsy sang Me and the Sky from Come From Away, the anthem about a real-life worker, Captain Beverley Bass, the first woman pilot for American Airlines.
A couple of other highlights, and there were many, included the bestowing of two Leon S. Zionts Black Beret Awards, to longtime Front Porch performer Lindsay Bayer and the director for the night, Brady Patsy. Bayer got the evening off to a roaring start the show with Another Hundred People from Company, and Brady Patsy and Saige Smith soared on Wheels of Dream from Ragtime.
A surprise not in our program was another duet, by two of the three “kids” from Fun Home – now all grown up – Eamonn McElfresh (a Pittsburgh CAPA Gene Kelly Award winner, now in A Christmas Story for Pittsburgh Public Theater) and Livia Rocco (Woodland Hills High, Kelly Award finalist). Visit https://www.frontporchpgh.com/ for updates on tickets and casting.
FRONT PORCH THEATRICALS 2025 CABARET, IN PICTURES
Lindsay Bayer, Another Hundred People / Company;
Christy Rodibaugh, I Resolve / She Loves Me;
Saige Smith & Brady Patsy, Wheels of a Dream / Ragtime;
Marnie Quick, with music director Shelby Williams,
What’s Gonna Happen / Tootsie.
Bottom right: A surprise duet by Eamonn McElfresh and Livia Rocco.
David Ieong, Did Spring Come to Texas / Giant;
Isabella Corea, Someone Like You / Jekyll and Hyde;
Sarah Hennessey, Home / Beauty and the Beast;
Middle, from left: William Smith & Braden Stroppel,
The Bro Duet / Moment to Moment;
Maria Bechtell & Allan Snyder, I’d Give It All For You / Songs From a New World
Caroline Travers, Simple Joys / Pippin;
Robert Frankenberry, I’m Going to Make You Beautiful / Starting Here, Starting Now;
Daphne Alderson, La Vie En Rose;
Middle, left to right: Matty Thornton, Being Alive / Company;
Adelyne Anderson & Caroline Travers, Some Things Are Meant to Be / Little Women;
Shawn Doremus & Brad Smoak ,Agony / Into the Woods:
Bottom right: Aaron Galligan-Stierle, Buddy’s Blues / Follies
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