Youth is Wasted on the Young

Youth is Wasted on the Young . . . George Bernard Shaw

The prolific playwright, critic, novelist and essayist, George Bernard Shaw is featured with the current production of the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s British Invasion.  Candida, one of Shaw’s earlier works and part of the trilogy penned under Plays Pleasant,  is a study in human relationship’s: husband/wife, employer/employee, poet/enabling wannabe (to the poet) paramour, father –in-law/son-in-law.  Shaw weaves the playful rhythm, tone and wit of language bred from his native Ireland.  Humor is frequent and the audience appreciates the well-phrased and delivered commentary of the then-current societal mores.  While some elements of the conversations appear dated (the use of cant, for example, was last heard in a long ago class on literature) , the majority of the dialogue transcends time, as appropriate in Victorian England as it is in the 21^st Century Pittsburgh.

In Candida, the audience is treated to a preview of the characters that will be arguably Shaw’s most recognizable players from Pygmalion/My Fair Lady.  The dissolute Eugene Marchbanks (Jared McGuire)  is a precursor (at least to this viewer) of Freddie Aynsford-Hill;  Candida’s father,  Mr. Burgess (John O’Creagh) is reminiscent of Alfred P. Doolittle, the common dustman with his broad cockney accent juxtaposed with the costume finery of a gentleman after he is thrust directly into middle class morality by Henry Higgins’ recommendation, getting to the church on time.  The audience is reminded that in Shaw, one finds a Nobel Prize winner and an Oscar winner, an unlikely and unique combination of tributes held solely by him.

Gretchen Egolf as Candida and David Whalen as Vicar Morell (Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Public Theater)

Candida (Gretchen Egolf), the namesake of the work, is a beautiful woman who is coveted by both her husband, The Reverend James Mavor Morell (David Whalen) and Eugene, the young poet who is clearly enamored with her.  Candida appears to be initially oblivious of being the object of Marchbanks’ attentions, almost like a cat playing with a mouse.  Later, we realize she is much more self and situationally aware. 

Gretchen Egolf as Candida and Jared McGuire as Eugene Marchbanks (Photo Credit:  Pittsburgh Public Theater)

Her husband, also initially oblivious, is astounded when his wife demonstrates an insight on his relationship with his trusted assistant and the reason for his popularity as a much sought after orator.  The cast is rounded out by Meghan Mae O’Neill playing the long suffering Miss Proserpine (Prossie) Garnett and Matthew Minor as The Reverend Alexander Mill, assistant to Vicar Morrell.

The play is set in Victoria Park on the outskirts of London at the turn of the 20^th century spanning a single day in the study and sitting room of St. Dominic’s Vicarage.

Candida is directed by the venerable Ted Pappas and continues at the O’Reilly Theater through May 18^th.

This  review of Candida was written by Joyce Kane on behalf of Positively Pittsburgh Live Magazine and Roving Pittsburgher.  Joyce is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Assistant service company providing on demand business support services for entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and anyone else needing help.  We help businesses work on their business rather than in their business.  www.cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

An Iliad: A Journey to the Past, Present and Future

A Journey to the Past, Present and Future

An Iliad, a modern adaptation of Homer’s Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, is the time-honored story of the Greek-Trojan war updated with modern language, contemporary references and future implications of the continued horror that is war.

Teague F. Bougere provides an enthralling performance is this one person show.  Alternately actor and narrator, Bougere as “The Poet” weaves the story of mortals and the gods of Greek mythology interspersed with references to conflicts throughout history up to 2014.  The epic story of Achilles and Agamemnon, Athena and Apollo, Helen of Troy and Hector, Hecuba and Hermes, Paris and Priam, and last, but not least, Zeus is told with an understandable pace, bringing this story with a historic sensibility to a current audience.

Bougere appears dusty and road-weary, then energized by the audience while engaging in easy banter, then repulsed by the dialogue of the classic tale.

The stage of Pittsburgh Public Theater’s O’Reilly Theater has been transformed to a quasi-construction site cum battlefield.   The rough-hewn table becomes Paris’ bed, then a platform for the recitation of conflicts and wars of far-reaching implications.  The scaffolding/ramparts provide a vantage for the observation of the historic battles from afar, as the majority of the audience experience war.

The Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of An Iliad, a 90 minute show without intermission, plays at the O’Reilly through April 6, 2014.

Reviewed  by Joyce Kane on behalf of Positively Pittsburgh Live Magazine.  Joyce is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Business Support business that helps solopreneurs, business owners and individuals work 'on' their business rather than 'in' the business.

Our Town: Comfort Food for the Soul

Our Town:  Comfort Food for the Soul

The 2013 Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Our Town (September 26 through October 27, 2013) is a transport back to simpler times when homemade cookies and milk freshly delivered by the dairy farmer characterized daily life.

PPT’s production of this venerable play penned by Thornton Wilder opens with “Stage Manager”, ably played by veteran Pittsburgher Tom Atkins (“The Chief") verbally  painting the picture of 1901 Grover’s Corners, NH.   The physical attributes of the small town, with its layout, descriptions of the movers and shakers, and the various homey details that characterized early 20th Century life in New England come to life for the audience despite the minimal set.  Grover’s Corners is portrayed as a quaint and charming mix of rural and city.   The town doctor is off delivering twins in “Polish Town”.  His wife, Mrs. Gibbs, and the neighbor’s wife, Mrs. Webb, have mirror gardens, with Mrs. Webb adding a soupcon of individuality with towering sunflowers to the mix of beans and heliotrope.  The daily chores of early morning breakfast preparation and getting the children off to school, not too dissimilar to modern families, lend familiarity that transcends time.

As the play progresses, we see other hints of the familiar…the classroom crush, the adulation of a sports figure, respect and concern for the hardworking neighbors.  These all serve as an escape, a salve for the over-stressed and over-connected audience who is seeking a respite from their everyday lives with the continuous avalanche of bad news.  Yes, there is bad news in Grover’s Corners, but perhaps the pace is more acceptable, the volume of negativity more absorbable.

The rhythms of life – birth, marriage, death – are set with minimal distractions.  The costuming is bland so as not to stand out.  The few chairs, tables, ladders that represent the staging are effective if nonintrusive.  Even the pantomime of meal preparation, carrying books and leading the horse delivering the milk wagon through the town are evocative without being overly trite.  Preparation of the strawberry sodas at the drug store/apothecary produced a chuckle of memory from many in the audience – helped along by Atkins’ mobile expressions.

Our Town’s ensemble cast, liberally full of Gibbs’, Webb’s, other small town characters and ‘citizens’, weave Wilder’s words to create the meatloaf and mashed potatoes of small town country living that gives comfort without being sappy  . . . comfort food for the soul.  

Reviewed by Joyce Kane on behalf of Positively Pittsburgh Live! Magazine.

Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Other Desert Cities Explores the Extremes in Family Dynamics

Other Desert Cities

Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of “Other Desert Cities” is a study in family dynamics of polar extremes.  The first act unfolds on the morning of Christmas Eve following a family tennis match. The patriarch, Lyman Wyeth and his wife, Polly, are presented as old guard Republicans, conservatives of the far right; their children, Brooke and Trip, are clearly political adversaries, young liberals of the self-righteous left.

John Patrick Hayden (l) with James DeMarse

Shortly into the first act, we get an inkling of a tragedy that helped to define the tensions in the family that go beyond politics.  As the story unfolds, we hear of an older brother, hero to Brooke, embarrassment to Lyman and Polly, whose anti-war, drug abusing, cult leanings drive a wedge into family loyalties.  Brooke, an author, reluctantly admits that her latest oeuvre is a memoir that presents her version of her brother’s disappearance and probable suicide after a bombing at a military recruiting center leaves one dead.  Is it accurate?  Maybe.  Is it romanticized? Probably.  Is it the last ingredient in the estrangement stew with her family?  Most definitely.

Extremes in politics, mental stability, familial loyalties, emotional swings, economic status and value-systems mark the dialogue, which is often adversarial yet laced with humor.

Pilar Witherspoon (l) and Helena Ruoti

The acting is dynamic; the characters larger than life.  There is familiarity with them, yet strangeness.  The shifting alliances allude to the dynamics that face all families.  Lyman, a former actor turned politician turned ambassador turned man of leisure (or is that man of torment?), is brilliantly portrayed by James DeMarse.  His loyal wife, suggestive of Nancy Reagan, is a bit more strident in her opinions and pronouncements.  Polly (Helena Ruoti) and her former screenwriting partner, her sister Silda (Susan Cella), were successful with a series of movies, the Hillary chronicles.  Silda and Polly, originally from Texas, may bear a family resemblance and similar upbringing but they are polar opposites on other characteristics.  Silda is recuperating from a recent stint in rehab at her sister’s home.  She reluctantly and sarcastically accepts the situation that her life has become, intermixing wisecracks with self-deprecation.  The comic relief is tinged with sorrow – or perhaps guilt - with her role in her nephew’s downslide from upper middle class trust fund baby to societal pariah.

l to r Helena Ruoti, Susan Cella, John Patrick Hayden, Pilar Witherspoon

Brooke (Pilar Witherspoon) is a distraught, freelance author who lives on Long Island, as far away geographically and emotionally as she can be .  She eschews financial help from her parents, preferring to go it alone on a more modest scale that her parents struggle to understand.  Her emotional history is unveiled.  The audience hears of her being institutionalized with hints of the instability rooted in her childhood.  Her brother, Trip (John Patrick Hayden), a reality TV producer, provides some evenness in contrast to Brooke’s uber emotionality.  He, of all of the characters, seems to be the one with the least baggage.

The setting of the living room with its stacked stone fireplace reflective of the colors of the desert as a backdrop to the open fire pit is reminiscent of old Hollywood, Rat Pack era.  You expect to see Frank and Dean stroll in the sliding glass doors.  The name dropping of the California elite who are the quintessential representatives of the sixties and seventies, bridge the fantasy with reality.  The elegance of the crystal decanters and tumblers are in sharp contrast to the ruggedness of the walls, the silk and Pucci of the older generation to the jeans, shorts and T shirt of the younger.

PPT’s playbills, in addition to listing the cast and creative staff bios, season sponsors and advertisements, provide some context for the work that is presented.  For “Other Desert Cities”, the audience is treated to a match game of political contrasts (Al Franken in the same quiz as Shirley Temple Black) as well as descriptions of the individuals and venues that are the name dropped references, the likes of Totie Fields, Dinah Shore, the Brown Derby and Mrs. Annenberg.

 “Other Desert Cities”, where families put the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional.  See if you recognize traits of your own.

“Other Desert Cities” is the final production in the 2012-2013 season for PPT.  It runs through June 30 at the O’Reilly Theater.

Photo credit: Pittsburgh Public Theater

Reviewed on behalf of Positively Pittsburgh Live Magazine by Joyce Kane.  Joyce  is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

It Isn’t a Matter of Race; it’s a Matter of Taste

It Isn’t a Matter of Race; it’s a Matter of Taste

Playwright Bruce Norris

Clybourne Park, the Pulitzer Prize (2011) and Tony Award winning play by Bruce Norris, is a tale of contrasts; contrasts in race, beliefs, social circumstances, fashion and style and, most importantly, time.

Act One is set in the late 50’s at the home of Russ and Bev (Brad Bellamy and Lynne Wintersteller).  They are clearly middle class.  Silver candlesticks and a chafing dish grace the dining room built-in server, ready to be packed for their imminent move to suburbia and the nirvana of a 6.5 minute commute to Russ’s new corner office.  Bev, a cross between Laura Petri and Lucille Ball, chastens – no nags – Russ out of his apparent funk.  It is early afternoon and Russ remains in his pajamas, eating ice cream from the carton, a tad Archie Bunker-esque ensconced on his throne.  Their retainer, Francine (Chandra Thomas), is anxious to leave.  She has come to assist them with their move on a Saturday and would prefer to be unseen and unnoticed, not dragged into the dark issues swirling in the home.  Through the seemingly well-intentioned visits of the simpering Pastor Jim (Jared McGuire), pretentious Karl (Tim McGeever), and deaf and clueless Betsy (Megan Hill), the story unfolds to reveal the parents’ guilt and self-loathing over their son’s suicide after his return from the Korean War.  Karl and Jim are appalled to learn that Russ and Bev’s home has been sold to a family of color, the first in the neighborhood.  They are even more appalled that he doesn't care.

Megan Hill and Tim McGeever as Lindsey and Steve, Photo Credit : Pittsburgh  Public Theater

Fast forward 50 years later and the same home is the heart’s desire of a young couple who are anxious to move back to the city, welcome their child and herald the gentrification of Clybourne Park.  However, their version of gentrification is a forklift upgrade of the property, losing the historical integrity of the neighborhood in favor of a spacious open concept, multi-story edifice, just as their version of race relations doesn't quite match how others may feel.  Political correctness replaces the veiled messages of fifty years earlier, the styles of the 50’s are transformed to the more casual shorts, tees and leggings, and the ever-present mobile devices are more important than human interaction.  The change in social standards is mirrored in the transition from the crystal glass of iced tea to the pop-top beer can and Starbucks vente.

Chandra Thomas (Lena) and Lynne Wintersteller (Kathy) Photo Credit:  Pittsburgh Public Theater

While everyone circles around the issues, particularly of class and race, and Lindsey tries to prove her liberal views of race relations, Lena delivers the ultimate put down:  It isn’t a matter of race; it’s a matter of taste

The second act has a surprising ending and brings the story full circle to the causal impact of Kenneth’s suicide, a microcosm of chaos theory that starts a chain of events that could not be predicted.

The cast is to be commended for playing multiple characters between the two acts, all tied together by the house that is the stage and the set.  Bjorn DuPaty (Albert/Kevin) plays a small but pivotal role in bringing clarity to language rendered muddy by obfuscation and political correctness.  He focuses a laser on the hypocrisy of Ken and Jim, Lindsey and Steve.

Throughout the play, the dialogue engages the audience, evoking humor and embarrassment, recognition and discomfort.  The mood of the play moves seamlessly from a bluesy ballad by Frank Sinatra to the stimulation of Hip-Hop of current times.

The Playbill offers several, upcoming local examples of ‘white flight’, ‘gentrification’, and ‘economic eviction’.  Though Clybourne Park is set in Chicago, we are left to wonder how often the pathos of Clybourne Park has been played out in the gentrification of the neighborhoods of the Mexican War Streets, Manchester, NorthSide, Lawrenceville and SouthSide.

Clybourne Park continues at the O’Reilly Theater through May 19th.

Posted on behalf of Positively Pittsburgh Live Magazine.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Slapstick is Back in My Life and I am Lovin' It

Slapstick is back in my life and I am lovin it!!!!!!

Around the World in 80 Days

Thanks you from the bottom of my heart – Pittsburgh Public Theatre – for bringing the onstage play    version of Around the World in 80 Days…. to Pittsburgh…

As I entered the O’Reilly Theater to sit down… the stage OMG! it was void of any … wait that is a stage with people sitting right and left? Hmmm well then how in the world are these actors going to make me feel like I am witnessing one of the greatest journeys of our theatrical times? All I can say is that I am all too pleasantly surprised!

The rendition started off a little slow for me – in retrospect because I knew not what to expect… I did not have knowledge of the crew at all.  And then, hardly 10 minutes into the story, I was sitting up in anticipation of every next move.

Hats off to all 5 actors who under the graceful direction of Marcia Milgrom Dodge and the rest of the production crew took me on that wonderful journey.  With only 4 chairs, an umbrella, sections of railings, a wearable building (just gotta see it), very well done costumes, innumerable wigs and an elephant (yes it is big) the talented Tom Beckett, Ron Bohmer, Jeffrey Kuhn, Meera Rohit Kumbhani (Yesss another Indian on stage!) and Richard B Watson took me to far off lands that I have been to before!

The slapstick performance is what took me by surprise and simply made a story watched multiple times – alive again! Actually, I thought that the actors were having too much fun with this one! Good for you all!
All 5 actors are seasoned and I felt like they have been training for this particular effort. Even though all the actors performed well beyond expectations, my favorite is Jeffrey with his acrobatic dancing abilities and the accent allowed for the lively slapstick to put icing on this live cake!  He says ‘piss’ so elegantly – go see it to understand please…. Meera you rock because I did not know you were the same actor throughout all the different people you played! Tom – chameleon shall we say? And you were lovin every minute of it pausing just enough to get our reaction? Richard, I never knew a guy to swing hips the impressive way you do! And Ron, nice commanding voice!

Throughout the performance, the actors perfectly synchronized their actions to the point that one scene made me sea sick! Did not know that could be done but they sure did it! The most dramatic action on board ship during a typhoon presented the whole crew at their peak… the amazing synchronicity kept the audience in the palm of their hands.

Thank you again for a chance to get away and be purely entertained. This definitely cleared my mind to face another day in my busy life.

Sunita S. Pandit (AKA mrscardiology)
Sunita is the wife of Dr. Santosh Pandit and is responsible for running his cardiology office. As the wife of a cardiologist, she has become passionate about combating the "perils of the heart." Constantly in pursuit of preventive care, she is dedicated to recording her husbands observations on what keeps a heart healthy.

Analyze Freud's Last Session at the O'Reilly

Freud’s Last Session

On the day that Great Britain declares war on Germany, two intellects spar on the topics of God, religious beliefs, life and yes, sex.  Renowned psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, a recent emigrant from Vienna, shares his recreated office in London replete with the proverbial couch with Oxford professor and author, C.S. Lewis.  Freud, the non-believer (despite having a Catholic nanny who augmented his Jewish upbringing by exposing him to the rituals of the Catholic Church), verbally thrusts and parries with Lewis throughout the dialogue on the wide range of topics.  The exchange is witty and entertaining, drawing the audience into the discussion.  The venue of the O’Reilly Theater works well to promote the intimacy of the conversation.

The meeting between the two grew from the imagination of author Dr. Armand M. Nicholi and was converted to this medium by playwright Mark St. Germain.  The setting is true to history in time and place and lends credence to the possibility of the interchange.   Lewis arrives with gas mask in hand; Freud’s is stashed in a desk drawer so that when the air raid signal sounds, they are both ready. 

The radio plays a pivotal role in moving the dialogue, with its fascinating twists and turns, forward.  Freud is 83 at the time and living with mouth cancer and a device that is painful yet necessary.  Lewis is 41, a recent convert to the Church of England after declaring himself an atheist in his mid-teens, is a celebrated author and Christian theologian.  

They both travel in circles of brilliance.  Freud, at the end of his storied career, is highly reliant on his daughter Anna.  Lewis names J.R.R. Tolkien and G.K. Chesterton among his colleagues.  Through the course of their conversation, they explore arguments for and against the existence of God that lead to an examination of the very meaning of life.  Lewis, a veteran of the First World War, is reluctant to discuss that experience; Freud, as the end of his life looms, is wrestling with pain and fear of death.  From these divergent backgrounds and life experiences, they begin to establish a relationship founded on respect, if not common views.

Freud’s Last Session is at The Pittsburgh Public Theater’s O’Reilly Theater from March 1^st through April 1^st.

Reviewed by Joyce Kane
Joyce is the Owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.