1776 Review & Giveaway!

As mentioned time and time again, I work at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Currently we are doing previews for the biggest show ever to be put on the Public's thrust stage. 26 cast members and 8 orchestra members come together, under the direction of Ted Pappas, for this outstanding musical. And I know I say this for a lot of things, but 1776 is a must see show. Let's put it this way. If you're going to risk your life driving in the crazy mix of ice and snow we've recently been hit with, it should be for 1776. And, at the end of this post, you have a chance to be able to do just that! Well, hopefully you won't have to risk your life to do so.

1776 runs until February 24th at the Public Theater.

No. I am not over-selling this production. Considering since the Public released it's list of shows last year for it's "Made in America" season for 2012-2013, I could not fathom that a show about the Declaration of Independence could be interesting, I was more than pleasantly surprised when I saw the final dress rehearsal on Wednesday night. As always, the set is beautiful and rich. I love the traditional look of all the wood and crown molding and as he did in Private Lives, James Noone designed a revolving stage that extends the environment of the musical very nicely. The lighting (Kirk Bookman) and costume (Martha Bromelmeier) designs are gorgeous. I love the differences in personalities of each character shown just through their costumes and the lighting is on point, creating just the right mood and picturesque scenes.

Now, like I said, there are 26 people in this show. So although every single on of them does a phenomenal job, I want you to actually read this post, so I'm going to keep this part as short as possible. Let's start with the ladies, since there's only two of them. Abigail Adams (Trista Moldovan) and Martha Jefferson (Libby Servais) both serve vital roles of the wives of John Adams (George Merrick) and Thomas Jefferson (Keith Hines) who either portray the longing of an old but now distant love or the sweetness of a fresh marriage. Martha also has an amazing number, "He Plays the Violin," that is possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. Libby is so tiny (very true to Martha) but she just explodes on stage. Trista plays a strong female character as Abigail, who never actually sees her husband during this time, but does correspond with him frequently through letters, or rather since this is a musical, through beautiful song.

All of the men of the Congress. Photos by Larry Roberts, Post-Gazette.

As for the gentlemen, the main standouts for me are, Adams, Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin (Steve Vinovich), Edward Rutledge (Hayden Tee), and the courier (Eric Meyers). George plays a lively persistent Adams practically begging for independence, while Keith portrays a young, shy and poetic Jefferson. (Was that too many adjectives for you?) Steve portrays Ben Franklin as a the kind of grandfather everyone wants to have, with little sly remarks and a humorously unmatched wit. I caught myself looking at him even when he wasn't talking just because his mannerisms were so good.

A passionate George Merrick as John Adams.

Hayden Tee, portraying the delegate, Edward Rutledge, from South Carolina, I could listen to all day. Everyone has a well produced accent but, damn, I kept wanting him to have a bigger part so he'd say more things. Typical girl. He really took his part to the next level with his song "Molasses to Rum." However, I was stopped cold after hearing Eric Meyers sing "Momma, Look Sharp." Here he is throughout the beginning of Act 1 only as the silent courier bringing messages back and forth from the battle field to the Congress. This part seems like an added element of humor until he has a break and begins to discuss with the custodian how his friends are dying in the war through this song. Trust me, he is breathtaking. And you will be thankful that intermission comes right after this song because to have to process anything after that moment would be too much. Meyers is hauntingly beautiful, you'll need 15 minutes to get out of your chair, grab a drink and remember that not every young man you know is being killed in battle.

Overall, you just need to see this show. Though not all of it is historically accurate, for the most part it is a well done representation of how our country began to gain independence, you know, with a few song and dance numbers thrown in. You never know, John Adams might have danced to get some votes back then. This show is just so impeccable. I appreciated that some awful times in American history, like slavery, were not left out of the show and that it is not just for history buffs but really anyone looking for an entertaining night of theater.

So, here's your chance to have a night out in the city, for free! If you win, not only will you receive two tickets to the opening night performance to 1776, on February 1st, but you and your guest will also be on the list for the after-show party. The after-show parties at the Public are fabulous, always well catered, with an open bar and of course the cast always makes their way in to greet guests, you're sure to have a great evening - the giveaway is below and open until Wednesday - goooood luck!
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Others Out in the City!

This weekend, while MJ and I were very "yinzer" and ate our fill at Primanti's and walked across the Smithfield Street Bridge to Station Square so he could buy his first Steelers jersey, I realized that nothing we were doing was really worth blogging about. Everything we were doing was worth savoring, chowing down on greasy food, strolling across the bridge with the greatest love I've ever known, you know that couple stuff that no one really likes to read about. (So I'll spare you.) But I knew other people were out in the city and their escapades were fresh and worth some blog space, so here are two of those people, with reviews of their events for you...
 

Chicago going on now at Heinz Hall. Photo from Cultural Trust.

Julia
-This was what you can say classy with a touch of yinzer. The Broadway musical Chicago was in town and my boyfriend had bought us tickets for our anniversary. Chicago is one of my absolute favorite musicals. I mean let's be real here, where can you go wrong with a musical about sex, murder, and jazz? It was at Heinz Hall which, I feel, is the most gorgeous building in the city. When you walk in you feel as if you are royalty with the way the concert hall is designed. The music was fantastic and the live band was on the stage with the actors. They were constantly making the audience and myself laugh with little jokes thrown into the dialogue here and there. Of course the hot boys on stage with the actors was a plus. The yinzer part of my weekend was taking a trip to the Strip District with my boyfriend. I started my Christmas shopping for my brother on the West Coast and my other brother in Virginia. We got some great Steeler Nation t-shirts and I bought myself a few gorgeous scarves from street vendors.

Isaac
-Friday night I went to the 9th Annual Theatre Festival in Black and White, presented by the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. It's a really neat event where they have 10 short plays split into two separate programs. The "hook" of the event is that black directors direct plays written by white playwrights, and white directors do plays by black playwrights. I only saw Program A Friday night, but the program features a wide variety of genres and tones. Plays range from the bizarre to the realistic to the supernatural, and all provide something different. I would recommend anyone interested to go see one of these programs (playing the last few shows next Thurs-Sat) to see some good local theater. (And you can read Isaac's full review of this event here.)


So what did you do this weekend? Anything worth, blogging about? Tonight I have been invited to attend an exclusive blogger event with Maniac Magazine. I'm pretty excited about it, but I need to knock out this fever and headache before then! I will be blogging more about this event later tonight and tomorrow so be sure to come back and check out what comes from this event!

The Producers Take Over The Playhouse

Oh. My. Goodness. I have been raving about this production since I saw it on Saturday night. I cannot believe how fabulous it was. Honestly, if you have the time to do so, you must go see The Producers at Point Park University's Playhouse. These students should be very proud of their performance and you should really take the time to check out the talent of Pittsburgh's up-and-coming.

The Producers runs until Sunday the 28th at the Playhouse.

The Producers, is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, based on the film by the same name by Brooks from 1968. The lyrics and music were also written by Brooks and arranged by Glen Kelly and Doug Besterman. The story, which was also made into a musical movie in 2005 as well, is about Max Bialystock, a renown Broadway producer and his new partner, former accountant, Leo Bloom. Max (portrayed by senior, Tom Driscoll) and Leo (sophomore, Carter Ellis, who was made for this part) figure out a way to earn much more money on a Broadway musical flop, than a hit and scheme together to create the worst show possible. They bring together an awful show, a horrible director and actors who just don't have it and hope for the best worst.

This show relies on many show business jokes, ridiculous accents, and poking fun of Nazi's and homosexuals and to be quite honest, I never really liked it before. While anyone can go into this show and laugh at certain parts, as a whole, I never found it to be the great musical it is said to be. Now, obviously the twelve Tony Awards that it won would disagree with me. But, simple as that, I never really liked it before. Until now.

Driscoll, Mandie Russak (a senior, as Ulla) & Ellis. Photo credit.

 

 

The Point Park Conservatory Theater Company has changed my mind. Each student in this show brought everything they had and left it all on the stage. They brought these outrageous characters to life and made The Rockwell Theater swell with talent. I do not think a single student lacked any bit of character and each one brought the performance to the next level with each scene. All of them should be making their director, Point Park alumnus, Tome' Cousin, and the entire Point Park community proud with the obvious hit they brought to this stage. This is the biggest show that Point Park has done and these students have proven that they can handle the challenge of doing even bigger and better and I applaud them.

This was the first Point Park show that I was actually able to attend and I was floored by the talent that this school is holding. Call me biased, but I don't know any of the students in this show very well. Keep in mind I'm a grad student at Point Park and have few opportunities to interact with undergrads, especially the super busy COPA students. I sincerely look forward to future shows and suggest that you make seeing The Producers a part of your plans this weekend since it's final show is Sunday night, you will not be disappointed.

An Andy Warhol Musical

Ever have such a fabulous night out that once you get home you just want to go out again? Tonight is one of those nights for me. I'm sitting in my bedroom, next to one of the huge windows that shows the most wonderful view of downtown, in my cute (and super cheap) Saks Fifth Ave. dress, wanting to go back out. I have two reasons for this wanting to stay out feeling...1) my beautiful and always a great time friend, Lindsay and 2) City Theatre's production of POP! a new Musical by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs.

POP! a Musical at City Theatre from May 5th through the 27th

POP! is about the Pittsburgh-bred artist, Andy Warhol, and is based around the summer of 1968 event that almost killed him. Who shot Andy Warhol is the question this brilliant musical asks over and over again. While the answer can easily be found out, either by looking on Wikipedia or taking an art history class (which is how I know), is never really told straight out in the musical.

Andy Warhol, one of my absolute favorite artists, is portrayed by one of my absolute favorite actors, Anthony Rapp. You might know of Anthony from his most recognized appearance in the renown musical, RENT, as Mark. I was so star-struck the moment the show started and Anthony appeared on stage and remained so throughout the show, because of how absolutely phenomenal he is as an actor and singer, but especially in this role.

Anthony Rapp & Andy Warhol's picture: CityPaper's Heather Mull photo

But I knew that Anthony would be fabulous. What I didn't know is how outstanding the rest of the cast would be as well. Each one was perfectly cast for this show, I could not imagine their parts being done by anyone else. I loved that three members of the cast where, like Warhol, Pittsburgers. Paul Victor (Ondine) and Courtney Bassett (Edie) are recent Point Park graduates and Jesse Carrey-Beaver (Gerard) is a current CMU senior. These three young, local actors were so amazing. They were joined by Alyse Alan Louis (Valerie), Bria Walker (Viva) and Brian Charles Rooney (Candy Darling), also all amazing.

Alyse does every feminist proud as Valerie Solanas, who is known most for writing the S.C.U.M. Manifesto and basically being a super man-hater. Anyway, Alyse is a little fireball on stage and had my attention every time she took center stage with her huge voice. Bria was the perfect Viva and during the song The Last Laugh, I wanted to shout "get it girl," but obviously that wouldn't be proper for a theater-goer so I just clapped, but she was so fierce and very reminiscent of Jennifer Hudson. And finally I learned my lesson to always read the program before the show starts because Brian, who played trans-woman, Candy Darling, had me guessing the entire show. But regardless of which gender, Brian was also a perfect pick for this cast.

The amazing cast: Post Gazette's Lake Fong photo

Besides just the amazing talent of the cast, the set was also beautiful and used remakes of many of Warhol's work to create "The Factory" were he created his pieces, hung out and was ultimately shot. Every bit of this show screamed fabulous. Some of my favorite parts were; the mocking of some expressionist artists, Paper Doll, Screen Test, Retrospective and the Big Gun song. Paper Doll was a beautiful song sung by Edie that could have easily brought tears to anyone. Screen Test was another beautiful song that involved the entire cast and remade parts of Warhol's Screen Test film where he simply filmed people he knew sitting in front of the camera, saying nothing. Retrospective was a song of just Warhol, giving the audience the first real look inside the mind of the artist. Those two pieces, really did bring a couple tears to my eyes they were so beautiful. However, on the total opposite side of emotion, Big Gun was the most hilarious and well-played song of the entire show, very ball-busting and full of girl power.

The fabulous show was topped off with a wonderful, small get-together for Seton Hill alumni and Lindsay and I loved being the youngest alums there. Representing the class of 2011 in style at an event is always easy to do for me and my girl. It was also fun to be able to interact with not just fellow former Griffins, but a few members of the cast as well. Too bad Anthony didn't make his way over to the party, or else the night would have been completely perfect. Sigh. Maybe next time. And since Lindsay and I plan on seeing the show again before it closes on May 27th, we still have a chance to meet him and of course, see another fabulous performance at the City Theatre!