October Surprise: Political Respite Through Theater (Theater Guide)

PNC Broadway Series’ ‘& Juliet’ takes a musical look at what Juliet’s life could be like if she hadn’t died tragically in ‘Romeo & Juliet. (Photo: Matthew Murphy)

No matter how you slice it, the month of October in this election year promises that every American will be haunted, chased, and slapped by relentless political ads. There may be few places to escape the noise and glare of opinion marketing. Some may find peace walking into the woods, others might find refuge in a public library, yet more may turn off all electronic devices before buckling the seatbelt required of any bumpy night. Fortunately, November 5 is still a month away. So, until then, might we suggest a night or two of precious escape found only in live theater?

October in Pittsburgh has so much more to offer than pundits and their polls. How about experiencing a popular opera (Tosca), written nearly 125 years ago, in which love rules the day until a narcissistic Chief of Police devises a scheme to gaslight… oh, wait, that sounds vaguely familiar. Then maybe try an evening of drama in which six young men risk their very lives to pass a test few men have ever taken. Well, that is, few Black men (Black Angels Over Tuskegee), because racism has reared its ugly head on hallowed, military grounds. Of course, the nightly chest thumping of TV talk shows can be easily drowned out by louder noises, say, with trash cans clashing or broomsticks clacking (Stomp) to the wild cheers of party-goers. Or, if that’s not your jam, October might surprise you (yes, it just might) with—not one, but two—dark stories (Evil Dead and Crocodile Fever) that include the threat of a chainsaw. (Oh, yeah, you don’t see those on the nightly news!) Nor do you hear much about brides-to-be (& Juliet) who disappear on their wedding day. (Well, oddly, you do.)  Or, okay, stories about a young student (Andy Warhol’s Tomato) who recognizes that maybe the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes? Well of course he is, isn’t he (POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive)? Alright, alright, maybe I haven’t convinced anyone that you can escape politics for the present time. But you could worry less about art imitating life. Or life, art. The fact is, they’re two very different things. No, really. I promise you I’m not lying. 

Shows are previewed below in three sections. Spotlight Picks for the month are followed by Other Shows of Interest, and then a look-ahead to Big Shows on the Horizon. Spotlight Picks are listed by run dates. The Theater Guide is created by the theater writers and editors of Entertainment Central including Mike Vargo (M.V.) and C. Prentiss Orr (C.P.O.) 

Spotlight Picks

ANDY WARHOL’S TOMATO  (drama) by Vince Melocchi. PICT (Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre) Through October 6.

Matt Henderson (l.) as the young Andy Warhol and Johnny Patalano as Mario “Bones” Bonino in PICT’s ‘Andy Warhol’s Tomato.’ (Photo: EEHuffman)

McKeesport native, Vince Melocchi, relates a fictional Pittsburgh story from 1946, when an 18-year-old art student at Carnegie Tech is commissioned for a project in the basement of Mario “Bones” Bonino’s blue-collar bar. It’s an all-summer gig, and the young artist must tolerate the barkeep’s gruff demands, despite Andy’s suspicions that the man is a much softer soul. The play unfolds in an era in which male sexuality is rarely questioned and creative aptitude has little value. Their struggle is, of course, the story of liberation, acceptance, and redemption. Features Matt Henderson as Andy Warhol and Johnny Patalano as Mario Bonino. Andy Warhol’s Tomato had a previous performance in September at the Warhol Museum. PICT presents Andy Warhol’s Tomato at Carnegie Stage. 25 W. Main Street, Carnegie. (C.P.O.)

POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE, by Selina Fillinger. City Theatre. Through October 13. 

An exclusive interview: News correspondent Chris (Saige Smith, R) thinks she’s about to get deep insights into the character of First Lady Margaret (Tamara Tunie). She doesn’t know how deeply bizarre the insights will be in City Theatre’s ‘POTUS.’ (photo: Kristi Jan Hoover)

Plays reflect the times in which they’re written. The season-opener at City Theatre was written before the current election cycle gave us a woman running for president. But that may only make this wacky comedy more relevant than ever, since it parodies at least one man who actually has been president in the past, while imagining how women might endeavor to save the day in the face of a crisis. You want a play whose title says it all? Try Selina Fillinger’s POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. The feckless male POTUS himself makes no appearance onstage. Rather, all action unfolds deep in the innards of the so-called deep state, where fearless (but farcical) female associates of the meanderer-in-chief scramble to keep the people’s business from turning into total monkey business. The play premiered on Broadway in 2022. Pittsburghers can see POTUS: Etc. etc. on City Theatre’s mainstage, 1300 Bingham St., South Side. (M.V.) 

EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL by George Reinblatt, with Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, and Melissa Morris contributing in music and Bond in lyrics. Pittsburgh Musical Theater. Through October 20. 

Things get a little ‘choppy’ in PMT’s ‘Evil Dead: The Musical.’ Zanny Laird as Annie and Brett Goodnack as Ash.

So far, well over 500 productions of Evil Dead: The Musical have been staged worldwide. Think of what this has required in human terms. Hundreds of talented actors, fluent at using their hands gracefully on stage, had to learn how to play a character whose right hand is replaced by a chainsaw. Yet the role is a coveted one, for Ashley “Ash” Williams is not your average bionic hero. In the Evil Dead films on which the musical is based, he duels with Deadites in settings from the present-day U.S. to medieval Europe. Ash is a complexly flawed hero who bumbles through everyday life, but excels in matters such as fighting the Kandarian Demon. The British cinema magazine Empire ranked him the greatest horror movie character of all time. Pittsburgh Musical Theater—which has presented a few of those 500+ productions—resurrects Evil Dead: The Musical by popular demand. Brett Goodnack stars again as Ash. To add spooky-night atmosphere, the show is in PMT’s roofed outdoor venue. Exuberant audience response is welcome but leave your chainsaws, and children, at home. Preferably not in the same room. West End Canopy, 327 S. Main St., West End. (M.V.)

CROCODILE FEVER by Meghan Tyler. Barebones productions. October 4 – 20. 

Opening its new season with a bang, barebones productions presents a play that’s been called “Tarantino for feminists.” A recent staging in Baltimore came with a trigger warning 50 words long, advising that the play includes “strong language, references to domestic and sexual abuse, graphic violence … fake blood and gore in abundance … simulated excessive drinking of alcohol,” and more. But don’t get overly spooked. Crocodile Fever, by Irish theater artist Meghan Tyler, is billed as an over-the-top dark comedy infused with magical realism. Which means you will laugh, and it’s ART. The play is set not in a tropical crocodile climate, but in the tense climate of Northern Ireland amid the civil strife of the Troubles. The key characters are two sisters who live with their elderly dad. The story arc is somewhat similar to Sam Sheppard’s True West, in which two brothers—a mild-mannered one and wild one—go bonkers. Except in this play, the sisters go far beyond stealing toasters and rassling. See Crocodile Fever in the barebones black box, 1211 Braddock Ave., Braddock. (M.V.) 

TOSCA (opera) Music by Giacomo Puccini, and libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Pittsburgh Opera. October 5 – 13.

Some of the most compelling stories involve romantic tragedy and such is the case with Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘Tosca.’ (Photo: Don Ipock)

Of course, she’s a diva. Loved by Rome’s audiences both public and elite, Floria Tosca is the one voice to hear, especially above the din of social upheaval as the Napoleonic wars wage on. Her lover, the respected painter Cavaradossi, is one day accosted when an escaped political prisoner begs him for refuge in a church. He obliges the man to prove he has moral character. Meanwhile, Baron Scarpia, the highly corrupt Chief of Police, is terribly in love with Tosca. When Scarpia confronts Cavaradossi with allegations that the latter has abetted the prisoner, the wicked Chief hatches a scheme whereby Tosca must submit to his love or betray her lover. The story of Puccini’s classic opera is as simple as that, yet it all comes together within a 24 hour period. One of the world’s most popular operas since it premiered in 1900, Tosca was last performed in Pittsburgh in 2017. Now’s your year to experience it. Pittsburgh Opera presents Tosca at Benedum Center. 237 7th St., Cultural District.

STOMP (percussive, physical theater) created by Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell. North American touring production. October 18 and 19.

Thirty-plus years of garbage cans, hub caps, brooms, even cigarette lighters, and more, all beaten with impeccable precision, haven’t slowed down any enthusiasm for this show which defies all narrative description. Since first developed on the streets of Brighton, England and premiering in Edinburgh, STOMP can boast appearances on TV’s “Reading Rainbow,” “ABC Sports,” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Audiences have enjoyed 11,000 live performances in New York City alone. Eight persuasive performers pound out percussive syncopation that critics worldwide have called electrifying, surreal, and explosive. Only three STOMP performances are scheduled here in October, so it might be best to beat your way to the box office now. Presented as part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series at Benedum Center. 237 7th St., Cultural District.

BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE (drama) by Layon Gray. Pittsburgh Public Theater and New Horizon Theater. Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall at the O’Reilly Theater. October 19 – 27.

Even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Army sought every means of preparation before entering the European theaters of 1941. As an experiment to determine if blacks could pilot airplanes successfully, the Army Air Corps recruited academically qualified African-Americans from many of the more populated college campuses to create what would be called the 99th Pursuit Squadron, an all-black corps of cadet pilots, engineers, and mechanics.  Better known today as the Tuskegee Airmen, this elite squad, eventually numbering as many as 1,500, included only a handful of pilots who earned their wings. Layon Gray’s Black Angels Over Tuskegee examines the fears, frustrations, and hopes of six men recruited to fly, despite insurmountable odds that prevailing Jim Crow prejudices would ever condone the opportunity. Their struggles at Tuskegee documented some of the first American victories in a much larger and longer battle, the civil rights movement. New Horizon will stage the play at Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall. 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

& JULIET (jukebox musical), book by David West Read and music and lyrics by Max Martin and friends. National touring production. PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh. October 29 — November 3.

Clearly, the title informs us that Romeo is missing. & Juliet, the tour-de-force jukebox musical based on Shakespeare’s romantic coming-of-age character Juliet, asks the question no one has had reason to ask: What if she didn’t die in the end? Written by “Schitt’s Creek” Emmy winner David West Read, the answer gets explained by William Shakespeare himself. As the curtain rises, the famous bard attends the opening of his latest work after which his wife Anne (nee) Hathaway (also present for the new teen tragedy) has a lot to say about love and marriage. Shakespeare dutifully listens. And then, because this is all theater-within-theater anyhow, he presents the sad fate of Juliet whose parents want to whisk her off to a convent. No, suggests Anne, that can’t happen. And from there, the audience is brought into a new world of music and dance in which William and Anne set their dreams on those they would wish for Juliet. The fanciful plot is embellished with pop tunes like “I Want It That Way,” “Roar,” “I Kissed a Girl,” and “Oops!…I Did It Again,” all written and/or produced by Max Martin. Juliet, of course, would feel right at home with Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and The Backstreet Boys. If you, like Juliet, want a second chance at love, & Juliet might be the show to experience. Presented as part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series at Benedum Center. 237 7th St, Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

Other Shows of Interest
(Opening Dates)

Wednesday, October 2
Sh!tfaced Shakespeare (Cultural Trust)

Thursday, October 3
Little Women (Little Lake Theatre)

Friday, October 4
Patience (The Pittsburgh Savoyards)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center)

Wednesday, October 16
The Diary Of Black Men: How Do You Love a Black Women? (Benedum Center)

Wednesday, October 23  
The Hobbit (Pittsburgh Public Theater)

Thursday, October 24
Disenchanted! (Cultural Trust)
Angelmakers: Songs for Female Serial Killers (RealTime Arts)
A Fox on the Fairway (Little Lake Theatre)

Friday, October 25 
Peter Pan (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre)

Big Shows on the Horizon
(Opening Dates)

November 1
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Quantum Theatre)
Great Expectations (Prime Stage Theatre)

November 9
Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (Pittsburgh Opera)

November 19
MJ the Musical (PNC Broadway Series)

University Theater
In addition to Pittsburgh’s professional and community theater companies we have many outstanding university theater programs as well. Check their box office pages for what’s onstage:

Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama
Duquesne University Red Masquers
Point Park University’s Playhouse
University of Pittsburgh Department of Theatre Arts

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers theater and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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