Thunderbird Grooves into 2023

Welcome to Fairyland - The Pittsburgh Savoyards Stage an Enchanting Iolanthe or The Peer and the Peri

Peter Pan has one, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has a slew and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, as staged by the Pittsburgh Savoyards, has at least ten - before I stopped counting. Fairies, that is. Just after the opening overture, performed by the 30-plus orchestra, possibly as best as I ever heard it under the baton of Guy Russo, a bevy of maiden fairies dressed in pastel gossamer fairy garb with wings, frolicked across the stage gleefully singing in full-voiced and stunning harmony ”Tripping hither, tripping thither.” There was little to no tripping, however, as they danced nimbly to the spirited song, then segued into expressing their discomfort at the loss of Iolanthe (Savannah Simeone), the one fairy who brought such happy song and spirit to their fairy circle. For such a blissful group there were some draconian laws that govern their behavior, namely, if one were to marry a mortal, they should be put to death. Alas, poor Iolanthe. Due t

A Poignant Docudrama about a Valiant Steeler Hall of Famer

Ernesto Mario Sanchez as Mike Webster Credit: Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company Guys who rarely (or never) attend live theater but are often tempted to do so, might want to consider a visit to the Madison Arts Center in Pittsburgh. There, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is currently staging a docudrama about a popular Steeler Hall of Famer. 12:52 The Mike Webster Story is a look at the final years of “Iron Mike,” as he was affectionately called, following his retirement from football in 1990. In his 17 years in the sport, he played in 245 games, 217 of which he started. All this longevity, however, took its toll as too-numerous-to-count head collisions with other players left him with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The play opens with Webster (Ernesto Mario Sanchez) chewing the fat with close friend, quarterback, Terry Bradshaw (Paul Guggenheimer) just after Webster’s retirement from football. Paul Guggenheimer as Terry Bradshaw and Ernesto Mario

Merrily We Roll Along - A Children’s Ditty No More

Marnie Quick as Beth, Dan Mayhak as Frank, Catherine Kolos as Mary, NathanielYost as Charley and David leong as Joe Credit: Deana Muro Judging by the full and rich sound of the first notes music director, Douglas Levine gets from his eight-piece orchestra, you have to assume Front Porch Theatricals is giving its audience a exemplary production of Merrily We Roll Along. And you’d be right. Off to a good start musically, the show goes on to feature some fine vocal and acting skills from its cast of, would you believe, 19. Talk about a challenge. In her directorial debut no less, actor and educator, Daina Michelle Griffith, corrals this expansive cast with the skill a Catholic nun herding a group of grade schoolers to daily mass. Only this is no throng of pre-teenagers but a horde of professionals with talent galore up to the task of bringing Broadway‘s legendary Stephen Sondheim‘s work to life. The musical, based on a play by Kaufman and Hart, opens during a party

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