high school, it also goes on a little too long. This is a play about boundless hedonism, written, perhaps appropriately, with no concept of self-denial. The show is three-and-a-half hours, and even at that length, in many scenes, actors are forced to speak at a mile a minute, giving the audience no chance to digest what is allegedly tremendously witty. A good adaptation makes a story work with the peculiarities of its new medium. In theater, the entire draw is actors portraying the millions of tiny things that define a character, even non-verbally. There is no need for words alone to suggest voices as thickly as prose requires. A play is watched in one night, rather than over months of serial publication, like the novel, which is presumably another reason why characterizing dialogue feels so repetitious.
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY continues through Nov. 2. South Park Theater, Brownsville Road and Corrigan Drive, South Park. $15. 724-292-8427 or www.facebook.com/rageofthestage
What it comes down to is Shoberg’s gluttonous unwillingness to cut any words if it can be avoided, denying the primary actors any time to breathe or really emote. It’s a pity so much effort is spent repeating character beats in dialogue, because the actors’ appearances portray personality so economically. Beth Shari’s costume designs are absolutely gorgeous. The eponymous Picture is well realized by Kari Christensen and, in its moments, genuinely chilling. It’s a treat to see sumptuous design on stage, and I only wish the script did more to enhance it. The show bills itself as steampunk, but this is purely cosmetic: “Victorian” isn’t buzzwordy enough anymore. There are cogs painted on the scenery, which never pays off as a motif, and one of the major characters, Lord Henry, spends the entire play with a large eyepiece that extends several inches beyond his face. It mars an otherwise excellent foppish presentation. Notwithstanding these more prosthetic aesthetics, this play is visually captivating, and very appropriately spooky for the season. INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M
BEYOND OK {BY ALAN W. PETRUCELLI} OK. SO Oklahoma! has been revived at least 3,578 times this past year.
And why not? Rodgers and Hammerstein’s first collaboration was a smash hit when it debuted on Broadway, in 1943, and the musical, arguably their finest, continues to make some enchanted evening. Now we have Point Park University Conservatory Theatre Company’s ambitious production, which bumps the revival number to 3,579 while bumping up the quality of what some people insist on calling “college theater.” This show may be crammed with students of various ages and backgrounds, but director Patrick Cassidy has banded them together to create a significant production as solid as an Okie twang, and the nearly three hours fly by faster than a tumbleweed in a dust storm. Cassidy has added a few interesting touches. While the overture plays, still images and movie footage of the daze before Oklahoma became a state are screened on the set’s silo and wooden house. We see sweethearts, cattle stampedes, plowing, even then-President Teddy Roosevelt. It’s a fresh, if somewhat fuzzy, move. And the color-blind casting of Persian peddler Ali Akim, the show’s comic relief, with African-American actor Ryan Gregory Thurman works without any hesitation. Only weak voices can really screw up Hammerstein’s lyrics, and that’s not a problem here. Yes, as Ado Annie, Jorie Ann Kosel sings like the offspring of Olive Oyl and Bernadette Peters, but she’s delightful to watch. As obstinate lovebirds Laurey and Curly, Kirsten Hoover and Stanley Graham work well together, and Amanda Hawkins weaves an Aunt Eller with a sentimental, semi-sweet thread.
THE MUSIC OF T H E S O U L O F A G E N E R AT I O N
OKLAHOMA! continues through Sun., Oct. 27. Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. $18-20. 412-392-8000 or www.pittsburghplayhouse.com
Then there’s Luke Halferty. Literally towering above his fellow cast members, with a Karloff gaze and a relentless restlessness, his performance is as mesmerizing as it is menacing. Watch Halferty carefully in the picnic-hamper auction scene; watch the quiver, the angst smoldering just under his calloused skin. This is a Jud who’s a monster menacing as a man. You can almost smell the pig slop and blood on his hands, and his participation in the Dance Ballet will send shivers down your spine. OK. Remember his name. He’s that good.
OPENS TUESDAY!
October 29-November 3 • Benedum Center TrustArts.org • Box Office at Theater Square 412-456-4800 • Groups 10+ Tickets 412-471-6930
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PNC Broadway Across America-Pittsburgh is a presentation of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Symphony and Broadway Across America.
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