Review: FRONT PORCH CABARET Sings the Hits at Front Porch Theatricals

I keep saying it and it keeps being true: it doesn't really matter what Front Porch announces for their season, because "Front Porch Presents" is a strong enough endorsement on its own. If you told me Front Porch was presenting a notorious snooze like In My Life or Lestat, I'd put my preconceived notions aside and go in expecting one of the best things I'd ever seen. Lucky for us, Front porch is NOT presenting any snoozes this season: they're presenting Maltby and Shire's Baby in the spring, and Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George in the summer. They're great choices, underrepresented shows in the Pittsburgh area without being totally alien like A My Name Is Still Alice, which was supposedly NEVER produced as a fully staged musical until this past season.

The announcements are always exciting, but the true stars of the Front Porch cabaret are always the Front Porch family of performers, Pittsburgh's finest and most eclectic group of primarily non-Equity actors, singers and dancers. As hosted by Rob James and directed by Deana Muro, the annual cabaret at the Greer floated deftly between classic and contemporary, comedy and drama.

Some of the eveing's most emotionally heavy material was front-loaded into the first segment, as Chad Elder sang William Finn's "What More Can I Say," and DREW LEIGH WILLIAMS hummed, keened and belted her way through a genuinely haunting reimagining of "Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road." Former understudy Michaela Isenberg acquitted herself masterfully with Kooman and Dimond's "Out of My Head," a gem of "song as one-act play" from a relatively recent song cycle. And while it would be folly to try and squeeze Pittsburgh's iconic showtune queen and drag star Dixie Surewood into a box between comedy and drama, Dixie's full-drag, full-glam performance of "I Am What I Am" made me wish with all my heart some Pittsburgh company would stage La Cage Aux Folles soon.

Drama is all well and good, but a cabaret often thrives on its comedy, and the Front Porch cabaret brought the laughs. The trio of Delilah Picart, Kristiann Menotiades and Michaela Isenberg brought great harmonies to the schticky "Painted Ladies" from ...Still Alice, just as Deana Muro and Sharon Schaller went full Carol Burnett guest stars on the Kander and Ebb duo "Grass Is Always Greener." Carolyn Jerz turned the "Alto's Lament" into a comedic wrecking ball, playing every note and every color from silly to sultry to classically poised, while careening wildly through the song's immense vocal range. The most surprising act of the night, however, was a hybrid song-and-dance/stand-up comedy performance by Kamran Mian, who you may recognize from his role as the brain-damaged jazz drummer in Bandstand. Blending a pleasant, gentle singing voice with deadpan delivery, unexpected asides and a knack for physical comedy, Mian's performance of Cy Coleman's "Real Live Girl" can best be described as Buster Keatonseque in the best way.

Mixing and mingling with the cast and creatives at the post-show reception (thanks as always to Aladdin's Eatery for the famous cakes and baklava), I couldn't help but think how lucky I was to be a theatre artist in Pittsburgh. The community Front Porch has assembled, the cameraderie and artistic diversity, is just as impressive as the talent it outputs. I can't wait to see what each and every one of these people does next.

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