Review: News and Tunes at SUMMER THEATRE GALA at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre

I've posted many times about how much of an institution Saint Vincent Summer Theatre has become: you know you're going to get a slapstick farce, a Golden Age or earlier revue, and usually a musical comedy with pop oldies. Sure, you could call it predictable, but despite the pandemic, audience attendance numbers have only gone UP in recent years. Clearly, artistic director Gregg Brandt knows what the Westmoreland County and Pittsburgh area audiences want, and he knows how to deliver. Summer 2024 is looking like another boffo season, with the tenth-anniversary return of The Marvelous Wonderettes, the self-explanatory Unnecessary Farce, and the revue Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood. As in years past, the summer season will technically extend into the winter for a Songs of the Season revue, expected to feature both local and New York talent.

Along with the announcements, this year's gala featured entertainment from two Broadway talents of note: Ali Ewoldt, who rose to fame as the first Asian-American Christine Dae in Phantom, and Jason Forbach, a Phantom mainstay who recently played various roles as a swing in the Into the Woods revival and tour. They sang a variety of songs together and apart, focusing on the legit side of the Broadway sound. Forbach and Ewoldt sparkled together in a light-hearted and romantic medley from Oklahoma!, before Forbach wrapped his light baritone-tenor around Mandy Patinkin's arrangement of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Not to be outdone, Ewoldt followed with "Think of Me," her standout number from The Phantom of the Opera. Before the duo teamed up again to sing one of Forbach's numbers from Into the Woods, Ewoldt held the audience entranced with "No One Else" from Great Comet, a show she is about to perform in on the other side of the country. This was a bold choice, a borderline art song from an avant-garde cult musical in an evening of standards and crowd pleasrs, but Ewoldt's effortless and almost conversational delivery sold the unfamiliar song perfectly.

These two performers have charisma in spades. If they don't have a long-running pairing and cabaret show together, they probably should; I'd go to 54 Below for them, just like I'm already planning to go to Latrobe for all three shows in their summer season.

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