Sunday, November 09, 2003

By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

For a despairing Toy Gregorakis, the "Perry Como Christmas" dinner-theater production, originally scheduled to be held in her Canonsburg cafe, has gone up in smoke.

Cigarette smoke, to be exact.

	Seldom Seem, David Templeton's whimsical perspective on life and times in and around Washington County, appears weekly in Washington Sunday.

Last summer, she permitted smoking in her My Way Cafe until 4 p.m. on days when "Dream Along With Me: A Musical Tribute to Perry Como" was performed there. But the writer/producer, Jude Pohl, complained that remnants of cigarette smoke bothered his singers, who ultimately refused to perform the Christmas show at her cafe. So Pohl has moved it to the Elks Club a block away.

And that's why Toy is smoking mad.

"I hope the community doesn't support this," she said. "I want to tell the people I'm sorry I will not see them at My Way Cafe for the Christmas show."

Seeking to boost tourism, Canonsburg Borough Manager Terry Hazlett introduced Toy to Pohl and his wife, Shirley, who agreed to hold the seven-week Perry Como tribute in her cafe, with plans for a four-week Christmas show to open Nov. 28.

Last summer, the Pohls staged 14 Perry Como tribute shows in Toy's cafe, to great success. Although the dinner theater didn't sell out its initial engagements, it did sell out for the final three weekends, prompting Toy to add tables. Pohl said 1,100 of 1,400 possible tickets were sold.

"In its own way, it was the most successful thing we ever did," said Pohl, whose theatrical production "Nunsense" ran for five years in Pittsburgh.

Pohl said he knew Toy permitted smoking in her cafe, but she agreed to halt smoking at 4 p.m. on performance days. She also installed a smoke-eater to clear the air.

In addition, Toy had a stage built, removed money-making pool tables from her cafe, bought more tables and tablecloths, refurbished her storefront and purchased supplies to serve a buffet to more than 100 people a night.

She did it, she said, because the Pohls also planned a Christmas show, with talk of seasonal shows thereafter. She also stayed evenings for as long as three months before opening night for rehearsals. In all, the production left Toy not only in the red, but seeing red.

"All it did was cost me money," she said. "I did a terrific job, met terrific people, and they all enjoyed the food. But I was lied to from the very beginning. They used me to become a success."

When the show closed Aug. 23, Pohl said, he still planned to hold the Christmas show at Toy's. But the cast, who'd complained about lingering cigarette smoke, balked. Pohl let it rest, then again broached the subject with his cast. They were even more emphatic. Smoke at Toy's annoys.

"I can sum it up in one word -- smoke," Pohl said. "Toy's basic clientele is there day after day, and the vast majority smokes. I got the feeling that's where smokers go. They can't go anyplace else, so they go to Toy's."

Props stored in his Chartiers home, he said, still smell of cigarette smoke. For those reasons, he said, the Perry Como Christmas production will open Nov. 28 in the Elks Club, which has a bar and permits smoking. But Pohl said the dinner theater is in a separate room.

Revealing the change of plans to Toy, he offered to stage a murder mystery in her cafe rather than the Perry Como Christmas and use Toy as a main character. He said he realized her draw and popularity. But Toy was stunned. When the Pohls sent her flowers the next day, she refused them.

Como or no go.

Toy, who smokes cigarettes, discusses the issue with the look of utter despair. As a July profile of Toy and her cafe stated, "Don't toy with Toy." The Pohls discovered that trait when they returned to her cafe to remove stage lights. Toy kicked them out.

"They're not your lights," she told them in a tirade that included choice words. "They are my lights. They are attached to my ceiling. Leave my building or I will have you escorted out of here."

Pohl said he is undecided whether to seek legal action to recover the $500 lights. But Toy said she has an even stronger counterclaim because they had an oral agreement to stage shows at her cafe, prompting her to make a sizable investment. She said she has witnesses.

Hazlett said the dinner theater was successful for Canonsburg, but feels caught in the middle.

"Jude was fair because he offered her another production," he said. "And she has a nicer restaurant because of it -- lights, floor and stage. She can turn that into a positive and book acts there. That's what I was hired to do, get tourism into town. I got them together, and it worked."

But other borough officials who frequent her cafe are upset with the change in plans. They said "Dream Along with Me" was successful, in part, because of Toy's popularity and the location and 1950s ambiance of her cafe. Besides, they said, she's an excellent cook who treated each customer royally.

"I thought it's terrible what happened," said Manuel Pihakis, Canon-McMillan school board chairman and member of other borough boards. "It's totally unfair. She's a promoter, and the place was filled every night because of her personality and food. I saw it twice and enjoyed every bit of it. She worked hard to do what she did.

"I won't attend [the new show]. It's not right. I like a place with no smoking, but I was very comfortable at Toy's."

Mayor Tony Colaizzo, who attended the show three times, said Toy's cafe not only "was perfect" but helped boost downtown revitalization. "I was sorry to see it go, but I'm glad to see it stay in town," he said. "But I liked the setting at Toy's."

Toy said she hopes the community will not support the production at the Elks.

"For three weeks, this devastated me. I couldn't even talk about it," she said. "I went to all that expense for seven weeks. I just feel I got taken advantage of because I'm a single woman in business in a town that's not booming."

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