PG fall Shaw trip features 5 shows in fest's 50th year
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The Post-Gazette annual Critic's Choice tour to the Shaw Festival heads north Sept. 14-17. The Shaw's four theaters are in cozy, flowery Niagara-on-the-Lake, just five hours from Pittsburgh by motor coach, and it's a special year, as the festival celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Another attraction is the hotel for three nights, The Prince of Wales, in the middle of town, a few steps from all three theaters, not to mention shops, parks and Lake Ontario.
The recent PG tour to both the Shaw and Stratford festivals found the Shaw in good form. But on this trip, we get to see five shows, plus an optional sixth, including two musicals, four comedies, two dramas and two Shaws, in the process traveling from London to Portugal to a deserted island to the American South:
• Lerner and Loewe (and Shaw), "My Fair Lady" (Festival Theatre). A beautiful, robust, classic musical, produced by a company that really knows its Shaw.
• Tennessee Williams, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (Royal George). An American classic about money, marriage, family and sex, not necessarily in that order.
• G.B. Shaw, "On the Rocks" (Court House). Shaw's political comedy set at 10 Downing Street, which asks, which is better, a prime minister with too many ideas or one with none at all. It just may have some reference to American politics, especially with some contemporary polish by Canadian playwright Michael Healey.
• J.M. Barrie, "The Admirable Crichton" (Festival). The other famous play by the author of "Peter Pan," a comedy about class in which an aristocratic family and their butler are shipwrecked on a tropical island and then returned to conventional society.
• Turvey and Sportelli, "Maria Severa" (Court House). The world premiere of an intimate, romantic new musical about a legendary singer and Fado, the Portuguese music of the street.
• Ferenc Molnar, "The President" (Royal George). This hour-long noontime comedy is an optional extra, but trip leader Chris Rawson says he's seen it twice and it may be the best thing at the festival.
Included are a welcoming dinner, backstage tour and post-show get-together over drinks to discuss the plays. Tour guide is the Post-Gazette senior theater critic, who has been leading this tour for 30 years.
The price is $1,314 per person, based on double occupancy. The single supplement is $469. A deposit of $500 per person is required to hold a reservation; status of reservation will be sent upon receipt of deposit.
Space is limited. Deposits are to be made payable and mailed to Gulliver's Travels, 460 S. Graham St., Pittsburgh, PA 15232-1210; phone 412-441-3131 or, outside Pittsburgh, 1-800-848-4084.
Call Gulliver's with any questions about trip details, but contact Mr. Rawson with questions about the plays: 412-216-1944 or cchr@pitt.edu.
First Published July 3, 2011 12:00 am
