Stage Right's operetta a safe pandemic haven for veteran Greensburg actor

The cast of Stage Right’s “The Pirates of Penzance” includes an actor who has traded the bright lights of the big city — at least temporarily — for the safety of his home town.

“I came back to Greensburg last March to do a show at Stage Right that, obviously, was canceled, and I ended up staying in lockdown with my parents for three months,” Cav O’Leary said. “I had lived in New York for seven years and was strongly considering moving back to the Pittsburgh area for some time, so the pandemic kind of made that an easy choice for me.”

O’Leary plays the Pirate King in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that Stage Right will perform for both live and livestream audiences March 26-28 from the Science Hall Theatre at Westmoreland County Community College’s Youngwood campus.

While the show contains plenty of comedy, it’s not easy to perform, said Stage Right founder and artistic director Tony Marino.

“It’s a style of music that people don’t do any more, and it’s written in an archaic style,” Marino said of the show that premiered in 1879. “It’s almost like learning a foreign language.

“It’s really the birth of what we consider musical comedy — it has a misunderstanding, a love story, a buffoon, characters behaving duplicitously,” he added.

The story revolves around Frederic, who thinks he will be released from his apprenticeship to the Pirate King on his 21st birthday — only to find that, because he was born on Feb. 29, his actual 21st birthday is still 63 years distant. Only his love for the devoted Mabel keeps him from despair.

‘Panic attack’

“I knew nothing about ‘Pirates of Penzance’ before rehearsal for this production began. I accepted the role without having heard the music, and then when I did, I had a minor panic attack,” O’Leary said. “The music is very challenging, and there’s a ton of it. It’s an operetta, meaning it’s somewhere between an opera and what we know today as musical theater. It’s mostly sung through with very short scenes of spoken dialogue here and there.

“I truly didn’t think I could vocally or mentally handle something of this caliber, but the past 10 days of rehearsal has shown me that we really are capable of a lot more than we give ourselves credit for.”

There’s also the challenge of working under pandemic safety protocols.

“Performing in a mask is not easy. Choreography without touching each other is not easy, but we’re making things work in this weird place in time,” O’Leary said.

The production is the Greensburg theater company’s first foray into the work of Gilbert and Sullivan, although Marino and his wife, Stage Right choreographer Renata Marino, have history with “Pirates.”

“I was doing it at the Pittsburgh Public Theater when Renata was pregnant with (son) Anthony, and now here we are with him playing Frederic 20 years later,” he said. Their daughter, Gia, also is in the cast.

“I love performing with Stage Right because I’ve known so many of the people there for so long, and this cast especially is made up of some of my best friends in theater,” said O’Leary, a Hempfield Area High School graduate who also is a veteran of Saint Vincent Summer Theatre. “Theater, and specifically Stage Right, is very literally the only place I’ve gotten to spend time with other people over the past year, and I can’t put into words how important and special that place and those people are to me.”

“(Cav) brings a quiet professionalism that sets a great example for the younger actors and creates a camaraderie within the cast,” Marino said. “He’s been a lifesaver to have around during this time, and every time, really.”

“I don’t know how much of a mentor I am to the younger kids — I mean, I’d love to be and hope I am a good influence,” O’Leary said. “But I very truly am learning every day right alongside them.”

Role model

O’Leary, in turn, said he admires the work of the actor playing Ruth, Frederic’s nursemaid who mistakenly apprentices him to the Pirate King.

“Courtney Harkins is the most underrated actress in Western PA, bar none,” he said. “In every show I’ve done with her, she holds her own, musically and dramatically. If you want to talk about role models, she’s the one to look out for.

“I’m constantly learning from her in rehearsals, and being onstage with her makes me a better performer. In so many scenes, she is the glue that holds the entire ensemble together,” he said.” Everyone is killing it, but Courtney’s rendition of Ruth in this production is something not to be missed.”

The Pirates of Penzance will be staged at 7:30 p.m. March 26-27 and 2 p.m. March 28. Performers will be in masks and shields and will be socially distanced.

General admission tickets for the in-person, socially distanced audience are $22 and $12 for students. Livestream access is $15.

For tickets or livestream access, call 724-832-746, email stagerightboxoffice@gmail.com or visit stagerightgreensburg.com.

As for future plans, O’Leary said, “I might go back to New York someday, but I’m really happy being back in a smaller city around people who I’ve known for so long and who feel like family to me.”