Brett Patrick Keith of Tyrone has a featured role in Altoona Community Theatre\u2019s upcoming production of \u201cBlood Brothers.\u201d
\nACT and corporate sponsor M&T Bank will present the British hit for four performances in Altoona\u2019s Historic Mishler Theatre at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 28, 29 and 30, plus a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, May 1.
\nKeith plays Mr. Lyons, a wealthy English businessman whose wife hires a poverty-stricken charlady to clean her house then convinces the destitute mother-to-be to give her one of the twins she\u2019s expecting to raise as her own. Although separated at birth and raised in different economic and social environments, the twin boys become close friends, only to fulfill a fateful prophecy when, as grownups, they discover the truth about their heritage.
\n\u201cBlood Brothers\u201d is Keith\u2019s second show with ACT, having debuted with the group as the smarmy shopclerk Steven Kodaly in the group\u2019s September production of the musical \u201cShe Loves Me.\u201d Keith\u2019s other area performances include \u201cG.I. Jukebox,\u201d \u201cCinderella\u201d and \u201cSome Enchanted Evening\u201d with Tyrone Community Players, \u201cGrease\u201d and \u201cOnce Upon a Mattress\u201d with State College Community Theatre at Boal Barn Playhouse, and the title role of \u201cPippin\u201d with Penn State Thespians.
\nDirector for ACT\u2019s production of \u201cBlood Brothers\u201d is Russell Stiles, who previously has staged \u201cPlay It Again, Sam,\u201d \u201cThe Rainmaker,\u201d \u201cBus Stop,\u201d \u201cA Shayna Maidel,\u201d \u201cScotland Road\u201d and \u201cDancing at Lughnasa\u201d for the group. Currently a member of the ACT Board of Directors, he has appeared on-stage with ACT in \u201cFiddler on the Roof,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Herbert\u201d and \u201cEvita,\u201d and has designed sets and lights for other shows. Stiles is Fine Arts Chair at Hollidaysburg Area High School, where he oversees the Hollidaysburg Area Repertory Players.
\n\u201cBlood Brothers\u201d is written by Willy Russell, best known as the playwright of \u201cEducating Rita\u201d and \u201cShirley Valentine.\u201d The musical first opened in the early 1980s in London where, despite winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Musical of the Year, it had a modest run of just six months. In 1988, however, the show was revived and restaged and became a massive hit, winning a variety of awards including Best Musical from the Society of West End Theatres. Today, 17 years later, it continues to play in London\u2019s Phoenix Theatre to packed houses and standing ovations. A Broadway staging of \u201cBlood Brothers\u201d opened in New York in 1993, starring Petulia Clark and brothers David and Shawn Cassidy, and ran for two years.
\nIronically, ACT\u2019s production of \u201cBlood Brothers\u201d also features a pair of brothers in the roles of the twins Robert and Ryan Decker of Altoona as Mickey and Eddie, respectively. Robert, who has studied musical theatre at New School University and American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, appeared in ACT\u2019s production of \u201cThe Music Man\u201d in 1991 and was choreographer for \u201cThe Wizard of Oz.\u201d
\nHis professional experience includes Off-Broadway productions, national tours with American Family Theatre and performing on a cruise ship. Brother Ryan Decker made his ACT debut as Benjamin in \u201cJoseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,\u201d appeared as Nana the Dog and the pirate Smiley in \u201cPeter Pan,\u201d and most recently starred as Georg Nowak in ACT\u2019s \u201cShe Loves Me.\u201d He also has performed with Penn State Altoona in \u201cGodspell\u201d and Allegheny Ballet Company in \u201cThe Nutcracker.\u201d
\nPlaying the mother of the Johnstone twins is Amy Misera of Altoona, who has been seen by ACT audiences as Cherie in \u201cBus Stop,\u201d Cinderella in \u201cInto the Woods\u201d and Maggie in \u201cDancing at Lughnasa.\u201d She also directed ACT\u2019s \u201cThe Cemetery Club.\u201d Kristine Allen of State College appears as Mrs. Lyons, previously playing Babe in \u201cCrimes of the Heart,\u201d Amanda in \u201cThe Glass Menagerie,\u201d Aggie in \u201cDancing at Lughnasa\u201d and Mona in \u201cCome Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.\u201d
\nShawn Foster of Hollidaysburg, who plays the foreboding role of The Narrator, made his ACT debut in September as Arpad, the delivery boy, in \u201cShe Loves Me,\u201d played Bernie, the agent, in \u201cCookin\u201a With Gus\u201d and directed ACT\u2019s production of the children\u2019s show \u201cThe Purple Fan.\u201d
\nOther cast members include ensemble members Gigi M. Campbell, Cliff Drury, Ellie Herbster, Katie Kensinger, Tom Liszka, Molly Riva, Patricia Stiles and Kevin Summers of Altoona, Courtney Sherkel of Houtzdale and Emily Fochler, Jayson Gabany, Kevin Keefer and Rachael Marie Shaffer of Hollidaysburg.
\nTickets for \u201cBlood Brothers\u201d are $16 for evening performances and $13 for the Sunday matinee and are now available at the Mishler Theatre box office between noon and 5 p.m. weekdays by calling 944-9434.
\nThe Historic Mishler Theatre is located in downtown Altoona at 1208 12th Avenue. For more information about Altoona Community Theatre, visit www.winbeam.com\/atheatre. Audiences are advised that \u201cBlood Brothers\u201d contains mature subject matter and language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brett Patrick Keith of Tyrone has a featured role in Altoona Community Theatre\u2019s upcoming production of \u201cBlood Brothers.\u201d ACT and corporate sponsor M&T Bank will present the British hit for four performances in Altoona\u2019s Historic Mishler Theatre at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 28, 29 and 30, plus a 2 p.m. matinee on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}