2019 was a year when taking chances definitely paid off for local theater. As I was going through the shows I had seen in the past year, the one thing that stood out is it the majority of the shows were ones that took risks and did something unexpected. Here are my ten favorite moments for the past year.
A most unlikely theater stepped firmly outside the box when Munopco announced it was doing “A Chorus Line” in March.
This concept musical was a dramatic change of direction for Allentown's oldest community theater, which for years has been known for its big, lavish productions of classic musicals. 
The cast, which was young – ages 17 to 34 – and diverse, were ideal to portray the “gypsies” who traipse from audition to audition for the chance to dance in the ensemble on Broadway in Michael Bennett’s ionic musical.
The energetic cast invigorated the Scottish Rite Cathedral in the stripped-down Pulitzer and Tony-award-winning musical and each got their moment to sparkle in the show that really shines the spotlight on the performers. Director Daniel Petrovich brought all the performers together in joyous group numbers like “I Hope I Get It", but it was the individual numbers that really highlighted the show including Clave Martin’s Mike, projecting an exuberant glee as he dances and sings in the playful “I Can Do That;” Jaedon Muhl’s hilariously snarky monologue as Bobby and Melissa Dorfinger who provided lots of sass as Val in “Dance: Ten; Looks: Three.”
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Later that same month, Crowded Kitchen Players took a different kind of risk, at Bethlehem’s Ice House, as they presented an original and devastating play about child sexual abuse. 
"Unspeakable,” written by Crowded Kitchen’s Ara Barlieb, proved a disturbing and thought-provoking examination of how we look at child abuse.
Barlieb, who also directed, wanted to write a play that exposed myths and misconceptions about child sexual abuse and took a procedural approach to the story of a young boy who suddenly stops speaking.
In an unusual but highly effective twist, the role of the boy was played by a puppet created by Doug Roysdon of Mock Turtle Marionettes and manipulated by Pam Wallace, who made the silent puppet character shyly appealing.
David 'Oz' Oswald skillfully made the boy’s uncle both a solicitous and vigilant caretaker while giving him a touch of confusing wariness, while Brian Wendt was ambiguously non-threatening but evasive as a stranger who watches Adam from a distance.
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DeSales University’s Act 1 production of “Pippin” in May made Stephen Schwartz’ existential musical about the search for meaning satisfying on all levels in the deft hands of director Dennis Razze. 
A show that depends as much on the ensemble as on the main characters, DeSales’ “Pippin” was elevated by a talented cast who demonstrated they are all strong singers and dancers and even acrobats, with choreography by Stephen Casey that drew heavily from Bob Fosse’s original Tony-winning Broadway work.
A highlight was the so-called “Manson Trio” in which the Leading Player and two lead dancers do a vaudeville-like number juxtaposed against the mimed violence of war in “Glory.” The effect was fascinating and somewhat disturbing. Also memorable was Jayce Meredith as an utterly enjoyable Charles, Pippin’s father and king. His “War is a Science” aided by the ensemble and Pippin, was inspired. Other standouts were Victoria Ann Scovens, who brought hard-edged sass to the role of the Leading Player, Angela LaRose who was deliciously manipulative as Pippin’s (evil) stepmother and
Cathy Ritter as Pippin’s feisty grandmother.
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Civic Theatre’s production of the groundbreaking Tony-winning musical “Fun Home” proved to be a powerful and moving evening of theater. 
The show, based on Alison Bechdel’s iconic graphic novel, was rewarding in the deft hands of director William Sanders who brought an urgent intimacy to the actions on stage.
“Fun Home” is told from the perspective of Bechdel, as she works on her graphic novel memoir. The show recreates vignettes from her childhood through her college years to her adult self. It featured standout performances all around, from self-assured Golda Rabin playing “Small Alison,” at age 10; Madeleine Huggins as "Medium Alison" a quirky, insecure college student discovering her sexuality; and Kate Pistone as adult Alison, who narrates the vignettes from her perspective as a lesbian graphic novelist comfortable in her skin, but who is haunted by her history. Other strong performances were turned in by Rip Cantelmi, as Alison’s father Bruce, a closeted gay man who lets his self-hate destroy him; Kirsten Almeida as Alison’s long-suffering mother Helen and
Veronica Bocian as Joan, Alison’s girlfriend from college.
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"Bohemia” the final chapter in Noah Dach’s successful trilogy of circus shows at Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre, was the best one yet. 
The show, which once again brought amazing feats of aerial acrobatics, juggling, clowning and dance, to Muhlenberg’s Studio Theatre, followed Dach’s previous circus shows “Wild” and “Tal: Beyond Imagination,” which both had sold-out runs at Muhlenberg.
Thrilling feats combined with a touching story made “Bohemia” particularly satisfying.
Set in the 1970s, the show featured stunning aerial work, set to a soundtrack of the 70s from the Beatles to the Rolling Stones to David Bowie, in the college’s Studio Theatre.
The story follows Jude – an appealing and earnest Blake Peebles – who with his tight-knit group of friends contemplate their futures in a dream-like 70s era setting.
In his first time performing in one of his own shows, Dach portrays a young man who has gotten his draft notice in an evocative aerial piece that showcases his strength and agility.
The highlight though was a jaw-dropping aerial duet performed by Dach and Andrea Laisure which was just breathtakingly beautiful.
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Northampton Community College Summer Theatre presented several big musicals that were memorable, over the summer, but there was something about the June production of “Falsettos” in the college’s smaller lab theater that stood out.
The humorous and moving sung-through musical about what it means to be a man took audiences on a roller coaster ride that was alternately joyously funny and devastatingly sad. 
The small theater was perfect for the seven-person show and the intimate setting meant audiences were so close they become immersed in the story and relationships between the characters in the musical by William Finn and James Lapine.
Stephen Peters was charmingly nuanced as Marvin, a self-proclaimed neurotic New York Jew who leaves his wife and son for another man but still wants to have a "tight-knit family." Kennedy Kanagawa was both glib and poignant as Marvin’s lover Whizzer. Skip Robinson created an equally confused but well-meaning character in his portrayal of Mendel, Marvin’s psychiatrist who falls for Marvin’s ex-wife Trina. As Marvin’s son Jason, Todd Croslis was endearing as the nerdy preteen who worries about his own sexuality as he prepares for a bar mitzvah that his parents want more than he does. Hilariously self-deprecating songs included the comical opener “Four Jews in a Room Bitching," to the clever ensemble piece "The Baseball Game." Hannah Keim also shone as Trina, particularly in her emotionally raw and hysterically funny “I'm Breaking Down," sung while chopping a banana and carrot.
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Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s “Antony and Cleopatra” may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, but it gave an intriguing modern twist to Shakespeare’s Roman-era tragic love story in a production that featured a contemporary militaristic setting and a touch of gender-bending casting. 
Director Eleanor Holdridge created a fascinating world that felt both ancient and present-day in its scope. Both Nondumiso Tembe as the mercurial Cleopatra, and Neal Bledsoe as the forceful Antony gave powerful, nuanced performances as the two doomed lovers who are also dynamic leaders.
Justin Mark ably contrasted Antony as the dour Octavius Caesar, who is young and inexperienced but dangerously ambitious. The third member of the Triumvir ruling Rome was the laughably ineffectual Lepidus, played by Xani Shpend with humorous over-eagerness.
The clever casting of Eleanor Handley as Agrippa, Caesar’s efficient lieutenant, juxtaposed the sensuous world of Cleopatra.
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Another unexpected delight was Pennsylvania Playhouse’s summer production of the bawdy puppet musical “Avenue Q.” The show which takes on topics including internet porn, homosexuality, racism, homelessness and sex, was hilarious and giddy fun with a great deal of laugh-out-loud humor. 
Director Clair Freeman assembled a nearly perfect cast for the show in which performers both manipulate puppets, and are human characters, interacting with each other like on “Sesame Street,” to which the shows pays subversive, but loving homage.
Sebastian Paff was wide-eyed, appealing and a little selfish as the puppet Princeton, who moves to Avenue Q in New York after graduating from college, hoping to discover his purpose in life.
Lexi Rastelli was sweet, insecure and stronger than she realized as the puppet Kate, a monster who dreams of starting her own monster school.
Joemichael Luciano and Jonathan Riker were also memorable as puppets Nicky and Rod (think Bert and Ernie, if Bert was an unemployed slacker and Ernie a closeted stockbroker.)
Alessandra Fanelli was perfectly saucy and sexy as the strutting puppet Lucy the Slut, and Christopher Camargo brought just the right self-indulgent edginess to the internet-obsessed recluse, Trekkie.
Catina "Peaches" Gordon was hilarious as the mugging, knowing Gary Coleman – the television star who, having lost his money and fame, is superintendent of the apartment.
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Touchstone Theatre took a huge risk with its massive ten-day “Festival UnBound,” a community convergence in October that featured more than 20 theatrical and musical events. 
This community-wide event used art to spark conversations about how Bethlehem has changed in the 20 years since the closing of Bethlehem Steel and to look to a future “unbound” from the Steel. The centerpiece was “Prometheus/Redux” which followed Bill George’s Prometheus, a former steelworker 20 years after the Steel has closed. Other performances included the exuberant “A Joyful Noise”, a collaboration between The Bach Choir of Bethlehem and Touchstone; “The Secret”, Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre’s exploration through narrative, song, and puppetry, of the Lehigh Valley’s celebrated feminist writer and LGBTQ icon Hilda Doolittle; Agile Rascal, a California-based bicycling touring theater’s “To Hunt a Wild Utopia,” in which actors on decorated bicycles lead a procession of audience members, also on bicycles, through Historic Bethlehem; “The Hidden Seed: Bethlehem’s Forgotten Utopia” in which the ghosts of three women return three centuries later with a message for the present, held in the historic Single Sisters House; and “Forward March: The Future of our Warriors,” an evening of storytelling by 10 veterans.
I don’t generally expect too much from holiday theater. There’s no doubt it’s usually fun and festive, but not something that stays with me too long. This year was different.
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I’ve seen Touchstone Theatre’s “Christmas City Follies” for many years, but this year’s 20th anniversary of the joyful vaudeville style revue was a cut above. 
In the achingly evocative “Shadow Dance,” a boy and a girl tried to connect and then walked away from each other, while their shadows in the background instead stayed and danced with each other. It was the highlight and heart of the show.
Hilarious skits included “The Aunts” which had Samantha Beedle, Emma Ackerman and Mary Wright as three sequin-clad, over-the-top diva aunts to Meara Gill’s teen, who are ready to belt out “We Are Family” at a drop of a hat; and “An Uber ride in Bethlehem” in which the three kings – Melchior, Balthasar and Gaspar – all were taking an Uber to see the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.
Also very clever was “Naughty List Tango” which mashed up “Chicago’s” “Cell Block Tango” with Touchstone’s traditional shopping cart ballet with four elves hilariously singing about what kids had done to get on Santa’s naughty list.
Beedle also was inspired as a socially awkward women who gives a Ted Talk on her technique to (somewhat unknowingly) crash someone’s Christmas party, including overstaying your welcome.
And the zaniness peaked with with Broadway’s Maury Yeston’s kitschy holiday hit “What can you get a Wookie for Christmas'” complete with a kick line of wookies. It was truly memorable.