Memorial Day is upon us and with that the official start of Summer. It is time for Pittsburgh CLO’s 72nd season which features some of the best of American Musical Theatre. With some gre…
Unbelievably talented high school students along with glitz and glam were in abundance at this year’s Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. The Benedum was packe…
When you meet Jeffrey Chips, artistic director for the Steel City Shakespeare Center, you’re immediately struck by his indisputable kindness and genuineness. The mission of the Steel City …
Last Sunday following the last performance of Ted Pappas’ masterful production of Hamlet, a group of three hundred plus fans of his gathered at the O’Reilly to celebrate his twenty-five-…
A despondent yet wistful boy plays a series of rhythmically haunting chords and beats on a loop pedal that he adroitly interweaves and syncopates with such meticulousness and emotional purpo…
For the first of two shows in their season entitled “Real People, Real Stories”, Front Porch presents an autobiographical musical. Composer William Finn began work on A New Brain after…
Seeing a play at August Wilson’s actual home is beyond a privilege. It is absolutely necessary as someone who is in Pittsburgh and loves theatre to indulge in this experience! It is ex…
Perhaps one of the most indulgently delightful moments in cinema in the 80s takes place during a gleefully macabre funeral for two high school jocks in the 1988 cult classic The Heathers. Bl…
I expect, if you go see Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s production of Avenue Q, you’ll have a great time, since they’ve put on a hilariously good production, making the most out of the ir…
Over seven decades later, World War II still exists as one of the darkest times in the history of mankind. Storytellers continue to mine its historical highs and lows for new content to this…
Next weekend Resonance Works will provide the ultra-rare opportunity of hearing Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka – an enchanting opera not only new to Pittsburgh, but to be sung in its origin…
Stage 62’s upcoming production, Dogfight is raising a lot of questions. I needed to know what the musical is really about and why anyone invested in local theater arts should not miss it…
It’s a good night of theater when the play you’re watching can make you think. It’s a fun night of theater when the play you’re watching can make you laugh. It’s a cathartic night …
Mimesis, inspiration, and authenticity are notions constantly scrutinized and thrown into tension when the artistic process is endeavored upon. When the artistic process grows intertwined in…
I really wasn’t familiar with the plot of Equus before going to see it last Thursday at Duquesne University’s Genesius Theatre. I knew it had something to do with horses that would someh…
For the final offering of its current season, Pittsburgh Opera will present Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore) beginning next Saturday evening, April 21. With a …
The thing with attending the Fringe Festival is that you can’t really know what to expect. I’m keenly aware of this as I enter St. Mary’s Lyceum; as I enter, the only evidence a festiv…
I love going to the theatre on opening night when there’s a sell-out crowd and people are really engaging with the show. That’s why we all do live theatre, right? For the reaction and th…
The final night of the 5th Annual Pittsburgh Fringe Festival found me in yet another basement for three more shows, this time at the Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church. Unlike the prior…
Local Pittsburgh buskers, Sean Miller and Kristin Ward are The Daring Douglasses. If you have been to any Pittsburgh events over the past couple decades, you most likely have seen them, a la…
Children of Heaven produced by Laugh/ Riot Performing Arts Company Is pertinent following the #metoo movement currently storming media. Before the performance begins I am greeted by a woma…
In his 1990 musical Assassins, Stephen Sondheim wrote “It takes a lot of men to make a gun”. In their 2018 production of Recoil, University of Pittsburgh Stages proved that it takes a di…
From Iron Age Theater in Philadelphia, To My Unborn Child: A Love Letter from Fred Hampton written and performed by Richard Bradford, just blew my mind. This one person show recounts the l…
With a name like St. Mary’s Lyceum, I was anticipating a church venue for the 5th annual Pittsburgh Fringe Festival shows playing there. In fact, it’s a bar – or should I say a social …
The New Vintage Ensemble presents #VANLIFE, written, directed and performed by Kimmie Leff and Casey Thomas. Â Kimmie and Casey, two friends whose lives are less than perfect are becoming …