By SHARON EBERSON Jimmy Nicholas is an “and” guy, not an “or” guy. That’s how the actor explains all of the “ands” after acting jobs, including the title role in Pittsburgh CLO…
By SHARON EBERSON Pittsburgh theater-goers will soon have the opportunity to experience two writer-performers channeling multiple characters in distinctly different solo shows. While Tami Di…
By SHARON EBERSON At the end of a decade marked by a pandemic, the opioid crisis and ideological division, we all could use a big hope-filled hug. In South Side Stories Revisited, the sequ…
By SHARON EBERSON Cirque: Crystal arrived in Pittsburgh Friday accompanied by cold and snow, appropriate for the company’s only show on ice. This Cirque du Soleil glides and flies through …
By SHARON EBERSON Tami Dixon has a case of “brain spaghetti,” as she calls it. It’s a condition she experienced 10 years ago, when she researched, wrote and performed the solo tour de …
By SHARON EBERSON It is purely coincidence that Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal, the ice show coming to PPG Arena January 18-21, is led by Crystal Manich. Her resume by any other name would be …
Penn State Alum Aidan Wharton Goes on Tour After Broadway Debut, Plans Proud Haven Fundraiser By SHARON EBERSON Although it’s the real deal, Aidan Wharton’s Broadway debut story sounds a…
By SHARON EBERSON How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Well, practice, of course. And if you are Stephen Flaherty, you also become a hitmaker, and make your alma mater proud. The Dormont native …
By SHARON EBERSON My Facebook timeline has of late been lighting up with exciting free programming at the Lounge at the Greer Cabaret Theater, in addition to the Trust Cabaret Series, CLO Ca…
Christine Laitta, Aaron Galligan-Stierle Join Michael Cerveris’ Scrooge and a Cast of Dozens at the Byham Theater By SHARON EBERSON Some performers we know for decades, some come and go; t…
By SHARON EBERSON So much Pittsburgh theater, so little time is among my top picks for the subtitle of my theater-going life. A good overall title might be: “There’s No Business Like Cov…
By SHARON EBERSON Escape the holiday bustle and hustle and head over to the South Side, where you can join those crazy kids from Pride and Prejudice in a heartfelt romp, tinseled and decked …
By SHARON EBERSON Wanna find outWho’s naughty or niceAnd not have to askIf Santa checked twice?If you’re thinking it’s Scrooge,It could be, that’s true.But I’ll tell you right now:…
By SHARON EBERSON It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, with holiday-themed live performances ramping up throughout the region. It picks up this weekend with Miss Bennet’s Christm…
COMMENTARY By SHARON EBERSON When I see the words “Starring Rob McClure,” I think, “I’m all in.” So tonight, when he and wife Maggie Lakis take the Benedum Center stage in the musi…
All-Female ‘A … My Name is Still Alice’ and the Pittsburgh Premiere of ‘Bandstand’ Are on Tap for 2024 By SHARON EBERSON On a music-filled night representing Front Porch Theatrical…
Afro-American Music Institute Presents Pittsburgh-centric ‘Lady Day,’ Based on Vernell Lillie Work By SHARON EBERSON Broadway veteran and Clairton native Rema Webb made her second Pittsb…
By SHARON EBERSON Even as hell breaks loose in the Mamet masterwork American Buffalo, it is funny as hell, and full of heart. How perfect, then, that Patrick Jordan’s barebones productio…
By SHARON EBERSON City Theatre is taking a seat at Pittsburgh’s traditional holiday table, adding a dash of Jane Austen-inspired romance to a menu where Dickensian fare and Christmas-theme…
By SHARON EBERSON At a lanky 6 feet, 4 inches, Brenden Peifer is hard to miss, whether offstage or on. And this year, it has seemed he is always on. So far in 2023, Peifer could be seen in p…
Belfast Company Kabosh Theatre’s Production About Finding Understanding Amid Conflict Comes to Pittsburgh By SHARON EBERSON An officer in a green uniform, on one side of a 30-year conflict…
In Conversation With Writer Amber Ruffin and Costume Designer Sharen Davis By SHARON EBERSON I am going to go out on a pretty strong limb by saying that The Wiz is among the most important m…
By Sharon Eberson You may wonder, is The Nightmare Before Christmas a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? The stop-motion musical has a spot on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the top 15 Chri…
Passion and Hardship Follow Artist and his Lifelong Muse in ‘Flying Lovers of Vitebsk’ “In our life there is a single color, as on an artist’s palette, which provides the meaning of …
COMMENTARY The Annual Show Is a Collaboration of Three Unions, Benefiting Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank By Sharon Eberson You can feel it all around you. It’s that time when the a…