Entertainment category, Page 171
Lower Burrell, Monroeville actors step into lead roles for ‘Beauty and the Beast’
When Matt Mlynarski steps onto the stage these days, he finds himself having to take smaller steps, and being careful not to bend his arms too far. That’s because Mlynarski, 34, of Lower Burrell, in his own words, is “slowly turning into a clock,” in the form of the character...
‘Titanic’ and ‘The Omen’ actor David Warner dies at 80
LONDON — David Warner, a versatile British actor whose roles ranged from Shakespearean tragedies to sci-fi cult classics, has died. He was 80. Warner’s family said he died from a cancer-related illness on Sunday at Denville Hall, a retirement home for entertainers in London. Often cast as a villain, Warner...
For once, Cherokee actor Wes Studi cast as romantic co-starVideo
NEW YORK — In Wes Studi’s potent and pioneering acting career, he has played vengeful warriors, dying prisoners and impassioned resistance leaders. For three decades, he has arrestingly crafted wide-ranging portraits of the Native American experience. But one thing he had never done in a movie is give someone a...
TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher talks new season of ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’Video
When “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” returns for its third season Wednesday on Disney+, the show moves from its regular Utah high school setting to a summer camp where the campers perform the Disney musical “Frozen.” Executive producer/showrunner Tim Federle, a 1998 graduate of Upper St. Clair High...
Marvel teases new Avengers movies, ‘Black Panther’ sequel
Marvel Studios unveiled the first trailer for ”Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — set to “No Woman No Cry” — to fans at Comic-Con on Saturday in San Diego. It was just one part of the massive Hall H presentation, which also included first-looks at “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,”...
Warner Bros. brings ‘Black Adam,’ ‘Shazam! 2’ to Comic-ConVideo
Dwayne Johnson went a few steps beyond merely teasing his long-awaited “Black Adam” movie at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday. Ever the showman, Johnson brought a new trailer for the DC Comics superhero film and some flashy technology, lighting up the biggest room at the annual fan convention all...
‘Heat’-ing up: Michael Mann writes sequel-prequel ‘Heat 2’
NEW YORK — Decades after the release of Michael Mann’s “Heat,” the classic crime thriller has endured in the minds of fans, critics, peers and the director himself. He had so much left to say. “There’s always the sense of being shortchanged,” Mann said during a Zoom interview from his...
Book review: ‘Winter Work’ an engrossing spy thriller
“Winter Work” by Dan Fesperman; Alfred A. Knopf (352 pages, $28) Many a Berlin-set spy novel comprises a tale of two cities which plays out during the heated tensions of the Cold War. Dan Fesperman’s latest spy thriller, “Winter Work,” offers a refreshing variant on this by immersing its reader...
Westmoreland Symphony’s chamber music series returns to Unity Chapel
Following outdoor dates during the pandemic in Hempfield Park, Westmoreland Symphony’s Summer Chamber Music Series returns to its longtime home in Unity Chapel for two performances. The series opens at 7:30 p.m. July 28 Thursday with the Pittsburgh-based Beo String Quartet, familiar to WSO audiences from previous appearances. The quartet...
Greensburg music studio strives for an inclusive, welcoming vibe
The Greensburg-based Practice Makes Perfect Music Studio offers an array of classes, from piano and strings, to reeds and brass, to voice and percussion — including the boomwhacker, a hollow plastic tube tuned to a specific musical pitch by its length. “The only thing we don’t have — and we’re...
TV Talk: Making-of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ projects in the works
There are two undeniably popular genres in current Hollywood content creation: Fictionalized accounts of real-life events, popularized with true crime and scammer limited series (“The Dropout,” “WeCrashed,” “The Thing About Pam”), and anything with built-in name recognition (AKA “intellectual property” or IP) and even projects that are IP-adjacent. So why...
Commentary: Marvel has entered its latest phase: Exhaustion
The Marvel fatigue has set in. The colossal franchise that has ruled the movies since 2008 is feeling less like a celebration these days and more like a slog. That’s understandable, given that this month’s release of “Thor: Love and Thunder” marked the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe....
Jon Anderson brings Yes songs to Greensburg with new generation of musiciansVideo
Jon Anderson still hasn’t given up on a Yes reunion. He knows Yes fans have spent 18 years hoping the surviving members of the seminal prog rock group would achieve some sort of détente and reunite on stage. But Anderson also knows he doesn’t necessarily need former band mates like...
Soledad O’Brien show makes impression in off-hours time slot
NEW YORK — You’ve got to wake up early on a weekend to catch Soledad O’Brien. Say 4:30 a.m. Saturday in Chicago. Or 5 a.m. on Sunday in New York and Houston. It’s 6:30 a.m. Saturday in Washington, D.C. — almost sleep-in territory. Those are some of the time slots...
Morgan Wallen’s Burgettstown show sold out; fans asked to carpool, arrive early
Fans of country musician Morgan Wallen are being asked to arrive early or consider carpooling for Thursday’s sold-out show at The Pavilion at Star Lake near Burgettstown. Fans must have tickets to enter parking lots, which open at 3 p.m. Early entry parking opens at 1 p.m. The show is...
Pittsburgh Black Pride Week concert features Grammy winner Mya, Pittsburgh native Amir White
As he was growing up in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood, Amir White would sing along and mimic television and radio – first the commercials, but not long after, the songs. “I think I was born to do music,” said White, who now splits his time between the Steel City and Atlanta...
California artist paints giant Mac Miller mural on side of Etna recording studioVideo
California artist Gustavo Zermeño Jr. was happy he waited three years to paint a giant mural of Mac Miller at I.D. Labs, where the late rapper and Pittsburgh native recorded his music in Etna. Zermeño painted a mural for Miller, whose real name is Malcolm James McCormick, on the side...
Movie review: ‘Nope’ another genre-disrupting masterpiece from Jordan PeeleVideo
In “Nope,” writer/director Jordan Peele presents us with a big, shiny summer blockbuster — a cowboys and aliens riff built from the DNA of sci-fi spectacles of yore — and then proceeds to vivisect the very notion of a summer blockbuster before our eyes. He wants us to question the...
Tull Family Foundation not renewing Sewickley theater sponsorship
The Tull Family Foundation will not renew naming rights for a movie theater that’s become a cultural destination in Sewickley. Sponsorship of The Tull Family Theater, as the independent non-profit movie house has been known since it opened in February of 2017, will expire at the end of the year....
The Chicks, now Dixie-free and on tour, talk music, feminism and singing the anthem at the 2003 Super Bowl
The Chicks, the groundbreaking country-music trio formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, have a specific requirement for the members of their new, talent-rich touring band. “We do have a policy,” said violinist and vocalist Martie Maguire. “We have a ‘no a—holes’ policy.” “No a—holes — and no armpit hair!” added...
TV Q&A: Does ‘The Young and the Restless’ have a Pittsburgh connection?
Question: I noticed that on the June 30 episode of “The Young and the Restless” one of the characters said he was taking his son to the Brewers vs. Pirates game in Pittsburgh. In fact, the Brewers and Pirates were playing that very day. Was this a coincidence or is...
Netflix loses nearly 1 million subscribers, but helped by ‘Stranger Things’
The popularity of sci-fi series “Stranger Things” helped Netflix fight back against a stream of subscriber cancellations. The Los Gatos, Calif.-based streamer said Tuesday that it lost 970,000 subscribers in the quarter, marking the second consecutive quarter of subscriber declines. Nonetheless, the drop was not nearly as bad as the...
The Kid Mero and Desus Nice go separate ways, taking out Showtime’s ‘Desus & Mero’
The late-night talk show “Desus & Mero” will not return for a fifth season at Showtime as hosts Desus Nice and the Kid Mero look to pursue separate creative endeavors, a spokesperson for the network told the L.A. Times on Monday. “Desus Nice and The Kid Mero have made a...
Q&A: Meet Brent Faiyaz, R&B’s antihero: ‘It’s not human to be constantly writing love songs’
This summer, billboards in major cities across the country displayed the following cryptic phrase: “I would like to apologize in advance for the person I’m gonna become once this album drops.” The billboards belonged to 26-year-old singer-songwriter Brent Faiyaz; the album in question was “Wasteland,” a cautionary, R&B-trap opera deriding...
Italy thwarts illegal auction abroad of Gentileschi painting
ROME — Italy’s art squad police said Tuesday they have thwarted the potential illegal sale by a Vienna auction house of a 17th-century painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, a celebrated Baroque artist. Carabinieri police said that art merchants had allegedly described the work as being painted by a follower of Gentileschi,...
