Theater & Arts category, Page 30
‘Giselle’ opens Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 50th season
To open its 50th anniversary season, which is also the final one for its artistic director, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will present a restaging of “Giselle,” one of the most popular masterpieces in the repertoire. “Giselle” is a story about love which extends beyond death. Its second act is filled with...
Norwin theater company bringing ‘Sister Act’ to the stage
A convent is a good place to hide from a gangster ex-boyfriend. How singer Deloris Van Cartier ends up there and what happens next will be revealed in Norwin High School Theatre Company’s fall production, “Sister Act the Musical.” Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 24-26 and 2 p.m....
Walk on the wild side with Greensburg Civic Theatre’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’
Greensburg Civic Theatre will open its 68th season with a killer of a musical when it presents “Jekyll and Hyde” Oct. 17-19 at Greensburg Garden and Civic Center. “I seem to be completing a trilogy of horror shows for GCT,” says director Vince D’Angelo of Oakmont, who also directed “Dracula”...
Theatre Factory’s ‘The Fantasticks’ beautiful, clever
Like a true Pittsburgher, James Critchfield’s only complaint these days is with his commute to work. Aside from his lengthy drive to and from rehearsals — from his home in the South Hills to The Theatre Factory in Trafford — he couldn’t be happier about his current assignment directing “The...
Dinner theater focuses on entertainer-activist Josephine Baker
Versatile entertainer and civil rights pioneer Josephine Baker is the topic of the Oct. 25 History Dinner Theater at Saint Vincent College. Presented by the college’s Foster and Muriel McCarl Coverlet Gallery, the program will begin at 6 p.m. in the Fred M. Rogers Center on the Unity campus. “Overcoming...
Jump to the left for Geyer’s ‘Rocky Horror Show’
John Cunnard calls the cult classic musical “The Rocky Horror Show” “the ultimate theater experience” in which theatergoers don’t just watch the iconic stage show; they are part of it. “Many audiences come in their favorite ‘Rocky’ costumes, they get to dance with the characters in the seats and also...
Allegheny County schools offered chance to produce a Disney musical
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has been awarded a grant to bring the Disney Musicals in Schools program to Allegheny County. The program, developed by Disney Theatrical Group to create theater programs in elementary schools with limited resources to do so, will be spearheaded by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s arts education...
Franklin Regional students balance gore, goofiness with production of ‘Dracula’Video
Franklin Regional Thespians Club students are working to strike a fine balance between the hard-R frights of Francis Ford Coppola’s vision of Dracula and the occasional unintentional camp of the original Bela Lugosi film. It’s not always possible, according to director Richard Sunny. “There are some parts of the script...
Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘Don Giovanni’ still relevant today
Even timeless stories can be extra-relevant sometimes, and now is one of those times for the great opera “Don Giovanni.” It was written in 1787 but its story could have been ripped from today’s headlines. It is about a sexual predator brought to justice by his victims, a plot created...
Actor Chazz Palminteri visits Pittsburgh, promotes ‘A Bronx Tale’Video
Growing up in Bronx, N.Y., Chazz Palminteri says he once witnessed a murder. He refused to tell who did the killing at the time. He told his story in “A Bronx Tale,” a one-man play he released 30 years ago. The play became a movie and a book, as well...
Epic struggle of ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ plays out on Greensburg stage
The epic struggle between good and evil will play out in “Jekyll and Hyde,” Greensburg Civic Theatre’s 68th-season opening production. The sweeping Gothic musical based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story, featuring a score of pop rock hits, will be staged at 8 p.m. Oct. 17-18 and 2 p.m. Oct....
Stage Right! clinches world record for fastest production
Greensburg’s Stage Right! theater company set a new Guinness World Record for fastest theatrical production. The company, which also operates a school for the performing arts, received an email Friday confirming that it successfully set a new world record by staging a production of “Children of Eden” — from auditions...
Diamond Theatre of Ligonier holding Christmas play auditions
Auditions will soon take place for a production Diamond Theatre of Ligonier owner Leigh Ann Rice-McCulty has written for the holiday season. “‘The Christmas Storm of the Century’ is a funny and heartwarming play about Christmas Eve shenanigans that take place when a family get-together turns out to be longer...
Comedians descend on Strip District for evening of ‘Cake’
Suzanne Westenhoefer and Chrissy Costa are comedians. They don’t want to be labeled solely as female comedians or gay comedians. They are simply comedians. They’ll perform in Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. Saturday at Cake Pittsburgh nightclub in the Strip District. The event is called “An Evening of Laughing and Dancing...
Hillman Performing Arts Series opens with a winner
The Hillman Performing Arts Series at Shady Side Academy starts its new season on a high note with a performance by a Grammy Award winner and two-time Emmy nominee as part of its Black Box Series. The series opens at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 with Dom Flemons, whose repertoire covers...
Carlow University in Pittsburgh celebrates 90 years with Broadway hit play ‘Abie’s Irish Rose’Video
Travel back in time at Carlow University in Oakland beginning on Tuesday. The school is celebrating its 90th anniversary with weeklong events as part of “Time Capsule 1929.” There will be historical displays that include newspaper stories, photos, maps, and memorabilia from the school’s founding year eight decades ago. One...
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Dance Council mark 50 years
A pair of anniversaries will give dance a special aura during the 2019-20 season. Both Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Pittsburgh Dance Council are celebrating their 50th birthdays this season with vibrant offerings. The ballet stages classic ballet and contemporary dance performed by its roster of world-class dancers. Dance Council is...
‘Mean Girls,’ ‘Blithe Spirit,’ ‘A Few Good Men’ among season’s theater offerings
It’s time once again for opening nights and standing ovations as Western Pennsylvania theater companies get ready to raise the curtain on a new season of stage productions. Besides the classic familiar favorites — “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Les Miserables,” “Chicago” and more — that veteran theatergoers look...
Apple Hill director says ‘Blithe Spirit’ is haunting good time
A classic Noel Coward comedy will close out a busy summer season at Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont. Matt Mlynarski of Lower Burrell is directing eight performances of “Blithe Spirit,” about a séance gone bad that brings back two of novelist Charles Condomine’s deceased ex-wives to haunt him. Stephen Toth...
Pittsburgh Opera’s season lineup spans centuries
Pittsburgh Opera is in a class by itself in Western Pennsylvania, although there are other opera presentations here that are worth seeing. Opera is an extravagant art form that combines singing, orchestral music, costumes and sets, and sometimes dancing, to tell stories that touch our hearts and give us things...
‘A Few Good Men’ opens Pittsburgh Public Theater’s 45th season
Pittsburgh Public Theater opens its 45th season with “A Few Good Men.” Written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by PPT artistic director Marya Sea Kaminski, the play opens Thursday and runs through Oct. 13 at the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown Pittsburgh. The cast includes professional actors as well as military veterans....
Go ‘Under the Sea’ as Stage Right kicks off new season
At Stage Right Theatre Company, it’s show time and party time. Stage Right is set to begin a new season after a whirlwind 20th anniversary year that featured an added performance location at Westmoreland County Community College, an ambitious undertaking to break a Guinness World Record and a full schedule...
Classic ‘Guys and Dolls’ takes to Geyer stage
It’s a safe bet that Geyer Performing Arts Center’s upcoming production of “Guys and Dolls” Sept. 12-15 will be filled with some classic favorite Broadway tunes. Frank Loesser’s upbeat score including “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat,” “Luck Be a Lady” and “A Bushel and a Peck” is part of...
Music of West Deer’s John Vento inspires play
The music inspired the play. Songs written by John Vento, a Penn Hills native who lives in West Deer, for the album “Love. Lust. And Other Wreckage,” became the foundation for a stage production written by Pittsburgh playwright Amy Hartman. Hartman’s previous plays have been nominated for the American Critic’s...
Behind the scenes with ‘The Lion King’Video
“The Lion King” made its’ debut at the Benedum Center on Wednesday night. On Friday, the Trib got to go behind the scenes of the hit musical to speak with actress Nia Holloway who plays Nala, along with puppet master Michael Reilly, and actor Spencer Plachy, who performs as Scar....
