Theater & Arts category, Page 37
Pittsburgh, Harlem dancers reunite on August Wilson Center stage
Encores are a natural response to successful performances. We all, audiences and performers, want more. Two seasons ago two great American ballet companies shared the stage for the first time to celebrate the reopening of the August Wilson Center. Now, each company celebrating its 50th birthday, they will team up...
‘The Q Ball: Get Your Heart On’ gala is about the power of love
“The Q Ball: Get Your Heart On” gala is from 6 to 11 p.m. March 23 at HIP at the Flashlight Factory, an old stamping factory on the North Side built in 1887 which manufactured goods from automobile grills to train parts. The evening is about the power of love...
Travel to ‘Neverland’ with Greasepaint Players
All it takes is an enthusiastic cast and maybe a sprinkle of pixie dust for Greensburg Civic Theatre’s Greasepaint Players to take theatergoers to Neverland in its production of “Peter Pan and Wendy.” The family play with three performances March 15 and 16 at Greensburg Garden and Civic Center features...
Fox Chapel tackles challenging ‘Les Miserables’Video
Fox Chapel Area High School presents “Les Miserables School Edition,” on March 14-17. This adaptation of the classic musical by Alain Boubil and Claude-Michel Schoneberg, based on the French novel by Victor Hugo, is the world’s longest running sung-through musical and the third longest running musical in Broadway history. Winner...
Pittsburgh native David Conrad talks about coming home for ‘Legend of Georgia McBride’Video
Of all the stage and screen actors the Pittsburgh area has produced, David Conrad is one of the most successful. He has starred on Broadway and in more than 30 movies and television series including “Wedding Crashers,” “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,” and “Ghost Whisperer.” Conrad is back in the area appearing...
Leechburg Area High School presents ‘Anything Goes’Video
Leechburg Area High School sets sail with “Anything Goes.” Director Alyssa Bruno Walls said she chose “Anything Goes” because the student talent is “so there” this year for the nautically themed classic that includes music and lyrics written by Cole Porter such as “It’s Delovely,” “I Get a Kick Out...
‘Mean Girls’ opens PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh shows for 2019-20Video
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced the 2019-20 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season on Monday. Leading the seven touring Broadway shows, which have won more than 30 Tony Awards, is “Mean Girls,” the hit musical that included book writer Tina Fey. The others are “A Bronx Tale,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Miss...
‘Hamilton’ set to return to Pittsburgh in 2020-21 season
The megahit musical “Hamilton” is coming back to Pittsburgh during the 2020-21 Broadway season, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced Monday. The show opened to a sold-out crowd on Jan. 1 and continued its popular run through Jan. 27, performing before an estimated 88,000 theater-goers at the Benedum Center. Hamilton was...
Prime Stage Theatre hosts special guest for ‘Butterflies’ opener
Prime Stage Theatre welcomed a special guest for the March 9 opening night of “In the Time of the Butterflies” at the New Hazlett Theater Center for the Performing Arts in Pittsburgh’s North Side. Joining the near-capacity audience was author Minou Tavárez Mirabal, daughter of one of the play’s subjects....
For Western Pa. high school musicals, big crowds and big expectations
Transporting the audience with the storyline of a high school musical isn’t enough for student casts these days. It’s also got to send them to Broadway — or at least the Benedum. Like students at Belle Vernon Area High School, most of these young performers want each year’s show to...
Freeport thinks pink with ‘Legally Blonde’Video
“Omigod! Omigod you guys.” Freeport Area High School thinks pink as it presents “Legally Blonde: The Musical” March 14-17 at the Freeport Middle School. Based on the smash comedy 2001 film starring Reese Witherspoon, it’s the story of a rich sorority girl named Elle Woods and her creative mission to...
Stage Right apparently sets record with ‘Children of Eden,’ awaits official word from Guinness
As the Palace Theatre house lights went down Saturday night and Tony Marino stepped into the spotlight, he sang, “I woke up from a curious dream.” How dreamlike the day must have been as Marino and his Stage Right theater company sought to break the Guinness record for the fastest...
Stage Right selects ‘Children of Eden’ for record-setting attempt at the PalaceVideo
The Greensburg theater company Stage Right hopes that the controlled chaos of Saturday morning will transform into a complete production of the musical “Children of Eden” by Saturday night. If they want to break the Guinness record for the fastest staging of a musical production, they will have to cast,...
Theatre Factory gets to the heart of ‘Fuddy Meers’
Most typical days in many people’s lives are uneventful and not so noteworthy. That’s not the case with Claire, one of the main characters in “Fuddy Meers,” a play being staged Feb. 22-March 3 at The Theatre Factory in Trafford. Claire has a rare form of psychogenic amnesia that erases her...
Stage Right needs witnesses for Guinness record-breaking attempt
Independent witnesses are needed on March 9 at The Palace Theater in Greensburg, to observe as Stage Right attempts to break the Guinness Book of World Records’ record for the fastest staging of a musical production. People 18 and older are needed for four-hour shifts starting at 5:30 a.m. at...
Geyer PAC looks at ‘a year in the life’ in ‘Unconventional’
A local woman’s play that originated as part of Actors and Artists of Fayette County’s One Acts Festival in 2017 will make its debut as a full-length production March 7-10 at Geyer Performing Arts Center in Scottdale. Jessica Zack of Uniontown will direct four performances of “Unconventional,” which follows characters...
A conversation: Pittsburgh actor Wali Jamal appeared in all of August Wilson’s playsVideo
One of the most compelling stories within the Pittsburgh arts scene belongs to actor Wali Jamal. He is the only actor in the world to have appeared in all 11 of August Wilson’s plays, the 10-play Pittsburgh cycle and the autobiographical solo show “How I Learned what I Learned.” Jamal...
Pittsburgh Festival Opera welcomes Christopher Powell as executive director
Christopher M. Powell was named executive director of the Pittsburgh Festival Opera effective March 12. Powell was the director of artistic initiatives for the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y., for the past four years. He will work alongside Artistic Director Jonathan Eaton into the opera’s 42nd season. The upcoming season...
‘The Legend of Georgia McBride’ play extends run in Braddock
People apparently can’t get enough of this Elvis impersonator. “The Legend of Georgia McBride,” play is extending its run at Barebones Black Box Theater in Braddock. The play was supposed to end March 10 and will now run through March 17. “Every original scheduled show had sold out,” said Patrick...
Quaker Valley prepares to put on a big show with ‘Shrek the Musical’
Quaker Valley High School students are getting ready to put on a big show. Everything in “Shrek the Musical,” which will take place at 7:30 p.m. March 7-9, will be just that: big. There’s the 20-foot dragon that moves around on stage at the hands of five puppeteers, the large...
Greater Latrobe to present play-within-a-play ‘Man of La Mancha’Video
Director Daniel Krack has a three-year cycle of themes for the Greater Latrobe Senior High School spring musical. The first year is a little-known title, the second year is a family oriented show and the third is a classic. 2019 is classic year, and the show being presented is “Man...
Greensburg Salem kicks it up in ‘Mamma Mia!’Video
When Greensburg Salem High School musical director and producer Susan Glowa heard the rights were becoming available to “Mamma Mia!,” she was ready. “This was a brand new release,” Glowa, English and dramatic arts instructor, says. She applied and received approval to stage the show in the same day. Speaking...
Mickey and friends bring ‘new look’ show to townVideo
Feld Entertainment has some surprises in store for audiences with its newest “Disney on Ice” production, “Mickey’s Search Party.” Besides the touring ice show’s usual lineup of favorite characters and snappy sing-along songs from Disney’s animated movies, there’s an added “wow factor” this time around. “We’re really excited about this...
Saint Vincent Summer Theatre slate features 3 ‘timeless’ musicals
Three timeless musicals make up the slate for Saint Vincent Summer Theatre’s upcoming 51st season, says producing artistic director Greggory Brandt, who will direct all three. Casts including actors from Actors’ Equity Association and other professional regional actors will perform these perennial audience favorites: • “Forever Plaid,” May 23-June 2...
Apollo-Ridge presents the upbeat ‘The Music Man’
Apollo-Ridge High School presents “The Music Man” Feb. 28- March 2. Trouble comes to River City when a fast-talking con artist salesman falls for Marian the town librarian in the classic six-time Tony Award-winning musical comedy. Musical director Bethany Greenlee said she chose “The Music Man” to showcase the talents...
