Theater & Arts category, Page 38
‘A Chorus Line’ dancing across Geyer stage
For Marina Stefano of Bullskin, Fayette County, performing in “A Chorus Line” at Geyer Performing Arts Center is a real test of her stamina. In addition to choreographing the musical, she also plays Diana, whom she describes as “a fun-loving and sarcastic character,” a part that requires her, among other...
Prepare to be amazed when the ‘Masters’ take The Palace Theatre stageVideo
“Masters of Illusion,” the stage version of the CW Network’s hit television series billed as America’s largest touring magic show, encourages audiences to “Believe the Impossible” during its current tour of the U.S. and Canada. Audience members at The Palace Theatre on Feb. 17 will have their own chance to...
Point Park will host free reading of ‘Church & State’ on Parkland shooting anniversary
On the one-year anniversary of the Feb. 14, 2018, school shooting in Parkland, Fla., seven universities across the country, including Point Park University in Pittsburgh, will host a staged reading of the award-winning Off-Broadway play, “Church & State.” The play tells the story of a gun-loving senator running for reelection,...
‘Giselle’ opens Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 50th anniversary season
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 50th Anniversary Celebration will include five major programs offering a wide range of dance from Romantic era mainstays to new works by choreographers with strong ties to Pittsburgh. Artistic director Terrance Orr says the company is doing well, and boasts an exceptional roster of dancers and a...
‘Don Giovanni,’ ‘Carmen’ highlight Pittsburgh Opera’s 2019-20 season
Planning a season of opera is a complex undertaking. It’s not just finding the right blend between adventurous new works that advance the artform and the established repertoire audiences already love. There’s also finding performers who will bring their roles to vivid life and choosing fresh, appealing productions. “What interesting...
Ride along with ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ in latest Split Stage show
Actor Brendan Conaway of Plum says portraying Clyde Barrow in Split Stage Productions’ musical adaptation of “Bonnie and Clyde” is the most challenging role he’s ever played. “It requires so much energy both physically and vocally,” he says. “It’s an emotional roller coaster for me and Victoria (Buchtan) from the...
‘Bubble Show’ is a fantastical, transformative journeyVideo
Enrico Pezzoli says there’s a little bit of “Mr. B” in all of us. The lead character in his “B – The Underwater Bubble Show” is a creature of modern habits who “always feels pressed by a thousand things to do in a world that seems to be moving too...
‘American Girl Live’ brings positive message to Byham TheaterVideo
Creators of a new touring musical production are hoping that their young audiences love the stage show as much as the popular dolls on which they are based. “American Girl Live” is an original 90-minute musical that celebrates the power of girls and the strength of friendship, two messages that...
Stage Right will attempt to break world record for fastest musical production
Stage Right Artistic Director Tony Marino is about to stretch the limits of that old stage adage that promises “the show must go on.” Marino assures his audience that he and his cast of actors will be ready to roll when the curtain goes up at Greensburg’s The Palace Theatre...
Saint Vincent College Players bring ‘Damn Yankees’ to student center stage
Saint Vincent College Players will present four performances of the musical comedy “Damn Yankees” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 15 and 16, and at 2 p.m. Feb. 17 in the Performing Arts Center of the Robert S. Carey Student Center. General admission tickets will be available beginning one hour prior...
Historians irked by musical ‘Hamilton’ escalate their duel
NEW YORK — Ever since the historical musical “Hamilton” began its march to near-universal infatuation, one group has noticeably withheld its applause — historians. Many academics argue the portrait of Alexander Hamilton, the star of our $10 bills, is a counterfeit. Now they’re escalating their fight. Ishmael Reed, who has...
Cabaret Theatre production takes an absurdist view of love
The Cabaret Theatre will present the absurdist comedy, “Funicello’s Birthday,” from Feb. 6-16 in the Olde Main Building, 350 Main St., Latrobe. The play’s title refers to the late actress and singer Annette Funicello, first known as a Mouseketeer on the original Mickey Mouse Club. “It doesn’t matter whether anyone...
‘Hamilton’ plays to more than 88K during Pittsburgh run
The cast of “Hamilton” – the megahit musical about Alexander Hamilton that provided an unforgettable experience for an estimated 88,000 theatergoers at Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center during January – took its final bows “One Last Time” after 32 performances Jan. 1-27. Fans of the show will be happy to learn there’s...
Holocaust victim’s words inform Carnegie Stage production
A one-woman play based on the writings of a Dutch Jewish woman who died in Auschwitz during World War II is coming to Carnegie Stage in Carnegie. Off the WALL Productions will present Equity actor and teaching artist Susan Stein in “Etty” from Feb. 7 to 10. Stein created the...
New PICT production ‘a true story that never happened’
Playwright Ray Werner says his latest offering is “a true story that never happened, about real people who never existed.” If that sounds like a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, it’s not really. “Run the Rabbit Path,” which will have its world premiere Feb. 2 with opening...
‘Run for Your Wife’ is a riotous, adult farce
Veteran actor Mike Crosby of Greensburg says his character in Greensburg Civic Theatre’s production of “Run for Your Wife,” London taxi driver John Smith, prides himself on being incredibly organized. “His entire life is scheduled down to the minute, which is the only way he can be married to two...
Point Park joins talents with New York company on ‘Old Man and the Sea’
It’s an exciting time of “firsts” for Point Park University’s new Pittsburgh Playhouse as it prepares to present its world premiere stage adaptation of “The Old Man and the Sea” Feb. 1-17. The production based on Ernest Hemingway’s classic 1952 Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning novel is adapted for the stage...
Alanis Morissette’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’ to hit Broadway this fall
You oughta know … that “Jagged Little Pill” is headed to Broadway. The musical, inspired by Alanis Morissette’s iconic ’90s angst album, will move to the Great White Way this fall, the production company announced Monday. Morissette wrote the music alongside Glen Ballard, while Diablo Cody (“Juno,” “One Mississippi”) wrote...
Friend keeps word to Hemingway, play to premier at Point Park
WESTPORT, Conn. — When the 1958 film adaptation of “The Old Man and the Sea” hit theaters, Ernest Hemingway happened to be in New York City to watch the World Series and invited his close friend A.E. Hotchner to go see the movie with him. “About 12 or 13 minutes...
‘Friends! The Musical Parody’ lovingly roasts iconic ’90s sitcomVideo
Monica, Phoebe, Rachel and their guy pals are SO 1990s – and that’s part of the fun of “Friends! The Musical Parody.” The North American tour of the former off-Broadway musical that closed last July in New York is dropping in on Pittsburgh for one performance Jan. 29 at the...
Stage Right’s ‘Snow White’ turns students into fairy tale royalty
Area high school students are stepping into roles of fairy tale royalty in student company performances of Stage Right’s first full-length original musical, “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.” Grace Rusnica of Irwin, a junior at Hempfield Area High School; Maura Rygg of Manor, a junior at Greensburg Central Catholic...
‘Chocolate Factory’ brings sweet musical treat to Benedum CenterVideo
Pittsburgh audiences are in for a sweet treat when the national tour of Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” makes its area premiere Jan. 29-Feb. 3 in the Benedum Center, as part of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series. Noah Weisberg, whose Broadway credits include “South Pacific,”...
‘Phantom of the Opera’ returning to Pittsburgh with new staging
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s multi-Tony Award winning musical, “The Phantom of the Opera,” will return to Pittsburgh for a run beginning Feb. 20 in the Benedum Center. Producer Cameron Mackintosh’s touring production features “newly reinvented staging and stunning scenic design,” according to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The event is a season...
Redstone offers trip to see ‘Hamilton’ and the sights in Chicago
Redstone Presbyterian SeniorCare has a deal for people who didn’t score tickets for the Pittsburgh run of the hit musical “Hamilton,” along with a chance to spend some time in the Windy City. “Because ‘Hamilton’ is in residence in Chicago for an extended run, the (CBIC Theater) makes a limited...
Make your bed, learn to act: Alabaster children’s theater teaches bothVideo
What does making your bed have to do with theater arts? Kids who participate in Mary McCormack’s Alabaster Children’s Neighborhood Theatre find out right from the start. At a Jan. 7 introductory session for an upcoming class series on “The Little Mermaid,” McCormack asked participants who had made their beds...
