1,756 stories by "Ghoover"
The evening began with the ridiculous but thoroughly entertaining one man show Laundry Night by Captain Ambivalent. Captain Ambivalent sings with the accompaniment of a gold accordion, t…
Jill Jeffrey was a like many young actors, making the rounds at auditions and giving little thought to children’s theater–until she stepped on stage in Journey Back to Oz at Gemini Theat…
The building my uncle is renovating is a wide open space barren of furniture, the chipped paint dotted with hungry-looking light sockets. I am with him while he works, because my parents nee…
The Duquesne Red Masquers could not have asked for better timing for their production of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. A show about a populist President who rides to power by claiming to rep…
Ever have that dream where you’re suddenly in the middle of a play, but it’s in someone’s living room instead of on a stage and the actors are inches away from you? And then you realiz…
If you go to Dreamgirls expecting a biopic musical about The Supremes, you’ll be surprised: The show actually is a fictionalized tale inspired not just by the legendary female trio from th…
Question: “How do you sink a Polish battleship? Answer: Put it in the water.” Please, don’t get offended, the David Ives’ play Polish Joke is loaded with “Polish jokes” that ar…
Escapism has no tool more effective than nostalgia. Forever Plaid, an off Broadway musical originally created by Stuart Ross, is a series of harmonized covers and polite sketches from a musi…
Prime Stage Theatre’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1949 classic, 1984, is ambitiously loyal to its original text. It attempts to extrapolate the inner story of one man inside of a par…
This is not a review of the world premiere of Arlene Weiner’s play Findings produced by the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. This is a “re-view”. What’s the difference? In Fin…
This musical has so much; it is so rich. It is a cascade of characters who are fully drawn, with captivating arcs. It’s a litany of singing performances, CMU’s great bastion of tal…
The Pittsburgh Playhouse’s adaptation of Big Love wrestles with relationship language the same way that the 470 BC tragedy Aeschylus’ The Suppliants did. Big Love is a very smart but dar…
A letter from the Editor, According to Punxsutawney Phil, Spring is still another two weeks away, yet we couldn’t help but look ahead to the next three months and we are excited! Spring is…
Pittsburgh theatregoers have a great mix of musicals to choose from this spring. Our preview features five shows that offer a mix of style, period and contemporary relevance. Two of them are…
Partaking in the spectacle of theatre and performance is a profoundly immersive phenomenon. An audience member can be wholly consumed, enraptured by the dialogue, the stage tricks, the leg…
Even steel rusts, and that is the underlying theme, and title, of the new play currently in production by Duquesne University’s Red Masquers. The play, written by Duquesne alum F.J. Hartla…
Elise Forier Edie’s The Pink Unicorn at off the WALLÂ invites us into the home of a woman named Trish. The stage is a cozy southern kitchen, modestly furnished with a Martha Stewart-ian …
The Theater Factory’s The Complete History of America (abridged) directed by Jen James is a delightful and frantic journey through the formation of the United States, from Vikings to Nativ…
As One, the second of Pittsburgh Opera’s two Resident Artist Program productions for this year, opens next Saturday night, February 18, at the company’s headquarters in the Strip Distric…
In the book “Get-R-Done”, Larry the Cable Guy once quipped: “This is the first book I’ve written since 1975, when I was in the 7th grade and wrote Boogers Are Good Eatin’.” If yo…
As it turned out, Ann Talman was, indeed, her brother’s keeper – literally. Talman – a playwright and actress who grew up in Pittsburgh – has an older brother, Woody, who has severe …
This was the tightest play I’ve ever seen: opening night of The Royale at City Theatre. The jabbing dialogue overlays every continuous line. The chorus that pieces the fight, from buil…
The experience of seeing The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity the first time was, for me, a series of uniquely fortuitous revelations. Sitting in the back row of the bleacher-style seats bef…
Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame brings a powerful mixture of student and professional performers to the Byham Theater, where it continues playing through February …
With each passing year, Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artist Program productions seem to maintain or excel the high standards of those of the past. At first glance, this season’s offering…
