By SHARON EBERSON Billy Hartung and a few of his Broadway friends are set to help Pittsburghers kick off your Sunday shoes, lose your blues, and everybody, cut footloose. It’s been 25 ye…
By SHARON EBERSON It is evident there was a divine plan from birth for Sara Porkalob. Deliver her into a family of strong women with irresistibly juicy stories to tell, and have her grow up …
By SHARON EBERSON Willie Dixon stands as tall in forging the foundation of American popular music as a certain “ten-dollar Founding Father” did in paving the foundation of our country. B…
Pittsburgh-based playwright Tammy Ryan has been named the inaugural recipient of The Boost, a new commission awarded to a woman, trans or nonbinary playwright over the age of 40, for a play …
“The blues is the roots, everything else is the fruits.” – Willie Dixon By SHARON EBERSON Pittsburgh actor Sam Lothard will channel blues pioneer Willie Dixon in the premiere productio…
By SHARON EBERSON Jimmy Nicholas is an “and” guy, not an “or” guy. That’s how the actor explains all of the “ands” after acting jobs, including the title role in Pittsburgh CLO…
By SHARON EBERSON Pittsburgh theater-goers will soon have the opportunity to experience two writer-performers channeling multiple characters in distinctly different solo shows. While Tami Di…
By SHARON EBERSON At the end of a decade marked by a pandemic, the opioid crisis and ideological division, we all could use a big hope-filled hug. In South Side Stories Revisited, the sequ…
By SHARON EBERSON Cirque: Crystal arrived in Pittsburgh Friday accompanied by cold and snow, appropriate for the company’s only show on ice. This Cirque du Soleil glides and flies through …
By SHARON EBERSON Tami Dixon has a case of “brain spaghetti,” as she calls it. It’s a condition she experienced 10 years ago, when she researched, wrote and performed the solo tour de …
By SHARON EBERSON It is purely coincidence that Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal, the ice show coming to PPG Arena January 18-21, is led by Crystal Manich. Her resume by any other name would be …
Penn State Alum Aidan Wharton Goes on Tour After Broadway Debut, Plans Proud Haven Fundraiser By SHARON EBERSON Although it’s the real deal, Aidan Wharton’s Broadway debut story sounds a…
By SHARON EBERSON How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Well, practice, of course. And if you are Stephen Flaherty, you also become a hitmaker, and make your alma mater proud. The Dormont native …
By SHARON EBERSON My Facebook timeline has of late been lighting up with exciting free programming at the Lounge at the Greer Cabaret Theater, in addition to the Trust Cabaret Series, CLO Ca…
Christine Laitta, Aaron Galligan-Stierle Join Michael Cerveris’ Scrooge and a Cast of Dozens at the Byham Theater By SHARON EBERSON Some performers we know for decades, some come and go; t…
By SHARON EBERSON So much Pittsburgh theater, so little time is among my top picks for the subtitle of my theater-going life. A good overall title might be: “There’s No Business Like Cov…
By SHARON EBERSON Escape the holiday bustle and hustle and head over to the South Side, where you can join those crazy kids from Pride and Prejudice in a heartfelt romp, tinseled and decked …
By SHARON EBERSON Wanna find outWho’s naughty or niceAnd not have to askIf Santa checked twice?If you’re thinking it’s Scrooge,It could be, that’s true.But I’ll tell you right now:…
By SHARON EBERSON It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, with holiday-themed live performances ramping up throughout the region. It picks up this weekend with Miss Bennet’s Christm…
COMMENTARY By SHARON EBERSON When I see the words “Starring Rob McClure,” I think, “I’m all in.” So tonight, when he and wife Maggie Lakis take the Benedum Center stage in the musi…
All-Female ‘A … My Name is Still Alice’ and the Pittsburgh Premiere of ‘Bandstand’ Are on Tap for 2024 By SHARON EBERSON On a music-filled night representing Front Porch Theatrical…
Afro-American Music Institute Presents Pittsburgh-centric ‘Lady Day,’ Based on Vernell Lillie Work By SHARON EBERSON Broadway veteran and Clairton native Rema Webb made her second Pittsb…
By SHARON EBERSON Even as hell breaks loose in the Mamet masterwork American Buffalo, it is funny as hell, and full of heart. How perfect, then, that Patrick Jordan’s barebones productio…
By SHARON EBERSON City Theatre is taking a seat at Pittsburgh’s traditional holiday table, adding a dash of Jane Austen-inspired romance to a menu where Dickensian fare and Christmas-theme…
By SHARON EBERSON At a lanky 6 feet, 4 inches, Brenden Peifer is hard to miss, whether offstage or on. And this year, it has seemed he is always on. So far in 2023, Peifer could be seen in p…