Featuring
- Company at the Riverfront Theater Company
- Grieve Hard – An Interactive Performance wit death at Off The Wall
- The (hilarious) Complete Works of William Shakespeare abridged from Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Park
- City Theatre Receives NEA Grant
- Quantum and Chatham Baroques dust off a Idaspe a 1730 era opera this fall
- Sondheim footage from the Library of Congress
- PFO hosts International Voice Competition
- Pittsburgh Opera fashion show Diva Dreams and Fashion Queens set to rock the runway on April 4th at the Bitz Opera Factory
Riverfront Theater Company’s presents Stephen Sondheim’s Company, which will run for two weekends, March 17–19 and 24–26, at Allegheny River Trail Park.
Directed by Matt Mlynarski with Music Director Travis Rigby and Choreographer Alex Fownes featuring Sam Brooks as Robert. Need we say more! Get tickets at: https://riverfront-theater-company.ticketleap.com/company/
Off the Wall adds Grieve Hard – An interactive performance with death a new work created and performed by Katie Mack – March 15 & 16 at 8:00.
Katie Mack invites you to own death with her as she uses technology, social media, and the writings of her favorite philosopher, recently deceased ex boyfriend Eric Anthamatten, to stare into the abyss, and see if the abyss stares back. This 40 min interactive experimental solo performance is a public communion asking the audience to not just look at loss, but to lean into it, and GRIEVE HARD. Tickdets at https://www.ticketor.com/carnegiestage/tickets/grieve-hard-232603#buy
Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks kicks off spring with The (hilarious) Compleat Works of William Shakespeare abridged March 30-April 9 at Wigle Threadbare + Meadery.
Directed by Chuck Beikert with Aaron Crutchfield, Stoney Richards, Jennifer Tober performing (almost) all things by the Bard. Check back for more details
City Theatre to Receive $100,000 National Endowment for the Arts Grant
City Theatre may use this funding to preserve jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation.
In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC, including only six organizations from Pittsburgh region: The Andy Warhol Museum, City Theatre, Dreams of Hope, Hill Dance Academy Theatre, Quantum Theatre, and Squonk Opera.
“We are deeply indebted to the NEA for this investment at this critical time. The totality of eligible applications from the arts and culture sector for this Covid relief funding program, combined with the relatively few grantees, speaks to the scope and scale of the challenge facing our industry,” stated City Theatre Managing Director James McNeel. “This award will help shore up immediate needs at City Theatre, but it is of paramount importance to keep in mind how deeply the pandemic continues to disrupt arts organizations and the lives of artists. We are only at the beginning of our recovery from Covid-19, a process that is likely to take years.”
Quantum Theatre, in collaboration with Chatham Baroque, has announced its production of Idaspe, October 7-15 at the Byham Theater
Acclaimed London composer, writer and director Claire van Kampen leads the creation of this marriage of contemporary theater and Baroque-era opera. Chatham Baroque collaborates to craft the score, unearthed from its original manuscript, while van Kampen directs the opera, which features Vivica Genaux and John Holiday with a stellar supporting cast in this first full production of Idaspe since 1730.
The story follows two children from the post-war Middle East who came to Naples as refugees. They are separated in an underworld where organized crime is more welcoming than ‘legitimate’ business, and grown to adulthood, the siblings become powerful bosses of two opposing clans. Artaserse, the more brutal, kidnaps two women from his rivals, an incident that will force a face-to-face clash in this escalating war. The prison of the captives is a literal one, but all the characters are chained by circumstance and their emotions. Their existential struggle is described in transcendent music. Might they find that all-consuming power and violence are not the only means to survive?
Pittsburgh Festival Opera to host the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, Sunday February 13th at 2pm on the campus La Roche University
Join PFO and emcee Jim Cunningham for an incredible afternoon filled with wonderful music and talented singers. Finalists were chosen from nearly 200 of the brightest emerging opera singers around the world and you won’t want to miss hearing them!
PFO’s own Marianne Cornetti heads up an all-star panel of judges including Rob Chafin, Kevin Glavin, and Maria Spacagna. For tickets https://ci.ovationtix.com/36004/production/1105635
Library of Congress Shares Over Six Hours of Sondheim Footage
The Library of Congress has released more than six hours of previously unseen in-depth interviews with late composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, in which he goes in-depth on much of his landmark body of work, including Sunday in the Park With George, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, and more. Watch the first half-hour segment (of 13 total) above. Find the rest at LoC’s YouTube channel.
According to LoC Senior Music Specialist Mark Eden Horowitz, the interviews “were originally intended as something of a concordance for researchers and scholars who might be consulting Sondheim’s music manuscripts at some point in the future. While we do discuss music on a fairly technical level, the conversation quickly and frequently turns to all manner of topics related to Sondheim’s work and his life in the theatre.”
“But nothing equals watching Sondheim’s facial expressions, and hearing his voice, his inflections, his laugh, his singing, and the occasional pounding of the table for emphasis,” shares Horowitz.
Pittsburgh Opera fashion show Diva Dreams and Fashion Queens set to rock the runway the evening of Monday, April 4th at the Bitz Opera Factory
Diva Dreams and Fashion Queens will showcase over 100 years of fashion originals, including looks from Karl Lagerfeld, Norman Norrell, Ceil Chapman, Thierry Mugler, Halston, Claire McCardell, and many more.
Pittsburgh Opera’s award-winning Resident Artists will perform as well as walk the runway.
Tickets are available online at pittsburghopera.org/diva. Items on sale at the event will help benefit Pittsburgh Opera. Doors open at 6:30pm. The show starts at 7:30.
Categories: Feature Stories
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