Author Archives

• Summer 2019’s 5 Musicals to Watch Out For

  By Brian Pope on June 13, 2019

    Now that the Tony Awards have been handed out, let the betting begin on which of the winning and losing shows will receive a box office boost and which will soon post a closing notice. If the prospects of… Read More ›

• Musical of the Month: “Bright Star”

  By Brian Pope on May 13, 2019

    As I stood in line in 2016 vying for rush tickets to a new musical called Bright Star, pretty much all I knew was that comedy legend Steve Martin co-wrote its bluegrass score. I also knew that, after hearing… Read More ›

• Musical of the Month: “A Little Night Music”

  By Brian Pope on April 5, 2019

    Do I Hear a Waltz? is a little-known 1965 musical with a dream creative team that found themselves on a nightmarish road to Broadway. Originally, Arthur Laurents was set to adapt his play The Time of the Cuckoo as… Read More ›

• Stage 62 Puts Dreamers in the Spotlight

  By Brian Pope on March 17, 2019

  With its remaining 2019 productions, Stage 62 raises a glass to those who dream. Following last month’s winning production of the YA musical Junie B. Jones The Musical, the company will be presenting shows featuring characters whose hopes and wishes… Read More ›

• Musical of the Month: Sunday in the Park with George

  By Brian Pope on March 1, 2019

  Bright. A blank screen or an even smaller blank screen. The challenge: Make sense out of 280 characters. George Seurat is notable for employing the meticulous painting technique known as pointilism in works such as Bathing at Asnieres. Stephen Sondheim… Read More ›

• Musical of the Month: The Last Five Years

  By Brian Pope on February 8, 2019

    Cathy and Jamie are married. She acts at a community theater in Ohio. He is a best-selling author. Cathy arrives home and finds a letter with her name on it. Jamie has just left home and Cathy. Jamie and… Read More ›

• Musical of the Month: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

  By Brian Pope on November 2, 2018

  Once upon a time, the world at large acknowledged the fact that there are more than just two genders. Or so Aristophanes tells it in Plato’s philosophical epic Symposium. In the age of Zeus, humans moved around using eight limbs,… Read More ›

• Musical of the Month: Cabaret

  By Brian Pope on October 3, 2018

  History has taught us what a revolution sounds like. The slice of a falling guillotine. The pulse of rapid gunfire. The echo of a rallying cry. But when it comes to culture, you can only recognize the sounds of a… Read More ›

• Pittsburgh Musical Theater Has It All In 2018-19 Season

  By Brian Pope on September 1, 2018

  Now is the time to seize the stage! That’s literal when it comes to Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s 2018-2019 season. Each of the shows they’ve chosen for “Seize The Stage” represents eclectic musical genres and types of stories. Two of the… Read More ›

• Pittsburgh CLO Ignites a SPARK to Pierce the Dark

  By Brian Pope on April 18, 2018

  What comes first: the music or the lyric? This question has been asked by people of all levels of engagement with the craft of musical theatre. One thing that has been true about musical theatre from the beginning is that… Read More ›