Author Archives
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Reviews: Christmas Comedies Come to Town
In Braddock, Midnight Radio has Bricolage following it’s own Die Hard holiday parody with A Christmas Vacatyinz, lampooning the Lampooners at barebones’ Braddock Black Box. And in the Hill District, you can find the sketch comedy group Mr. Goodbird USA — once a staple at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company’s venue in Garfield — back in action with The Chuck Dickens Annual Christmas and/or Holiday Spectacular!
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Front Porch Theatricals in 2026 Musicals: ‘Working’ and ‘Come From Away’
Reaching back and passing the torch was a running theme of Front Porch Theatricals 2026 season announced on Monday, where it was revealed that Working and Come From Away will be their summer shows. For the occasion of the annual fundraising cabaret and season reveal, a songfest of local talent onstage and in the audience, the incomparable Lenora Nemetz, a Pittsburgher and a member of the original Broadway cast of “Working” in 1978, told a funny story about how she got the role, then provided a heartfelt introduction for Marnie Quick, who sang the show’s waitress song, It’s an Art.
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Pittsburgh CLO’s Mark Fleischer: ‘We’re Going to Find Our Way’
Pittsburgh CLO next big hire could be an important next step in moving forward artistically and strategically. The job posting comes on the heels of the announcement of summer season No. 80: two co-productions and the first tour visit of Suffs, a six-time Tony Award nominee. “I’m proud to be part of this community, and we’re going to find our way,” Executive Producer Mark Fleischer said.
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Review: ‘Little Women’s’ Enduring Legacy on Display at City Theatre
It’s cozy by the fireside, with the scent of pine trees seeming to permeate the air, as City Theatre invites us to spend the holiday season with the ever-growing canon of Lauren Gunderson Sisterhoods at Christmastime.
The commissioned adaptation of “Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women” unfolds as if it were a graphic novel come to life, with thought bubbles spoken aloud, alongside dialogue, and Anne Mundell’s set design featuring the tangible metaphor of trees carved from the novel’s pages. -
Catching up With Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond
With 2025 coming to a close, the Emmy-nominated Michael Kooman and Chris Dimond have months of good will at their backs as they return to Pittsburgh for “I Will Be Me — The Songs of Kooman and Dimond,” a cabaret “celebrating Point Park’s rising stars of musical theater” in the Class of 2026.
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Home for the Holidays: Christmas On Pittsburgh Stages
Here’s a glimpse of some of the live theater of the Pittsburgh holiday season, and the 2025 Holiday Market that has moved into the Pittsburgh Cultural District.
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City Theatre Premieres Alcott/Gunderson ‘Little Women’
“Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women” was put in motion by a mistaken premise. The playwright Lauren Gunderson was asked by a theater leader if he could read her stage version of novel. It was a reasonable assumption, Gunderson said. Except she hadn’t written such a work. At least, not yet. Her adaptation makes its Pittsburgh debut at City Theatre, Nov. 5-Dec. 7, 2025.
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Pittsburgh CLO Has Its Christmas 2025 Scrooge: Tony-Winner Denis O’Hare
Denis O’Hare follows in the miser-to-wiser footsteps of high-profile predecessors as the Ebenezer Scrooge of Pittsburgh CLO’s “A Musical Christmas Carol,” which returns to the Byham Theater December 13-23, 2025.
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Review: barebones’ ‘God of Carnage’ Visits the Funny Side of Grown-Ups Behaving Badly
What happens when two sets of New York parents seek a civilized response to an act of playground violence: one of their 11-year-old sons whacking the other with a stick, knocking out two teeth?
In the case of barebones’ production of “God of Carnage,” it’s a blast, as outwardly responsible adults take wildly inappropriate dives into their darkest sides, played by Daina Michelle Griffth, Patrick Jordan, Gayle Pazerski and David Whalen.
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Review: Dynamic ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Is on Fire at Benedum Center
Extraordinary voices vying for best in show and a vibrant, pulsating production touched down at the Benedum Center this week, as Hell’s Kitchen made Pittsburgh the second stop in the musical’s first national tour.
Featuring more than 20 songs from the catalog of 18-time Grammy-winner Alicia Keys (including best musical theater album), the gritty coming-of-age story, with mother-daughter dynamics front and center, is woven with autobiographical elements of Keys’ own experiences.
