Alexandra Strycula - Page 2

"Everything that is, is right." Or so say's Candide's Dr. Pangloss. Based on Voltaire's 18th novella Candide ou L'optimisme (Candide or Optimism), Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide lands in Pittsburgh this Saturday as part of Opera Theater of Pittsburgh's SummerFest, a three-week celebration of opera, music and live theater.

Throughline Theatre Company continues third season with August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts, July 20th, 2012 at the Grey Box Theatre in Lawrenceville; Company's third season is first in new venue and neighborhood.

For its next act, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh reinvents itself in its 35th year with SummerFest, a three-week celebration of the performing and visual arts for all ages. This new regional summer music festival fills three weeks with opera sung in English, concerts, recitals, cabaret, visual arts, and the SummerFest Fringe, June 29 - July 15, 2012. The festival takes place in the intimate theaters of The Hillman Center for Performing Arts on the idyllic grounds of Shady Side Academy, just 10 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. SummerFest invites everyone who loves music and theater to step into some of opera's most beloved works, to experience a suite of witty world premiere music dramas, to discover seldom-performed Mozart masterpieces, and to enjoy an array of free outdoor performances and events.

Recently revived on the Broadway stage this past winter, Noel Coward's comic tour de force PRIVATE LIVES now comes to Pittsburgh to finish off Pittsburgh Public Theater's "Red Hot" 2011-2012 season. Coward's silly screwball romp from the 1930s tells the story of two former lovers, Elyot and Amanda, reunited five years after a presumably malicious divorce. The glamorously volatile couple rekindles their lust for one another after being forced together by adjoining hotel balconies on their respective second honeymoons - and the madness that ensues is a hilarious clash of verbal and physical proportions between both members of the highly acidic pair.

With temperatures rapidly on the climb, what better way to beat the heat than by taking in a show? Here are BroadwayWorld Pittsburgh's top five picks to help you keep your cool this summer - just a small sampling of innumerable entertainment options available in Pittsburgh throughout the upcoming summer months!

Keep up with BroadwayWorld Pittsburgh on its brand new, official Facebook page! Though the page is currently in its earliest stages, Pittsburgh's contributing editors hope to expand its use throughout the upcoming summer months with news, reviews, interviews, and more.

The drinks and the music flow at the legendary Bon Soir. In 1958 Greenwich Village, a young singer and his band take the stage for a final performance before he quits New York City forever. While a chair he's holding for a special someone sits empty all night, Sam Bendrix tells a classic tale of an era not yet ready for the revolutionary changes on the horizon.

The comedic stakes of William Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT have been raised to a whole new level in Quantum Theatre's summer production, playing now through August 21 under the Millvale Avenue Bridge in Bloomfield. Founded in 1990 by Karla Boos (who is also the show's director), Quantum Theatre is known for staging site-specific productions in 'found' settings, having performed past years' shows at places like the Strip District's Gage Building and even The Pittsburgh Zoo. In the case of TWELFTH NIGHT, Quantum's is a somewhat contemporary re-imagination of Shakespeare's original text staged at a dead-end, vacant hospital facility.

Organic Theater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh's brand new - and only - 'eco-friendly' theatre company, is currently making a promising debut with the Pittsburgh premiere of Sarah Ruhl's 2008 play, DEAD MAN'S CELL PHONE. Under the direction of Carlo Vila-Roger, this quirky, two-hour dark comedy performs at the Modern Formations Gallery & Performance Space in Lawrenceville.

The Pittsburgh CLO continues its six-show summer season with a presentation of the classic audience favorite, THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Last performed on the Benedum stage in 2005, THE SOUND OF MUSIC remains a beloved tale about the significance of the resilient bonds of family.

Calling all Andrew Lloyd Webber fans! Pittsburgh CLO's LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING: THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, a musical revue composed of Mr. Lloyd Webber's greatest hits - and then some - runs now through July 14 at the Benedum Center.