Greg Kerestan - Page 2

I've posted many times about how much of an institution Saint Vincent Summer Theatre has become: you know you're going to get a slapstick farce, a Golden Age or earlier revue, and usually a musical comedy with pop oldies.

Pittsburgh's biggest musical theatre company is making big moves to support and diversify its audience. A series of focus group encounters led Fleischer and his team to a single recurring idea: remove the barriers that prevent potential audience members from coming, and from returning, to CLO shows.

Oscar Wilde's comedy of manners, lightly reconceived as a screwball farce, is a refreshing summer treat.

James Ijames's Pulitzer-winning comedy Fat Ham is less an adaptation or reimagining of Hamlet, and more a play ABOUT Hamlet, a response to Hamlet. The characters are all too aware of how their stories and behaviors are mirroring characters from Shakespeare's tragedy: they quote it, riff on it, confirm or refute its influence on them.

The rediscovered orchestrations of John Williams make a beloved musical just that much better. If you were a movie or musical fan during the VHS era, you likely remember Fiddler on the Roof as one of those unwieldy three-hour films that require two different cassette tapes to watch in full, like Titanic.

Sara Porkalob's solo show is a captivating mix of musical, monologue and alternative vibes. Solo shows are growing in popularity, both due to their artistic charms and their economic advantages post-COVID. Solo musicals, however, are still a rarity. What's the last one you can think of?

CLO's Spark program has a large-sized hit with the latest small-scale musical it commissioned. As a musical writer, let me just say: it's TOUGH to launch a new musical. The best thing you can do is have a company commission a show from you based on your pitch, otherwise you're going to have a long, difficult but hopefully rewarding journey as an indie theatre creator. (Ask me how I know!)

If you asked me about important works of twentieth century literature, I'll rattle off all the obvious ones like The Great Gatsby and Death of a Salesman, but I'll also make a case for the first ten years of The Simpsons as an essential piece of American literature. Hyper-referential, joke dense, topical and infinitely quotable, so many of the idioms of the twentieth century began in The Simpsons that it's earned a place beside Mark Twain for its quotes alone. Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis's musical Urinetown may style itself as a satirical twist on Brecht and Blitzstein, but any media-savvy viewer will immediately recognize that Matt Groening and Conan O'Brien are its real artistic forefathers.

Leave it to a musical based on George Bernard Shaw to have audiences debating in the aisles after bows.

I'm still not quite sure how I feel about this show, but it sounded like heaven.

It's back! Just last year I made the prediction that Philip Grecian's A Christmas Story: The Play would become a yearly staple, becoming the Christmas equivalent of Rocky Horror. To my delight, I was correct. Distinct from the more popular but more sentimentalized musical version by Pasek and Paul, Grecian's play version amplifies the farcical qualities and kid-brain surrealism of Jean Shepherd's memoirs into a fast, funny and chaotic offering. It may run two and a half hours, but this one flies by like a ninety minute movie without commercials.

The CLO Cabaret's holiday special is delightfully raunchy, thanks to a go-for-broke performance by Lara Hayhurst.

Pittsburgh's boutique professional musical theatre company loves taking chances, and this cabaret is full of them.

A great cast and extremely solid band steps up to the challenge of Sondheim's prickliest show.

Broadway's most complicated leading man is a fascinating match for one of the most iconic film musical roles of all time.

Read the review of the explosive onstage performance of TICK, TICK...BOOM at Pittsburgh CLO. Find out why this show might be even better than Jonathan Larson's famous musical RENT. Running at Pittsburgh CLO.

Don't miss the Public's new one-man show, October 19 to November 19.

Brian Quijada's new musical balances heavy subject matter, light comedy and magic-realist whimsy with a rhythmic score.

Director Justin Fortunato and cast keep the midcentury sheen nice and glossy on this Shaiman/Wittman musical.

The splash zone at the PMT West End Canopy is not messing around. Devotees of Evil Dead the Musical came in all-white clothes or purchased white ponchos and t-shirts at the concession stand.