Greg Kerestan - Page 6

I can't quite explain why this is the most successful musical of all time, but I can't deny that it works.

Leave your thinking caps and your good taste at home. Just go for the hairspray-scented ride, people.

Though a part of me misses the annual summer farce usually staged at this time, it's hard to fault Gregg Brandt for staging one of the most crowd-pleasing musicals of all time

Though the actual libretto is long past its expiration date, there's no denying that this nostalgic throwback is a great musical revue if nothing else.

It's something of a cliche to compare magicians to Harry Potter, especially youthful, energetic British ones. Luckily, Billy Kidd bears no resemblance whatsoever to the fabled boy wizard; no, she's more of a female Daniel Radcliffe. (Anyone who has seen Radcliffe in ANYTHING other than his most famous role knows the kind of joyfully off-kilter blend of enthusiasm and weirdness this comparison should bring to mind.) Headlining at the Cultural Trust's Liberty Magic cabaret theatre, Billy Kidd manages to fuse sleight of hand, comedy and theatre into something unique and unforgettable.

Pasek and Paul's teen musical sensation has style, substance and a great cast, though the score is sometimes a little generic.

It's the Bard more or less as you know and love him... but with a dash of Jerry Lewis.

Henrik Ibsen's characters go HBO mumblecore in this electric reimagining of the classic melodrama.

This Frank Wildhorn crime romp is a quirky production of an imperfect show, but buoyed by solid, charismatic and untraditional performances from the central duo.

With the weekend of romance upon us, here are some shows you might want to attend- plus the restaurant option that best suits each event.

Don't think too hard about the symbolism or implications of the framing device here- just let Marya Sea Kaminski's all-female nautical fantasy sweep you away.

Pittsburgh's OTHER hip-hop Hispanic identity musical autobiography may not be as big and splashy as 'In the Heights,' but it's rawer, realer, and way more DIY-inspiring.

What do you want me to say? HAMILTON is in Pittsburgh. If that doesn't sell you already, you already knew you weren't interested.

There are plenty of ways of describing Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Sophisticated, approachable, elegant, witty. But very few would describe it as wacky... unless those lucky few had seen Kate Hamill's production, as directed by Desdemona Chiang at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. I can't remember the last time I had quite as much fun at a 'classical' period piece, even while realizing that this was certain to be one of the most divisive shows in PPT history. Throughout the evening I heard audiences laughing, clapping, even cheering the production's gleeful ingenuity, while at intermission I heard several people complain that 'it's a wonderful production of a stupid play' and that they 'thought it would be more Masterpiece Theatre.'

The recent Disney smash feels like it's eighty years old rather than less than ten- but in this case, that's a good thing.

'Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, dudes dressed up as chicks.'

After a more realistic, but less interesting, live-action film, Pittsburgh CLO returns to the original- and cartoons in general- for inspiration.

A sentimental, old-fashioned musical can be corny and slow in the wrong hands, but this production is as fresh as the heather on the hill.

The success of the 'Nunsense' franchise may be a bizarre fluke, but there's no denying the charm of Gregg Brandt's production.

There's a lot going on in Maury Yeston and Peter Stone's musical epic, but the payoff is well worth the effort.