Greg Kerestan - Page 9

Summer isn't summer until there's a classic farce onstage at Saint Vincent.

Forty years of productions and a Disney movie have made the show cuddly, but this CLO production restores the weirdness and wackiness at the show's edges.

Almost every time you see a major production of Anything Goes, it'll vary in some way from the last one you saw. There are at least three licensable editions of the show, from as far back as the 1930s and as recent as 2022. The song stack is in perpetual flux between a long list of Cole Porter greatest hits and B-sides, and there are several characters who appear only in certain editions of the show. About a decade ago, the show underwent a reputation update from 'park and bark' diva and vaudeville standard to an all-singing-all-dancing showcase for triple-threat performers. It's a lot of wigs on a very old head, but somehow the show still works.

The summer institution's season opener effortlessly blends the two genres the venue is most famous for.

William Finn's neurotic queer musical epic isn't necessarily user-friendly, but Pittsburgh's best local playhouse still manages to find the warmth amidst the dysfunction.

Lauren Yee's time-bending new play shows the power of identity, family and a really good mixtape.

There's a reason Patinkin is a legend, and it's because he is so permanently himself and no one else.

This jukebox rocker may not be 'simply the best' in the genre, but its energy and surreal touches make it stand out from the pack.

Go see Beetlejuice. Go see Beetlejuice. Go see Beetlejuice. Okay, storytime! I have a personal connection to the Beetlejuice musical on two levels. First, when I was a senior in high school and a freshman in college, I followed Stephen Sondheim's advice on learning how to write by adapting an existing work solely for educational purposes, to learn 'how' to do it. My 'untitled unauthorized Beetlejuice musical' project was almost uniformly bad, but it taught me a lot; the two songs from it that showed any promise both wound up revised and repurposed into the musical I wrote during the pandemic. Second... I'm the guy who named the Netherlings. Yes, the devoted, rabid and sometimes frightening Beetlejuice musical fan club is named after a term I coined online. Naturally, when the tour came to town, I had to see it, and believe me: it did not disappoint.

Justin Emeka's riotous reimagining is the best Shakespeare in Pittsburgh since 'Othello' at the Public.

Pleasantly disorienting, this pseudo-docutheatre raises questions large and small.

A stripped-down presentation and some local grit (plus actual queens) helps this show find its footing in a small production.

This super-sixties musical continues to feel fresh, while also seeming like it's been around forever.

The smartest, stupidest, most beloved Christmas tale of the twentieth century comes to life, and then some, in Michael Berresse's farcical production.

Front Porch announces a season of Finn and Sondheim, in an evening of song and stories. As far as I'm concerned, if you want to measure the pulse of the Pittsburgh theatre scene, you will feel it the most intensely and regionally in Front Porch. The company's mission to produce exciting musicals specifically highlighting the talents of Pittsburgh-area artists makes it feel somehow organically part of the community; much as I love seeing the talents of major Broadway stars at Pittsburgh CLO every years, there's a thrill in seeing a Front Porch show and knowing 'all of this was made here.' Though Front Porch's impresario and producer Leon S. Zionts passed away several years ago, he has remained an active member of its creative community, as the shortlist of shows he crafted with fellow producers Bruce E. G. Smith and Nancy D. Zionts continues to guide the company's mission statement forward.

The gritty folk-opera sensation isn't the second coming of Hamilton, it's the second coming of RENT.

What did our critic think of FRANKENSTEIN at Prime Stage? I'm a lifelong horror buff, devouring the Famous Monsters of Filmland on celluloid and printed page, as well as the artsy, philosophical 'elevated horror' that has become a literary and cinematic movement in the last decade. Both the schlocky and the thoughtful branches of horror can both trace their roots back to the shadow cast by Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and its innumerable adaptations. For whatever reason, her novel itself has never been a favorite of mine, though I love the way she bucked convention and gender roles to invent literary science fiction and elevated horror. Maybe it's because Frankenstein has transcended being a character on the page in a story with a beginning and end, and become a genuine folk icon. Even a perfect adaptation of Shelley's novel will feel incomplete because the idea of Frankenstein is now so much bigger than the text of Frankenstein. Here, science fiction writer Lawrence C. Connolly and director Liam Macik thread the needle of the Frankenstein myth in an adaptation that stays unusually true to Shelley's novel but nods to sources beyond.

Disney's biggest 'princess show' ever is weirder and more fun than you remember. When Frozen fever hit a decade ago, it was inescapable. No matter how you felt about Anna, Elsa and Olaf, they were quickly overexposed. Bizarre Frozen merchandise is still on the shelves to this day- Frozen cereal, Elsa shirts with no-context phrases like 'Hashtag selfie!' Olaf himself has become a Christmas character, and lawn Olafs have nearly replaced Frosty decorations. 'Let It Go' was a surprise pop hit, and propelled theatre actress Idina Menzel into a new life as 'Adele Dazeem,' movie regular and internet meme. Naturally, a Broadway musical was inevitable. The question is, given Disney musicals' track record of falling between brilliance and mediocrity, how would Frozen do?

The New Hazlett is the perfect place for this sophisticated, wildly ambitious, almost overstuffed, musical soap opera.

What a way to end the season- a toe-tapping, hilarious disco throwback.