Pittsburgh Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations

Review: A SHERLOCK CAROL Blends Dickens and Doyle at Kinetic Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - December 18, 2024

It has long been posited that Sherlock Holmes is difficult to adapt well, because the nature of Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Sherlock Universe' is so fragmented. Most of his memorable characters apppear only once and rarely interact; even more vexing, Holmes's own behaviors vary from the misanthropic and c...

Review: A MUSICAL CHRISTMAS CAROL & WHO'S HOLIDAY Revive Holiday Traditions at Pittsburgh CLO
by Greg Kerestan - December 15, 2024

CLO's seasonal favorites may not be new, but they have yet to wear out their welcome....

Review: FRONT PORCH CABARET Sings the Hits at Front Porch Theatricals
by Greg Kerestan - December 04, 2024

I keep saying it and it keeps being true: it doesn't really matter what Front Porch announces for their season, because 'Front Porch Presents' is a strong enough endorsement on its own. If you told me Front Porch was presenting a notorious snooze like In My Life or Lestat, I'd put my preconceived no...

Review: MJ Explores an Enigma at Benedum Center
by Greg Kerestan - November 21, 2024

Like the King of Pop himself, this adventurous jukebox psychodrama blends darkness with joy....

Review: THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI Is A Dark Dream at Quantum Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - November 11, 2024

Out of nowhere, the silent film classic The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari rocketed back into the zeitgeist about five years ago. It's name dropped, adapted, referenced everywhere from art films to children's cartoons. ...

Review: & JULIET Fuses Pop and Art at Benedum Center
by Greg Kerestan - November 03, 2024

Max Martin's songs have never made more sense than they do in this jukebox confection....

Review: POTUS Brings Serious Laughs to Serious Issues at City Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - October 02, 2024

City Theatre's brand, the last decade or so, has often been less is more. Tiny casts, simple sets, show don't tell, but also don't show. The last two or three seasons have included an increased focus on immersive unit sets, but the principle still stood... not anymore, though....

Review: BANDSTAND Breaks New Ground at Front Porch Theatricals
by Greg Kerestan - August 20, 2024

Front Porch's biggest show yet is also one of its best....

Review: A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN Drops Jaws, Bombshells at Quantum Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - August 20, 2024

Swerving between low comedy and high tragedy, this outdoor O'Neill drama stuns and swelters, even on cool nights....

Review: SEUSSICAL Is Eighty Minutes of Musical Heaven at Pittsburgh CLO
by Greg Kerestan - August 01, 2024

The summer season ends with this kid-friendly spectacular....

Review: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN Makes for a Monster Hit at Pittsburgh CLO
by Greg Kerestan - July 22, 2024

Sometimes, smaller, dumber and cheaper is a compliment, not a put-down, as in this miniaturized Mel Brooks classic....

Review: CHEEK TO CHEEK Is Sincerely Old-Fashioned at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - July 18, 2024

Irving Berlin's songs are both timeless, and also thoroughly of their own time and place....

Review: VERY BERRY DEAD Makes a Big Impression at Big Storm Performance Company
by Greg Kerestan - July 14, 2024

José Pérez IV's new tragicomedy feels like it's always been around, but still remains refreshing and new....

Review: THE MUSIC MAN Is Still Charming at Pittsburgh CLO
by Greg Kerestan - July 11, 2024

I'll admit, I had a huge smile on my face all the way through The Music Man that had little to nothing to do with the production itself. You see, I'm a nerd and a theatre kid in my thirties, and to that demographic, there was a cultural phenomenon just as big as Monty Python and Star Trek were to Ge...

Review: UNNECESSARY FARCE Updates the Formula at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - June 28, 2024

The funny thing about farce as a genre is it seems to be perpetually stuck in the past; the constant misunderstandings, cross-dressing and door-slamming seem tied to a time before the internet, before cell phones... hell, maybe even before the Pill. It's a Ken Ludwig world that seems tied to the Ken...

Review: THE COLOR PURPLE Brings All the Feels at Pittsburgh CLO
by Greg Kerestan - June 28, 2024

As a literature major, part of me has always found it unbelievable that tight, two-hour adaptations of Alice Walker's The Color Purple have been so successful. The novel is sprawling, complex and dense, with an epistolary structure not unlike the similarly tricky-to-adapt Dracula. Nonetheless, my st...

Review: WEST SIDE STORY Makes a Classic Feel Fresh at Pittsburgh CLO
by Greg Kerestan - June 13, 2024

There is no greater musical theatre staging preservationist than Baayork Lee, who has devoted much of her career to preserving and restaging the original direction and choreography to A Chorus Line. ...

Review: LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL at Pittsburgh CLO Is Brilliant, Hard to Watch
by Greg Kerestan - June 07, 2024

It's a tale as old as time: the downward spiral of a once-brilliant talent into substance abuse and early death. It's the second half of the 'star is born' template, and it never goes out of style... because it sadly never stops happening in real life. The list is long, with Amy Winehouse as the rec...

Review: THE COFFIN MAKER Deftly Blends Genres at Pittsburgh Public Theater
by Greg Kerestan - June 05, 2024

Folks, this is a first. I've been writing reviews for BWW for about ten years now, and rarely have I seen a new work that so deftly and fearlessly blends genres and tones together. Director Monteze Freeland and playwright Mark Clayton Southers have achieved the impossible: The Coffin Maker is an exe...

Review: THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES Sings the Hits at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - May 30, 2024

It's an oldie but a goodie, and packed with oldies-but-goodies....

Review: A... MY NAME IS STILL ALICE Brings Back the 90s at Front Porch Theatricals
by Greg Kerestan - May 22, 2024

It's the best episode of 90s SNL that you never saw....

Review: News and Tunes at SUMMER THEATRE GALA at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - April 15, 2024

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. ...

Review: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Zips Along at Pittsburgh Public Theater
by Greg Kerestan - April 05, 2024

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

Review: FAT HAM Serves Cookout Chaos Realness at City Theatre
by Greg Kerestan - March 11, 2024

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, confi...

Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF IN CONCERT Breathes Life into an Old Favorite at Heinz Hall
by Greg Kerestan - February 26, 2024

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 Tit...