Pittsburgh Opera’s The Grapes of Wrath
Heading to the final performance of this show at the Benedum, on Nov. 23, I wondered a little about accommodating myself to a revered novel about some of the country’s most downtrodden people — humans who breathed well within living memory — rendered in an art form that’s among the planet’s priciest to produce. Simply…
Quantum Theatre’s Museum of Desire
“Breaking the fourth wall” is a pretty hoary concept in theater, but Dan Jemmett’s approach to it is refreshing. As he demonstrates in his latest Quantum collaboration, the British-born director exploits the fourth wall at once so casually and so thoroughly because we are never sure that he even acknowledges its existence. Like much of…
Is There a Spin Doctor In the House?
I think it’s been pretty well established that PittGirl may be Pittsburgh’s greatest self-promotional genius since Andy Warhol. Here’s a woman who has reporters eating out of the palm of her hand — to the extent that when her blog shuts down, it ends up on the front page of the Post-Gazette. Which means UPMC…
Gender Gap
Advocates for Brian Prowel say that he and countless other Americans are slipping through the cracks of anti-discrimination laws
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
This domestic melodrama set during the Holocaust and adapted from John Boyne’s novel, left me pondering: With literally millions of real horror stories, why make up an utterly unbelievable one, and then lard it up with mawkish sentimentality, just in case we don’t get it? Mark Herman’s film follows 8-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield), the son…
Guitarist Richard Lloyd tangles with audience members at Brillobox show
Unless Brillobox has surveillance video they’re not telling us about — and let’s hope not — it seems unlikely we’ll ever get to the bottom of who did what to who at the venue last Sat., Nov. 15, when tempers flared between audience members and the night’s headliner, guitarist Richard Lloyd. Lloyd, who spent his…
The Three Rivers Film Festival
The 27th annual Three Rivers Film Festival, presented by Pittsburgh Filmmakers, continues through Sun., Nov. 23. The program of more than 40 films includes foreign-language works, American independents, documentaries, shorts, local works and experimental cinema, as well as the just-added local premiere of The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, on Sun., Nov. 23. Tickets for most films…
Quantum of Solace
Daniel Craig — the intriguing “new” Bond — returns as the hard-eyed, bristly, still-gelling British MI6 Agent 007, as Marc Forster’s film picks off right after the events of 2006’s Casino Royale. This Mr. Bond is Mr. Angry, seeking various paybacks, all while tracking a shadowy global conspiracy, but the frequently complicated but dull Quantum…
This Just In: November 20 – 27
Highlights from the local TV news: the “suckers list.”
2Red Lounge
Small plates and big lounge chairs mark 2Red, Red Room’s expanded space.
Doug Varone’s new dance work explores a dark side of humanity.
They were shown beating and kicking one another, fleeing from aggressors and, most powerfully, being herded into a small group and forced to kneel with their hands clasped behind heads.
Point Park’s Conservatory Dance Company offers an entertaining Pittsburgh Connections showcase.
Something like TV’s Teletubbies, the sedate dance work, with perfectly matched music by Michael Caskey, mesmerized with its simplicity and psychological undertones.
Interesting Times is local activist and playwright Jerry Starr’s last testament on stage.
This heartfelt drama condenses much of Starr’s existence into a two-hour nutshell.
Escanaba in Love
But you kinda gotta get used to da stuff, like you would wit 212 proof Soady Maple Lightning.
Into the Woods
Given how perfectly cast this very large musical is, how “just right” every actor is in his or her role, it almost seems as if it were written specifically for them.
Letters to the Editor: November 19 – 26
Feedback from our readers: Election-protection correction.
LGBT Issues: Transgender Pennsylvanians say 2009 crucial for equal rights
Transgender people and their supporters, gathering Nov. 13 at the University of Pittsburgh, concluded that next year would be crucial for securing equal rights and protections from Harrisburg. “We must see the words ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender expression and identity’ in our statute[s] in order to make sure everyone has equal protection under the law,”…
Education: Middle School disciplinary problems spike
A drastic one-year increase in disciplinary problems in Pittsburgh’s middle schools has some education experts wondering whether public school officials should be teaching the district’s code of conduct along with reading and math. According to an A+ Schools report released on Nov. 10, there were nearly 60 disciplinary incidents — violence, weapons and drug offenses…
East Side Story
Big changes are coming to Larimer, but some activists worry about what will happen to the little guy in the process
In time for the 250th, labor historian Charles McCollester offers a people’s history of Pittsburgh.
We can watch time pass again, only with the people who were at the bottom sitting on top.
Artist Leslie Ansley envisions the past — and future — of the Hill District.
“These kids, with their hopefulness and energy, are the future of the Hill District.”
Grunge survivors Local H play Mr. Small’s with Electric Six
Singer and guitarist Scott Lucas channels the doubt, rage, jealousy, self-loathing and feelings of victimization that come with a fiery crash.
Music on the Edge presents NOW Ensemble — but don’t call their music “New”
“Pop musicians like Björk and Radiohead are getting closer to what contemporary classical composers are doing.”
Fantastic Voyagers two-day experimental music fest returns
Tamburo describes the festival’s participants as simply “people in the world with me making art at the same time.”
At the Glass Center, Susan Taylor Glasgow’s ironic tributes to domesticity.
The door-less house, seemingly impenetrable, proposes little reward for “climbing” the long, narrow staircase.
Blind Date
A poem by Joan E. Bauer
Pittsburgh n’@
Dispatches from the blogosphere: Steelers touchdown call touches off controversy.
To what extent was the streetcar used in Pittsburgh, and when did it stopped being used for transportation?
Let’s face it: If Potemkin Villages had rail-transit systems, they’d look like ours. We have a grand total of three “subway stops” Downtown, and two light-rail routes serving the same part of town — the South Hills. The Port Authority is busily drilling a tunnel under the Allegheny River to connect Downtown with transit stations…
The Green Fairy Returns
Absinthe is now available at state liquor stores, and select watering holes.
New club the New Amsterdam opens in Lawrenceville
A section of the glass-brick façade has been replaced with a large, transparent glass garage door facing the street.
Savage Love
I am a straight, crossdressing male into bondage. That’s NOT my problem. Recently, I began seeing a professional Dominatrix for forced crossdressing, among other things. She was great, but our last session ended abruptly when She told me that She wanted to start dildo-training me. I was all for it, but I asked Her, politely,…
