All stories by Sharon Eberson on BroadwayStars

Friday, February 7, 2025

Review: Ties That Bind Face Challenges in ‘Years to the Day’ by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Two old friends walk into a coffee shop, having not seen each other for eight years. They hug, they reminisce, they sip their coffees, they argue, they each deliver shock a…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 12:12PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Your Guide to 2025 Western PA Spring High School Musicals by Sharon Eberson

Compiled by SHARON EBERSON OnStage Pittsburgh is changing things up for the annual listing of Western Pennsylvania spring high school musicals, 2025 edition.  As February begins, more than …

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 01:50PM[SHARE]

Pittsburgh Public Has Had ‘Trouble in Mind’ Since Before Its Broadway Debut by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON The headline of The New York Times review declared: “ ‘Trouble in Mind,’ 66 Years Late and Still On Time.” That was in 2021, when Alice Childress’s 1955 play made…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 07:43AM[SHARE]
Friday, January 31, 2025

‘Hamilton’s’ Christopher Jackson Set for Trust Cabaret Spotlight by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Christopher Jackson was asking about place to eat and things to do in Pittsburgh, and suddenly, an idea painted a vivid picture: It was of the regal General George Washingt…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 09:06AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Survivor of Clergy Abuse Turns Rage Into Advocacy in ‘Unreconciled’ by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON This year marks 20 years since the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy abuse. It also marks 40 years since actor Jay Sefton went from carefree 13-year-o…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 08:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, January 27, 2025

Not Forgotten: U.S. Premiere Illuminates Contributions of 18th-Century Abolitionist Benjamin Lay by Sharon Eberson

Director Ron Daniels and historian Marcus Rediker recount the play’s journey to Quantum Theatre By SHARON EBERSON Side by side on the Zoom screen, avoiding icy streets and freezing tempera…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 04:18PM[SHARE]
Friday, January 24, 2025

Award-Winning Theatrical Spectacle ‘Life of Pi’ Roars Into Pittsburgh  by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON  Three puppeteers morphing into one regal, fearsome Bengal tiger in Life of Pi requires harmonious teamwork, not unlike a band that has found its groove.  The musical c…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 03:54PM[SHARE]
Friday, January 17, 2025

The Mood Is All About Love in Catherine Kolos’ Comeback Cabaret  by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Update on Saturday, January 18, 2025: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust website has tickets on sale for a 7 p.m. show only. https://trustarts.org/production/98660/performance/9…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 11:47AM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 12, 2025

Christopher Rivas’ Life Changed When He Discovered ‘The Real James Bond Was … Dominican’ by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON A magazine article that cast James Bond in a new light changed Christopher Rivas’ life. Vanity Fair wasn’t the first to write that Ian Fleming’s enduring 007 characte…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 06:50AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 9, 2025

Marya Sea Kaminski Sets Exit Date From Pittsburgh Public Theater by Sharon Eberson

The search is on to replace artistic director, who will leave after seven years to ‘have a more expansive and personal response artistically to the world’ By SHARON EBERSON Marya Sea Kam…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, January 4, 2025

August Wilson Will Be Honored With Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 7 by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Playwright August Wilson will be honored posthumously with the 2,799th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday, January 7, 2025 at 2:30 p.m. EST. Denzel Washington…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 07:48AM[SHARE]
Friday, January 3, 2025

Barebones Opens 2025 with Solo Show ‘Unreconciled,’ Told by Survivor of Clergy Abuse by Sharon Eberson

Barebones productions will kick off 2025 with Jay Sefton’s one-man autobiographical show Unreconciled, written by Sefton and Mark Basquill and directed by Geraldine Hughes. The play, in wh…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 01:42PM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 15, 2024

There’s No Place Like Home for Holiday Onstage: Pittsburgh CLO’s ‘A Musical Christmas Carol’; ‘Christmas Live! With Joe Serafini and Friends by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Amid a sea of 2024 A Christmas Carol adaptations on Pittsburgh area stages, for the comfort and joy of my own traditions, I chose a couple that began on Friday the 13th:  …

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 04:02PM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 8, 2024

Review: ‘The Wickhams’ Wreak Holiday Havoc at Pemberley by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON The Bennet sisters and their beaus have some unfinished business to attend to, two years after the events of Pride and Prejudice. So ingloriously did Jane Austen make that …

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 08:59PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 4, 2024

From Higgins to Hook to Scrooge: Charles Shaughnessy Joins Pittsburgh CLO 32-Year Holiday Tradition by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON It’s A Musical Christmas Carol for the hat trick, in Charles Shaughnessy’s 21-year journey with Pittsburgh CLO. The UK-born 5th Baron Shaughnessy, who most TV audiences…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 03:53PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Front Porch Theatricals Brings Home ‘Baby’ and ‘Sunday in the Park With George’ in 2025 by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON On a celebratory night of songs and surprises, Front Porch Theatricals announced the company’s 2025 summer shows, both Tony Award rivals for best musical in 1984. They ar…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 08:19AM[SHARE]
Sunday, December 1, 2024

‘Die Hard N’At’ Brings Bricolage Back With a Vengeance by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Everything old is new again isn’t just a saying this holiday season. It’s a promise of more of what has proven popular, and in one case in particular, a welcome back. …

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 06:01PM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 31, 2024

Staging ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’ Is Right Out of Quantum’s Out-of-the-Box Playbook by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Jed Harris had declared The Odyssey for Quantum Theatre as his directorial swan song … until he was lured back by a tantalizing title. The invitation to collaborate came …

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 07:16PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Bricolage in Braddock: Midnight Radio Returns with ‘Die Hard’ Parody by Sharon Eberson

Bricolage Productions’ Midnight Radio is set to burst back on the theater scene with Die Hard N’At, billed as a “Pittsburgh-ified holiday romp” that parodies the action film and pres…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 11:30PM[SHARE]

Review: Hear ‘& Juliet’ Roar, With Sparkle, Wit and Pop Hits by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON For those of you who give jukebox musicals a general thumb’s down, even you might find yourself giving a high five to & Juliet.  Star-crossed though they may seem, i…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 12:43PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 29, 2024

‘The Piano Lesson’ Brings Washington Brothers to Pittsburgh to Revel in August Wilson’s Legacy by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Brothers Malcolm Washington and John David Washington were in the spotlight in Pittsburgh on Monday, as they asserted how meaningful it was from them to be in the childhood…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 01:04PM[SHARE]
Sunday, October 27, 2024

Review: Theatrical Wizardry Propels Public’s Inventive ‘The Hobbit’ by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON I thought I had every possible iteration of The Hobbit seared in my brain. Now I have to make room for another: Pittsburgh Public Theater’s mashup of clever staging, pupp…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 07:27PM[SHARE]
Friday, October 25, 2024

‘& Juliet’s’ Charts New Course for Bard and Jukebox Musicals by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Corey Mach was on a balcony in Charlotte, N.C., last week, looking out at a cloudless sky and talking about coming to Pittsburgh as William Shakespeare in the hit musical &…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 02:09PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Pittsburgh CLO Will Debut ‘Madame Clicquot’ Musical in Summer 2025 by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Pittsburgh CLO’s 2025 summer just got one-production bigger with the announcement that it will present the premiere of Madame Clicquot: A Revolutionary Musical, a lead-in…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 06:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 21, 2024

City Theatre Conjures New Halloween Experience: ‘Ghosted’ by Sharon Eberson

City Theatre ventures into spooky season this week, with the original Halloween storytelling event Ghosted: Tales from Carson Street, an immersive experience throughout the company’s South…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 11:27AM[SHARE]

Review: New Horizon Presents Sentimental, Inspirational Tale of Tuskegee’s ‘Black Angels’ by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Black Angels Over Tuskegee, perhaps the best-known of works by Layon Gray, last week opened the 33rd season of New Horizon Theater, the writer-director-actor’s production…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 11:25AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 8, 2024

We Don’t Diss and Tell: Flooded With Emotions at 24 Years of OFF THE RECORD by Sharon Eberson

Commentary By SHARON EBERSON It’s 10 days to Game Day No. 24 as I write this, and I’m feeling the pressure and the pride. I come to you today as producer of Pittsburgh’s 24th musical s…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 12:07PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 30, 2024

Visionary Pittsburgh CLO Leader Charles Gray Passes Away at 90 by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON Charles Gray, who served as executive director of Pittsburgh CLO from 1982 to 1996, years that included the founding of the Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School …

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 01:28PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Review: ‘Andy Warhol’s Tomato’ Is a Love Letter to Blue-Collar Pittsburgh by Sharon Eberson

By SHARON EBERSON It’s hard to imagine how a play with so much Pittsburgh heart and soul was met with such fondness in previous productions in Los Angeles and Chicago, and now that Andy Wa…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 08:28PM[SHARE]
Monday, September 23, 2024

Barebones Catches ‘Crocodile Fever’ to End Season of Female Playwrights by Sharon Eberson

UPDATE: After this story was published, Susan Davey had to leave the production and was replaced by Phoebe Lloyd (Carnegie Mellon Class of 2023). By SHARON EBERSON “It’s a typical Pittsb…

SOURCE: onstagepittsburgh.com at 09:58AM[SHARE]

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