All stories by Christopher Rawson on BroadwayStars

Saturday, December 22, 2018

New Orleans theater is latest to receive August Wilson American Century Cycle Award by Christopher Rawson

2018 Post-Gazette Performer of the Year Wali Jamal delivers PG/August Wilson House honor in person.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 02:38PM
Friday, December 21, 2018

Theater notes: Public's 'Irving Berlin'; CLO's 'Carol'; Bricolage's 'Die Hard N'at,' August WIlson and more by Sharon Eberson and Christopher Rawson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It’s Christmastime on Downtown stages, while Pittsburgh honors a New Orleans company for completing the American Century Cycle.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 12:21PM
Thursday, December 13, 2018

2018 Post-Gazette Performer of the Year: Wilsonian Warrior Wali Jamal by Sharon Eberson and Christopher Rawson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Pittsburgh actor this year became the only person in the world known to have performed in all 11 of August Wilson’s plays.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 07:00AM
Friday, December 7, 2018

Richard Thomas stars in CLO's 'A Musical Christmas Carol' by Christopher Rawson

“The Waltons” star has logged six decades on stage, often in the works of O’Neill, Chekhov, Shaw, Beckett and Shakespeare.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 09:00AM
Friday, November 16, 2018

Theater Hall of Fame inductee Rene Auberjonois has Pittsburgh ties by Christopher Rawson

He attended Carnegie Tech and performed with the American Conservatory Theater in Pittsburgh and San Francisco.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 05:16PM

2018 Theater Hall of Fame inductees include Rene Auberjonois, Christine Baranski, Cicely Tyson and more by Christopher Rawson

Laughs and sentiment highlighted the 2018 Theater Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Gershwin Theatre on Monday.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 05:04PM
Friday, October 12, 2018

Stage review: 'In the Tunnel' explores multiple layers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Christopher Rawson

It’s powerful as visceral experience and shockingly entertaining as satirical, even surreal commentary.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 05:09PM
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Thursday, September 20, 2018

Stage review: Kinetic's 'The Father' is an earnest portrayal of dementia by Christopher Rawson

As long as this confusion reigns, the play intrigues, skating on the edge of Pinter-land.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 08:30AM
Monday, September 17, 2018

Stage review: 'Ma Rainey' belts out black America's blues in August Wilson's earliest work by Christopher Rawson

Vanessa German’s charisma is a highlight of the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre production, extended through Oct. 14.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 12:00PM
Thursday, August 9, 2018

Stage review: 12 Peers mines meta adaptation of 'The Seagull' by Christopher Rawson

The audience is invited to participate in the play with the “Stupid” title, inspired by Chekhov and performed by a capable cast.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 05:21PM
Thursday, July 26, 2018

Stage review: 'Gloria' unleashes the modern moral murk of victim and victimizer by Christopher Rawson

The Hatch Arts production at Nova Place features six actors playing 13 roles in the Pulitzer finalist play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 03:02PM
Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Stage review: Pittsburgh CLO stages a musically lush 'Titanic' by Christopher Rawson

The very title is as big as can be, the vainglorious name given the huge ship that sank in 1912, killing more than 1,500 passengers and crew.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 07:00PM
Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Stage review: Shakespeare with puns and pratfalls, comedy and chaos by Christopher Rawson

In a very old tradition, the Pittsburgh Public Theater has chosen to follow the season’s highpoint, a wonderful “Hamlet,” with that tragedy’s complete antithesis, the Reduced Shakesp…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 07:28AM
Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Texas company connects with Pittsburgh as it receives August Wilson American Century Cycle Award by Christopher Rawson

HOUSTON, Texas — The Ensemble Theatre, the third largest African-American theater company in the country, threw itself a double party on May 12. It was celebrating the opening of August Wi…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 03:51PM
Monday, May 21, 2018

'Nomad Motel' explores family, inclusion and understanding by Christopher Rawson

We’ve recently had a number of “we are the world” plays, in the spirit of those lawn signs welcoming all ethnicities and religions. Some were written or conceived before our recent civ…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 04:06PM
Monday, April 30, 2018
Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Stage review: Chekov's 'Uncle Vanya' is a perfect sendoff for old Pittsburgh Playhouse by Christopher Rawson

Who was the first great American playwright? Shakespeare, of course, on whom American theater cut its teeth for a century or more.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 02:18PM
Monday, March 19, 2018

Stage review: Uncertainty reigns in 'Heisenberg' at the Public by Christopher Rawson

Heisenberg, n. (1) Werner Heisenberg (1901-76), a theoretical physicist. (2) A 2015 play by Simon Stephens now at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. (3) Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Prin…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 03:12PM
Monday, March 5, 2018

Stage review: Quantum's 'Inside Passage' presents one woman's powerful search for family and self by Christopher Rawson

Old family snapshots, personal memories and a search for the differing truths behind them might seem common fodder for a poem, but for a play? Sounds more like therapy than theater — but n…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 06:00AM
Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Kinetic Theatre's 'Holmes and Watson' offers corkscrew plot twists and turns by Christopher Rawson

While telling us to turn off our cell phones, artistic director Andrew Paul strictly enjoins us not to give away “the twist” that provides much of the fun.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 06:00AM
Saturday, February 10, 2018

'Detroit ‘67' frames enigmatic love story with a riot in the streets by Christopher Rawson

Sometimes the personal and political seem at odds, but their conjunction can suggest a larger truth, or at least a hope. Such is the case with Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit ’67,” a …

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 12:23AM
Sunday, February 4, 2018

Review: 'A Devil Inside' serves up comic-gory mayhem for Pittsburgh Playhouse's final professional stage show by Christopher Rawson

For the final professional stage production at the grand and ramshackle old Pittsburgh Playhouse, soon to be deserted for new digs Downtown, the powers that be at Playhouse Rep clearly scann…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 02:09PM
Monday, January 29, 2018

Stage review: City Theatre's powerful 'Leonard Pelkey' becomes a story felt, not just told by Christopher Rawson

Inevitably, right from the start, it’s all about the performance. Yes, there’s a story, but that seems mainly the pro-forma framework on which to erect the one-man performance through wh…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 04:12PM
Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Pittsburgh theater: A look back at 2017, and a taste of what's in store this year by Sharon Eberson and Christopher Rawson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh theater in 2017 gave us a lot to think about and to look forward to in 2018. As we announce the multitalented, multifaceted Monteze Freeland as the Post-Gazette’s 2017 Performer…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 11:00AM

Post-Gazette Performer of the Year: Monteze Freeland by Sharon Eberson and Christopher Rawson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The mighty railroad man John Henry, who races a steam drill until his heart bursts. The ambitious, duplicitous manager of “Dreamgirls.” An outrageous preacher and a flamboyant BFF in “…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 11:00AM
Thursday, December 21, 2017

The 10 best evenings in Pittsburgh Theater by Sharon Eberson and Christopher Rawson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In a tumultuous year, Pittsburgh theater frequently mirrored what was happening in the world beyond — but that’s always true. Theater shows us ourselves, positive, negative and deep…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 07:30AM
Saturday, December 9, 2017

Radio twist brings 'A Christmas Story' to life on stage by Christopher Rawson

They say Christmas comes but once a year, but it sure seems like more as the year turns quicker and quicker. This tends to fray some familiar Christmas traditions. It’s one of those good n…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 01:22AM
Thursday, December 7, 2017

Stage Review: PICT's 'In the Company of Wilde' offers a biographical sketch of the embattled playwright by Christopher Rawson

Never match wits with a master. That is to say, when reviewing a genius wit like Oscar Wilde (and who is there like him?), don’t try to be witty yourself. You can’t measure up.

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 12:25PM
Monday, December 4, 2017

Stage Review: Kinetic Theatre's 'Love, Love, Love' examines generational affections by Christopher Rawson

You may get that the title, “Love, Love, Love,” is borrowed from the Beatles’ song where it is insistently celebrated as “all we need.” But the sour intelligence in Mike Bartlett�…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 04:31PM
Sunday, November 19, 2017

Stage review: 'The Humans' dishes out comedy with familial discord at Pittsburgh Public Theater by Christopher Rawson

Thanksgiving came early – and also Christmas and any other family-gathering holiday on your immediate horizon. But Stephen Karam’s disarmingly titled “The Humans” at the Pittsburgh P…

SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at 12:05PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards