Martin Lawrence Plays PPG Paints Arena; Dan + Shay at Star Lake; Quantum’s ‘A Moon for the Misbegotten’ Opens at Longue Vue Country Club (Fri., 8/2/24)

1) “Marty Mar” is in town tonight. That’s actor, comedian, director, and producer Martin Lawrence. He brings his Y’all Know What IT Is! comedy tour to PPG Paints Arena, additionally featuring Adele Givens and Gary Owen. Lawrence is best known for his film and TV roles including his signature sitcom “Martin.” He’s starred in such films as Blue Streak, and Big Momma’s House, Black Knight, and Wild Hogs. Additionally, he starred opposite Will Smith in the series of Bad Boys films. 8 p.m. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown.

2) Dan Smeyers grew up in Wexford, Pennsylvania, and graduated from North Allegheny High School. He attended CMU before embarking on his professional musical career. Smeyers played in several  bands, one of which was even on the Vans Warped Tour, before meeting Shay Mooney, a native of Natural Dam, Arkansas, in Nashville. The two of them clicked and started writing country songs soon thereafter. After some early success they started performing together as Dan + Shay. Now they have five albums and numerous awards including three Grammys and five ACM Awards. Dan + Shay’s latest album is Bigger Houses, released last year. The album reached no. 9 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The albums big single is “Save Me The Trouble.” Special guests are Jake Owen and Dylan Marlowe. 7 p.m. Pavilion at Star Lake. (R.H.)

Dan + Shay performing at the New Daisy Theatre in Memphis in 2017. (Photo: Jana Beamer, Wikipedia)

A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN by Eugene O’Neill. Quantum Theatre at Longue Vue Country Club, Verona, August 2 – 25

Quantum Theatre’s ‘A Moon for the Misbegotten’ stars Melessie Clark as Josie and Brett Mack as Jamie Tyrone. (Photo: Jason Snyder)

3) In the spirit of other modern, realist playwrights like Ibsen and Strindberg, America’s own Eugene O’Neill made his mark in the 1920s with Beyond The Horizon (for which he won a Pulitzer,) The Hairy Ape, and Anna Christie. But it would be another 27 years until his signature  play, A Long Day’s Journey into Night, was first staged three years after his death. So personal was this story of the Tyrone family and its shameful despairs, O’Neill had requested that this autobiographical work not be produced until 25 years after his burial. It too won a Pulitzer. Yet the last play to be staged in his lifetime, A Moon for the Misbegotten, was also autobiographical and, in fact, it is a story that follows the events revealed in A Long Day’s Journey. 

A Moon for the Misbegotten explores the sorrowful plight of a father and his daughter struggling to make their 1920’s farm share productive. Phil Hogan, irascible and cunning, has a dream that he will one day own this rock-strewn land in Connecticut. Despite his three sons having left the homestead, Hogan and his strong-willed daughter Josie carry on. When their landowner, James Tyrone Jr., comes to settle a neighborly dispute, he decides in the process to sell the land. Of course, Josie Hogan sees things differently. 

Of O’Neill’s greatest works, audiences can depend on three dramatic elements: despair, delusion, and a lot of drinking. Moon does not disappoint. Quantum Theatre is staging O’Neill’s great work at Longue Vue Country Club, premiering August 2. Performed outdoors on the club’s sporting clay field, A Moon For The Misbegotten may actually feature a real moon, weather permitting. Audience members are invited to bring a picnic dinner as early as 6:30 before the 8:00 pm curtain. 400 Longue Vue Drive, Verona (C.P.O.)

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