“Streetcar” Making Stops at barebones; “Smart Blonde” at Head of (City Theatre’s) Class (CPs Wed., 12/3/14)

1) If the only version of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire that you’ve seen is the vintage film with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, it’s certainly one for the ages, but the power of a live performance is something else. If you are a fan of barebones productions—the upstart theater company that did another tainted-love sizzler last year, Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Motherfucker With the Hat—then maybe this Streetcar is the ride you’ve waited for. Barebones will spice the steamy New Orleans tale with touches of Steel City flavor. Tami Dixon, creator of the one-woman show South Side Stories, plays the pivotal role of Blanche DuBois, and Pittsburgh music legends Joe Grushecky and John Gresh will perform live blues. 8 p.m. Runs through Dec. 6. New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side.

This old studio portrait of Holliday shows the inner spark outshining the glitz.

2) Judy Holliday, who put on a silly Betty Boop-ish accent to play ditzy blondes in movies of the 1950s, was, in fact, considered one of the smartest women in show business. She won an Oscar for Best Actress as a naïve but not-so-dumb gangster’s moll in Born Yesterday, navigated niftily between Hollywood and Broadway, and outfoxed interrogators who wanted her to name names of suspected Communist sympathizers during the blacklisting era. Smart Blonde traces Holliday’s remarkable life and times in a music-filled new play commissioned and given its world premiere by City Theatre. Playwright Willy Holtzman also wrote The Morini Strad, which City premiered in 2010. Smart Blonde, with Andréa Burns in the title role, is at the Lester Hamburg Studio Theater adjacent to 1300 Bingham St., South Side. 1 and 7 p.m. Continues through Dec. 21.

3) After this summer’s Jason Aldean and Toby Keith concerts, our “Southern” (PA) town of Pittsburgh is in the midst of a slack country music period. What’s a country fan to do? Don’t be a “hayseed.” Get on over to Peter’s Pub for country music night with DJ JB. Check out their great specials: $5.50 fish bowls, $7.50 Smirnoff fish bowls, $2 Yuengling bottles (10 p.m. – midnight), and $5.50 Bud Lt. pitchers (7 p.m. to close). If you want to add some protein to the picture, try the $5 sandwiches ( 5 – 10 p.m.). Plus, unlike the summer country concerts, they’ll clean up and bag your trash. 116 Oakland Ave., Oakland.

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