Halsey in Concert at PPG Paints; ‘Equus’ Continues at The Public (Tues., 10/10/17)

1) Halsey is having a moment. The singer-songwriter already had an album, 2015’s Badlands, peak at no. 2 on the Billboard 200. However, her career exploded when she appeared on The Chainsmokers’ single “Closer.” The song stayed at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 consecutive weeks in 2016. “Closer” was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. She followed this success with her sophomore album, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, this year. A concept album inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom follows Solis Angelus and Luna Aureum, lovers separated by socioeconomic class in a purgatory-like land. And hey, the singles, such as “Now or Never,” are catchy too. Halsey was born Ashley Frangipane. Her stage-name is an anagram of her first name, and it also references Halsey Street station, a stop on the New York City Subway. She will perform at the PPG Paints Arena. PartyNextDoor and Charli XCX, who is having her own moment with singles like “Boys,” open. 7 p.m. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. (CM)

2) British playwright Peter Shaffer is best known for Amadeus, but his most striking work is the 1973 play Equus, which has a strange backstory. Shaffer wrote Equus after hearing of a gruesome crime in which a young man blinded horses by driving spikes into their eyes. Trying to imagine what was behind such an act, Shaffer spun a fictional tale with eerie mythic overtones: A psychiatrist examining the criminal finds him to be a troubled teenager who worships horses (the boy’s horse-god is “Equus”) and is sexually attracted to them. It turns out he committed the crime when so-called normal life intruded, and the psychiatrist, himself a key character, comes to question his own views of normality. Equus was a sensation in London and won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Play on Broadway. Yet it later faded from the radar when Shaffer, for  reasons that aren’t clear, withheld production rights until finally approving a 2007 revival with Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe as the young man. The play is now back in circulation and Pittsburgh Public Theater opens its season with Equus. 7 p.m. Performances continue through September 28. O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (MV)

Free RADical Days 2017 Events

Boyce-Mayview Park: Community & Recreation Center
Free admission: 9AM-5PM
Free group exercise classes both indoors and at the outdoor learning lab, music and art demos, and a few guided bicycle rides through Boyce Mayview Park.
1551 Mayview Rd. (Upper St. Clair)

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