Justin Timberlake Returns for Encore Performance at PPG Paints Arena; ‘The Revolutionists’ Continues at City Theatre (Tues., 9/25/18)

1) Back when posters of boy bands adorned the bedroom walls of every teenage girl in the country, naysayers said all those J Crew model-esque pretty boys would be exiled from the limelight in 10 years—and the naysayers were mostly right, but not in the case of Justin Timberlake. The ever-charismatic breakout star from ’N Sync has shown rare staying power, contributing songs like “Cry Me a River” and “SexyBack” to the canon of 21st-century classics and branching out to movies. You remember him as a devil-may-care dot-com guru in The Social Network. He also voiced Branch in 2016’s Trolls and recorded “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” for its soundtrack. Through it all, Timberlake hasn’t taken himself too seriously; his sly, self-referential humor made him an often-invited-back host of “Saturday Night Live.” He has performed at three Super Bowls: one with ’N Sync and two as a solo artist, including Super Bowl LII. His June concert at PPG Paints Arena sold out; good thing he scheduled a second show for September. His latest album is Man of the Woods, released this year. 7 p.m. 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown. (EC, CM)

Justin Timberlake performing at the Pilgrimage Festival in September 2017. (Photo: Mark Briello and Wikipedia).

Playwright Lauren Gunderson is known for her witty plays about women and history; ‘The Revolutionists’ is a hot take on both. (Photo: courtesy of the artist and City Theatre)

2) City Theatre opens its season with a comedy about a very un-funny episode of Western history. The setting is Paris in 1793, during the Reign of Terror. Driven by factional disputes, leaders of the French Revolution are beheading all suspected “enemies of the people,” including each other. Would things go better if the women took charge? Lauren Gunderson’s The Revolutionists gives us an imagined meeting of four women working toward that end. Three are real historical figures: proto-feminist writer Olympe de Gouges, author of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen; Charlotte Corday, soon to assassinate radical leader Jean-Paul Marat in hopes of stopping the Terror; and Marie Antoinette, who aims to escape her late husband’s fate (King Louis XVI has been guillotined) by getting everyone to just get along. Joining this trio is the fictional Marianne Angelle, a rebel from the French slave colony Saint-Domingue, now Haiti. The Revolutionists has been drawing rave notices at theaters across the country. The women engage in high-spirited comical banter while confronting dire issues that are deemed still relevant today—and none can expect to live happily ever after. 7 p.m. Tonight is an ASL (American Sign Language) performance. Continues through September 30. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. (MV)

RADical Days 2018

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy: Volunteer Day
Free admission: 10AM-noon
Join us and gardeners from The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh to help plant the ADA-accessible raised flower beds from summer blooms to fall mums, and plant trees and shrubs. Volunteers 18 years of age or younger must be accompanied by an adult. Space is limited; register in advance (412) 586-2324.
First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh, 5401 Centre Ave. (Shadyside) waterlandlife.org

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