Steel to Sustainable Festival at Carrie Furnace; CLO Cabaret Has a Good ‘First Date’ (Sat., 4/23/16)

1) In Pittsburgh Earth Day celebrations don’t end until we say they do. Today the Steel to Sustainable Festival will take place at the Carrie Furnaces at the former U.S. Steel Homestead Works. Several bands will be performing including Barrels to Beethoven, Red Room Effect, and Colonel Eagleburger’s HighStepping Goodtime Band. Food trucks will be serving up some tasty grub, on hand will be Second Breakfast, La Palapa, Mexican Gourmet Kitchen, and Randita’s. All of these things can work up a thirst which can be quenched—for those of age—at the event’s beer garden operated by Round Corner Cantina and Wilson-McGinley. Solar power is provided by ZeroFossil. The festival benefits Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. Carrie Furnace Blvd., Swissvale.

It’s only a “First Date,” and CLO’s Carolyn Nicolian already has Luke Halferty by the necktie. photo: Laura Petrella.

2) Match-making websites have done little to add vision to the ritual known as blind dating. It remains an adventure. But fortunately, in the case of the musical comedy First Date, it becomes a laughable song-and-dance adventure that one can watch and enjoy rather than participating painfully therein. First Date premiered in Seattle (where else?) in 2012, made it to Broadway the next year, and is now being presented by Pittsburgh CLO in its intimate CLO Cabaret theater. The quandaries portrayed in this musical are by no means particular to the United States. The show has been licensed for translation and production worldwide, and is due to open soon in Buenos Aires, for instance. Meanwhile CLO offers the chance to catch First Date in its native English, with music and lyrics by the all-American team of Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, and book by Austin Winsberg. 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends May 8. Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (MV)

3) Science meets art and vice versa in Attack Theatre’s latest feature-length dance piece, Laws of Attraction. The Pittsburgh-based company is known for being unconventional—as in the prior piece shown above—but this time they are going by the book: a physics textbook. The new show’s title has a double meaning, as dancers enact the laws that govern both physical motion and human emotions. (For instance, “magnetism” can draw people together but also drive them apart if the poles are flipped.) Attack Theatre’s co-directors, Michele de la Reza and Peter Kope, actually recruited a team of scientists and technology experts to help the company create Laws of Attraction. Dancers perform parts of the piece while moving about on gyroscopic two-wheeled hoverboards. Is it a must-see? Depends on whether you are attracted. 8 p.m. Performances continue through April 30. 300 Gist St., Uptown. (MV)

4) The Penguins are enjoying home ice advantage in the first round of the NHL Playoffs against the New York Rangers. The fifth game of the possible seven-game series is today. At press time the Pens are up in the series 2-1 and game time is still to be determined. Consol Energy Center, 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown.

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