Steve Martin and Martin Short Perform at Benedum; The Public Staging ‘Daddy Long Legs’ (Wed., 3/15/17)

1) Two Martins, two nights. If you enjoyed Martin Short and Steve Martin’s witty banter in films such as 1986’s Three Amigos and 1991’s Father of the Bride, then check out their joint performance, “An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Lives,” at the Benedum Center. The two will discuss their respective lives in show business. The evening will also include film clips and stand-up comedy. Short was a “Saturday Night Live” cast member for only one season (’84-’85), but he is credited, along with other members of that cast, with helping to revive the series. In addition to film, he has also performed on Broadway, including a one-man show, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. Martin is an accomplished writer and actor, and he has hosted “Saturday Night Live” 15 times, second only to Alec Baldwin, who has hosted 17 times. Martin plays banjo and has frequently collaborated with Grammy-winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. The group and Jeff Babko will perform with both comedians this evening, so, yeah, forgettable? Hardly. 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night. 237th 7th St., Cultural District. (CM)

Danielle Bowen and Allan Snyder in The Public’s ‘Daddy Long Legs.’ Photo: Michael Henninger

2) Pittsburgh Public Theater kicked off its 2016-17 season with a chamber musical, The Fantasticks, and apparently the genre has legs, because now The Public is staging another one. Daddy Long Legs is a two-person show adapted from the coming-of-age novel written in 1912 by Jean Webster.  A teenaged girl raised in an orphanage is told that a mysterious benefactor will pay to send her to college—quite a rare privilege for young women of that era—on two conditions. Once per month, she must write a letter to the benefactor describing her progress, and she is never to learn the man’s identity. You can probably imagine what happens in regard to that second proviso. Several movie versions of Daddy Long Legs have been made; the musical premiered in Ventura, Calif., in 2012 and has been a hit off-Broadway and elsewhere. 8 p.m. Performances continue through April 9. The Public presents it at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (MV)

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