The Golden Age of operettas and the Information Age of YouTube videos collided to bring "The Student Prince" to Pittsburgh CLO.

When it's suggested to music director Tom Helm that people don't listen to operettas much since their heyday in the early to mid 20th century, he counters, "Not only don't they listen to it; people don't sing this way anymore. This is what we found out in casting. We were taken aback about how difficult it was to find people who have these ranges."

While the bass player happily unplugged his amp to transition from "Hairspray" to the more classical "Student Prince," technology played a role in finding the CLO's Prince Karl. First came the call from tenor Chad Johnson's manager, saying his client was interested. But the singer was traveling during the audition process.

"So for the first time in my experience, Chad was cast because we YouTubed him. We found these incredible opera performances of a real actor with real charm and real looks, and the more we looked at his stuff, we realized since we weren't going to be able to audition him, we had to take a leap of faith," said Mr. Helm, who had just met his star for the first time."

"When he walked in yesterday, Jimmy Brennan and I looked at each other and said, oh good, there's no pot belly. He looks gorgeous. I then went upstairs and sang with him, and it's the most perfect voice I've ever heard in my life."

In case you want to test that theory, Mr. Johnson's voice is heard on the YouTube featurette of Stephen Schwartz's new opera, "Seance on a Wet Afternoon," and he was Frederick in Lyric Opera of Kansas City's "Pirates of Penzance."

A 15-season veteran of the CLO, Mr. Helm has been on board for all the shows this season except "Oliver!," and it's been a wide range, from "Miss Saigon" to "Hairspray," which just completed its run.

He wanted to get some of the contemporary musicals, including "The Producers," under his belt, he said, and he really wanted to revisit the Romberg operetta that has been around since 1924.

"The Student Prince" is set in the 19th century, when the heir to the throne of the fictional Karlsberg is destined for an arranged marriage. But first the prince heads off to school and a star-crossed romance with a commoner.

Mr. Helm has worked with the score twice before, for CLO in 1982 and Paper Mill Playhouse (New Jersey), where he is the resident music director, in 2000.

Paper Mill did a version of "The Student Prince" that Mr. Helm says doesn't feel creaky despite the age of the piece, and that's the version coming to Pittsburgh. Sets from previous versions of the CLO's "Student Prince" are being retooled as Mr. Helm and director Brennan run through the paces of the CLO season finale.

For one of the show's best-known numbers, "Drinking Song," Mr. Helm has the luxury of 15 voices, adding four local singers to the ensemble of eight and three principal students in the production.

Mr. Helm believes that the CLO also has matched the right players to the right parts, a process that began in October. Back then, he wasn't so sure -- He relates that a Broadway actor whose name he won't say was interested in the role of Karl, but said, "I'd have to train with a voice coach for four months to be ready."

At CLO, there's usually a week of preparation, meaning that Mr. Helm has to be a therapist as well as a music director, nurturing and reassuring sometimes untested talent. His background as an audition coach often comes into play, and he loves watching the actors progress from the day they arrive.

He describes a scene from several seasons ago when a television actor who had never done a musical broke down in tears midway through a CLO rehearsal, then pulled himself together and went on with the show. He loved the enthusiasm and talent of Joey Fatone, who had some Broadway experience when he came in to play Franz Liebkind in "The Producers" just a few weeks ago.

"I wish you could have seen him grow from opening night," Mr. Helm said. "He really had the role down and was so funny by the end. I wish we had another week with him."

He added that having an experienced Max like John Treacy Egan saved the day more than once in that production. In "The Student Prince," veteran performers include Ed Dixon as Dr. Engel. The Broadway actor last performed in "The Student Prince" 40 years ago, as the student leader Detlef, and he was at CLO for 2005's "Doctor Doolittle."

Mr. Johnson and Jacquelynne Fontaine have been among the revelations for the CLO team.

Mr. Helm believes that in Ms. Fontaine, an award-winning soprano and Miss California of 2006, they found the perfect singer/actor mix to play Kathie, the innkeeper's daughter who captures the prince's heart.

"We thought we'd go with a musical theater actor who could sing like this, but it doesn't exist," Mr. Helm said. "So we found this opera singer, this wonderful girl named Jackie. They're just magic. So we've lucked out because we have singers who are really good actors who are right for the style of the show, but they don't have that old-fashioned opera, wobbly, big over-produced sound. They have really clear voices with perfect diction.

"And it's like, I'm getting to do my dream 'Student Prince' here."

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