In the Wings: 8/17/06
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Broadway at the Overlook
Pittsburgh, PA, a helluva town
The Hill is up and the Bottom is down
The incline goes to the top of that mound
Pittsburgh, P-A, it's a helluva town
As you can probably tell, those lyrics are based on "New York, New York." Tonight through Saturday, "Pittsburgh, P-A" will be sung by the Pre-College Players of Pittsburgh Musical Theater (founding director, Ken Gargaro) at the restored natural amphitheater at the West End Overlook. The Pittsburgh skyline will be a dramatic backdrop for a program of musical selections from PMT's upcoming season -- "Footloose," "Cats," "Grease" and "Les Miserables" (student version).
Support comes from the West Pittsburgh Partnership and the City of Pittsburgh's Department of Parks and Recreation. The shows are at 8 p.m.; admission is free. For more info, visit www.pittsburghmusicals.com or call 412-539-0900, ext. 232 or 234. The park will be reserved for picnickers and relaxation from 6 p.m. each day.
Pittsburgh P-A a comfortable place
Where housing's cheap and you're not in a race
And singing songs is not a disgrace
Pittsburgh P-A, it's a comfortable place
The call board
Sunday will be the third of four TV specials in the series, "Shakespeare Re-Told" on the BBC America cable channel, this one based on "A Midsummer Night's Dream." I haven't seen it yet, so I can't preview it as I did its predecessors, "Macbeth" last week and "Much Ado About Nothing" the week before. But the track record of the series so far arouses expectation.
Be sure to look at the piece about talented entertainer Gorman Lowe in that appeared yesterday.
Bricolage
The young theater company "making artful use of what's at hand" has reached the sixth and final installment of its six-month staged reading performance series.
"SCarrie!! The Musical" is described as "a musical tale of love, menstruation and telekinetic revenge ... an unauthorized musical parody/homage of the classic '70s horror film, 'Carrie.' Pigs' blood, dirty pillows and gender bending run amok while creepy Carrie suffers all the more in this warped musical romp through high school, with a rockin' original '70s score."
That score is by Joel Abbott, with a book by him, Kimmy Gatewood, Vince Gatton, Matt Morrow and Nathan Phillips. Morrow directs a cast led by Ted Hoover (playwright and City Paper theater critic), Kimberly Richards ("Late Night Catechism" star) and Marcus Stevens (CLO's "Forbidden Broadway" and "Forever Plaid"), featuring also Sara Canter, Seth Cassell, Christine Cataldo, JD Daw, Tiffany Hickman and Dereck Walton. The band is Brian Stahurski, Craig Arlet and Tom Early.
"SCarrie!!" is at 8 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Admission is free (donations accepted) but seating is limited; reservations at 412-381-6999 or tami@webbricolage.org. For more info, visit www.webbricolage.org.
With all six readings complete, there will be an Internet survey to determine which play the audience would most like to receive a fully staged Bricolage production.
The bottom line
Paid admissions at city's professional theaters for the week ending Aug. 13:
Forb.Bway/CLO (58%) .................... 914
Catechism 2/City (68%) ................. 595
Crucible/Quantum (92%) ................. 521-- Post-Gazette theater editor, Christopher Rawson can be reached at crawson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1666.
First Published August 17, 2006 12:00 am
