Civic Light Opera season balances new fare, classics
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Blake Hammond as Uncle Fester in "The Addams Family."
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One recent Broadway show and one that's still running will stop here as part of the 2012 Pittsburgh CLO season. "Come Fly Away" and "The Addams Family" tours join the first CLO production of "Sunset Boulevard" as newcomers on the schedule.
This year's musical revivals are "A Chorus Line," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Annie," which returns to Broadway in the fall of next year. All are popular choices in audience surveys.
Pittsburgh CLO is high on the "Come Fly Away" touring list -- it is a producer through Elephant Eye, a Broadway producing team that includes 15 theater companies from the United States and Canada. The CLO shares producing credits on "The Addams Family" with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, so that show appears on both organization's subscription lists.
June 5-10, 2010: "Come Fly Away," concept, direction and choreography by Twyla Tharp; vocals by Frank Sinatra. Ms. Tharp, a Tony winner for a similar dance show, "Movin' Out," brings together a band and 14 dancers to interpret the romantic stylings of Ol' Blue Eyes. Songs include "Fly Me to the Moon," "My Way," "New York, New York" and "Witchcraft."
June 15-24: "A Chorus Line," original concept, direction and choreography by Michael Bennett, book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban. This backstage story of aspiring dancers with Broadway dreams and veterans hoping for a new start features such classics as "What I Did for Love," "One" and "I Hope I Get It." The original show ran on Broadway for 15 years, won 10 Tonys and a Pulitzer Prize.
June 29-July 8: "Annie," book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin; based on the comic strip. The sun will come up on the must-do family show of the season, with roles for the kids of CLO Academy.
July 13-22: "Fiddler on the Roof," book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. A Jewish father's indomitable spirit helps him cope with his daughters' burgeoning independence and oppressive forces that doom the family's village. The Tony-winning show featuring "If I Were a Rich Man," "Sunrise, Sunset" and "Tradition," and Jerome Robbins' choreography has had four Broadway revivals.
First Published October 19, 2011 12:00 am
