'Copacabana' music and passion return to CLO
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Tony Yazbeck, director Charley Repole and Sally Wilfert rehearse for Pittsburgh CLO's production of Barry Manilow's Copacabana.
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July is turning out to be a real boon for local Barry Manilow fans.
Nearly two weeks after the singer/songwriter/musician pleased a Mellon Arena crowd with the hit about Lola, the showgirl with yellow feathers in her hair, the Pittsburgh CLO is bringing the stage musical "Barry Manilow's Copacabana" back to the Benedum. The show opens Tuesday night.
CLO staged the American premiere of "Copacabana" in 2000, and it has consistently scored high in annual CLO patron surveys.
"I think the show is very entertaining, and the production here was quite stellar," said Van Kaplan, CLO's executive producer. "For summer entertainment, that's the kind of thing people enjoy."
CLO worked closely with Manilow and collaborator Bruce Sussman in Pittsburgh for the 2000 debut. The premiere kicked off a tour that went across the country for a little more than a year, with CLO as producer in association with Dallas Summer Musicals and others, Kaplan said.
- Where: Pittsburgh CLO at Benedum Center.
- When: Tues. through Aug. 2. Tues.-Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun. 2 p.m.; also July 23 at 1 p.m.
- Tickets: $24.50-$70.50. 412-456-6666.
"It did well in some markets and not so well in others," he said, citing Pittsburgh and Dallas as two cities where the musical played well. Since then "Copacabana" has been performed all over the world, including Sweden, Denmark and Japan. As one of the rights holders, CLO gets royalties for professional and amateur performances.
Inspired by Manilow's 1978 Grammy-winning hit, where "music and passion were always the fashion," "Copacabana" is described as a love letter to the Technicolor movies of the 1940s. Told through the eyes of Stephen, an aspiring songwriter, it takes the audience back in time to New York's Copacabana club. There Lola works as a showgirl and is in love with Tony, the bartender. But love and lives are put in danger when the villain Rico falls for Lola himself.
This time around the show stars Chandra L. Schwartz as Lola, Tony Yazbeck as Tony/Stephen and Robert Cuccioli as Rico. The rest of the cast includes Stephen Berger, Tim Hartman, Elise Santora and Sally Wilfert.
Directing is Charles Repole, who has helmed other CLO productions, including "Cinderella," "Annie," "My Fair Lady" and "White Christmas."
Repole can't help using the word "fun" while talking about this show. "'Copacabana' is new to me. I'm looking at it, and we're trying to figure it out and direct it at the same time," he said. "That's fun because it's discovery all the time."
He and musical director Tom Helm and choreographer John MacInnis, also "Copacabana" first-timers, paged through the show in New York for a couple of weeks.
"Barry Manilow is a songster," Repole said. "To hear these tunes is terrific." Also drawing him in were the dance numbers and a story that jumps frequently into fantasy, like a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie.
And he says he has the cast -- from ensemble to leads -- to pull it all off.
"I got my first choices in every part. They are so right for my concept of the show that I feel I'm giving it a good shot. What you see is probably what I want," he said.
"They are an enormously talented group of people."
First Published July 19, 2009 12:00 am
