TribLIVE: The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera will host a star-studded list of celebrities during its 2013 summer season.
Even though casting decisions are still months away, the Little Mermaid, Buddy Holly, the Phantom and the Lion King are expected to light up the Benedum Center marquee, as well as a pair of musical classics with numbers in their titles — “42nd Street and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”
7 comments:
Wow it sounds like the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera will have quite a season. I like that they are mixing more recent musicals with stories that take place in an older time. It shows they are giving their audience a great mix of classics with the more modern works, or lat least recently and constantly running works, like The Lion King. I wasn't aware that The Phantom of the Opera was based on a book or that another musical version of the story was written before Andrew Lloyd Weber's. It goes to show that books and old stories have much to offer and I wouldn't mind seeing more works based on books, as I feel that reading is slowly dwindling in our society.
The only production that I am interested in seeing this season is the production of "The Little Mermaid". I would love to see how a PCLO Summer Show, specifically a Disney production, will compare to the touring production of "The Lion King". I am interested in seeing the quality differences between the touring production and PCLO's version of "The Little Mermaid". Also, I have heard nothing but great things about PCLO's performances, but I feel like this season is just a little lack luster... I hope that their season is successful and brings in audiences still!
It's really interesting to see PCLO move more and more away from producing their own stuff and really becoming a continuation of the Broadway Across America tour presenting season for Pittsburgh. Last year the announcement that Come Fly Away and Addams Family would bookend their self-produced season of four shows was unprecedented - the PG made a big deal of the season moving away from the fast-and-furious summer stock productions of its past. With touring productions every other production, will getting the extra time and resources make the two classic productions better? Or is the money being sent out to the tour companies to present cutting into the budget that they would otherwise have to produce their own shows? This article doesn't do a very good job of getting thoughts on the season from the PCLO, but I'd be interested to hear their justifications for so drastically transitioning their season over from a self-producing summer stock to a continuation of the presenting season.
I really don't feel like this season has that much of a public appeal. The Little Mermaid will definitely draw an audience, but as for most of the other shows they all seem rather lackluster. CLO has a great reputation and I hope these productions are successful, but as a theatergoer, there really is not that much I would be interested in seeing.
This seems like it will be quite a season worth watching. Like Jacquelyn, I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that Phantom of the Opera was originally based on a book, prior to Weber's rock-opera. It does seem to me though that they might be 'selling-out' by staging The Little Mermaid, but then again that might just seem my unwillingness to accept Disney as an established theater force. Might as well.
Being that CLO is a commercially driven theatre, I can see why they have chosen this season. These are some BIG musicals, and will definitely bring in a lot of money. As theatre students, I do agree with Nathan in saying that it seems a little lackluster. It's very centrally based with little room for a darker or more creative side. However, most of CLOs patrons are not themselves theatre people. Others in my family, for instance, would be thrilled to see any of these productions. And it's important that CLO is catering to this audience. Pittsburgh definitely has a place for unique shows and independent art, a very large one for that matter. But a city just isn't a city without its roadhouse and some major touring productions.
I think the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera has made a good season for themselves. While as others have said, they have less original works, their main goal is to deliver great theatre to Pittsburgh, and draw in great crowds...and money, as afterall, the PCLO is a business. The shows in the season are diverse and will hopefully be able to draw in a variety of people. The shows are also very well known, however, so they'll presumably be very popular.
Post a Comment