Front Porch Theatricals has announced casting for its 2024 summer musicals – A … My Name is Still Alice and Bandstand – with familiar faces taking the lead in shows making their local debuts.
The musical sketch revue A … My Name is Still Alice will star returning Front Porch actors Kristiann Menotiades (Big Fish) in the role of KT and Becki Toth (Parade, Light in the Piazza, Spitfire Grill, Violet, A New Brain and A Man of No Importance) as Roo.
and, from bottom left, David Toole and Marnie Quick (Bandstand).
Also returning are Natalie Hatcher as Cleo and understudy Michaela Isenberg. New to Front Porch but not to Pittsburgh audiences is Saige Smith, along with Delilah Picart and Alawna Mallory.
As previously announced, the musical will open May 17, directed by Nancy McNulty McGeever, with music director Douglas Levine and choreographer Ashley Harmon.
“A … My Name Is Still Alice is the continued story of the trailblazing women of the 1990s, a time when their careers, clothes, bodies, and families were targeted daily by a deeply sexist society,” said McNulty. “Our production takes a light-hearted, humorous look back at those times, and at the future they thought could be near. From targeted, self-deprecating sketches to poignant ballads of tribulation, seven women bring the life and times of the ’90s everywoman to the knowing audiences of 2024.”
The season closes in August with the Pittsburgh premiere of Bandstand.
On Broadway, the production won the Tony Award for choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton) and was nominated for its orchestrations.
For Front Porch, the show will be directed and choreographed by Joe Jackson, with music direction by Deana Muro, and star Dave Toole (The Last Five Years and A Man of No Importance) as Donny, Marnie Quick (Bright Star, Merrily We Roll Along) as Julia and, new to Front Porch in a principal role, Sharon Schaller.
“Front Porch tasked me with assembling a thirteen-piece orchestra packed with Pittsburgh’s elite, top-shelf musicians as well as five onstage, uniquely skilled musicians and actors on a show that was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Orchestration, nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music, and won the Drama Desk Award for Best Orchestration,” said music director Muro. “This is a dream-score that is absolutely exhilarating. To say I’m over-the-moon to be working on this show wouldn’t be accurate – I’m over-the-galaxy.”
Bandstand takes place in 1945, with Toole as Private First Class Donny Novitski, a singer-songwriter, rebuilding his life and joining forces with a motley group of fellow veterans to form a band and compete in a national swing competition.
The ensemble includes past Front Porch actors Carolyn Jerz, Halle Surgil, Miles Hanna and Malcolm McGraw. New to the company are Jessica Doremus, Annie Batista, Dixie Surewood, Charlotte Jensen, Cameron Tino and Todd Turner. Understudies are Logan Johnson, Sarah Chelli and Anna Gergerich.
Bandstand’s on-stage musicians who form the Donny Nova Band are Mike Mackey on trumpet, Patrick Breiner on sax and clarinet, Chris McGraw on bass, Dylan Pal on trombone and Kamran Mian on drums.
The Pittsburgh-affiliated casts were chosen from a pool of 160 talented actors who attended auditions, noted Front Porch producers Bruce E.G. Smith and Nancy Zionts.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Front Porch Theatricals’ 2024 season at the New Hazlett Theater, North Side: A … My Name Is Still Alice, aa musical comedy conceived by Joan Micklin Silver and Julianne Boyd, written by a wide variety of writers, lyricists, and composers, (May 17-26, 2024), and Bandstand, composed by Richard Oberacker, book and lyrics by Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor (August 16-25, 2024). For tickets and to inquire about discounts to Bandstand for veterans, visit www.frontporchpgh.org or call 412-320-4610.
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