HOT METAL MUSICALS 2019
The third edition of Hot Metal Musicals was a resounding success featuring a collection of wonderful songs!
A Show Boat to China, book and lyrics by Joe Warik, music by Charles Sperry.
7M, 2W + ens. This Musicomical is the story of a stuck-in-the-mud show boat on the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh from 1876 to 1949. It is owned by Cap'n Kandy whose life-long ambition is to play the Big Time, the Magical Mississippi. His nemesis is a dastardly riverboat gambler named Basil Bumwacker who tries to take over the boat by ruining President Grant's Command Performance of the boat's Ye Awfule Travestie of Shakespeare's King Dickie Crookback Ye IIIrd. Will Cap'n fulfill his dream of the Big Time? 
Tuesday Night with Terry and Rae,
book, music and lyrics by Ramona Fischer; additional music and lyrics by Cathy Clark Hickling and Jude Reseigne. 3M, 4W Contact: [email protected] It's been a long road, but Terry has finally returned home to reconnect with her sister and support the family business, Thyrsty's on Carson. While she's been on the road, her sister, Rae, has kept the bar going, raised a family and cared for their elderly father. Rae needs help, but perhaps not the help her sister is offering. Some say you can never go home again. Terry is hoping that they're wrong. 
The Mirror Never Lies, book and lyrics by Joe Giuffre, music by Juan Iglesias
3M, 3W In London in the 1960's, a beautiful woman of a certain age falls in love with a much younger man, only to find her feelings are not returned. The power of beauty, who has it, who is losing it and how it rules our world. 
The Farewell Concert of Irene and Vernon Palazzo, play and lyrics by Frank Gagliano, music by Bill Young. 1W, 1M.
In Frank Gagliano’s play with music, lyricist/faculty wife, Irene Palazzo, is plunged into an over-the-top wine-induced monologue. Irene and her composer husband, Vernon, wait—in guilt—for daughter Billie—who ran out on them 10 years ago. And while they wait, they finish their latest song ("It's All Right")—performed at play’s end: A song that sums up, and resolves, their stormy marriage. 
Montour #10, book by Chrystal Bates, music by Chuck Sperry, lyrics by Chuck Sperry and Chrystal Bates. 2M, 3W.
Montour #10 explores through monologue and song the lives of African-Americans who lived in an Allegheny County coal-mining town from the 1930s into the 70s—among them the show’s creator, Chrystal Bates. The show speaks to the joy and struggles of community through individual perspectives on race, family, education, love and spiritual triumph. 
Night of the Living Musical, book by Greg Kerestan and Anthony Marino, music and lyrics by Greg Kerestan.6+M, 4+W.
They're alive! They're insane! And they came from the public domain! In this reimagining of George Romero's open-source masterpiece, an unlikely group of survivors are trapped in a western PA farmhouseby the great zombie outbreak of Halloween 1968. As young and old, black and white, liberal and conservative alike try to work together and survive, an intrepid journalist attempts to convince the American public to open their eyes and come together, before the living dead can devour them all. 
The Grifters, book and lyrics by Joe Giuffre, music by Daniel Weidlein. 3M, 3W.
Set in Los Angeles in the mid 1960’s we find ourselves immersed in the opaque world of the grifter: ponzi schemes, short cons, long cons, con men, and all the different peopleinhabiting this particularly dark world. We meet five characters all deeply living this dangerous and fitful existence and see how their paths cross and when they do, how they change each other’s lives. |
Tyndale Place, book and lyrics by Jen Childs, music by Monica Stephenson.
4W, 1M. Tyndale Place is set in Levittown in the 1950s. It looks at the changing role of women post-wartime after having been uprooted from family and communities to live a comparatively isolated life in the new homogenous suburbs. It follows a group of women who are living the lives they always thought they wanted, complete with husband, children and a handsome milkman. When that life turns out to be less than satisfying, the ladies of Tyndale Place have to decide whether to stay and be docile or to rebel. 
The Lights Of Shadow City, book, lyrics, and music by Marisa Wexler.
3M, 2F, 3 any gender + ens. Contact: [email protected] Sixteen years ago, the King and Queen of the City were killed in a coup—but their daughter, the Princess, survived and has been raised in the city in secret. Now, the magical Lights that protect the City are starting to flicker, and the Princess leads a rebellion to retake the throne and heal them - but is healing the Lights truly the best way to help the denizens of the City? 
TINK, book by Anthony Marino, music by Lena Gabrielle, and lyrics by Greg Kerestan and Lena Gabrielle. 9+M, 8+W, 3 children.
In a time before time was important, there was an island full of music and magic, where pirates, natives, fairies and other mysterious folk lived, loved and fought together-until one young fairy and one young pirate crossed paths. When first mate James of the Jolly Roger meets the yearning, idealistic young fairy Tinkerbell, their star-crossed romance brings together the entire population of Neverland, from the mischievous Dream Weaver fairies to the mighty Natives, and even a colony of scavenging boys whose leader fell from the sky. 
Corporate America, The Musical, book by Anita Spano, music by Marisa Wexler, lyrics by Anita Spano and Marisa Wexler. 4W, 3M
The show parodies corporate America while telling the story of a middle-aged woman’s coming of age. Bittersweet Girl is an optimistic, long-timer who wants to be Vice President. As she finds herself being replaced by a younger version of who she once was, she learns: she is not her job; her career was just a season of her life; and no one is too old for an old dream to be new again. 
Another Miracle, book, music, and lyrics by Charles Sperry
4M, 2F + ens. Sixteen-year-old Mary of Bethany knows she’s not aimed at the life of wife and mother. Her brother Lazarus’s friend Jesus holds out hope for a spiritual and purposeful life, but her way into it is filled with roadblocks like an unwanted suitor. And when her beloved Lazarus dies, unsaved by Jesus, Mary’s faith is put to a huge test. A new take on a familiar gospel story, exploding with a powerful rock/pop score. 
The Golden Door, book by Michelle Van Doeren and Andrew Swensen; lyrics by Andrew Swensen, Michelle Van Doeren and Scott Anderson; and music by Scott Anderson
3M, 3W +ens. Contact: [email protected] The show tells the story of hope and courage as we face injustice, and of preserving dreams as we confront painful realities. It follows five young people from diverse backgrounds as they travel from Europe to Ellis Island in 1903, seen through the eyes of a girl reading the protagonist’s diary 100 years later. The Golden Door explores how dreams lift us one person at a time, and ultimately, the vision stands on the side of hope, claiming “Great dreams are worth great courage.” |
A World Not So Wide, book by Katherine Cole Sabel, music and lyrics by Matthew R. Zweibel. 4M, 4W.
Seven students from around the world come together for a one-week composition festival in Paris. Amidst this mixing pot is Eileen: a young, pessimistic American who has just leaped beyond the barriers of her closed-minded, homogenous hometown. Also at this festival is Mika, a French native with an unspoken secret. Overwhelmed with a new place, new people, and a new sense of “community,” Eileen and Mika become quickly acquainted, which evolves into a passionate relationship on the brink of destruction. |
Plus four non-show tunes!
"Hepcat's Advice," music and lyrics by Ian Kane.
Maybe love's not such a bad thing after all. 
"F'in' Sleep," music and lyrics by Monica Stephenson.
A new mother searches for the Holy Grail of parenthood. 
"Mister Rogers," music and lyrics by Laura Lind.
Whoever thought we'd have to face the messy, anguishing present without him? 
"August," music and lyrics by Sunday Saari.
Nothing so hard to erase as an old, old heartache. |
Presented in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has helped to transform a downtrodden section of Downtown into a world-class Cultural District that stands as a national model of urban revitalization through the arts. Touring Broadway, contemporary dance, family performances, festivals, visual arts, education and community events are among the wide variety of arts and entertainment programs that the Trust presents and exhibits. Hundreds of artists, thousands of students, and millions of people expand their horizons in our theaters, galleries, and public art environments.
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has helped to transform a downtrodden section of Downtown into a world-class Cultural District that stands as a national model of urban revitalization through the arts. Touring Broadway, contemporary dance, family performances, festivals, visual arts, education and community events are among the wide variety of arts and entertainment programs that the Trust presents and exhibits. Hundreds of artists, thousands of students, and millions of people expand their horizons in our theaters, galleries, and public art environments.
