A PITTSBURGH-SET MUSICAL ON FILM
Pittsburgh-set filmed musical to premiere at New Hazlett
When it comes to writing and composing a stage musical, Nick Navari makes the time no matter what he’s doing.
He sang songs and tried out dialogue and recorded it in his car during his commute to work Downtown from his home in Pine. On his lunch breaks, he wrote at Einstein Bros. Bagels on Grant Street. On his ride home, he would record more songs and dialogue.
“When I got home, I would give myself an hour to eat dinner with my family, which they were probably appreciative of. I would head upstairs to listen to the one to three hours of footage I had recorded and tried to put it into the new score or transcribe it or try to play it on the piano to see if anything worked,” he said.
The product of all that work, the musical, “Local Singles,” makes its digital premiere at 8 p.m. Thursday and 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Friday at newhazletttheater.org. Tickets are pay-as-you-like.
The ensemble musical centers on Penny, a pregnant woman who discovers the last support group for lonely people in Pittsburgh after her boyfriend leaves her. The five people in the support group may not find love or happiness, but amid the ups and downs of life, they find each other.
The idea came to Navari when a friend of a friend went to a singles group at a church in 2016. In the summer of 2019, the story became a six-month project, consuming his hours when he wasn’t working as an investment research analyst.
The music of “Local Singles” has the pop-rock flair of contemporary musicals. Navari said he took inspiration from Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years” and the Tony Awardwinning musical “Once.” He played an hour’s worth of the score with commentary for Pittsburgh Fringe Festival’s virtual events in May.
“I just love the small musical,” he said. “Any time you sit in the theater, those lights go down, and then all of a sudden, you just know these people instantly. I think we’re able to accomplish that with the show.”
It was important to him that the story take place in Pittsburgh; he’s sick of New York City getting all the attention.
“I think New York City’s 2% of the population of the United States. We’ve got to talk about 98% of the United States and all these stories.”
The musical was filmed at the New Hazlett Theater on the North Side. Kristin Helfrich, the New Hazlett’s director of programming, said it was filmed with three cameras due to the pandemic.
“Local Singles” will have an original cast album released to streaming services following the premiere. The cast recorded their parts individually to ensure social distancing while Navari conducted from the other side of the stage.
The musical kicks off the New Hazlett’s eighth season of Community Supported Artist performances. Helfrich said “Local Singles” was among the shows considered by a panel from March to June 2020.
“Beyond just showing Pittsburgh what great artists are here, this is really a development series,” she said. “We knew even if we couldn’t have an audience in the space, we could still help these artists move their work forward and make it better and help them in their process of producing.”
Navari held rehearsals with the cast over Zoom and gave stage blocking notes like a coach explaining football plays. Musicians recorded music in January. Once the cast was together, regular COVID-19 tests and temperature checks were the norm. The New Hazlett also consulted with health professionals in anticipation of in-person filming.
As for the future of “Local Singles,” Navari is optimistic. He considers the cast recording and the film as a proof of concept. Pittsburgh is a good city for artists experimenting with new work, he and Helfrich said. She noted the number of joint projects, the low cost of living relative to other major cities and the number of local venues willing to back new ideas.
“If the show has legs, I’m willing to see how far it can run,” Navari said. “I think Pittsburgh is a scrappy town full of scrappy artists who have these great ideas. New York has stories, and so does Pittsburgh. From my perspective, it’s the Pittsburgh way to try new things.”