It was a beautiful Friday night in Downtown Pittsburgh to hear some opera, see some ballet and hum along to some familiar musical numbers.
Three of the city’s cultural institutions — Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Confluence Theater of Pittsburgh — joined together for a 90-minute revue of various crowd favorites, presented on the stage at Arts Landing.
As sunset approached, theater fans flocked to the wide lawn with blankets and folding chairs. The event was originally scheduled for Thursday night, but predicted rain forced a reschedule. It was a good thing, too; they couldn’t have asked for a better early autumn evening.
In introduction to the program, Pittsburgh Opera General Director Bill Powers took the stage. He was joined by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Executive Director Nick Dragga and Confluence Theater of Pittsburgh Interim Executive Director Brett Ashley Crawford.
“We are all thrilled to be here on this gorgeous, gorgeous autumnal evening with the city as our backdrop,” Powers said. “For the first of its kind, three resident companies of the Cultural Trust are coming together to present a concert at Arts Landing, this unbelievable community arts space.”
The program included 19 different performance numbers, some of which previewed the upcoming seasons of the organizations and some of which were well-known crowd-pleasers.
Early in the program, Pittsburgh Opera presented two selections from its season-opening performance, “Rigoletto,” which will hit the Benedum Center stage from Oct. 10-18. Tenor Daniel O’Hearn made a good case for attending the show, especially in the highly recognizable selection “La donna è mobile.”
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre also gave the audience a sneak peek of upcoming shows, with a pas de deux from both “Giselle” (Oct. 23-25 at the Benedum Center) and the classic “The Nutcracker” (Dec. 4-27 at the Benedum Center). Both numbers comprised two dancers, and both were intriguing — Grace Rookstool in the “Giselle” pas de deux was pure grace and flexibility, floating over the stage with partner Colin McCaslin. In the dance from “The Nutcracker,” Lucius Kirst’s Nutcracker Prince executed some cheers-worthy lifts with Hannah Carter as the Sugarplum Fairy.
The Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra provided accompanying music throughout the night, but it also got some highlights of its own; it kicked the night off right with a high note, the overture from the opera “The Barber of Seville.” It also provided the recognizable melodies of the overture to “The Sound of Music” and the sweeping organ notes that kick off “The Phantom of the Opera” — before Allan Snyder took the stage to lend his rich, resonant voice to “The Music of the Night” as the Phantom, mask and all.
For other classic showtunes, Peter Volpe lent his gorgeous bass voice to “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South Pacific,” spreading a little magic through the night as the sun went down and stage lights began to shine. And the three companies teamed up for a red-lit rendition of “America” from “West Side Story” toward the end of the program.
Pittsburgh Opera pulled out all of the stops with selections from “Lakmé,” “La Bohème” and “La Traviata.” If the venue had doors, Maire Therese Carmack would’ve blown them off with “Habanera” from “Carmen.”
The evening ended with “Tonight,” another sweeping “West Side Story” number that united the precise talent of the orchestra, pitch-perfect vocals and eye-popping dance.
Pittsburgh’s performing arts organizations put on a fabulous free performance on Friday night, and they’ve also given us plenty to look forward to in their upcoming seasons.