An Andy Warhol Musical

Ever have such a fabulous night out that once you get home you just want to go out again? Tonight is one of those nights for me. I'm sitting in my bedroom, next to one of the huge windows that shows the most wonderful view of downtown, in my cute (and super cheap) Saks Fifth Ave. dress, wanting to go back out. I have two reasons for this wanting to stay out feeling...1) my beautiful and always a great time friend, Lindsay and 2) City Theatre's production of POP! a new Musical by Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K. Jacobs.

POP! a Musical at City Theatre from May 5th through the 27th

POP! is about the Pittsburgh-bred artist, Andy Warhol, and is based around the summer of 1968 event that almost killed him. Who shot Andy Warhol is the question this brilliant musical asks over and over again. While the answer can easily be found out, either by looking on Wikipedia or taking an art history class (which is how I know), is never really told straight out in the musical.

Andy Warhol, one of my absolute favorite artists, is portrayed by one of my absolute favorite actors, Anthony Rapp. You might know of Anthony from his most recognized appearance in the renown musical, RENT, as Mark. I was so star-struck the moment the show started and Anthony appeared on stage and remained so throughout the show, because of how absolutely phenomenal he is as an actor and singer, but especially in this role.

Anthony Rapp & Andy Warhol's picture: CityPaper's Heather Mull photo

But I knew that Anthony would be fabulous. What I didn't know is how outstanding the rest of the cast would be as well. Each one was perfectly cast for this show, I could not imagine their parts being done by anyone else. I loved that three members of the cast where, like Warhol, Pittsburgers. Paul Victor (Ondine) and Courtney Bassett (Edie) are recent Point Park graduates and Jesse Carrey-Beaver (Gerard) is a current CMU senior. These three young, local actors were so amazing. They were joined by Alyse Alan Louis (Valerie), Bria Walker (Viva) and Brian Charles Rooney (Candy Darling), also all amazing.

Alyse does every feminist proud as Valerie Solanas, who is known most for writing the S.C.U.M. Manifesto and basically being a super man-hater. Anyway, Alyse is a little fireball on stage and had my attention every time she took center stage with her huge voice. Bria was the perfect Viva and during the song The Last Laugh, I wanted to shout "get it girl," but obviously that wouldn't be proper for a theater-goer so I just clapped, but she was so fierce and very reminiscent of Jennifer Hudson. And finally I learned my lesson to always read the program before the show starts because Brian, who played trans-woman, Candy Darling, had me guessing the entire show. But regardless of which gender, Brian was also a perfect pick for this cast.

The amazing cast: Post Gazette's Lake Fong photo

Besides just the amazing talent of the cast, the set was also beautiful and used remakes of many of Warhol's work to create "The Factory" were he created his pieces, hung out and was ultimately shot. Every bit of this show screamed fabulous. Some of my favorite parts were; the mocking of some expressionist artists, Paper Doll, Screen Test, Retrospective and the Big Gun song. Paper Doll was a beautiful song sung by Edie that could have easily brought tears to anyone. Screen Test was another beautiful song that involved the entire cast and remade parts of Warhol's Screen Test film where he simply filmed people he knew sitting in front of the camera, saying nothing. Retrospective was a song of just Warhol, giving the audience the first real look inside the mind of the artist. Those two pieces, really did bring a couple tears to my eyes they were so beautiful. However, on the total opposite side of emotion, Big Gun was the most hilarious and well-played song of the entire show, very ball-busting and full of girl power.

The fabulous show was topped off with a wonderful, small get-together for Seton Hill alumni and Lindsay and I loved being the youngest alums there. Representing the class of 2011 in style at an event is always easy to do for me and my girl. It was also fun to be able to interact with not just fellow former Griffins, but a few members of the cast as well. Too bad Anthony didn't make his way over to the party, or else the night would have been completely perfect. Sigh. Maybe next time. And since Lindsay and I plan on seeing the show again before it closes on May 27th, we still have a chance to meet him and of course, see another fabulous performance at the City Theatre!