‘Into the Woods,’ ‘The Sound of Music’ headline Pittsburgh CLO’s summer of musicals

The Benedum will be alive this summer with the sound of music, thanks to the Pittsburgh CLO.

The 77-year-old musical theater organization announced its annual lineup of summer shows at Downtown’s Benedum Center Tuesday morning. Highlights include productions of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” and the Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein II classic “The Sound of Music.”

“Guests that come to the Benedum Center this summer are going to see familiar faces both on stage and in the audiences,” CLO executive producer Mark Fleischer said in a news release. “[W]e love to hear the stories of Pittsburgh CLO friendships that occur from traditions of meeting back up each summer at the theater.”

Here’s everything you need to know about what musicals will be playing the Benedum over the next few months:

• June 13-18: “Anything Goes,” the tap-heavy Cole Porter hit about romantic complications aboard the S.S. American.

• June 27-July 2: A star-studded production of twisted fairy tale “Into the Woods” featuring Patti Murin, the original Anna in Broadway’s “Frozen,” as The Baker’s Wife; Pittsburgh native, Carnegie Mellon University alumnus and accomplished Broadway actor Manu Narayan as The Baker; and Joe Serafini, a Bethel Park native and Seb on the Disney+ show “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” as Jack.

• July 11-16: “The Sound of Music,” the latest version of the 1959 Broadway smash about the Von Trapp family and the woman who brings joy back into their lives.

• July 25-30: “Once on This Island,” a Caribbean-infused story with music by Pittsburgh native Stephen Flaherty about the chaos that ensues when a peasant girl falls for an upper-class boy.

• Aug. 8-13: Luck be a lady at the Benedum when “Guys and Dolls” comes through with that rascal Nathan Detroit gambling his way into missionary Sarah Brown’s heart.

• Aug. 22-27: “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812,” about a Russian woman dealing with a romantic quandary and a man on a quest for meaning.

Three-show and six-show ticket packages can be secured via pittsburghclo.org. Tickets for individual musicals will go on sale two at a time, with those for “Anything Goes” and “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” becoming available March 31, “Guys and Dolls” and “Once on This Island” April 7, and “The Sound of Music” and “Into the Woods” April 14.

CLO patrons may be interested to know that sets for all six shows will be built at the Pittsburgh CLO Construction Center in Springdale. The CLO is also partnering with the Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh to establish a “quiet space” at every Benedum show this summer for its neurodiverse clientele.

Pittsburgh theatergoers who can’t wait for CLO’s summer musicals to start can satiate themselves with the last two shows in the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 2022-23 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series: “Tina — The Tina Turner Musical” from April 4-9 and “Dear Evan Hansen” from May 2-7.

Earlier this month, the Cultural Trust announced its 2023-24 Broadway series that includes touring productions of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and last year’s “Company” revival making stops at the Benedum.