Strand director's musical getting off-Broadway run in 2025
ZELIENOPLE ― Nick Navari, producing artist director at The Strand Theater, is also a playwright.
His musical "Local Singles" has played locally and will open in January 2025 at the Off Broadway Players Theater in Greenwich Village for a five-week run.
The new musical with book, music and lyrics by Navari promises to make you laugh and break your heart, but you'll walk away with a song stuck in your head knowing there is still good in the world.
It is a story about the last surviving support group for lonely people. The YMCA's premiere club for bachelors and bachelorettes includes one looking for love, one looking to move on from a crush and one dealing with a breakup and a pregnancy.
A small cast and band come together to create a comedic, heart-felt, vibrant show with a strong female lead, moments of high comedy, deep tragedy and three twists you won't see coming.
"My play is centered on a funny case of mistaken identities and this show is a champion of platonic love, a rare subject, but one the audience will relate to," Navari said recently.
In 2020, Navari was named Pittsburgh's Community Supported Artist and was awarded a grant for the show's first production through the National Endowment for the Arts. It opened at the New Hazlett Theater.
In November 2021, "Local Singles" was ranked in the Best of Pittsburgh list for the arts by City Paper, and in December 2021 the show was nominated for 16 Broadway World Awards and won five, including Best Direction for Navari.
"When the pandemic showed no signs of slowing down, they doubled down on the show, and gave us the funds to shoot it as a feature film that debuted in March 2021 and got great reviews," Navari said.
The original cast recording was recorded with musicians from the Pittsburgh Opera.
The show has since been produced at the Lamp Theatre in Irwin and at theaters in Denver, Colorado, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Navari has also written and produced a running segment for the two-time Emmy-nominated Fan Nation television series on CBS Pittsburgh.
Navari also played over 150 shows at the dueling piano bar Howl at the Moon in Pittsburgh. After directing musicals all over the Pittsburgh area, he came to The Strand Theater in 2022 as producing artist director, and in 2023 he directed "9 to 5" and "Godspell."
A graduate of Kenyon College with degrees in economics and law, Navari is an ambassador for the Pittsburgh CLO, and a staff writer for the Broadway Beat.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Strand Theater director gets off-Broadway for for his musical
