Pittsburgh CLO Announces Cast And Creative Team For MY WAY

Pittsburgh CLO is proud to announce the cast and creative team for the premiere of My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, which runs February 12 through May 10 at the CLO Cabaret. Relive the magic of an American legend with 56 of his greatest songs, including "Fly Me to the Moon," "Young at Heart," "All the Way," and, of course, "My Way." Tickets are available online at pittsburghCLO.org, or by calling 412-456-6666.

Kristiann Menotiades (Woman One) most recently worked with Pittsburgh CLO in the CLO Cabaret productions of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change and Shear Madness. Her previous credits include Alice Miller in My Favorite Year and Paquette in Candide at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Yorah in Children of Eden and Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors at the CCAC Boyce Campus, Madge in Enlightenment with the City Theater's Young Playwright's Festival, and Grandma Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof with Pittsburgh Musical Theater. Ms. Menotiades is a graduate of Point Park University and is currently an instructor at the Pittsburgh CLO Academy.

John Fredo (Man One) is making his CLO Cabaret debut. He has been involved with My Way since its inception, performing in productions at Artpark at the Church, Tennessee Repertory Theatre, and various theaters across the country. A native of Buffalo, Mr. Fredo has appeared in productions at MusicalFare Theatre in Amherst, New York, for 15 consecutive seasons, including his most recent performance in American Rhapsody. His favorite roles include the title role in Sweeney Todd, Officer Lockstock in Urinetown, John Adams in 1776 and Marvin in Falsettos, earning him the Artvoice Theatre Award as Outstanding Actor in a Musical for all four performances. He has also performed as Al Jolson in Jolson & Company, Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Smudge in Forever Plaid, Nathan in Guys & Dolls, and El Gallo in The Fantasticks.

Karen Jeffreys (Woman One) also is making her CLO Cabaret debut in My Way. She most recently appeared as Janet in the Pittsburgh CLO Gallery of Heroes touring production of The Incredibly Innovative Innovators of Pittsburgh, which ran from January through May of 2008. She has previously acted in various productions at the Erie Playhouse, Riverside Inn and Dinner Theater in Cambridge Springs, Pa., and Up With People in Colorado. Her other professional experience includes singing for the Erie-based groups "Starfish" and the "Dave Stevens Big Band." Ms. Jeffreys also has performed as a featured soloist and dancer for the Pittsburgh Swing City Orchestra in Buffalo, Erie, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, Cincinnati, Boston, Cleveland and Chicago.

Joseph Domencic (Man Two) returns to the CLO Cabaret, where he has performed in Forever Plaid, Forbidden Broadway, Plaid Tidings and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change. He toured the country as an actor and assistant music director with The Acting Company in O Pioneers! and The Comedy of Errors, and he has also performed in the Pittsburgh area with Pittsburgh CLO (A Musical Christmas Carol, 1776, Footprints on the Moon, Young Mark Twain), Pittsburgh Public Theater (The Comedy of Errors, Cabaret), Unseam'd Shakespeare (The Constant Prince) and Mountain Playhouse (Glorious). Mr. Domencic has worked as a teacher and music director with area high school and college students for the past 13 years and currently teaches at Seton Hill University and ACT ONE Theatre School.

Tim Brady (Understudy for Man One and Two) returns to the CLO Cabaret after working as stage manager for I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Shear Madness, The Big Bang, Always... Patsy Cline, and Plaid Tidings and performing in Forbidden Broadway: SVU. As an actor, he has appeared in 11 productions of Pittsburgh CLO's A Musical Christmas Carol, the 2008 Summer Season productions of Mame, Annie Get Your Gun and West Side Story and the 2004 summer productions of The Music Man (Charlie Cowell) and 1776 (Judge Wilson), in addition to appearing in Porgy and Bess, Evita, Casper The Musical and the CLO's Gallery of Heroes program for 10 years. Other local theaters that Mr. Brady has performed with include The Pittsburgh Pops, Starlight Productions, The New Pittsburgh Jewish Theatre, Stage Right and The Theater Factory. Mr. Brady was also the managing director of the Conley Inn Dinner Theater in Irwin for 17 years.

Caitlin Elizabeth Reilly (Understudy for Woman One and Two) was most recently seen on stage as an understudy in the CLO Cabaret production of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, which marked her 14th production with the CLO. She also appeared in the CLO's production of A Musical Christmas Carol for a fifth time in 2007. She is an alumna of the CLO Academy and CLO Mini-Star program. Her recent credits include Millie in Picnic, Marty in Grease!, Winnie in Annie Get Your Gun with Andrea McCardle and Lesly in The House of Yes.

David Grapes II (Director) is an award-winning director, actor and playwright who is currently the director of the School of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) and the Executive Producer for UNC's 75-year-old professional summer stock company - the Little Theatre of the Rockies. Prior to his arrival at UNC, he served for six years as the Producing Artistic Director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville. During his 30-year career in the theater, Mr. Grapes has produced more than 800 major productions that span nearly every genre of dramatic literature, and his work as a director has been seen from coast to coast. Mr. Grapes' professional acting credits include leading roles in Cyrano de Bergerac, Amadeus, The Miser, The School For Wives, A Christmas Carol, Art, The Cherry Orchard, Talley's Folly, The Merchant of Venice, The Importance of Being Ernest, A Man For All Seasons and The Drawer Boy. Born and raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, he is a member of Actors' Equity Association, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the Dramatist Guild of America and a graduate of the MFA Acting/Directing Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the creator/co-author (with Todd Olson) of four musical revues that have been performed at more than 400 theaters worldwide, including My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, Christmas My Way: A Sinatra Holiday Bash, Moon River: Johnny Mercer's American Songbook, and I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett. He is also creator/co-author (with Robert Neblett) of Simply Simone - The Music of Nina Simone and the play Dracula: The Case of the Silver Scream, a new film noir adaptation of Bram Stocker's famous novel. During the summer of 2007, he premiered the new musical revue Babes in Hollywood - The Music of Garland and Rooney. Since 1999, Mr. Grapes has directed 15 different productions of My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra.

Deana Muro (Musical Director) is a CLO Cabaret veteran of seven productions since the theater's inception, including her most recent musical direction of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, which featured her 1,000th performance. Her acting credits include Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, Julie in A Perfect Wedding (Post-Gazette Best Supporting Actress list), Jan in Grease, Gilmer in Godspell and Maureen/Queenie/Dot in Honk!

Her additional music direction credits include Forever Plaid, Forbidden Broadway, Forbidden Broadway: SVU, Always, Patsy Cline, Plaid Tidings, The Big Bang, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum., The Starmakers Gala, Marat Sade, Footloose, Working, My Name is Alice, And the World Goes Round, Dames at Sea, School House Rock Live!, Oliver, Annie, Jr., Once On This Island, A Chorus Line and Off the Record! She has music directed/accompanied for Pittsburgh CLO, Point Park University, Pittsburgh Musical Theater, City Theater, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre and The Theater Factory, and played keyboard for CLO's The Full Monty and Smokey Joe's Café. Ms. Muro debuted her own one-woman Cabaret, So Far... under the direction of Jack Allison at the CLO Cabaret and has served as musical director for several late night acts. She is a graduate of Point Park University.

Andrew David Ostrowski (Lighting Designer) most recently designed the world premiere of Long Story Short for City Theatre and the subsequent production for Theatre Works in Palo Alto, CA., I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change at the CLO Cabaret, Anthony Rapp's one-man show Without You at City Theatre and Contact at North Shore Music Theatre. He also designed Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble's summer season and the lighting for the CLO Cabaret productions of Shear Madness, Forever Plaid, the Forbidden Broadway Series, Always...Patsy Cline and Plaid Tidings. He has been the Associate Lighting Designer on 50 plus CLO shows including Carousel, Hello, Dolly!, Funny Girl, My Fair Lady and A Musical Christmas Carol. Mr. Ostrowski has designed for Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Public Theater, City Theatre, Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre, Pittsburgh Musical Theater and many others.

Andrea Shockling (Set Designer) has designed sets for the CLO Cabaret's Always...Patsy Cline and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, Pittsburgh Public Theatre's The Crucible and Jewish Theater of Pittsburgh's Door to Door, among many others. She joined the CLO administrative staff full time as CLO Academy Education Programs Manager in the fall of 2008. She has been an instructor with City Theatre's Young Playwrights Program, and recently finished a two year stint at the Children's Museum creating professional development courses for visual and performing arts educators, in partnership with the Arts Education Collaborative. She is a consultant with Growing Theater Outreach, a mentorship program through the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University that brings educational theater experiences to middle school students in the region.

Sue O' Neill (Costume Designer) designs costumes for theater, dance and opera and is also a studio artist and a published children's book illustrator. She has been the resident costume designer/coordinator for Pittsburgh CLO's 2007 and 2008 Summer Seasons. My Way will be her debut at the CLO Cabaret. Her costume designs have been seen at the Mexico City Opera, Vancouver Opera, Miami Opera, the Lincoln Center OUTofDOORS Festival, the University of the Virgin Islands, Montreal Opera, New York City Opera and Pittsburgh Opera, in addition to being a part of a permanent rental collection in Toronto. Having designed for more than 25 years, she has also coordinated and built costumes for San Francisco Opera, The Seattle Opera and Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center, Santa Fe Opera, Yale Repertory Theater, Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera. Pittsburgh audiences may have also seen her design work with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, City Theatre, Quantum Theater, The REP at Point Park, Attack Theatre and Dance Alloy, among others.

Michael Greer (Stage Manager) most recently performed in Pittsburgh CLO's 2008 production of A Musical Christmas Carol. His Favorite roles include The Full Monty (Keno) and A Musical Christmas Carol (Topper) with Pittsburgh CLO, West Side Story (Riff), Footloose (Willard), Beauty & the Beast (Gaston), & Fiddler on the Roof (Motel) with Pittsburgh Musical Theater, The Rocky Horror Show (Brad) with Stage Right! and Jesus Christ Superstar (Ensemble) with Kansas City Starlight Theatre.

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