Review: Michael Cerveris Shines in THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN CONCERT: A BENEFIT at Barebones Productions

If you're on the West Coast, you're probably well aware of Danny Elfman's annual Halloween concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, in which he and a number of film, television, theatre and music stars sing The Nightmare Before Christmas in its entirety with a symphony orchestra. This year's guests included Fred Armisen, Halsey and Catherine O'Hara, and past guests have included Weird Al Yankovic, Billie Eilish and the late Paul Reubens, aka Pee-Wee Herman. If you're not on the West Coast, you'll probably never get to see the show live... or will you? As a fundraiser for their twentieth season, Barebones Productions presented a very Pittsburgh twist on Elfman's Nightmare in Concert events: a staged reading of the screenplay and songs, deliberately lo-fi and stripped down. As a cast of costumed actors (give or take a puppet or two) read and lightly act the script, the musical numbers are accompanied by three different ensembles: a metal-oriented rock band, pianist Doug Levine, and an a cappella quartet. With such an arrangement, who better to fill Jack Skellington's pinstriped shoes than Broadway's most complicated leading man and Pittsburgh's favorite sometimes-resident, Michael Cerveris?

As a Broadway star, Michal Cerveris is famous for his ability to dig deep into sullen, uncommunicative and moody figures like Tommy, Sweeney Todd or Bruce Bechdel. He lurks in the darkness by default; while Jack Skellington has one foot in the self-pitying and melancholic morass, his other is always kept in a sunny, whimsical and almost jolly disposition. Much of the evening's humor came from Cerveris, so famously a prince of darkness, instead projecting Jack's ebullient joie de vivre. Naturally, he sings wonderfully; the score's more lyrical moments fit his pecular bass/tenor timbre wonderfully, though the odd rhythmic changes and sprechstimme passages were clearly made to fit Elfman's voice and no other. 

The rest of the cast are all Pittsburgh regulars. Missy Moreno acts and puppets the role of the Mayor, complete with the famous rotating head and courtly Southern demeanor. Jacquea Mae doesn't have much stage time in the role of Oogie Boogie, but she devours a new rocking take on the villian song. Jeffrey Carpenter's small role as Sandy Claws finds unexpected humor in the old man's slightly testy dignity; he earned an unexpected applause bit for his pronunciation of the simple phrase, "I'm Santa Claus." A three-person Greek chorus of Saige Smith, Liz Hammond and Dave Mansueto play all the other denizens of Halloween Town, including Lock, Shock and Barrel. Watching the three of them add simple little props or costume pieces, or simply alter their voices and physicality, to fill out this entire cartoon world, was a delight. Finally, CMU student and former television star Sophie Pollono stars as Sally. During the first half of the show, I wasn't entirely sure how to feel about Pollono in the role: Pollono reads- and is- quite young, and projected more Lydia Deetz energy than the worried-mom-with-a-crush vibe the rag doll carries in the movie. But then, Pollono hit her big song, and the band kicked in. Based on the Evanescence rendition, the song became a gothic power ballad, and Pollono absolutely slayed it. The age gap between college-aged Pollono and middle-aged Cerveris would have been a problem, if it weren't for the absolute sweetness of their chemistry and the fact that their only love scene is a tacked on coda after barely any interaction.

After the show proper, Barebones, the band and the cast dropped an additional encore set of Halloween standards. The four-woman ensemble ran through Halloween hits like "I Put a Spell on You" and "Ghostbusters," then Cerveris rejoined the cast for "The Time Warp" and a medley of songs from Tommy. This was my favorite moment of the night, as Tommy had been my first cast recording, and Cerveris's vocal range has grown broader and stranger with time. He began the set singing "See Me, Feel Me" in an eerie falsetto, before rocking out with the whole audience on "Pinball Wizard." Seeing one of my favorite stage musicals and one of my favorite movie musicals together onstage for one night only felt like more than a dream come true: it was the perfect Halloween treat.