JONATHAN BLAKE FLEMINGS AND ZURI HODGE
 
Pittsburgh Musical Theater has been known to take risks when it comes to choosing productions to present on stage.

The company has presented “Spring Awakening” and “Hair” in the past.

Now “Tarzan” will be swinging onto the Byham Theater stage as the season-ender of Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s season.

It is based off of the 1999 Disney film of the same name, and features powerful and fun music by musical juggernaut, Phil Collins. The musical began on Broadway in 2006 and opened at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on May 10 of that year, making it the only Disney theatrical production without any non-New York-based actors trying out for parts.

“Tarzan” closed in July of 2007 after 35 previews and 486 performances. It was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical and then went on to a widely successful two-year run in the Netherlands from 2007 to 2009.

With a history like that, one would think that actors would shy away from the challenge of the musical.

But that is not the case with Zuri Hodge and Jonathan Blake Flemings, two of the ensemble actors in the Colleen Petrucci directed and choreographed Pittsburgh Musical Theater Professional Company’s production, which runs from May 9-19 at the Byham Theater. Tickets run from $12 to $44.

Tickets for “Tarzan” can be purchased by calling 412-456-6666 or by visiting www.pittsburghmusicals.com/tix-tarzan or www.pgharts.org.

“The story of Tarzan is so captivating. That a stranger from an outside world would come in and get acclimated with a community of apes is amazing,” said Jonathan Blake Flemings, a Point Park University senior from Los Angeles who portrays the ape, Jasiri in the play.

“I’m glad that the theater is moving to something new with ‘Tarzan,” said Zuri Hodge a senior at Vincentian Academy in the Penn Hills School District. This will be her final production with Pittsburgh Musical Theater. “I’m glad that my final production with them will be Tarzan and that I’m playing an ape.”

To come across as real primates on stage, cast members went to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium to observe the movements and mannerisms of the gorilla.

“They were really energetic and it was fun watching how they react when they hear a noise and how that noise dictates their next move,” Hodge said.

Flemings agreed with his cast mate.

“We’re bringing creatures to life. We’re hunched over a lot. I don’t stand up at all. It’s physically exhausting, but it’s a great show. It’s Disney so it’s not super-deep. It is what it is,” Flemings said. ‘Tarzan’ works because of the story of it, the characters and what they are trying to do. That’s at the heart of the show.”

Pittsburgh Musical Theater was founded in 1990 with the mission of creating a regional theater company committed to quality productions of the best of Pittsburgh’s own professional talent at a price affordable to all residents, especially families and children.

As a non-profit performing arts organization, the mission expanded to include a strong commitment to education, training, and outreach programs through the Richard E. Rauh Conservatory for Musical Theater. General music education and appreciation programs are offered for students ages 4-18. The pre-college program is a highly structured accredited program designed for high school students with serious aspirations for careers in the performing arts.

“As African-Americans there are some shows that we can’t do, but when you really find a show that you can be in, you jump on it,” Flemings said. “Pittsburgh is a very traditional town when it comes to casting, but this is a big deal because it allows you to be in the show and have an opportunity that not a lot of people have.”

Hodge believes the underlying themes of tolerance, love and family will draw in audiences both young and old.

“The kids are going to love the apes and how goofy we are and the parents will relate to the animals and the human characters. The theme of acceptance will touch moms in the audience as well as the relationship between mother and son and dads will resonate with the male ape,” Hodge said. “The show is surprising because it relates to all of us.”

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Well, she’s not wearing her Federation regulation Lt. Uhuru uniform, nor is she 10 feet tall and blue. But Zoe Saldana is wearing blue jeans…and nothing else in her pictorial for the May 21 issue of Allure Magazine.

She also opens up about her sexuality saying she’s no longer interested in dating Hollywood men, or women.

See guys, you might still have a chance…if you don’t live in Hollywood.

Zoe can be seen—in uniform—in Star Trek: Into Darkness, May17.

"Star Trek Into Darkness" —Like fan-boy fiction on a $185 million budget, director J.J. Abrams' film is reverential, faithful and steeped in "Trek" mythology. It's also an excessively derivative what-if rehash of themes and interactions that came before, most of the characters lesser copies and even caricatures of the originals. The scenario's been hijacked and rejiggered from better "Trek" plots of decades ago, the best verbal exchanges lifted nearly verbatim from past adventures. In short, the new chiefs of Starfleet aren't coming up with much to call their own. But they pile on the spectacle in a way that's never been seen before in "Star Trek"; the action in "Into Darkness" is top-notch, the visuals grand, though the movie's needless conversion to 3-D muddies the images. Abrams was most definitely not a fan-boy for this franchise when he made 2009's "Star Trek," which reintroduced Kirk, Spock and the rest of the starship Enterprise gang with a time-travel twist that allowed the William Shatner-Leonard Nimoy original to coexist with an entirely different destiny for the new players. Abrams grew up a fan of "Star Wars," the next space saga he'll be reviving with the launch of a third trilogy. But his key collaborators, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof, are "Trek" fan-boys to their marrow. They know this world, they love this world, and like many fans, they have a particular fixation on 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," the best that the franchise has ever had to offer, on the big-screen or TV. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, John Cho and Zoe Saldana are among the returning ensemble cast. PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence. 132 minutes. Two stars out of four.

— David Germain, AP Movie Writer

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Runner-up Kree Harrison, from left, Angie Miller, winner Candice Glover, Lazaro Arbos and host Ryan Seacrest react after Glover is announced the winner at the "American Idol" finale at the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live on May 16, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
 

NEW YORK (AP) — Ratings for the "American Idol" finale plunged to a record low for the 12-year-old show.

According to preliminary Nielsen Co. figures Friday, Candice Glover's victory over Kree Harrison was watched by 14.2 million viewers. That's a 34 percent drop from the year before, when nearly 22 million viewers saw Phillip Phillips claim the "Idol" crown. That represented the show's previous record low finale audience.

Among advertiser-coveted young adults, "American Idol" saw an even steeper 42 percent drop for Thursday's finale.

The lack of interest in the winner of this year's contest parallels the show's declining ratings for the season. Fox is scrambling to revive the singing contest that once dominated TV, revamping the judges' panel and making yet-to-be detailed format changes.

Original judge Randy Jackson has already announced his exit.

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KRISTOPHER THOMPSON-BOLDEN

Sexy and sassy are the words that come to mind when Kristopher Thompson-Bolden describes his ensemble role as the lone Black sailor in the Roundabout Theater Company’s production of “Anything Goes,” which ran at  Heinz Hall recently.