'Hits! The Musical' brings famed pop, rock & Broadway songs to Pittsburgh stage

PITTSBURGH – More than 7,000 hopefuls auditioned, with 29 highly talented individuals ultimately chosen to sing, and dance in "Hits! The Musical" a show playing the Benedum Center on March 11.

Music legend Dionne Warwick, the show's co-producer, promises 90-action-packed minutes of extraordinary singing, spectacular dancing, hundreds of costume changes and state-of-the-art lighting and sound.

Audience members will be treated to dozens of pop, rock and Broadway hits that span the eras, including Stevie Wonder's “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” Whitney Houston's “I Will Always Love You,” Mariah Carey's "Hero," “This Is Me” (from “The Greatest Showman”) all the way back to the 1950s' “Singing in The Rain" made iconic by Pittsburgh's Gene Kelly.

The video trailer for "Hits!" includes a singer-dancer busting out Michael Jackson moves, and an ensemble in a lively baggy-pants routine ala MC Hammer.

"It's called 'Hits!' and that's exactly what it is," Warwick's son and co-producer Damon Elliott, said. "It's performers from ages 10 to 22 years old singing their hearts out and dancing. The choreography is amazing, the journey is amazing and it's a must-see show."

Six-time Grammy Award winner Warwick said "we're taking you through decades of music that we all learned, grew up with and love, and enjoy to this very day. So that's what we're talking about. It's hits, and it's a show you can take your whole family to, because families deserve to see this."

Tickets for the Pittsburgh show are at trustarts.org for $35.25 to $105.25.

Speaking via Zoom, Warwick and Elliott said the cast will make full use of the spacious Benedum stage (the show originally was scheduled for Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall on a different date.)

"You got these kids who are actually in an educational situation by learning and respecting music and their peers, and performing it," Elliott said. "Each of us, at our own age, gets affected differently when we watch these (youngsters) do what we love, and they're actually doing such an amazing job. That's where the 'Wow' factor comes in."

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With a laugh, Warwick said, no, she didn't insert into the nationally touring show any of her timeless hits like "Say a Little Prayer," "Do You Know The Way to San Jose" and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again."

A storyline ties together the show's generation-spanning setlist, "but it would be like spoiling a movie if I told you the plot, so you've got to show up," Elliott said.

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He believes this song and dance show has legs.

"We're taking 'Hits!' all the way to a residency in Las Vegas, and that's where it's going to live and grow eventually," Elliott, part of the production team of this year's Academy Award-nominated song "Applause" by Diane Warren (from the film "Tell It Like a Woman"), said. "And if it's supposed to, it will end up on stage in Broadway. It's a long way. You don't just open a show and say 'Ah, we're going to be around forever.' That's not how it works in this business."

Elliott believes the cast of "Hits!" represents the new wave of hungry young talent he's been seeing that hearkens to the beginning of the 2000s, and acts he produced like Destiny's Child/Beyonce, P!nk. Mya and Keyshia Cole.

The "Hits!" cast includes Loren Prisuta of Pine Township and Pittsburgh resident Nasir Butler, a graduate of Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts school.

"These kids work very hard, and as long as everyone stays on par for the course, we'll win the championship," Elliott said. "We're standing firmly behind this show, and firmly in front of this, and offering our expertise."

That expertise is vast for the 82-year-old Warwick, who's also keeping busy recording her next inspirational album that includes the debut single "Peace Like a River," her first-ever collaboration with Dolly Parton, released last Friday.

Warwick told Billboard. "Dolly is very, very grounded — which I was thrilled about — but she's also very business, which I happen to be about as well. So, it felt like two peas in a pod. It wasn't like we were working at all. It was more like two friends meeting for lunch."

Letting her son field most of the questions in their allotted 15-minute Zoom, Warwick said she has fond memories of playing Pittsburgh area shows.

She headlined the June 1968 Pittsburgh Jazz Festival at the Civic Arena that also featured Hugh Masekela, Thelonious Monk and Cannonball Adderly, and returned to the arena the following summer to headline another jazz show backed by the Woody Herman Band.

Warwick postponed a Valentine's Day 2012 concert at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg due to the death three days earlier of her cousin Whitney Houston.

Before the Zoom chat ended, Warwick utilized some of her industry expertise by uniquely praising her show's upcoming destination.

"One thing I do have to say about you guys in Pittsburgh," she said, "is you have an incredible football team."

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@timesonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: 'Hits!' national musical showcases beloved pop, rock & Broadway hits