The Snowball Effect

Nick Navari’s musical, Local Singles!, just kind of happened… this is the story.

The+Snowball+Effect

Nick Navari, a musical writer from Pittsburgh who wrote “Local Singles” which was performed live for the first time at The Lamp Theater by StageRight, got the idea to write about a local singles group after seeing local singles signs on the sides of roads. 

“I wanted to promote a musical through signs like that,” said Navari.  “Then, it just kind of snowballed into that idea.”

Navari already had a few songs in his pocket that he wrote without the intention of turning them into a musical to use in the show. However, he felt like they weren’t truly an extension of himself.   

“You grow up listening to love songs, so you think that’s just how you write songs,” explained Navari. “I was writing about things I didn’t know about.  It wasn’t my voice.”

Navari, who had already written songs about a plethora of topics, then wrote characters and stories to fit the songs.  One of his songs titled “Bench” was written about his confusion around benches and why every bench you sit on is dedicated to someone.  

Courtesy of @staceylouisephotography

“Benches are like gravestones in a way,” explained Navari. “They’re always dedicated to someone dead, and that always confused me, so I wrote a song about it.  Then I put that storyline in the show, and then that storyline just snowballed from there.”  

After he finished the musical, Navari emailed as many people as he could, trying to get someone to do the show never giving up and not accepting the silence as the truth.  

“It took many tries before someone answered,” Navari admitted. “I was honestly  just hoping for an email back.” 

After he sent an email to Christopher McAllister, the director at StageRight, Chris decided he would do the show and put on the first live production of Local Singles!  

“It was so well put together, fun, passionate, and interesting,” said McAllister.

“The music rocks.”

But, just with any show, you need a cast to bring the characters to life. McAllister hand-picked a group of actors he thought would fit the roles well, including local actors, Hank Fodor and Malcolm McGraw.  

Courtesy of @staceylouisephotography

“I had never heard of Nick or Local Singles before,” Fodor expressed.  ”I actually didn’t know what it was until Chris asked me if I was available for the show, but Nick is such a great writer.” 

“I actually had already heard about the show.  I did it because it was something new,”  McGraw added.  “I loved getting to play Jack for the first live production, especially as a person of color.  Working with Nick is great.  He’s very helpful.”

Navari then added that the appeal of local singles is that everyone can relate to it.  All the characters are pieces of him.

“The characters aren’t a specific age, so they are easier to connect to,” finished Navari.  “There are pieces of me in every character, but I put the most of me into Wes [the lead male role].”

Everyone can relate to this funny musical about a local singles group and their ridiculously dramatic stories in some way, so check it out here.