Broadway’s Adam Pascal to present master class, perform with students

OK so this is big.

PHS Performing Arts students as well as theatre enthusiasts from throughout the region will have an incredible opportunity on Feb. 1: they’ll get to spend some time on stage with a Tony Award-winning Broadway performer and film star.

Having learned about the recent successes of the PHS Theatre program, Adam Pascal’s agent contacted PHS Theatre Director Greg Shaw to inquire about conducting private and public master classes and performing in a concert with students.

Pascal starred as Roger in the original Broadway production “Rent,” starred as Radames in the original Broadway version of Disney’s “Aida,” and portrayed Roger in “Rent,” the film, as well. He played the Emcee in the revival of “Cabaret,” and most recently played Most recently, he played William Shakespeare in the Tony Award-winning musical “Something Rotten.” He recently was chosen to step into the lead role of Edward Lewis in the Broadway show, “Pretty Woman.”

Pascal will conduct a private master class with PHS students the morning of Feb. 1 at Memorial Auditorium and Convention Center in Pittsburg. Then, from 2 to 4:30 p.m., he’ll conduct a master class there with some of the state’s best theatre students from not just Pittsburg, but other schools, as well. Ticket holders for the evening’s “Student Showcase” concert at Memorial may observe the master class at no additional charge.

The “Student Showcase” concert will feature solo numbers by Pascal as well as cabaret numbers by master class students and group numbers by the casts of “Aida” and the upcoming production of “Footloose.” The concert will start at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $25 for balcony seating, $35 for reserved main floor and center balcony seating, and $100 for a VIP package, which includes seating in the first three rows in the center section of the main floor, a 30-minute meet-and-greet reception with Pascal prior to the show, and professional photos taken with Pascal available online for download. Nearly all of the VIP packages have sold. Group rates for reserved seating are available.

The event is being co-hosted by Memorial Auditorium and by Friends of PHS Performing Arts. Proceeds will benefit the PHS Theatre program, which last weekend won a statewide competition and was chosen to perform at the International Thespian Festival in June.

“For a performer of this notoriety and caliber to come to Pittsburg to work with students and perform for the public, especially at this price point, is an incredible opportunity,” said PHS Theatre Director Greg Shaw. “We’re anticipating people driving in from as far away as Kansas City and Wichita to attend.”

This isn’t the first time his students have gotten to work with a Broadway star; in 2017, actress Janine Davita, who played the lead role in “Urinetown,” the musical, worked with the cast of PHS’s production of “Urinetown” as well as individual students in a master class. That show would go on to be chosen for State and for Nationals.

Buy tickets at www.memorialauditorium.org, at the box office at 503 N. Pine, or by calling 620-231-7827.