Pittsburgh Public Theater's limited, two-week holiday engagement of the Rogers and Hammerstein revue, A Grand Night For Singing, is a rare holiday-time musical for the resident nonprofit in downtown Pittsburgh.

Debra Dickinson directs and choreographs the musical, originally conceived for Broadway by Walter Bobbie. Performances began Dec. 16 and continue to Dec. 30. F. Wade Russo is musical director of the 39 numbers from the songbook of composer Richard Rogers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II.

"I wanted to produce a unique event for holiday audiences," Public artistic director Ted Pappas said in a statement, calling the show "a much-needed addition to the city's more traditional holiday offerings. I love Dickens, I love Tchaikovsky, and I love R&H."

The Dec. 16 opening night included a party for the audience — a good-will and audience-building effort at which audience mingled with cast and crew.

The Grand Night cast includes Lauri Landry (Broadway's The Scarlet Pimpernel), Daniel Krell (Pitt Public's You Can't Take It With You), Sharon Connelly-Schaller (Pitt Public's Fifty Million Frenchmen), Catrina Lennon (Mabel in Pitt Public's The Pirates of Penzance) and Gavan Pamer (the Pittsburgh-based director, choreographer and performer, making his Public Theater debut). Designers are Jim Noone (set), David Woolard (costumes) and David Segal (lighting).

Tickets are $10-$36. Pittsburgh Public Theater performs at the O'Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, in downtown Pittsburgh. For information, call (412) 316-1600, or visit the website at http://www.ppt.org.

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The musical numbers in A Grand Night for Singing include "The Carousel Waltz," "So Far," "Maria," "It's a Grand Night for Singing," "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "Stepsisters' Lament," "We Kiss in a Shadow," "Hello, Young Lovers," "A Wonderful Guy." "I Cain't Say No," "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful," "Honey Bun," "The Gentleman is a Dope," "Don't Marry Me," "Many a New Day," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man," "If I Loved You," "Shall We Dance?," "That's the Way it Happens," "All at Once You Love Her," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "To Have and to Hold"/"Wish Them Well," "The Man I Used to Be," "It Might as Well Be Spring," "Kansas City," "A Hundred Million Miracles," "When the Children are Asleep," "I Know It Can Happen Again," "My Little Girl," "Love, Look Away" and more.

— By Kenneth Jones