Nasir Butler bops into a Pittsburgh CAPA rehearsal room, smiling and soft-spoken, wearing camo shorts and a T-shirt that gives away why he is there at 10 a.m. on a school day. The logo is from the school’s spring musical, “Les Miserables,” in which the senior starred as Jean Valjean.
A video clip of him singing “Bring Him Home,” taken from backstage and posted to the Friends of CAPA Facebook page, has more than 12,000 views and counting.
For those who were there, or heard his vocals from the Benedum Center stage Saturday — when he was named best actor at the Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater — the word you hear most often is, “Wow.”
The lyric tenor has been training in jazz and classical music since he was a preteen, but musical theater is new to him. He has been featured in just two CAPA musicals, last year as Billy Crocker in “Anything Goes” and this year’s “Les Mis” triumph. His final performance for CAPA will be singing national anthem with other seniors at graduation on June 10.
When he’s on his own, the teenager whose next stop is Oberlin College’s Vocal Academy says he enjoys the freedom of jazz and can be found scatting to himself.
His vocal instructor at CAPA, Peter Bianchi, was in the rehearsal room Tuesday morning, helping Nasir warm up before he sang “Bring Him Home” for a Post-Gazette video.
Mr. Bianchi recalls, “The first time I heard Nasir, he was in seventh grade and his voice had already changed, which for the voice teacher at the time was a gift and a challenge.”
When the responsibility fell to him to instruct the talented teen from Homewood, he thought, “Oh my God, don’t screw it up!”
When Mr. Bianchi finished at the piano, stepping in to accompany Nasir was his “Les Mis” musical director —10th-grader Mitchell Dubin.
Mitchell, who wants to be a conductor, has already led CAPA’s orchestra in its annual collaboration with Pittsburgh Musical Theater and has been honing his skills during summers at French Woods Performing Arts Camp in upstate New York. He says “Les Miserables” was his 28th time as a music director.
The sophomore from Squirrel Hill was selected to Music for All’s 2018 Honor Orchestra of America. The orchestra comprises high school students chosen by audition, who then get to rehearse and perform with renowned conductors.
Mitchell, who is classically trained on piano, has picked up the bassoon as a member of the CAPA 6-12 Orchestra. He says he knew he was destined for a life in music at “age 3 or 4,” when his parents could recognize the tunes he would pick out on a small keyboard at home.
Together, the sophomore and the senior team for a few rapt observers on the song that shows the full range of Nasir’s voice. Just as he hits the final sky-high note, the bell rings signaling the end of class.
Laughter erupts, but these two are not thrown off their game. They pick it up from a few bars to the end, and bring the song home.
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Video of Nasir Butler onstage courtesy of Pittsburgh CAPA and the Gene Kelly Awards.
First Published: May 31, 2018, 3:30 p.m.
