Sign in to your TheaterMania account

Peter Bartlett will join David Pittu in What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling, a comedy with music, to run at the Atlantic Theatre Stage 2, September 2-28, with an opening set for September 10. The show features a book by Pittu, who will co-direct with Neil Pepe, and original music by Randy Redd. Additional casting will be announced shortly.

This musical satire charts the career of an eternally up-and-coming (and fictitious) musical theater composer (played by Pitu) who is interviewed by a talk show host (played by Bartlett) and shares his struggle to keep musical theater alive in the 21st Century. Pittu, a longtime Atlantic member, is best known as an actor, and has received Tony Award nominations for Is He Dead? and LoveMusik.

The creative team includes Takeshi Kata (sets), Martin Pakledinaz (costumes), Matthew Richards (lighting), Jill DuBoff (sound), and Dustin O'Neill (projections). Pepe is the artistic director of the Atlantic and will direct the upcoming Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the Plow.

Bartlett's many New York stage credits include The New Century, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Frogs, and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. He is also known for his long-running role as Nigel on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. He helped Pittu develop the work this summer at Colorado's Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival.