Sweet Smell for Pittu

Peter Bartlett and David Pittu in What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling.

The first time I remember seeing David Pittu in a show he played a waiter in a quirky little musical by Craig Lucas and Craig Carnelia called 3 Postcards produced by the old Circle Rep. That was more than a decade ago, when I was still a junior editor at Back Stage. A couple of years ago he again played a waiter in Celebration, part of a Pinter double bill at the Atlantic.

Perhaps it's because I saw the show on a frigid January afternoon that his character's loneliness and despair, which is strikingly revealed in the play's final moments, was so haunting. Or it just could be that Pittu's a terrifically versatile actor whose been flying under the radar, despite two consecutive Tony nomination, playing a varied array of supporting characters but not really breaking out into leading roles.

Well, he's the star, co-writer and co-director of What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling, which I had the chance to talk to him about for this Time Out New York feature. It just started previews yesterday, so I haven't had a chance to see it yet, but with Pittu and Peter Bartlett, who were both hilarious in the too short-lived Never Gonna Dance a few seasons ago, headlining, I expect gut-busting laughter.