CILENTO AND MANILOW GO LATIN.

FOR CHOREOGRAPHER Wayne Cilento, the "hottest spot north of

Havana" is Pittsburgh, at least for now. The city's Civic Light Opera is showing off his new work in the dance-based musical Barry Manilow's Copacabana through July 2. But following its North American premiere, which opened in Pittsburgh June 17, the show will embark on a 40-week tour with stops across the U.S. and Canada.

The Copacabana gig "just snuck up on me," Cilento said. His previous assignments had included choreography for commercials, stage, television and stars like Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera. He had also done music videos, including two--in Latin and theatrical styles--for Manilow. "I was in the middle of choreographing Aida [the Tim Rice/Elton John Broadway musical] and had been thinking about taking a break," Cilento said. "My agent called to tell me that Barry said, `If you're available, it's yours.'"

Cilento, whose previous experiences working for a musical celebrity (the Who's Pete Townsend, in Tommy) earned him a 1993 Tony Award, said he enjoys a choreographic challenge. "As a choreographer, I try to draw on different styles," he said. In Copacabana, these include Latin-influenced theatrical dance, traditional ballroom technique and shades of MGM musicals.

Accompanied by a live orchestra, the show features large nightclub numbers, audition and rehearsal sequences and fantasy interludes with an MTV ambiance. "The set is very sparse," he said. "At times bodies (of the twenty-six cast members) are used as scenery. Costumes are bold, almost contemporary." To advance the book's 1940s-style romance, about a songwriter and an aspiring star, the show required lyric-driven choreography for twenty Manilow tunes, including "Dancin' Fool," "Lola" and "Sweet Heaven," plus two new songs.

The two-act show, inspired by Manilow's 1978 hit song, has undergone several incarnations as an Emmy Award-winning television film, an Atlantic City revue and a sold-out musical on London's West End. The London production, with choreography by Dorian Sanchez, ran for eighteen months and toured Europe for a succeeding two years.

Manilow's agent, Susan Weaving of William Morris Agency, a longtime associate of Civic Light Opera's executive producer Van Kaplan, sent Kaplan the CD and script. "I knew nothing about it," he said. "I knew the song, but who doesn't?" Although neither Kaplan, whose organization fosters new musicals, nor Cilento, who staged Tommy in London during Copacabana's run, saw the West End production, they concur that the show owes its popularity to the appeal and familiarity of Manilow's music, elements they hope will ensure the success of the revamped production.

Barry Manilow's Copacabana plays Pittsburgh's Benedum Center through July 2, then travels to Toronto, July 3; Atlanta, July 17, and Chicago, July 24.