'Gold Over America' gymnastics show designed by Western Pa. native

Mark Swanhart doesn’t mince words when it comes to the U.S. gymnastics team, which came home from this summer’s Olympic Games with nine medals, including three golds.

“They’re rock stars,” said Swanhart, a Cambria County native and Point Park University dance major with more than 25 years of experience creating entertaining shows in sports, live stage, dance and film. Swanhart has worked with everyone from the NFL and Disney to Celine Dion and the Rolling Stones over the years.

After the 2021 Olympics, Swanhart partnered with Tony Award-winning production company MagicSpace Entertainment to pitch a national touring show featuring members of the U.S. gymnastics team.

And they figured who better to pitch it to than the star of those Olympics, Simone Biles?

“We told her we wanted to go out with her and take the best of the best with us. She gathered her gymnasts and we hit the ground running,” Swanhart said.

The result was the first “Gold Over America Tour,” and its latest incarnation will come to Pittsburgh on Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena.

For U.S. gymnast Jade Carey, who brought home a bronze medal in the women’s vault this summer, it will be the first time she’s been in Pittsburgh since she was a kid.

“My grandmother was born and raised in Perrysville, and we have some family in the Pittsburgh area,” said Carey, 24, of Phoenix. Carey also was part of the 2021 tour.

“This show is really well put-together,” she said. “It’s a really creative way to spread positive messages to a younger generation of gymnasts.”

The tour kicked off Sept. 16, showcasing both the men’s and women’s teams in a high-energy stage show.

“It’s kind of like being handed the keys to a Ferrari, with all of these great athletes,” Swanhart said. “I think people will get a very different experience from what they watched at the Olympics. Gymnastics can sometimes be very sterile — the men don’t even get music for their floor routines — but this is filled with music, including a segment in the middle that’s really meant to feel like you’re right there at the Olympics.”

Swanhart built the show from the ground up, choosing the music, writing the small pieces of dialogue and designing the screen content and lighting design.

Carey said her favorite segment is set to Cyndi Lauper’s hit “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

“It really gets the crowd engaged and we get to interact with fans, which we can’t do at competitions. It’s great to see so many little kids excited and having fun,” she said.

“Jade brings it every single night,” said Swanhart, who usually only sticks around for the first few dates of a touring show. He’s not going to miss the Pittsburgh stop, though.

“I really want to be able to share that with my friends and family,” he said, adding that the show is a change of pace for the gymnasts.

“They’re used to working all year and training for a couple of annual events,” he said. “But they’re doing these shows, hopping on the bus and heading the next one.”

In addition to showcasing the U.S. team, the show includes a handful of international gymnasts.

“It just feels like one big family,” Carey said. “And being able to collaborate with the men’s team is great, because we’re separated during competition. We get to do some numbers together and it’s great to see the boys get the moments they deserve.”

Show tickets are $35 to $150 and are available at Ticketmaster.com. For more, see GoldOverAmericaTour.com.