Ta’Rea Campbell (center right) stars as fugitive nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, a.k.a. Sister Mary Clarence, in “Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy” at DPAC (photo by Joan Marcus)

You don’t have to be Catholic to enjoy Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy, playing now through Sunday at the Durham Performing Arts Center, but it does heighten the hilarity of this laugh-out-loud Broadway musical version of the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg as a nightclub singer who witnesses a murder and is sent to hide out in a convent until the police can arrest the killer and bring him to trial.

An African-American Protestant, Deloris Van Cartier (portrayed and sung with flash and pizzazz aplenty by Ta’Rea Campbell) is no angel — and the unlikeliest candidate ever for the novitiate. Her fish-out-of-water reactions to convent life are a scream, and her run-ins with the convent’s strait-laced Mother Superior (sternly but compassionately played by Hollis Resnik) are entertaining encounters.

Mother Superior Deloris to the nuns as “Sister Mary Clarence,” and she may flunk the piety test but she knows how to whip the sadsack convent choir into shape. Soon they are attracting crowds to fill the formerly empty pews of their church, and even get the attention of the Holy Father himself! But although publicity of the choir is a good thing for the convent, it is a bad thing for Deloris — and puts her once again on the radar of her murderous gangster ex-boyfriend Curtis (played with palpable menace by Kingsley Leggs) and the three stooges who comprise his gang: his nincompoop nephew T.J., Joey, and Pablo (portrayed by Charles Barksdale, Todd A. Horman, and Ernie Pruneda). Indeed, Barksdale’s outrageous antics as T.J. make him a crowd favorite.

Also tickling the funny-bones of DPAC patrons are the choice comic characterizations by Lael Van Keuren as novice Sister Mary Robert, Florrie Bagel as hilariously hyper Sister Mary Patrick, Diane J. Findlay as the aged but still lively Sister Mary Lazarus, E. Clayton Cornelious as police Lt. “Sweaty Eddie” Souther, and Richard Pruitt as the jovial Monsignor O’Hara.

The exuberant musical staging of Broadway and West End director Jerry Zaks, choreographer Anthony Van Laast — recreated on tour with brio by associate director Steven Beckler, associate choreographer Janet Rothermel, and musical director Brent-Alan Huffman — combines with the spectacular soaring sets of scenic designer Klara Zieglerova and the flamboyant fashions of costume designer Lez Brotherston to make this latest film-turned-musical a production to remember.

SECOND OPINION: May 15th Durham, NC Herald-Sun review by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/x1592158767/REVIEW-A-joyful-noise-at-Sister-Act and May 10th preview by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/x1592156210/-Sister-Act-brings-disco-to-a-convent (Note: You must register to read this article); May 15th Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/15/2894680/sister-act-makes-successful-shift.html; and May 15th Triangle Arts and Entertainment review by Susie Potter: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/05/sister-act-makes-a-flawless-transition-from-film-to-stage-in-dpacs-charming-production/. (Note: To read Triangle Arts and Entertainment’s online version of the May 14th Triangle Review preview by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/05/unlike-the-1992-film-sister-act-a-divine-musical-comedy-is-set-in-philadelphia-in-the-1970s/.)

The Durham Performing Arts Center presents SISTER ACT: A DIVINE MUSICAL COMEDY at 7:30 p.m. May 16, 8 p.m. May 17, 2 and 8 p.m. May 18, and 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. May 19 at DPAC, in the American Tobacco District, at 123 Vivian St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $42.50-$111.00 (including fees), except $17.50 Student Rush Tickets (plus a service fee if purchased online), located on Row P of the Balcony.

BOX OFFICE:

DPAC Box Office: 919-680-ARTS (2787), tickets@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/how_to_buy_tickets.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115558/1555394.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919/281-0587, Groups@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/group_services.

SHOW: http://www.DPACnc.com/events/detail/sister-act.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdDsU5CsP8g.

CONTEST (win two opening-night tickets and a $20 gift card for Bull City Burger and Brewery): http://www.DPACnc.com/contests/detail/raise-your-voice-with-sister-act.

PRESENTER/VENUE: http://www.DPACnc.com/.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/getting_here.

PARKING: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/parking_guide.

NOTE 1: The Durham Performing Arts Center will sell Student Rush Tickets, located on Row P of the Balcony, for just $17.50 (plus a service fee if purchased online). For details, click http://www.DPACnc.com/events/special_offers.

NOTE 2: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe the 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18th, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

Sister Act (1992 film): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Act (Wikipedia) and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105417/ (Internet Movie Database).

Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy (2006 musical): http://www.sisteractthemusical.com/ (official website), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Act_%28musical%29 (Wikipedia), and http://ibdb.com/show.php?id=488902 (Internet Broadway Database).

North American Tour: http://sisteractbroadway.com/ (official website).

Tour Cast: http://sisteractbroadway.com/cast.html (official web page).

Tour Creative Team: http://sisteractbroadway.com/creative.html (official web page).

Brent-Alan Huffman (music director/conductor) https://www.facebook.com/brentalan.huffman/ (his Facebook page) and http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=112684 (Internet Broadway Database).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Ta’Rea Campbell (center) stars as fugitive nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, a.k.a. Sister Mary Clarence, in “Sister Act” at DPAC (photo by Joan Marcus)

Just about every 90s kid (and adult) has seen the 1992 fish-out-of-water comedy “Sister Act” starring Whoopi Goldberg. Unfortunately, not everyone has had the incredibly fun experience of seeing the film brought to bigger and better life in its stage version as adapted by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner and playing now at DPAC.

Embarking on a slightly different path than the beloved film, the stage version first introduces Deloris Van Cartier (Ta’rea Campbell) as she’s belting her lungs out in a sassy musical number at her bad-news boyfriend, Curtis’ (Kingsley Leggs) club. Curtis is accompanied by his equally bad-news comrades, including a fluffy and incredibly funny character named TJ (Charles Barksdale), and things take a quick downward turn for Deloris when she witnesses Curtis and company killing a member of their posse. She then makes a run for it in a chase scene that features magically smooth scene transitions.

That initial chase scene may be where the magic starts in this charming and ultimately touching production, but it’s certainly not where it ends. Much of the magic must be attributed to Campbell, who positively shines in this fun role. With her powerhouse voice and her knack for being endearingly spunky, she delivers a performance that rivals—or is at least as good as—Goldberg’s in the original film. In fact, almost as a nod to the original actress, Campbell even manages to resemble a young Goldberg at certain angles.

While Campbell is definitely the star of the show, she’s not the only one who turns out a star performance. Once Deloris goes into hiding at a local convent, a colorful cast of nuns joins the fun. Hollis Resnik, as the fearful-of-change Mother Superior, adds more sass to the role than one might expect. And then there’s crotchety Mary Lazarus (Diane J. Findlay), a character who benefits from some perfectly-delivered and bitingly punchy one-liners, and joyful Mary Patrick, as portrayed by a cute-as-button Florrie Bagel. The entire cast of nuns is as delightful as can be expected, but the play doesn’t gloss over the film’s darker themes, though it does manage to make them humorous. In a dark musical number, for example, Curtis and crew deliver a jarringly hilarious rendition of “When I Find My Baby,” in which they detail the horrendous things they plan to do when they get their hands on Deloris.

The film and its multiple layers transfer perfectly to the stage. In fact, the transition works so well that the stage version may actually be better and fuller than the film—a rarity indeed. Though the show is played for mostly laughs and giggles, it ultimately delivers a powerful message: that faith and “the real world” can combine and that each can actually reinforce and strengthen the other. Prepare for fabulous songs, sequins and glitter snuck in whenever possible, and an ultimately heartfelt story about how one woman transforms a convent through music and how the convent transforms her through love.

The Durham Performing Arts Center presents SISTER ACT at 7:30 p.m. May 15 and 16, 8 p.m. May 17, 2 and 8 p.m. May 18, and 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. May 19 at DPAC, in the American Tobacco District, at 123 Vivian St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $42.50-$111.00 (including fees), except $17.50 Student Rush Tickets (plus a service fee if purchased online), located on Row P of the Balcony.

BOX OFFICE:

DPAC Box Office: 919-680-ARTS (2787), tickets@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/how_to_buy_tickets.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115558/1555394.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919/281-0587, Groups@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/group_services.

SHOW: http://www.DPACnc.com/events/detail/sister-act.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdDsU5CsP8g.

CONTEST (win two opening-night tickets and a $20 gift card for Bull City Burger and Brewery): http://www.DPACnc.com/contests/detail/raise-your-voice-with-sister-act.

PRESENTER/VENUE: http://www.DPACnc.com/.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/getting_here.

PARKING: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/parking_guide.

NOTE 1: The Durham Performing Arts Center will sell Student Rush Tickets, located on Row P of the Balcony, for just $17.50 (plus a service fee if purchased online). For details, click http://www.DPACnc.com/events/special_offers.

NOTE 2: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe the 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18th, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

Sister Act (1992 film): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Act (Wikipedia) and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105417/ (Internet Movie Database).

Sister Act (2006 musical): http://www.sisteractthemusical.com/ (official website), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Act_%28musical%29 (Wikipedia), and http://ibdb.com/show.php?id=488902 (Internet Broadway Database).

North American Tour: http://sisteractbroadway.com/ (official website).

Tour Cast: http://sisteractbroadway.com/cast.html (official web page).

Tour Creative Team: http://sisteractbroadway.com/creative.html (official web page).

Ta’Rea Campbell (center) stars as fugitive nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, a.k.a. Sister Mary Clarence, in “Sister Act” at the Durham Performing Arts Center (photo by Joan Marcus)

The Durham Performing Arts Center will welcome the first U.S. national tour of Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy, to its 2,700-seat, state-of-the-art theater in the American Tobacco District for eight performances, starting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14th, and running through 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 19th. The 2011 Broadway musical is based on the 1992 Touchstone Pictures film starring Whoopi Goldberg as a nightclub singer on the lam from the mob after she witnesses a murder and is forced to take refuge in a convent.

“The musical is different from the movie in that it takes place in Philadelphia in the 1970s,” notes the tour’s music director and conductor, 42-year-old Brent-Alan Huffman, a Blairsville, PA native. He adds, “The movie took place in Reno, NV, in 1992. The musical has a fresh new score by [composer]. It’s all new songs that have a 1970s pastiche feel to them.”

Earlier in the tour, Huffman told the Pittsburgh, PA Post-Gazette: “This musical definitely has a disco edge to it. When the nuns are singing, it’s usually the disco style that Deloris has taught them. When Curtis and his thugs are singing, you are going to hear an R&B sound. When Mother Superior sings, the orchestration leans a little bit toward Sondheim, and then there are just some Alan Menken traditional showstopping numbers….”

In a recent interview with Triangle Review, Huffman added, “The characters and story are all the same. People will recognize it very well…. Sister Act is the story of a woman who is being hidden by the police in a convent, because she has witnessed a murder. She teaches the nuns to sing; and they, in turn, teach her a few life lessons as well.”

The tour cast includes Ta’Rea Campbell as Deloris Van Cartier a.k.a. Sister Mary Clarence; Kingsley Leggs as Van Cartier’s gangster boyfriend Curtis; Charles Barksdale, Todd A. Horman, and Ernie Pruneda as Jackson’s henchmen T.J., Joey, and Pablo; E. Clayton Cornelious as police Lt. Eddie Souther; Hollis Resnik as the no-nonsense Mother Superior of the convent where Lt. Souther hides Deloris out after she witnesses a murder; and Florrie Bagel as ultra perky Sister Mary Patrick. The cast also includes Diane J. Findlay as Sister Mary Lazarus; Richard Pruitt as Monsignor O’Hara; Lael Van Keuren as Sister Mary Robert; Melvin Abston as a Cop; Gisela Adisa as Michelle; Brian Cali as Joey Finnochio; Karen Elliott as Sister Mary Theresa; Trisha Jeffrey as Tina; Michelle Rombola as a Waitress. Jacqui Graziano and Erin Wilson alternate as Mary Martin-of-Tours.

The ensemble includes Mary Jo McConnell, Dawn Rother, Angie Marie Smith, Tricia Tanguy, Kelly E. Waters, and Dashaun Young; and swings include Danny George and Erin Henry.

Originally produced in 2006 by California’s Pasadena Playhouse, in 2007 the Alliance Theatre of Atlanta, GA, and in 2009 in London’s West End — and developed in association with Peter Schneider and Michael Reno — Sister Act made its Broadway debut on April 20, 2011 at the Broadway Theatre, where it played for 561 performances before closing on Aug. 26, 2012. Originally directed by Jerry Zaks and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast, the show features music by 2012 Tony Award® winner and eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken (Newsies), lyrics by Glenn Slater, and a book by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner — with additional text by Douglas Carter Beane — based on the screenplay by Joseph Howard. Sister Act was nominated for five 2011 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score Written for the Theatre, and Best Book of a Musical.

The tour’s producers include by Whoopi Goldberg, Stage Entertainment, Joop Van Den Ende, Bill Taylor, and Troika Entertainment. Associate director Steven Beckler and associate choreographer Janet Rothermel recreate the vivacious musical staging of Broadway and West End director Jerry Zaks and choreographer Anthony Van Laast. The rest of the creative team includes set designer Klara Zieglerova, lighting designer Natasha Katz, costume designer Lez Brotherston, wig and hair designer David Brian Brown, sound designer Ken Travis, production stage manager Daniel S. Rosokoff, and stage manager Monica Dickhens. Michael Kosarin serves as music supervisor/vocal and incidental music arranger, and Brent-Alan Huffman is the show’s music director and conductor.

Born on June 24, 1970 in Blairsville, PA, Brent-Alan Huffman was graduated from Blairsville Senior High School in 1988, and earned a degree in piano performance in 1992 from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. “I started off as a voice major, and switched over to piano,” he explains.

After college graduation, Huffman worked in a theme park in San Antonio, TX, for a year, and then worked in Omaha, NB, for a year and a half, before moving to New York City. In late 1994, he made his Broadway debut, playing keyboards in the 1994 revival of Grease.

Most recently, Brent-Alan Huffman was music director/associate conductor of Sister Act on Broadway from January 2011 to February 2012, music director/conductor of Leap of Faith on Broadway from January to May 2012, and music director/conductor of the first U.S. national tour of Sister Act.

Huffman says that he followed the usual path from keyboard player to associate conductor to conductor to musical director. “Like any corporate job,” he says, “you start from the bottom and work your way up.”

He notes, “I started with Sister Act pre-Broadway. We started this show about seven years ago in Pasadena, CA; and then it went to Atlanta, GA. It went to London before it came to Broadway.”

As the show’s music director, he says, “I help choose cast members. I teach the music to the cast during rehearsals, I conduct the show during performances and rehearsals of the cast and orchestra to keep them up to speed…. On the tour, we have 12 musicians; and the full orchestra travels with the show.”

Brent-Alan Huffman says, “The [tour's] set is a little different [from the Broadway set], so we can pack it into tractor trailers and move it around. But the show is the same. We have a few members of the Broadway company, but most of the cast is new….

“This musical is completely joyful,” claims Huffman. “By the end of the show, you are so lifted up. I can go to the show in any kind of a mood; and by the end of the show, I’ll be lifted up. It’s a joyful, positive piece.”

He adds, “Sister Act is definitely a family-friendly piece. In fact, I have family members coming to see it.

“The audience should stay until the very, very end,” says Brent-Alan Huffman. “There’s a little extra something at the end.

SECOND OPINION: May 10th Durham, NC Herald-Sun preview by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/x1592156210/-Sister-Act-brings-disco-to-a-convent (Note: You must register to read this article).

The Durham Performing Arts Center presents SISTER ACT at 7:30 p.m. May 14-16, 8 p.m. May 17, 2 and 8 p.m. May 18, and 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. May 19 at DPAC, in the American Tobacco District, at 123 Vivian St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $42.50-$111.00 (including fees), except $17.50 Student Rush Tickets (plus a service fee if purchased online), located on Row P of the Balcony.

BOX OFFICE:

DPAC Box Office: 919-680-ARTS (2787), tickets@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/how_to_buy_tickets.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115558/1555394.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919/281-0587, Groups@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/group_services.

SHOW: http://www.DPACnc.com/events/detail/sister-act.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdDsU5CsP8g.

CONTEST (win two opening-night tickets and a $20 gift card for Bull City Burger and Brewery): http://www.DPACnc.com/contests/detail/raise-your-voice-with-sister-act.

PRESENTER/VENUE: http://www.DPACnc.com/.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/getting_here.

PARKING: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/parking_guide.

NOTE 1: The Durham Performing Arts Center will sell Student Rush Tickets, located on Row P of the Balcony, for just $17.50 (plus a service fee if purchased online). For details, click http://www.DPACnc.com/events/special_offers.

NOTE 2: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe the 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18th, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

Sister Act (1992 film): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Act (Wikipedia) and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105417/ (Internet Movie Database).

Sister Act (2006 musical): http://www.sisteractthemusical.com/ (official website), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Act_%28musical%29 (Wikipedia), and http://ibdb.com/show.php?id=488902 (Internet Broadway Database).

North American Tour: http://sisteractbroadway.com/ (official website).

Tour Cast: http://sisteractbroadway.com/cast.html (official web page).

Tour Creative Team: http://sisteractbroadway.com/creative.html (official web page).

Brent-Alan Huffman (music director/conductor) https://www.facebook.com/brentalan.huffman/ (his Facebook page) and http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=112684 (Internet Broadway Database).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Harnett Regional Theatre’s large-scale production of “Seussical” features plenty of perfectly-costumed Whos. Photo: Paul Stackhouse.

In his lifetime Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as “Dr. Seuss,” authored 46 books for children; the much-loved musical “Seussical,” written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, takes bits and pieces from 18 of those books and combines them into a flawless, frantic, and incredibly fun show that, when done well, provides endless entertainment that’s suitable for the whole family. Though a favorite with community theaters, “Seussical” is a challenging production, one that requires impressive sets, over-the-top costumes, top-notch choreography, and a large and gifted cast. Fortunately, Harnett Regional Theatre rises to the challenge on all counts.

The story begins when an elephant named Horton (Alec Carroll) hears a sound coming from a small speck of dust. That sound, as fans of Horton Hears a Who know well, turns out to be the voice of the Mayor of Whoville (John Dupree). Whoville, located on the microscopic planet of Who, is a funny little town full of quirky, oddly dressed inhabitants known as Whos.

“Seussical” splits its time between Horton’s world and Whoville and focuses on the intersection between these two distant places that, as it turns out, have a lot more in common than it might appear at first glance. Horton, despite becoming the laughingstock of (most of) his friends and neighbors, works tirelessly to protect the endangered Whos and, in the process, forms a relationship with the Mayor’s son, JoJo (Noah Massengill), who, like Horton, has trouble fitting in. The entire story is narrated by—who else?—The Cat in the Hat (Hunter K. Taylor).

While the entire cast is strong, there are definitely a few standouts in the line-up. John Dupree brings real depth to his role as the Mayor of Whoville. Rather than playing the character as yet another silly Who, Dupree creates a relatable character grappling with the realities of parenting. At one point, JoJo is shipped off to military school, and Dupree effectively conveys how conflicted the mayor is about this decision. The actor’s talent has obviously been passed on to his real-life daughter, Ella John Dupree, who juggles multiple roles with ease. She’s the cutest Young Kangaroo one could ask for, and she always stands out in the crowd, whether she’s playing a Who or a Fish. Long-time readers of TA&E may recall her mention in our review of HRT’s The Sound of Music; she’s only gotten more talented since that performance, making her name one you’ll definitely want to remember.

Like Father, Like Daughter; Real-life dad and daughter team, John Dupree and Ella John Dupree, dazzle onstage. Photo: Paul Stackhouse

Other standouts include Massengill, with his sweet, searching, and slightly restless portrayal of JoJo; Carroll’s righteous Horton; and Taylor’s kooky, energetic Cat in the Hat. The superb performances all-around and the catchy musical numbers aren’t the only thing to love about this production, however. The entire show plays out against beautiful, hand-painted sets (Karen Stephenson) that feature perfect renderings of illustrations from Dr. Seuss books. Astute viewers will be able to pick out Dr. Seuss characters—“Thing 1” and “Thing 2” and “Sam I Am” included—hiding in the set. Even smaller set pieces, such as JoJo’s bathtub, feature fun little details—in this case, the red fish from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish—that will delight fans of the books.

The colorful set isn’t the only thing eye-catching about this production; Amy Langdon pulls out all the stops with her elaborate costumes (think feather boas, bright colors, and sequins galore!). As a nice counterbalance to the over-the-top sets and costumes, much of the make-up is kept minimalistic. Elephant Horton, for example, wears only a gray suit, and The Cat in the Hat relies on cat-like facial manipulation and slinky movements, rather than elaborate make-up, to bring his character to life. This unique choice makes for a production that is visually intriguing rather than visually overwhelming.

Director Vicki Wade makes some excellent staging choices. During the sentimental musical number “Alone in the Universe,” for example, Wade places the singing JoJo and Horton at parallel angles, effectively highlighting the connection they have and the similar yearnings they share. Her choices are complemented by George Savile’s mood-based lighting.

Though HRT’s “Seussical” is a perfect choice for the kids, astute adults will find that, as is the case with Dr. Seuss’ books, deeper themes lie beneath the surface. John Dupree and Amy J. Langdon bring rich complexity to their rendition of the song “How to Raise a Child” and other songs, such as “How Lucky You Are,” will give the adults in the audience a few things to think about. It’s rare for a show to offer true fun for the entire family, but HRT’s “Seussical” delivers just that.

The show will run through May 19th. For tickets or more information, visit OnlineHRT.org.

Clay Aiken stars as Man in Chair (photo by Curtis Brown Photography)

Now that the truth is out in the open, suffice it to say that, even without Aiken’s indomitable presence in his role as “Man in Chair,” North Carolina Theatre’s production of “The Drowsy Chaperone” would have been a success. This much-loved play,  a winner of five Tony awards, is brought to full life on the stage of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. Complete with silly gags and corny-on-purpose puns, rousing choreography—including a major tap dance number, and larger-than-life costumes, this clever show, which serves as both an entertaining guilty pleasure and a smart parody of theatre itself,  lives up to its well-deserved reputation.

The story is told through  Man in Chair, a somewhat sexually ambiguous lover of theatre who puts on a record of his favorite play, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” and imagines the entire cast performing in his living room. The audience sees the show the way  Man in Chair has always imagined it and gets to experience it right along with him. The action of the show-within-the-show even stops and skips as Man in Chair manipulates the record, making for some funny gags.

Aiken is, as one might expect, the star of the show. From the moment he was revealed onstage at the opening night performance, the audience simply couldn’t get enough of him. He did not, however, use his loyal fan base as an excuse to hold back on the performance. Though Aiken does not sing in the role, he steals the show time and time again with his perfect delivery of the character’s comedic commentary, and the man really knows how to milk a moment. During the “intermission” of the record, Aiken has his character eating a Power Bar and almost oblivious to the audience for a full two minutes or so. These types of antics and the fact that the story’s somewhat bittersweet ending is played up nicely  create an uncomfortable type of comedy and give the story an edge it often lacks in more mundane performances.

Aside from Aiken, Paige Faure as Janet Van Der Graaff and Beth Leavel as the show’s title character also turn out star performances. Faure brings a powerful voice and a charming presence to her role as the play-within-a-play’s heroine, while Leavel, who performed the role in the show’s first Broadway run, demonstrates the impeccable knack for comedy (and faux-drunkeness!) that made her a star.

Audiences looking for lighthearted fun and a hit-list of top performers will delight in “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

Though the reviewer cannot disclose the lengths she had to go to to obtain this signed Clay Aiken CD, it should serve as proof of her fan-girl status.

Clay Aiken and Beth Leavel star as the star-struck Man in Chair and the tipsy title character in NCT’s robust rendition of “The Drowsy Chaperone” (photo by Curtis Brown Photography)

“American Idol” season-two runner-up Clay Aiken wins the hearts and minds of Triangle theatergoers with his pixilated performance as the star-struck Man in Chair in the North Carolina Theatre‘s uproarious rendition of The Drowsy Chaperone, playing now through Sunday in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in the downtown Raleigh, NC. Aiken, who made his professional debut at age 17 in NCT’s 1996 productions of 1776 and Shenandoah, is a hoot as an eccentric, effete musical-theater snob with a special affection for a forgotten 1928 Broadway musical romance entitled The Drowsy Chaperone.

Although he doesn’t have much of an opportunity to sing, Aiken demonstrates a fine flair for comedy as Man in Chair sets the musical ball rolling as he spins remastered LPs from his favorite guilty pleasure and — like magic — the original Roaring Twenties cast of The Drowsy Chaperone materializes all around him — to flirt and dance and crack wise. Meanwhile, Man in Chair scampers around and through the action, introducing the characters and the actors and actresses who play them with pep in their step, thanks to NCT artistic director Casey Hushion’s robust recreation of the original 2006 Broadway direction and choreography devised by her friend Casey Nicholaw, while Hushion served as his assistant director.

Clay Aiken’s fellow Raleigh native Beth Leavel is a scream as she reprises Tony Award®-winning performance as the perpetually sozzled and always hot-to-trot title character, whose signature song — belted in a big Broadway voice — is “As We Stumble Along.” While Leavel is hamming it up hilariously — and stealing every scene in which she appears — Johnny Stellard and Paige Faure keep the waves of laughter rolling with their antics as well-heeled groom-to-be Robert Martin and his fabulous fiancée, big Broadway star Janet Van De Graaff, who would be having cold feet if they ever cooled off from her sizzling dance routines.

The caffeinated comic characterizations of the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed supporting cast and the invigorating accompaniment of the red-hot NCT orchestra, under the direction of Edward G. Robinson, help elevate this offbeat musical- within-a-musical from a “star package” to a full-scale musical extravaganza that compares favorably with the deluze touring versions of Broadway musicals that regularly visit the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. (Indeed, the North Carolina Theatre is the Triangle’s foremost purveyor of home-grown Broadway musicals!)

Paige Faure is a pip as soon-to-be former showgirl Janet Van De Graaff, the acrobatic bride-to-be in “The Drowsy Chaperone” at NCT (photo by Curtis Brown Photography)

Original Drowsy Chaperone Broadway cast member Linda Griffin and her partner in mirth, Dirk Lumbard, amuse royally as the ditsy hostess of the Martin-Van De Graaff nuptials, Mrs. Tottendale (in her ante-bellum outfits), and the Underling who fulfills her every need (pun intended). Indeed, they raise the “spit take” to an art form!

Fearful of losing his prime attraction to marriage, the big Broadway producer named Feldzieg (puckishly played by Adam Heller) employs the oily would-be Latin lover Aldolpho (hammed to perfection by David Josefsberg) to seduce the bride, only things go awry almost immediately and Aldolpho sets his sights on another member of the wedding party — and provokes gales of laughter with his fumbling attempts to bed her.

Patrick Wetzel, who appears on the cast recording of The Drowsy Chaperone, adds a crisp comic cameo as George, Robert Martin’s hapless best man whose arrangements for the wedding unravel faster than he can knit them back together. Also making the most of their brief moments in the spotlight are Dana Zilman Harshaw as Feldzieg’s giddy girlfriend Kitty, who wants to replace Janet Van De Graaff as Feldzieg’s star of stars; Jeremy Morse as Gangster #1 and Eric Mann as Gangster #2, who are employed by Feldzieg’s chief investor and disguised as pastry chefs to pressure Feldzieg to ensure that the wedding gets called off; and Wake Forest chanteuse Yolanda W. Rabun as Trix the Aviatrix, who drops in just in time to save the day. The hijinks of Messrs. Morse and Mann are knee-slappers, and Rabun turns “I Do, I Do in the Sky” into one of the show’s musical highlights.

The Drowsy Chaperone’s magnificent scenery, originally designed for the Music Theatre of Wichita by J. Branson and George Mitchell, and the fab-u-lous 1920s fashions recreated by Branson and Mitchel for the Music Theatre of Wichita, Greg Barnes for The 5th Avenue Theatre of Seattle, and NCT costumer Ann M. Bruskiewitz provide a superlative setting and eye- catching costumes that make the Raleigh-based regional theater’s presentation of The Drowsy Chaperone look as good as it sounds. Don’t miss it!

SECOND OPINION: May 9th Raleigh, NC BroadwayWorld.com Raleigh review by Larisa Mount: http://raleigh.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Reviews-Raleigh-Natives-Shine-in-NC-Theatres-THE-DROWSY-CHAPERONE-20130509, May 9th BWW Blog by Paige Faure: http://broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Blog-Paige-Faure-A-Very-DROWSY-Opening-20130509, and May 8th opening-night video by Stage Tube: http://broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Blog-Paige-Faure-A-Very-DROWSY-Opening-20130509; May 4th Raleigh, NC News & Observer preview by Tim Stevens: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/04/2868535/drowsy-chaperone-is-the-musical.html and May 1st slideshow by Corey Lowenstein: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/01/2863682/first-look-the-drowsy-chaperone.html; May 2nd Durham, NC Herald-Sun review by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/news/x1592154894/Clay-Aiken-likes-Durham-s-flavor (Note: You must register to view this article); May 1st Raleigh, NC WNCN interview with Beth Leavel, conducted by Sharon Delaney and Valonda Calloway for “My Carolina Today”: http://www.wncn.com/video?clipId=8831174; May 1st Raleigh, NC WRAL-TV preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBD6dbMNiUw; April 30th Raleigh, NC Walter Magazine preview by Liza Roberts: http://www.waltermagazine.com/coming-full-circle-with-clay-aiken/; and Feb. 22nd New York, NY Playbill.com preview by Andrew Gans: http://playbill.com/news/article/175265-Clay-Aiken-and-Tony-Winner-Beth-Leavel-Will-Star-in-North-Carolina-Theatres-Drowsy-Chaperone. (Note: To read Triangle Arts and Entertainment’s online version of the May 7th Triangle Review review by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/05/clay-aiken-and-beth-leavel-will-star-in-ncts-production-of-the-drowsy-chaperone-on-may-7-12/.)

North Carolina Theatre presents THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, starring Clay Aiken and Beth Leavel at 7:30 p.m. May 9 and 10 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. May 11 and 12 in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $30.10-$99.60 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

NCT Box Office: 919-831-6941, ext.6944.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115203/1014448.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-831-6941, ext. 5204, or http://www.nctheatre.com/tickets/group-sales.

SHOW: http://www.nctheatre.com/shows/the-drowsy-chaperone.

PRESENTER: http://www.nctheatre.com/.

BLOG: http://www.nctheatre.com/stage-notes.

VENUE: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/venue/memorial-auditorium.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/parking.

NOTE: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe the show’s 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11th, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

The Drowsy Chaperone (musical): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drowsy_chaperone (Wikipedia) and http://www.ibdb.com/show.asp?ID=412774 (Internet Broadway Database).

Study Guide: http://tuts.com/Images/SeasonShowDocs/drowsy_study.pdf (Theatre Under the Stars).

Casey Hushion (director): http://www.nctheatre.com/about/staff (NCT bio).

Clay Aiken (actor): http://clayaiken.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_aiken (Wikipedia). Beth Leavel (actress): http://www.bethleavel.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Leavel (Wikipedia).

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Clay Aiken stars as Man in Chair

“American Idol” season-two runner-up Clay Aiken and Tony Award®-winning actress Beth Leavel will star in the North Carolina Theatre‘s gala production of The Drowsy Chaperone, directed and choreographed by NCT artistic director Casey Hushion, on May 7-12 in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts (formerly the Progress Energy Center) in the downtown Raleigh, NC.

Clay Aiken is returning to North Carolina Theatre stage for the first time since performing in the 1996 productions of 1776 and Shenandoah, whereas Beth Leavel played “M’Lynn” in NCT’s 2012 presentation of Steel Magnolias. In The Drowsy Chaperone, Aiken will play a musical-theater aficionado known only as “Man in Chair”; and ” Leavel will reprise the role as the perpetually tipsy and always ready for love title character for which she won the 2006 Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, as well as the 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress.

Casey Hushion, who served as assistant director for the original 2006 Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone, will perform double duty as the NCT presentation’s director and choreographer.

According to the North Carolina Theatre:

“The Drowsy Chaperone begins when, to chase his blues away, a modern-day musical-theater addict known simply as ‘Man in Chair’ drops the needle on his favorite LP — the 1928 musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone. From the crackle of his record player, the uproariously funny musical magically blooms to life inside his apartment walls, telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the nuptials, her chaperone, and her debonair groom. ‘Man in Chair’s’ infectious love of The Drowsy Chaperone is sure to touch anyone who has ever been transported by the theater.

“At the 2006 Tony Awards, The Drowsy Chaperone won Best Book and Best Original Score of a Musical.”

Also according to the North Carolina Theatre, Clay Aiken recalls:

“‘The very first time I ever auditioned for anything was when I stepped into an audition for NCT’s production of 1776 back in 1996. North Carolina Theatre was my first experience performing on a professional stage. It’s possible that, had it not been for experience and encouragement I received as a part of this organization, I may never have had the confidence to audition for ‘American Idol.’ Now, 17 years after my first theatrical performance, I’m happy to be fulfilling a promise I made years ago to return to the stage at North Carolina Theatre.’

The North Carolina Theatre adds:

“Clay Aiken will play the role of ‘Man in Chair.’ A Raleigh native, Mr. Aiken first came to national attention on the second season of ‘American Idol’ in 2003, Since then, Clay Aiken has released five well-received albums, selling over six million units as of 2011 and penned a New York Times best-selling memoir.

“In 2008, Clay Aiken began his critically lauded stint as the inept yet endearing ‘Sir Robin’ in the Broadway musical Monty Python’s Spamalot. Spamalot Director Mike Nichols later referred to Aiken ‘an excellent comic actor and a master of character.’

“‘It has always been a dream of ours to have Clay Aiken back on the NCT stage someday,’ said North Carolina Theatre artistic director Casey Hushion, who is also directing this production. ‘Clay is a remarkable talent and a fine theater actor — we are beyond thrilled that The Drowsy Chaperone has created this opportunity. We are grateful that Clay has been a long-time supporter and a true friend to NCT, and we cannot wait to watch him shine in this incredibly unique role.’

Beth Leavel stars as The Drowsy Chaperone

“Joining Mr. Aiken onstage as ‘The Chaperone’ will be Beth Leavel, reprising the role that won her a Tony Award. A Raleigh native, Beth also starred as ‘M’Lynn’ in North Carolina Theatre‘s 2012 production of Steel Magnolias.

“Before her Broadway debut [as a replacement Annie in the 1980 production of] 42nd Street, Beth attended Broughton High School and [graduated from] of Meredith College and UNC Greensboro. For her performance in the Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone, Beth has received a Drama Desk, New York Outer Critics Circle, and Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Awards, in addition to the Tony.”

Originally created as a wedding present for Bob Martin and Janet Van De Graaff, The Drowsy Chaperone is an ingenious, witty, and altogether wonderful one-act musical runs about an hour and 40 minutes and features music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison and a book by Martin and Don McKellar. Although the show’s American premiere was originally staged by Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, The Drowsy Chaperone made its Broadway debut on May 1, 2006 at the Marquis Theatre, where it racked up 674 performances before closing on Dec. 30, 2007.

Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, the show received thirteen 2006 Tony Award® nominations, including Best Musical, and took home five Tonys, including the awards for Best Original Score (music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison), Best Book of a Musical (Bob Martin and Don McKellar), and Best Featured Actress in a Musical (former Raleigh actress Beth Leavel as The Drowsy Chaperone) — plus the 2006 Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Lyrics, Outstanding Music, Outstanding Book of a Musical, and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Beth Leavel again).

SECOND OPINION: May 4th Raleigh, NC News & Observer preview by Tim Stevens: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/04/2868535/drowsy-chaperone-is-the-musical.html and May 1st slideshow by Corey Lowenstein: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/01/2863682/first-look-the-drowsy-chaperone.html; May 2nd Durham, NC Herald-Sun review by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/news/x1592154894/Clay-Aiken-likes-Durham-s-flavor (Note: You must register to view this article); May 1st Raleigh, NC WNCN interview with Beth Leavel, conducted by Sharon Delaney and Valonda Calloway for “My Carolina Today”: http://www.wncn.com/video?clipId=8831174; May 1st Raleigh, NC WRAL-TV preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBD6dbMNiUw; April 30th Raleigh, NC Walter Magazine preview by Liza Roberts: http://www.waltermagazine.com/coming-full-circle-with-clay-aiken/; and Feb. 22nd New York, NY Playbill.com preview by Andrew Gans: http://playbill.com/news/article/175265-Clay-Aiken-and-Tony-Winner-Beth-Leavel-Will-Star-in-North-Carolina-Theatres-Drowsy-Chaperone.

North Carolina Theatre presents THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, starring Clay Aiken and Beth Leavel at 7:30 p.m. May 7-10 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. May 11 and 12 in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $30.10-$99.60 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

NCT Box Office: 919-831-6941, ext.6944.

Ticketmaster 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115203/1014448.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-831-6941, ext. 5204, or http://www.nctheatre.com/tickets/group-sales.

SHOW: http://www.nctheatre.com/shows/the-drowsy-chaperone.

PRESENTER: http://www.nctheatre.com/.

BLOG: http://www.nctheatre.com/stage-notes.

VENUE: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/venue/memorial-auditorium.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/parking.

NOTE: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe the show’s 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 11th, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

The Drowsy Chaperone (musical): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drowsy_chaperone (Wikipedia) and http://www.ibdb.com/show.asp?ID=412774 (Internet Broadway Database).

Study Guide: http://tuts.com/Images/SeasonShowDocs/drowsy_study.pdf (Theatre Under the Stars).

Casey Hushion (director): http://www.nctheatre.com/about/staff (NCT bio).

Clay Aiken (actor): http://clayaiken.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_aiken (Wikipedia). Beth Leavel (actress): http://www.bethleavel.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Leavel (Wikipedia).

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Meet Evan (Ryan Brock), the central character in “The Homosexuals,” directed by Jeff Storer and playing now at Manbites Dog Theater Company. Evan is a fresh-out-of-the closet twenty year old kid who doesn’t know himself very well. Actually, that’s not quite right. See, Philip Dawkins’ cleverly constructed play first introduces Evan at the age of thirty and then moves backwards, showing glimpses of the relationships and friendships (aren’t they kind of the same thing?) that turn him into his current self.

The play’s first scene (of six) focuses on Evan’s relationship with Peter (Derrick Ivey), his fabulously flamboyant, theatre-obsessed partner whom he is about to break up with. The production then moves backward in two year increments, showing Evan’s relationships with British Mark (Thaddeus Edwards), sweet Michael (Jeffrey Moore), self-proclaimed “fag hag” Tam (Amber Wood), dark and angry Mark (Gregor McElvogue), and weight-loss enthusiast Collin (Chris Burner).

The story, from beginning to end, is beautifully written and perfectly structured. Almost every line is weighted with meaning, yet the show does not feel heavy. In fact, it moves along quite briskly, and serious issues, such as Peter’s testicular cancer and British Mark’s HIV positive status, are handled subtly. Subtlety is one of Dawkins’ strongest skills; realistic dialogue is yet another; and then there’s his ability to move deftly from comedy to sad poignancy. While this skill is brilliantly exhibited in several spots, it is particularly noticeable in the scene focused on Michael and Evan. Moore, as Michael, relates a comedic tale of his first attraction to another male and, just when the humor is at its crescendo, it fades to reveal a bitter recollection of Michael’s first shunning as a homosexual.

Storer’s intriguing staging choices serve as the perfect backdrop for Dawkins’ flawlessly written story. The director chooses to leave the actors onstage, even when they are not directly involved in the scene. They sit, watch, and occasionally laugh or smile, serving as a reflection of the audience and as a reminder of the sometimes silent but always prevalent role these characters play in Evan’s life.

The story, at is heart, is about Evan’s search—and everyone’s search—for identity and about the people and the series of relationships that play a part in constructing that identity. It’s also about the families we create and what it means to be a friend. Though Evan’s relationship with each of the characters changes and evolves over time, closeness and genuine love remain, so that at the end, the audience has witnessed not just the construction and birth of a person but the realization of a family.

Obviously, a production such as this relies on a cast with strong chemistry, and this cast has it in droves. Another thing it has in droves is talent. There is not a weak spot in the line-up. In fact, there is no weak spot in the production as a whole; everything from the gentle lighting to the choice of music during scene transitions is perfect. Triangle audiences are incredibly lucky to have this show, in its North Carolina premiere and in only its second-ever production, available for viewing. Prepare to be laugh, to be moved and to find the friends you wish you had.

The Durham Performing Arts Center will present 2009 West End and 2011 Broadway hit, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, on April 29-May 5 in its 2,700-seat, state-of-the-art theater in the American Tobacco District in downtown Durham, NC. Based on the 1994 Australian film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, this award-winning musical debuted in Sydney, Austrialia, in 2006. It features pop songs and a script by the film’s director, Stephan Elliott, and the musical’s initial producer, Allan Scott. Musical numbers include “It’s Raining Men,” “What’s Love Got to Do with It?,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “I Will Survive,” “Shake Your Groove Thing,” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

In reviewing the show’s Broadway production, The Hollywood Reporter raved about Priscilla, calling the show “funny and fabulous! Joyous entertainment with eye-popping visuals and unexpected heart!” NY-1 News agreed: “Beneath all that glitz beats a great big sequined heart!” WOR Radio likewise praised this offbeat musical, noting that “All the songs you’ve loved for years will blow you out of your seat!”

Among many other honors, the musical won the 2008 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Production of a Musical, the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design (Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner), and the 2011 Tony Award® for Best Costume Design.

“Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is the story about three drag queens who are girlfriends,” says Amy Hillner Larsen, who is a swing and the assistant dance captain of the current tour.

Mitzi Mitosis (nee Anthony “Tick” Belrose) (played by Wade McCollum), a transsexual named Bernadette (nee Ralph) (portrayed by Scott Willis), and Felicia (nee Adam Whitely) (played by Bryan West) set out from Sydney on a memorable trek across the Australian Outback to headline at a resort hotel in far off Alice Springs, where Mitzi’s estranged wife, Marion (portrayed Christy Faber) works and lives with their young son, Benji (alternately played by Shane Davis and Will B.).

“The majority of the show takes place in “Priscilla,” which is the name of their bus,” notes Amy Hillner Larsen. She adds that true friendship develops between the three drag queens and various colorful characters that they meet during their epic journey.

Cast members not named above include Joe Hart as Bob, Taurean Everett as Jimmy, Nik Alexzander as Miss Understanding, Chelsey Zeno as Cynthia, David Koch as Frank, Travis Taber as Farrah/Young Bernadette, and Babs Rubenstein as Shirley.

Emily Afton, Bre Jackson, and Britt West strut their stuff as The Divas. The Ensemble includes John Capes, Andrew Chappelle, Alex DeLeo, Chris Klink, and Alex Ringler. Dance captain Ralph Meitzler and assistant dance captain Amy Hillner Larsen serve as swings. (Hillner Larsen says she covers all of the female roles, including The Divas, Marion, Shirley, and Cynthia.)

Amy Hillner Larsen says, “There’s a lot of heart here, and it’s a very timely story. In this day and age, people can relate to this story about friendship and acceptance. I really like the message that it sends.”

Hillner Larsen was born into her profession. “My parents are actors, so I grew up with it …. I wanted to follow in the footsteps, I guess.”

The 30-year-old New York City native adds, “I went to Wagner College, which is on Staten Island in New York City. I have a BA in theater performance from there [in 2004].”

Before joining the touring company for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in January 2013, Amy Hillner Larsen worked for Royal Caribbean Cruises. Last year, she was playing Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray on the “Oasis of the Seas” when the company was called to perform at the Tony Awards. (Hillner Larsen says she last toured seven years ago in the first national tour of Hairspray, which played Raleigh as part of the Broadway Series South series.)

“They had our company do a live segment from the middle of the sea,” she says, “and a couple of years ago, I was able to portray Tracy at the Hollywood Bowl — in front of 15,000 people. It’s an amazing venue.”

Amy Hillner married “Gigi: Almost American” actor, writer, producer, and composer Kevin Larsen on Nov. 2, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA, where she lives when she’s not on the road. But shortly after that, she was auditioning — first in Las Vegas and then in New York — and then rehearsing in New York to perform in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

“We had a couple of days to take a quick little trip,” says Amy Hillner Larsen. “But we’re saving our honeymoon for whenever this tour concludes. We’re going to take our time, and go on a nice long trip.”

She adds, “I was looking forward to being involved in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert from the beginning of rehearsals. I’ve always been a replacement. It was really exciting to be involved in all of the rehearsals and costume fitting from the very beginning.”

The producers of the first North American tour of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert include Allan Scott, Garry McQuinn, Liz Koops, Michael Hamlyn, MGM on Stage, and Troika Entertainment. The show’s creative team includes director Simon Phillips, associate director David Hyslop, choreographer Ross Coleman, associate choreographer Joshua Buscher, original associate choreographer Andrew Hallsworth, music director Brent Frederick, scenic designer Brian Thomson, lighting designer Nick Schlieper, costume designers Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner, sound designer Jonathan Deans, production stage manager Tom Bartlett, and stage manager Chad Lewis. The show also features orchestrations by Stephen “Spud” Murphy and Charlie Hull.

Amy Hillner Larsen claims the touring version of Priscilla is essentially the same as the Broadway production,” which opened on March 20, 2011 at the Palace theater and played 526 performances before closing on June 24, 2012. One difference, she says, is, “Our bus needs to be broken down to fit into a tractor trailer to be able to travel every week.

“Otherwise, it’s all the same,” she says. “There are three women, whose characters are called The Divas, and sing these classic, iconic songs while suspended in the air….”

Hillner Larsen notes, “We have all the same costumes that they had on Broadway. We have 500 costumes in the show.”

She adds, “It’s always fun to meet your new dresser. In a typical show, guys have to put on a pair of pants, a shirt, and a jacket. In our show, there’s a paintbrush costume and a cupcake costume.”

Amy Hillner Larsen tells DPAC patrons, “Be prepared to have a really great time and to really take in the spectacle of the show. It’s all music that you’ve heard before — music that will have you jumping out of your seats.”

She adds, “There’s a true heat at the core of the show … and people should come to have fun for two-and-a-half hours.”

SECOND OPINION: May 1st Durham, NC Herald-Sun review by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/entertainment/x383678807/REVIEW-Priscilla-Queen-of-the-Desert-a-fun-trip and April 25th review by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/entertainment/x383676408/Nearly-500-costumes-in-Priscilla-Queen-of-the-Desert (Note: You must register to view these articles); May 1st Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/01/2863475/lively-actors-cant-save-this-ponderous.html; May 1st Raleigh, NC WRAL.com interview with Scott Willis, conducted by Michelle Marsh: http://www.wral.com/entertainment/video/12398527/#/vid12398527 and May 1st slideshow: http://www.wral.com/entertainment/out_and_about/image_gallery/12398538/; and April 29th Raleigh, NC BroadwayWorld.com Raleigh interview with Wade McCollum, conducted by Larisa Mount: http://raleigh.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Interviews-PRISCILLAs-Wade-McCollum-Discusses-as-it-Rolls-into-Durham-20130429.

The Durham Performing Arts Center presents PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT at 7:30 p.m. May 2, 8 p.m. May 3, 2 and 8 p.m. May 4, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. May 5 at 123 Vivian St., Durham, North Carolina 27701. TICKETS: $42.50-$111.00 (including fees), except $17.50 Student Rush Tickets in Row P of the Balcony (sold on the day of the performance). Click here for details. BOX OFFICE: DPAC Box Office: 919-680-ARTS (2787), tickets@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/how_to_buy_tickets. Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115558/1732688. GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919/281-0587, Groups@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/group_services. SHOW: http://www.DPACnc.com/events/detail/priscilla-queen-of-the-desert. SERIES: http://www.DPACnc.com/suntrust-broadway-series. VIDEO PREVIEWS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgfrzG3AZXM and http://www.priscillaontour.com/gallery/. PRESENTER/VENUE: http://www.DPACnc.com/. DIRECTIONS: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/getting_here. PARKING: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/parking_guide. NOTE: DPAC will sell $17.50 Student Rush Tickets in Row P of the Balcony on the day of the performance. Click here for details. OTHER LINKS: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994 film): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla,_Queen_of_the_Desert (Wikipedia) and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109045/ (Internet Movie Database). Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2006 musical): http://www.priscillathemusical.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priscilla_Queen_of_the_Desert_%28musical%29 (Wikipedia). U.S. Tour: http://www.priscillaontour.com/ (official website). Tour Cast and Creative Team Bios: http://www.priscillaontour.com/cast/ (official web page). Stephan Elliott (film director/screenwriter/playwright): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan_Elliott (Wikipedia). Allan Scott (playwright): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Scott_%28Scottish_screenwriter%29 (Wikipedia). Amy Hillner Larsen: https://www.facebook.com/amyhillner (Facebook page).

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Theatre Raleigh will stage “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” on April 24-28 and May 1-5 in the Kennedy Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh (photo by Curtis Scott Brown)

Theatre Raleigh and Hot Summer Nights’  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a smartly structured and thoroughly entertaining romp that follows six young hopefuls competing in the aforementioned Bee. The production calls for four audience members to become contestants or “guest-spellers” in the Bee, and as some longtime readers of TA&E may recall, this reviewer took the stage as a guest-speller at Raleigh Little Theatre’s 2010 production. Though I didn’t participate this time around, I must admit (full disclosure) that my guest did take part and he leaked some inside information. One “secret” he revealed is that the actors, even when giving him helpful hints or speaking amongst themselves, stayed in character at all times.

This didn’t come as a surprise, given the stellar performances all-around. The Bee’s contestants include cute and slightly sad Olive Ostrovsky (Cameron Caudill), a word-a-holic often forgotten by her parents; the super serious Marcy Park (Katie Lynch); lisping Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere (Morgan Parpan); pubescent boy scout Chip Tolentino (Adam Poole); nerdy William Barfee (Jeffrey Vizcaino); and, last but not least, delightfully odd Leaf Coneybear (Jesse R. Gephart). Gephart, as he so often does, steals the show with his endearingly boyish portrayal of Leaf. Gephart’s onstage bubble blowing antics, coupled with his convincing character acting and the world’s cutest costuming choices by LeGrande Smith, bring the character to life. Gephart also does double-duty, seamlessly slipping into the role of one of Logainne’s two dads from time to time.

The production isn’t completely focused on the contestants, however. Audience members, who are treated as spelling bee attendees throughout, are also treated to the comedic antics of Rona Lisa Peretti (Heather Hamby-Maggs), the organizer of the Bee; slightly unstable vice principal and official word-pronouncer Douglas Panch (Sterling Hurst); and ex-con comfort counselor Mitch Mahoney (Jade Arnold), who escorts spelling bee losers off stage and helps them drown their sorrows in a juice box. Arnold, who, like Gephart, is also asked to take on multiple roles, shines as Mitch Mahoney. He brings a quiet thoughtfulness and, conversely, a strong intimidation factor to the role. Director (and choreographer) Lauren Kennedy makes a smart decision by presenting the character as thuggish and (one suspects) secretly sweet; the role is too often portrayed in a stereotypically (i.e. boring) badass, motorcycle-riding kind of way.

The intimate setting of The Kennedy Theatre lends itself to an unforgettable and super-personal theatre experience, whether you’re brave enough to get up and participate or not. My friend recommends it, even though his bald head and his (self-admittedly) creepy mustache did become the butt of a few onstage jokes.

Hot Summer Nights | Theatre Raleigh presents THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at 8 p.m. April 26, 2 and 8 p.m. April 27, 3 and 8 p.m. April 28, 8 p.m. May 1-3, 2 and 8 p.m. May 4, 3 and 8 p.m. May 5 in the Sara Lynn and K.D. Kennedy, Jr. Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $22-$30.

BOX OFFICE: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/27655.

GROUP RATES/GENERAL INFORMATION: 919-480-5166.

SHOW/PRESENTER: http://www.theatreraleigh.com/.

VENUE: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/venue/kennedy-theatre.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/parking.

OTHER LINKS:

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee#<# (play): http://www.spellingbeethemusical.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_25th_Annual_Putnam_County_Spelling_Bee (Wikipedia).

William Finn (composer and lyricist): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Finn (Wikipedia).

Rachel Sheinkin (playwright): http://drama.yale.edu/facstaff/rachel-sheinkin (Yale School of Drama bio).

Lauren Kennedy (director): http://www.laurenkennedy.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Kennedy (Wikipedia).

PlayMakers Repertory Company and Carolina Performing Arts will present the world premiere of Spring Training, written and performed by Universes of New York City, under the direction of Chay Yew, on April 24-28 in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Dramatic Art as part of PlayMakers‘ PRC² second-stage series. Universes includes Gamal Abdel Chasten, William Ruiz, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, and Steven Sapp

According to PlayMakers Rep:

“Spring Training has been specially commissioned by PlayMakers and Carolina Performing Arts as part of ‘The Rite of Spring at 100‘ project celebrating the classic ballet’s 2013 centennial.

“PlayMakers, the professional-theater-in-residence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, concludes its 2012-2013 PRC² second-stage series with the production. PRC² features innovative, topical plays coupled with engaging post-show discussions with the creative artists and other panelists following each performance….

“In Spring Training, Universes uses ‘The Rite of Spring’ as a springboard to deconstruct rites of passage. The group will bring their unique talents to an exploration of Stravinsky’s groundbreaking composition and create a daring 21st century soundtrack on ritual and revolution, breaking cultural barriers anew.

“Universes is known for being eloquent, edgy, and entertaining. The Los Angeles Times wrote of the New York-based ensemble, ‘These performers are fierce, funny and bitingly intelligent.’ The Boston Globe called Universes ‘a headlong explosion of poetry, percussion and multi-culti musical exploration that absolutely demands to be seen.’

“The Triangle’s Indy Week (formerly The Independent Weekly) gave Universes’ 2007 show at PlayMakers a rave review, saying these are ‘folks you’ve got to see and (particularly) hear’ with ‘intricate rhythms and intricate stories, told by artists … as adept at polyrhythmic musical composition as they are at acting.”

“CVNC [formerly Classical Voice of North Carolina] called the troupe’s last PlayMakers‘ appearance (The Big Bang, 2010) ‘some of the most exciting music ever created a cappella …. [Universes] simply pours power and passion from the stage …. Hip-hop or not this group will entertain you.”

“The group recently was honored as one of five finalists for the first Kennedy Theater Prize, the new $100,000 theater award established in honor of Senator Edward M. Kennedy and his interest in American history. One of the theater’s most lucrative prizes, it was established in September by Kennedy’s sister Jean Kennedy Smith, with the assistance of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner….

“PlayMakers is based in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences. The Drama League of New York has named PlayMakers one of the best regional theaters in America and Indy Week calls PlayMakers the best live theater company in the Triangle.”

SECOND OPINION: April 23rd Chapel Hill, NC Daily Tar Heel preview by Lauren Clark: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/04/spring-training-turns-stravinsky-piece-on-its-head.

PlayMakers Repertory Company presents SPRING TRAINING, a world premiere by Universes at 7:30 p.m. April 25-27 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 28 in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

TICKETS: $15-$40 ($10 UNC students and $12 other students).

BOX OFFICE: 919-962-PLAY or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-843-2311, gerdts@email.unc.edu, or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/groupsales.aspx.

SHOW: http://www.playmakersrep.org/springtraining.

VIDEO PREVIEW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aZWKbKXhZoo.

NEWS RELEASE: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5979/66/.

PRESENTERS:

PlayMakers Repertory Company: http://www.playmakersrep.org/.

Carolina Performing Arts: https://www.carolinaperformingarts.org/.

BLOG (PlayMakersPage to Stage): http://playmakersrep.blogspot.com/.

VENUE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/aboutus/kenan.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo.

PARKING: http://playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo/currentparking.

OTHER LINKS:

Spring Training (play): http://www.universesonstage.com/page11/page49/index.html (official web page).

Universes (poet-performers): http://www.universesonstage.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universes_%28poetic_theatre_ensemble%29 (Wikipedia).

Chay Yew (director): http://www.victorygardens.org/about/chayyewbio.php (Victory Gardens Theater bio) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chay_Yew (Wikipedia).

“The Rite of Spring at 100″ https://www.theriteofspringat100.org/ (official website).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to Triangle Review, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/

Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece of modern drama,
Our Town, is a deceptively difficult play to stage successfully,
because it requires a large supporting cast capable of transforming their fleeting cameo roles into unforgettable characters. This powerful and poetic three-act play,
which won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, delivers three juicy slices of turn-of-the-century American life in Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, circa 1901 until 1913.
Wilder labeled Act I “Daily Life,” Act II “Love and Marriage,” and Act III “Death and Eternity.” But to squeeze every delicious drop from
Our Town requires a talent pool deeper and broader than the
Towne Players of Garner have tapped for their current community-theater production.

Opening-night jitters arrived a day late for Towne Players mainstay Holmes Morrison, who struggled
all Saturday evening — and frequently failed — to remember his lines as the omniscient, nearly omnipresent Stage Manager, who narrates the show and summons the rest of
the cast to act out selected scenes in the lives of bashful high school baseball star-turned-farmer George Gibbs (played by Jackson Honeycutt) and
the brainy girl-nextdoor, Emily Webb (portrayed by CeeCee Huffman), whom George chases until she catches him.

While Holmes Morrison was experiencing the actor’s nightmare live onstage, Jackson Honeycutt and CeeCee Huffman
were charming Towne Players patrons with their cute old-fashioned courtship. Meanwhile, Tim Stancil and Leslie Dahlin were provoking
chuckles as George’s prickly physician father, Civil War buff Dr. Frank Gibbs, and his restless wife, the fomer Julia Hersey, who wants to bankroll a trip for the two
of them to Paris with the unexpected windfall that she received when she sold Grandmother Wentworth’s highboy to the dawn of the 20th century version of
“American Pickers” Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz.

Daniel Barth injects even more personality into his pithy portrait of Charles Webb, the crusty editor of the
local newspaper; but Rebecca Stiles is out of her depth trying to impersonate Emily Gibbs’ mother, Myrtle, and her characterization is bland.

Jason Weeks likewise fails to make much of a mark as troubled church organist and choirmaster Simon Stimson,
but Verlene Oates provides some comic relief as town busybody Louella Soames.

Towne Players artistic director Beth Honeycutt,
who staged a more successful production of Our Town in 2004, still has a lot of work to do to whip the current ensemble into shape. As it is, they fail to do
justice to one of the masterpieces of the American theater — and that’s a shame.

The Towne Players present OUR TOWN at
8 p.m. April 25 and 26 and 2 and 8 p.m. April 27 in Garner Performing Arts Center, 742 W. Garner Rd., Garner, North Carolina 27529. TICKETS: $15 ($12 students and seniors). BOX OFFICE: General-admission tickets will be sold at the door and online at
http://www.garnerperformingartscenter.com/TPG.asp. GROUP RATES/INFORMATION: 919-779-6144. SHOW/SEASON: http://www.towneplayers.org/performances/current-season/. PRESENTER: http://www.towneplayers.org/. VENUE: http://www.garnerperformingartscenter.com/. DIRECTIONS: http://www.garnerperformingartscenter.com/Directions.asp. OTHER LINKS: Our Town (play) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Town (Wikipedia). The Script (with foreword by Donald Margulies): http://books.google.com/ (Google Books). Study Guide http://www.bard.org/education/studyguides/OurTown/town.html (Utah Shakespeare Festival). Thorton Wilder (playwright): http://www.twildersociety.org/ (Thorton Wilder Society) and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Wilder (Wikipedia). Beth Honeycutt (director): https://www.facebook.com/beth.honeycutt2 (Facebook page).

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Every program has been a different experience this season at the Carolina Ballet. The two works in the current production, Fancy Free and Carolina Jamboree, are as different from each other as they are from previous programs. What they have in common is that they are fun non-traditional ballets.

Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free is a jazzy character ballet choreographed and set in 1944. Three sailors, Gabor Kapin, Pablo Javier Perez and Marcelo Martinez, on shore leave in New York, set out to find dates. They manage to catch the attention of two women, Lilyan Vigo and Alicia Fabry, using methods ranging from tomfoolery to harassment. The sailors take turns showing off for the women’s attention until the bravado escalates to a full-out bar brawl. The women become disenchanted and leave the three sailors alone. The men bounce back from the rejection when a third woman, Randi Osetek, comes onto the scene.

It’s a playful and fun high energy ballet with a clear and simple narrative. Perez, Martinez and Kapin are fireballs. A pas de deux by Lilyan Vigo and Gabor Kapin is a quiet moment that shows a sensitive side to Sailor Kapin. I grew up watching and loving Gene Kelly in MGM musicals like On the Town, a movie based on the ballet Fancy Free. Martinez nearly captures the essence of Gene Kelly. He has the athletic ability to, not spring, but push himself solidly into the air, and the grace to hang there for a time before landing softly. A few more tap dance lessons and the transformation would be complete.

Much of the time Vigo and Fabry sit, watching the men with the amused expression of a mother watching her young son show his muscles. And Osetek doesn’t make her entrance until the ballet is almost over. That doesn’t keep them from developing characters and wowing the audience. Vigo is poised and distinguished and Fabry is flirty and coy. Osetek is steamy like Cyd Charisse.

Marcelo Martinez impresses the ladies, Lilyan Vigo and Alicia Fabry.

Fancy Free is a comical ballet, easy to watch and easy to understand. The playful boys-will-be-boys antics during which three men surround a lone passer-by and take her purse might be less charming to today’s audiences than they were in the 1940’s, but the dancers skillfully take us back to that time. The theme in Fancy Free is not a transcendent one. It’s a work set in and with relevance to Robbins’ time. He is quoted in the program notes as saying: “Why can’t we talk about the way we dance today, and how we are?”

The second half of the program is Carolina Jamboree, choreographed  by Lynne Taylor-Corbett to original and traditional music arranged by the Red Clay Ramblers, who are also present to play the music live on stage. (Here’s a link to the prologue to Part 1: Appalachia Stories Way Down Yonder)

Carolina Jamboree is a series of short dances in three parts, celebrating American and southern folk history and mocking southern stereotypes. Part 1: Appalachia Stories consists of six dances. Killing Floor, danced by Sokvannara Sar, Adam Schiffer, Yevgeny Shlapko and Nikolai Smirnov is powerful with long, low movements to a bluesy swing beat. Another notable performance from the first part is that of Cecilia Iliesiu in Red Rocking Chair. A harmonica plays the blues as Iliesiu contorts herself dramatically in inconsolable heartbreak.

Part 2: The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey is based on the Elizabeth City story dating back to the 1930’s. The narration by Bland Simpson and the band give this tragedy an authentic folksy feel. Gabor Kapin does a remarkable dramatic portrayal of Jim Wilcox, the boyfriend of Nell Cropsey, danced by Margaret Severin-Hansen.

Gabor Kapin holds Margaret Severin-Hansen in The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey

Gabor Kapin as Jim Wilcox, who is believed guilty in The Mystery of Beautiful Nell Cropsey.

Part 3: Fiddlesticks is like a Vaudeville show, with five unrelated mostly comical acts. Clay Buckner and Rick Good of the Red Clay Ramblers give the audience something different with You all Hid, announcing, “no respectable ballet will be complete without a singalong.”

At the end of the the first and third parts we are treated to the kind of high energy hoedown celebration you expect when banjos, fiddles and dancers are all in the same place.

Carolina Ballet in Saratoga Hornpipe.

How often do you see a ballet in which tap shoes would not be out of place? And here are two of them at once. You can see Fancy Free and Carolina Jamboree April 20 and 21 at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium and April 26 at Durham Performing Arts Center. Go to http://www.carolinaballet.com/ for ticket information.

See a few more pictures from the ballet at Arts View NC.

Theatre In The Park artistic director Ira David Wood III stars as Atticus Finch and directs Christopher Sergel’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pultizer Prize-winning 1960 novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Theatre In The Park’s production of the beloved classic “ To Kill a Mockingbird,” directed by Ira David Wood III, opens with a full-dark pause, followed by all of the characters standing in silhouette. This opener effectively immerses viewers in the 1930s Alabama inhabited by young Scout Finch (Marleigh Purgar-McDonald), a spunky and somewhat-precocious little tomboy; her summer-friend Dill (Noah Daniel Zevin); her big brother, Jem (Austin Spero); and her widowed father, Atticus (Ira David Wood III). In line with Harper Lee’s acclaimed novel of the same name, the play version, dramatized by Christopher Sergel, follows the family and the challenges it faces as Atticus defends an African-American man charged with rape, as well as relating the poignant coming-of-age story of Scout and company.

In addition to beautiful directing touches like those described above, the soft lighting by Stephen J. Larson, which truly does create an authentic southern-summer-nights feel, and the expansive set, also by Larson, lend themselves to a transcendent experience.

And, of course, the child-actors are pretty darn adorable! Purgar-McDonald, looking cutely scruffy with a tomboyish coiffure, bounces with energy and life in her role as Scout, while Spero’s Jem conveys a deeper understanding of the character than might be expected from one so young. Finally, Little Zevin, a third grader, adds sweetness to every scene he’s in.

A good production of “Mockingbird” is not possible without a stellar Atticus Finch, and fortunately, Wood does justice to the role.  Though Wood experienced a (charming) mishap with his sliding glasses—one that he handled like a pro—at the opening night performance, he exhibited the skill and strong character acting that he is known (and loved) for. His courtroom monologues are particularly poignant and well-delivered.

Even the minor characters step up to the challenge of making the production a success. TIP finds a Bob Ewell just as greasy as his name in Mike Raab, and Kelly McConkey as Mayella Ewell makes the most of her courtroom scenes. Also, Juanda Lajoyce Holley’s Calpurnia possesses just the right combination of love and sternness.

An excellent cast, near-perfect direction and set design, some really great costumes by Susan Smith and Shawn Stewart Larson, and of course, a timeless story that everyone can relate to, integrate to create a charming production.

Theatre In The Park presents TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, starring as Atticus Finch, at 7:30 p.m. April 12 and 13, 2 p.m. April 14, 7:30 p.m. April 18-20, 3 p.m. April 21, 7:30 p.m. April 26 and 27, and 3 p.m. April 28 in in the Ira David Wood III Pullen Park Theatre, 107 Pullen Rd., Raleigh, North Carolina 27607.

TICKETS: $22($16 students, seniors, and active-duty military personnel).

BOX OFFICE: 919-831-6058 or http://www.etix.com/.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-831-6058.

SHOW: http://www.theatreinthepark.com/shows/to_kill_a_mockingbird.php.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmY-iREBxeQ&feature=player_embedded.

SEASON: http://www.theatreinthepark.com/season.ph.

PRESENTER/VENUE: http://www.theatreinthepark.com/index.php.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://www.theatreinthepark.com/where_we_are.php.

OTHER LINKS:

To Kill a Mockingbird (novel): http://tokillamockingbird50year.com/ (HarperCollins Publishers: “To Kill a Mockingbird at 50″), http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1140 (Encyclopedia of Alabama) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird (Wikipedia).

Harper Lee (novelist): http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1126 (Encyclopedia of Alabama), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harper_Lee (Wikipedia), and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0497369/ (Internet Movie Database).

To Kill a Mockingbird (film): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_(film) (Wikipedia), http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/20116/To-Kill-a-Mockingbird/ (Turner Classic Movies), and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/ (Internet Movie Database).

To Kill a Mockingbird (play): http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=1565 (Dramatic Publishing).

The Script: http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

Study Guide: http://www.bard.org/education/studyguides/mockingbird/mockingbird.html (Utah Shakespeare Festival).

Christopher Sergel (playwright): http://www.dramaticpublishing.com/AuthorBio.php?titlelink=9848 (Dramatic Publishing), http://www.lortel.org/ (Internet Off-Broadway Database), and http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=4839 (Internet Broadway Database).

Ira David Wood III (director): http://www.theatreinthepark.com/who_we_are.php (Theaytre in the Park bio) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_David_Wood_III (Wikipedia).

Ruined

In a time when shows, such as “The Client List” and “Secret Diary of a Call Girl” glamorize prostitution and the objectification of women, Lynn Nottage’s “Ruined” is  a much-needed dose of harsh reality.  The play, set in war-ravaged Africa, takes a look at the lives of three young women who work in a brothel and the brothel owner herself, Mama Nadi (Rozlyn Sorrell). Ruled with an iron fist and a subtle hint of kindness, Mama Nadi’s “girls” include bitter Salima, gut-wrenchingly portrayed by Madelynn Poulson in an impressive professional theatre debut;  sassy Josephine ( Sherida McMullan); and, last but not least, the “ruined” Sophie, played as wide-eyed and heartbreaking by Reanna Roane.

Serving as a stark juxtaposition to the sad looks in the girls’ eyes and the dire circumstances they face are bold, colorful costumes by Katrina Blose and a set that turns festive in an instant, complete with colored lights, dancing, and singing. The contrast beautifully highlights the sadness of the situation—the forced smiles, the feigned enjoyment, and the always-at-hand threat of death.

Director Rebecca Holderness is not afraid to make the audience intensely uncomfortable or to fill the stage with action. In many scenes, there are multiple places and characters to watch, but beautiful lighting touches by Matthew Adelson highlight the more poignant moments,  which include emotionally intense monologues from all of the female actresses. The scene transitions are smooth—so smooth in fact that the discomfort never lets up; the audience, like the characters, is never allowed to escape, a feature that makes this play all the more moving.

While Nottage’s dialogue can get a little too wordy at times, a strong cast and near-perfect direction create an essentially flawless production. The semi-romantic, glass-slipper ending may not sit right with all viewers, but it does speak to a possibility of hope for these characters; and hope is something desperately needed after viewing this sad but incredibly moving piece of theatre.

Broadway veteran Lisa Brescia (center) will star as the Kit Kat Klub’s star attraction, the divinely decadent English diva Sally Bowles, in “Cabaret” (photo by Jon Gardiner)

Who doesn’t love Cabaret? First-time viewers of the show and long-time loyalists alike are sure to enjoy PlayMakers Repertory Company’s spin on the classic. Directed by Joseph Haj and based on the late-90s Broadway version of the play, this production brings the raunchy Berlin of the 1930s to full and glorious life. Swinging choreography, daring costumes, and an enchanting cast create a performance that’s zany and fun but also poignant and deeply sad.

All of the onstage action is regulated by the Emcee (Taylor Mac), and it would not have been possible for PRC to find a better person for this complex acting job than Mac. He is funny, wonderfully obscene, perfectly androgynous, and even a little sexy in the role but, where the script calls for it, he is not afraid to push the show’s saddest moments to the limit.  Mac quite literally charms audiences by springing surprise interactions on them, and his performance of “Two Ladies” is, by itself, worth the cost of admission.

Aside from all of the craziness provided by the Emcee and what goes on at the Kit Kat Club, the story focuses on young Cliff Bradshaw (John Dreher), an American who arrives in Berlin and finds himself drawn to sultry and not-so-innocent lounge singer, Sally Bowles (Lisa Brescia). Dreher takes a star turn by effectively portraying Bradshaw’s sweet naiveté, and Brescia positively sizzles with her powerful voice and easy command of the stage. Never ones to disappoint, both Dee Dee Batteast and Kelsey Didion add to the show’s charm in their respective double roles of Texas/Chanteuse and Fraulein Kast/Fritzie.

Unforgettable music, fabulous costumes, and a “Rocky Horror” energy with serious undertones combine to create a version of Cabaret that’s totally unique and definitely worth watching.

PlayMakers Repertory Company CABARET, starring Taylor Mac as The Emcee, at 7:30 p.m. April 10-12, 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 13, 2 p.m. April 14, 7:30 p.m. April 16-19, 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 20, and 2 p.m. April 21 in the Paul Green Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

TICKETS: $20-$40, except $15 per general-admission ticket on Tuesday Community Nights, $10 for UNC students, and $12 for all other students. (Click here for discounts for UNC faculty/staff and active-duty military personnel and their families.

BOX OFFICE: 919-962-PLAY (7529) or http://playmakersrep.org/tickets/single.

GROUP RATES (15+ tickets): 919-843-2311, miwashin@email.unc.edu, or http://playmakersrep.org/tickets/groupsales.

SHOW: http://www.playmakersrep.org/cabaret.

PRESENTER: http://www.playmakersrep.org/. BLOG: http://playmakersrep.blogspot.com/.

VENUE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/aboutus/paulgreen.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://www.playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo.

NOTE 1: There will be two FREE discussions with members of the show’s creative team (designers, actors, and production personnel) after the show’s April 10th and 17th performances.

NOTE 2: There will be a special $8.50-per-student Student Matinee Performance at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 12th. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/outreach/matinees.

NOTE 3: At 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 13th, there will be an Open-Captioned Performances. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/outreach/allaccess/opencaption.

NOTE 4: Arts Access, Inc. (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) of Raleigh will audio-describe an All-Access Performance at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16th, which will also feature sign-language interpretation and Large-Print and Braille programs and — if requested in advance by e-mail to whitneywhite@unc.edu — a tactile tour of the set. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/outreach/allaccess.

NOTE 5: At 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 20th, and 2 p.m. on Sunday April 21st, the N.C. Psychoanalytic Foundation (http://www.ncpsychoanalysis.org/), the Lucy Daniels Foundation ( http://ldf.org/), and the N.C. Psychoanalytic Society (http://www.ncpsasoc.org/) will sponsor FREE post-show 50-minute “Mindplay” discussions, led by , who will speak on “Conflict: A Dark Musical in a Fun Package.” For details, click http://www.ncpsasoc.org/images/Mindplay2012-13.pdf.

OTHER LINKS:

Goodbye to Berlin (1939 short novel): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_to_Berlin”> (Wikipedia).

Christopher Isherwood (novelist): http://isherwoodfoundation.org/ (Christopher Isherwood Foundation) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood (Wikipedia).

I Am a Camera (1951 play): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Camera (Wikipedia).

John Van Druten (playwright): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Van_Druten (Wikipedia).

Cabaret (1966 original musical): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_%28musical%29 (Wikipedia) and http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=3348 (Internet Broadway Database).

John Kander (composer): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kander (Wikipedia).

Fred Ebb (lyricist): http://www.fredebbfoundation.org/ (Fred Ebb Foundation) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Ebb (Wikipedia).

Joe Masteroff (playwright): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Masteroff (Wikipedia).

Cabaret (1972 film): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_%28film%29 (Wikipedia), and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068327/ (Internet Movie Database).

Cabaret (1998 Broadway revival): http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=4848 (Wikipedia).

Joseph Haj (director) http://www.playmakersrep.org/performances/embed_artist.aspx?id=15b43fe8-a162-4c03-9218-ac7ebe7fd3a4 (PlayMakers Repertory Company bio).

Taylor Mac (actor) http://taylormac.net/ (official website) and https://www.facebook.com/taylor.mac.505 (Facebook page).

Lisa Brescia (actress): http://www.lisabrescia.com/ (official website), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Brescia (Wikipedia), https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Brescia/299932653350638 (Facebook page), and http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=76170 (Internet Broadway Database).

Amber Petty (center) and Chris Grace (to her left) star as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey in “50 Shades! The Musical,” playing April 4-6 in Raleigh’s A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater

50 Shades! The Musical, playing two shows nightly through Saturday in Raleigh’s A.J. Fletcher Opera Theatre as part of the Broadway Series South series, milks its double entendres like a herd of Holsteins. These laugh-out-loud 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. performances deliver kink with a wink. If 50 Shades! were a motion picture, it would be R rated (for strong language throughout, heavy drinking, pervasive sexual innuendo, and simulated sex). But it’s sex for laughs, with a couple of bare-chested male dancers outfitted like Chippendales and a female dancer wearing black-lace undies and a smirk; but — sorry, guys and gals — there is no graphic nudity to spice up the proceedings.

The fun starts with meeting of a trio of stay-at-home housewives, played with brio by spunky Spencer Rose as Pam, sassy Emily Eden as Bev, and perky Jessica Kemock as Carol. It’s time to choose the next book that the group will read together, and Pam brazenly suggests the bestselling 2011 British novel of sadism and masochism Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. So, for the next several months, the women will spend their morning coffee klatches discussing the sado-masochistic relationship between the virginal 21-year-old college senior Anastasia “Ana” Steele and bondage-loving 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey. The concept that each woman should get in touch with her “inner goddess,” and allow it to propel her into all sorts of heretofore taboo sexual activities transforms the book club into a sexual-education class exploring the ideas of bondage and discipline and dominance and submission. Later comes (pun intended) “homework”, with Pam and Bev surprising their husbands with kinky boudoir sessions and Carol — whose husband has left her before the show starts — left to explore sex-and-the-single-girl options.

The inspired casting of plump, middle-aged Amber Nicole Petty and roly-poly, middle-aged Chris Grace as the two twenty-somethings Ana and Christian heightens the hilarity of this savage spoof of aberrant sexual practices that involve blindfolds, handcuffs, nipple clamps, and fisting. Petty gets belly-laughs from the double entendres in Ana’s anthem, “There’s a Hole Inside of Me.”; and Grace stops the show twice — first when he saunters onto the stage in a red wrestler’s singlet, with his pot belly protruding, and proceeds to do a series of warm-up exercises and then again when he belts out Christian’s signature song, “I Don’t Make Love, I F**k.”

Emily Eden is a real scene-stealer with her outrageous antics as Ana’s oversexed, completely uninhibited, and perpetually sozzled bestfriend Katherine Kavanagh, who will drop her knickers for any guy who shows the slightest interest in her. Nick Semar hams it up hilariously as the annoying photographer and infernally persistent would-be Latin lover Jose, who comes on to Ana so strong that he scares her away; and Matt Nolan adds a nice comic cameo as Christian’s brother, Elliot, who boffs Katherine Kavanagh in the middle of the audience in one of the show’s funniest segments. Nolan also teams with Victor Sho and Caroline Reade to form the scantily clad trio mentioned above.

Director Al Samuels sets a brisk pace for this romp through Grey’s anatomy lessons for Ana; and the onstage band — Jody Shelton (keyboards), Johnny Pisano (bass), and Al Veteri (drums) — pumps up the volume, sometimes drowning out the lyrics. But sound technician Chris Landry can fix that problem in a trice.

The arrival of the ostentatiously bawdy 50 Shades! The Musical in Raleigh just after Easter may scorch the shorts of the local smut snatchers, but open-minded audiences will have a grand time with this delightfully devilish satire of the Fifty Shades of Grey. The audience may turn Fifty Shades of Red at the scandalous goings-on onstage, but they won’t stop laughing until long after the musical ends.

SECOND OPINION: April 3rd Durham, NC Indy Week preview by Emma Miller: http://www.indyweek.com/artery/archives/2013/04/03/embrace-your-inner-goddess-50-shades-of-musical-kink; April 3rd Raleigh, NC NBC-17 WNCN interview with Spencer Rose, Jessica Kemock, and Emily Eden, conducted by Valonda Calloway and Dave Kent for “My Carolina Today”: http://www.wncn.com/video?clipId=8737050; and March 28th Raleigh, NC News & Observer preview by Andrew Branch: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/28/2783861/50-shades-the-musical-parodies.html. (Note: To read Triangle Arts and Entertainment’s online version of the April 2nd Triangle Review review by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/04/the-original-parody-50-shades-the-musical-will-titillate-and-tickle-triangle-audiences-on-april-2-6/.)

Broadway Series South presents 50 SHADES! THE MUSICAL at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. April 4-6 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $39.10-$57.30 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

Duke Energy Center Box Office: 919-996-8700 or info@progressenergycenter.com (information only).

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115203/1794310.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-857-4565, group@raleighconvention.com, or http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/broadway-series-south/group-sales. SHOW: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/event/50-shades-the-musical-3687.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H_omK7iqvQ.

PRESENTER: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/broadway-series-south.

VENUE: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/venue/fletcher-opera-theater.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/parking.

OTHER LINKS:

50 Shades! The Musical: http://50shadesmusical.com/ (official website), https://www.facebook.com/50ShadesTheMusical (Facebook page), and https://twitter.com/musical50shades (Twitter page).

Act 5 Entertainment: http://www.act5ent.com/ (official website).

Albert Samuels (writer, producer, director): http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mastery/coaches/samuels.html (Stanford University Graduate School of Business bio).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

New York actor, playwright, and singer/songwriter Taylor Mac will sizzle as the gender-bending Emcee of Berlin’s Kit Kat Klub in the 1930s in PlayMakers Rep’s production of “Cabaret” (photo by Jon Gardiner)

PlayMakers Repertory Company will conclude its critically acclaimed 2012-13 main-stage season on April 3-7, 9-14, and 16-21 with the darker, more disturbing 1998 version of the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret, starring New York actor, playwright, singer/songwriter, and OBIE Award®-winning drag artist Taylor Mac as the gender-bending Emcee of Berlin’s Kit Kat Klub in the early 1930s, when the Nazi Party was on the rise in Germany, and Broadway veteran Lisa Brescia as the club’s star attraction, the divinely decadent English diva Sally Bowles.

PlayMakers Rep producing artistic director Joseph Haj will stage the show in the Paul Green Theatre in the University of North Carolina’s Center for Dramatic Art, with Taylor Mac and Lisa Brescia and a stellar supporting cast that includes John Dreher as young American writer and English teacher Clifford Bradshaw, Brett Bolton as his wealthy student the German businessman Ernst Ludwig, Julie Fishell as Clifford’s landlady Fräulein Schneider, Jeffrey Blair Cornell as her bashful beau the Jewish grocer Herr Schultz, Ray Dooley as Sally’s boyfriend and the Kit Kat Klub’s owner Max, Dee Dee Batteast as Texas/Chanteuse, Nathaniel Claridad as Bobby, Kelsey Didion as Fraulein Kost/Fritzie, Meredith Jones as Helga, Katie Paxton as Lulu, Maren Searle as Rosie, Josh Tobin as Victor, and Jack Utrata as Herman. The show’s ensemble includes Brandon Garegnani, Patrick McHugh, and Michaela Morton.

“I know the movie musical, but I have never worked on the play,” confesses Joe Haj. He adds, “I like the way the Kit Kat Klub stands as a metaphor for the society: A place where the party keeps going on as brightly and loudly as possible, with no concern for the gathering storm. I wanted to direct [Cabaret], because at bottom it is a deeply serious play that wrestles with enormous themes.”

With toe-tapping melodies by John Kander, irreverent lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a sizzling script by Joe Masteroff, based on 1939 short novel Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood and I Am A Camera, playwright John van Druten’s stage adaptation of Isherwood’s reminiscences of pre-World War II Germany, Cabaret made its Broadway debut at the Broadhurst Theatre on November 20, 1966; ran for 1,166 performances before it closed on Sept. 6, 1969; and won eight 1967 Tony® Awards (including Best Musical).

PlayMakers Rep director Joe Haj says, “All of the numbers in the Kit Kat Klub are there to amplify, distort, or satirize something that has just happened in one of the ‘book’ scenes of the play. Staging the play in such a way as to help the audience understand that the Klub is there to reflect the society outside is one of its many challenges.”

Whether set in the sleazy Kit Kat Klub or Fraulein Schneider’s shabby-but-clean rooming house in no-holds-barred Berlin in 1929 and 1930, the original 1966 version of Cabaret starkly contrasted the sexual depravity on display with the ominous rise of Adolf Hitler, whose jackbooted thugs will burst onto the scene at any minute. Free love — heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual — is rampant, but the Nazis will goosestep into the picture soon enough to spoil that party once and for all.

The Roundabout Theatre Company’s 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret, which accents the grim political and sexual overtones of Christopher Isherwood’s ribald reminiscences, ran more than twice as long as the original production. It opened on March 19, 1998 at Studio 54 and closed on Jan 4, 2004, after 37 previews and 2,377 performances. This revival also won four 1998 Tony Awards (including Best Revival of a Musical).

PlayMakers Rep director Joe Haj says, “Cabaret begins with a train journey. A young American writer, Cliff Bradshaw (John Dreher) travels to Berlin, where he hopes to find a place to write and something to write about. Along the way, he makes a new friend, Ernst Ludwig (Brett Bolton), who introduces him to the decadent cabaret culture of Berlin and its infamous Kit Kat Club.

“At the club,” Haj says, “Cliff meets Sally Bowles (Lisa Brescia) an English cabaret performer recently down on her luck and in urgent need of new accommodations. Cliff and Sally form an unlikely relationship, based on their mutual desire for normalcy and acceptance; but personal truths emerge that ultimately shatter the illusions that supported their affair.

Broadway veteran Lisa Brescia (center) will star as the Kit Kat Klub’s star attraction, the divinely decadent English diva Sally Bowles, in “Cabaret” in the Paul Green Theatre (photo by Jon Gardiner)

Haj adds, “A subplot is the romance between the landlady Fräulein Schneider (Julie Fishell) and her elderly suitor Herr Schultz (Jeffrey Blair Cornell), a Jewish fruit seller. Unlike Sally and Cliff, Schultz and Schneider are perfect for each other; but the current political situation — Schneider would have to take a stand against the Nazis if she married Schultz — ultimately drives them apart.

“The backdrop for all the action is the sparkle and titillation of the Kit Kat Club, which provides a welcomed distraction from the political and emotional turmoil of the main characters and is a metaphor for the brilliant, decadent, and increasingly desperate state of the Weimar Republic [1919-33]. Guiding both the audience and the characters is the Kit Kat Club’s Emcee (Taylor Mac[, who won a 2010 OBIE Award for Design/Music for his play The Lily's Revenge]). Like Dante’s Virgil, The Emcee leads us through the many layers of this story to history’s ultimate conclusion.”

In addition to director Joe Haj, the PlayMakers Repertory Company creative team for Cabaret includes assistant director Paula Morello Bennett, choreographer Casey Sams, musical director Mark Hartman, production manager Michael Rolleri, scenic designer Marion Williams, costume designer Jennifer Caprio, lighting designer Josh Epstein, sound designer/engineer Robert Dagit, vocal coaches Terry Weber and John Patrick, movement coach Craig Turner, dramaturg Adam Versenyi, stage manager Sarah Smiley , and assistant stage manager Charles K. Bayang. The Kit Kat Klub band includes music director/conductor Mark Hartman (piano/accordion), Matt Chicurel (violin/banjo), Gregg Gelb (clarinet/tenor saxophone), John Hanks (drums), Doug Largent (bass), Wayne Leechford (clarinet/alto saxophone), Mike Mole (trumpet), and Steve Wilfong (trombone).

Joe Haj says, “The set is designed to allow us to move swiftly between the world of the Klub and the other environments of the play.”

He adds, “The lighting shows the swirling party-scene of the nightclub in contrast to the harsh and challenging economic and political climate of Berlin at the end of the Weimar era, as Hitler is rising to power….

Haj says, “The costumes move spectacularly from the sexual and risqué world of the Klub to the harshness of the outside world in Berlin,” says director Joe Haj.

“Our production begins on New Year’s Eve 1932, in the twilight hours of the Weimar Republic as the Nazi rise to power is visible just above the horizon, but only to those who are willing to face it,” says Haj. “At the end of Cabaret, Cliff’s train pulls away from Berlin; and we become aware of another train, the one trailing behind the specter of World War II, carrying away the Jews, the artists, the intellectuals, the homosexuals, and all those brave enough to stand up to the Nazis, as well as those powerless to stop them. And we are left wondering what might have happened if we’d faced the truth so much sooner. What do we see today when we look squarely at the injustices and societal ills around us? Where do we avert our gaze?”

PlayMakers Repertory Company CABARET, starring Taylor Mac as The Emcee, at 7:30 p.m. April 3-5 Previews, 7:30 p.m. April 6 Opening Night, 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 7, 7:30 p.m. April 9-12, 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 13, 2 p.m. April 14, 7:30 p.m. April 16-19, 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 20, and 2 p.m. April 21 in the Paul Green Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

TICKETS: $20-$40, except $50 for Opening Night Show and Post-Show Party (April 6th), $15 per general-admission ticket on Tuesday Community Nights, $10 for UNC students, and $12 for all other students. (Click here for discounts for UNC faculty/staff and active-duty military personnel and their families.

BOX OFFICE: 919-962-PLAY (7529) or http://playmakersrep.org/tickets/single.

GROUP RATES (15+ tickets): 919-843-2311, miwashin@email.unc.edu, or http://playmakersrep.org/tickets/groupsales.

SHOW: http://www.playmakersrep.org/cabaret.

PRESENTER: http://www.playmakersrep.org/.

BLOG: http://playmakersrep.blogspot.com/.

VENUE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/aboutus/paulgreen.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://www.playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo.

NOTE 1: The UNC General Alumni Association will host a preshow reception with refreshments, including a conversation with Cabaret director Joseph Haj at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 5th. The price — which includes a ticket to the show — is $35 for GAA members and $50 for non-members. For details, click http://alumni.unc.edu/article.aspx?sid=9365.

NOTE 2: There will be two FREE discussions with members of the show’s creative team (designers, actors, and production personnel) after the show’s April 10th and 17th performances.

NOTE 3: There will be a special $8.50-per-student Student Matinee Performance at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 12th. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/outreach/matinees.

NOTE 4: At 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 13th, there will be an Open-Captioned Performances. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/outreach/allaccess/opencaption.

NOTE 5: Arts Access, Inc. (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) of Raleigh will audio-describe an All-Access Performance at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16th, which will also feature sign-language interpretation and Large-Print and Braille programs and — if requested in advance by e-mail to whitneywhite@unc.edu — a tactile tour of the set. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/outreach/allaccess.

NOTE 6: At 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 20th, and 2 p.m. on Sunday April 21st, the N.C. Psychoanalytic Foundation (http://www.ncpsychoanalysis.org/), the Lucy Daniels Foundation ( http://ldf.org/), and the N.C. Psychoanalytic Society (http://www.ncpsasoc.org/) will sponsor FREE post-show 50-minute “Mindplay” discussions, led by , who will speak on “Conflict: A Dark Musical in a Fun Package.” For details, click http://www.ncpsasoc.org/images/Mindplay2012-13.pdf.

OTHER LINKS:

Goodbye to Berlin (1939 short novel): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_to_Berlin”> (Wikipedia).

Christopher Isherwood (novelist): http://isherwoodfoundation.org/ (Christopher Isherwood Foundation) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood (Wikipedia).

I Am a Camera (1951 play): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Camera (Wikipedia).

John Van Druten (playwright): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Van_Druten (Wikipedia).

Cabaret (1966 original musical): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_%28musical%29 (Wikipedia) and http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=3348 (Internet Broadway Database).

John Kander (composer): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kander (Wikipedia).

Fred Ebb (lyricist): http://www.fredebbfoundation.org/ (Fred Ebb Foundation) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Ebb (Wikipedia).

Joe Masteroff (playwright): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Masteroff (Wikipedia).

Cabaret (1972 film): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_%28film%29 (Wikipedia), and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068327/ (Internet Movie Database).

Cabaret (1998 Broadway revival): http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=4848 (Wikipedia).

Joseph Haj (director) http://www.playmakersrep.org/performances/embed_artist.aspx?id=15b43fe8-a162-4c03-9218-ac7ebe7fd3a4 (PlayMakers Repertory Company bio).

Taylor Mac (actor) http://taylormac.net/ (official website) and https://www.facebook.com/taylor.mac.505 (Facebook page).

Lisa Brescia (actress): http://www.lisabrescia.com/ (official website), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Brescia (Wikipedia), https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Brescia/299932653350638 (Facebook page), and http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=76170 (Internet Broadway Database).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Broadway Series South will present eight performances of the hilarious original parody “50 Shades! The Musical” on April 2-6 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in downtown Raleigh

On April 2-6, Broadway Series South will present eight performances of Act 5 Entertainment’s national tour of the original R-rated parody 50 Shades! The Musical, which will titillate and tickle Triangle theatergoers, according to Albert Samuels, who is a writer, a producer, and the director of this uproarious satire of the ultra-kinky 2011 British BDSM novel Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James (born Erika Mitchell in London in 1963). That’s “BDSM” as in bondage and discipline and sadism and masochism — and dominance and submission.

Broadway Series South says, Fifty Shades of Grey is the first book in a trilogy that has sold more than 70 million books around the world. Fifty Shades of Grey is also the subject of an upcoming Universal Pictures film.

According to Broadway Series South: “50 Shades! The Musical opens with a ladies book club deciding to read Fifty Shades of Grey. Through their interpretation of the novel, the audience is lead on a hilarious roller-coaster ride of this unlikely bestseller. The show is full of dance numbers, 11 original songs, and a live band backing the performance. Original songs include ‘They Get Nasty’; ‘I Don’t Make Love, I F#*!’; and ‘There’s a Hole Inside of Me.”

The decision to read “Fifty Shades of Grey” pays unexpected dividends for a women’s book club

“In 50 Shades! The Musical, we are making fun of the sexual content of the book,” reports Al Samuels. “But we have a decent amount of skin in our show, and the audience should expect to see that.”

Samuels, who co-wrote the show with Amanda Davis, Ashley Ward, and Emily Dorezas, adds, “I’m a writer for TV and stage and film, but I am an actor as well.” (In fact, he is a founding member of the Chicago-based improv group Baby Wants Candy, whose alumnae include Rachel Dratch and Aidy Bryant of “Saturday Night Live” fame.)

Al Samuels says Baby Wants Candy’s specialty is improvising 60-minute parody musicals. He adds, “We have a huge love of musicals, and a huge love of pop culture…. I got approached by a producer who asked if I would like to produce a parody version of Fifty Shades of Grey…. Before The Book of Mormon became known and popular, [50 Shades!] would have created the same sort of sensation.”

After 50 Shades! The Musical debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, it returned to Chicago for more fine-tuning, and then had its New York premiere in January 2013 before embarking on the current national tour.

Although not technically a Baby Wants Candy production, a lot of people from that group are involved — onstage and backstage — in 50 Shades!, notes Al Samuels.

The steamy romance between Ana Steele and Christian Grey provides plenty of grist for the comic mill of the original parody “50 Shades! The Musical”

Even though other parodies of Fifty Shades of Grey are currently touring the country, Samuels claims, “We were the first one out, and we strove to make the show like a real musical. I think the other shows are sketch-comedy acts. But we made [50 Shades!] a two-act musical with a storyline….

“We created a musical around the book…,” explains Samuels. “Our show contains all original music, and I think it is just more sophisticated. It’s a bigger show, and I think it’s funnier.”

Al Samuels says, “The plot of [50 Shades! The Musical ] is the simplest, oldest story in the book. It’s girl-meets-boy, and they’re from different sides of the tracks. What is really great about this story — and what makes for a great show — is that it is unlike West Side Story or Romeo and Juliet, it is not a tragedy. Instead, in Fifty Shades of Grey, there is a steamy world of sex and misunderstandings between the virginal Anastasia ‘Ana’ Steele (played by Amber Petty) and the billionaire, bondage-loving Christian Grey (portrayed by Chris Grace) ….

“Of course, just like in Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, there are pressures to pull Christian and Ana apart; there are pressures to push them together; there are romantic rivals …. There’s what Ana calls Christian’s ‘Red Room of Pain,’ where he wants to dominate her; and there are other parts of the book that make it very spoofable and also endear readers to the story,” claims Al Samuels. “They include little things like the fact that Christian is so hilariously anachronistic and Ana is at times so ridiculously virginal that there is room for great comedy. But this [quirky] love story also makes for a great musical.”

In addition to Amber Petty as Ana and Chris Grace as Christian, the cast also includes Nick Semar as Jose, Jessica Kemock as Carol, Spencer Rose as Pam, and Emily Eden as Bev and Katherine — plus three sexy dancers: Matt Nolan, Victor Sho, and Caroline Reade. (Nolan also plays Christian Grey’s brother, Elliot.)

Besides writer-director-producer Al Samuels, writers Amanda Davis and Ashley Ward, and writer-producer Emily Dorezas, the show’s creative team includes producer Marshall Cordell, assistant director Rob Lindley, choreographer Joanna Greer, associate choreographer Brad Landers, and musical director Jody Shelton. 50 Shades! The Musical features music and lyrics by Jody Shelton and Dan Wessels; and the show’s band includes Shelton, Al Veteri, and Johnny Pisano.

“I was the one who decided whether something would go into the show,” say Al Samuels. Counting the songwriting duo of Jody Shelton and Dan Wessels, he adds, “We had three men and three women writers. Some of us hadn’t read the book, and we wanted the musical to be appealing and understandable to someone who hadn’t read the book.”

Al Samuels says, “We didn’t just want to make fun of the book. That would have been too easy…. We make fun of the goofy parts of the book, and we show as much skin as we can onstage. But at the same time, we want to celebrate the love story — we want to celebrate this girl’s sexual awakening. This book has already opened a lot of people’s eyes to this world of being satisfied, both in the bedroom and outside of the bedroom, and in their [romantic] relationships….

“In the end,” Samuels says, “we really want our audiences to care what happens to Ana and Christian. It’s great if you have read the book; but at the same time, [50 Shades! The Musical] is going to be really, really enjoyable for people who haven’t read the book, because it makes fun of the book and the phenomenon around it. One of the best compliments that we’ve gotten so far came from a CNN reporter who was very familiar with the book. she said it was one of the funniest things she’s ever seen; and she was crying with laughter and so was her co-worker, who hadn’t read the book.”

Al Samuels cautions parents that 50 Shades! The Musical is for mature audiences, aged 17 and over. “They are not going to see anything,” he says, “but there is strong language, a la The Book of Mormon and the “South Park” movie [i.e., South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut] ….

“In our show,” claims Al Samuels, “anything really does go. People will see things that they have never seen on stage.”

He adds, “We’re so excited to come to Raleigh. This is the kickoff of our [more than 30-city] tour, and we can’t think of a better place than Raleigh to kick it off.”

SECOND OPINION: March 28th Raleigh, NC News & Observer preview by Andrew Branch: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/28/2783861/50-shades-the-musical-parodies.html.

Broadway Series South presents 50 SHADES! THE MUSICAL at 7:30 p.m. April 2 and 3 and 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. April 4-6 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $39.10-$57.30 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

Duke Energy Center Box Office: 919-996-8700 or info@progressenergycenter.com (information only).

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115203/1794310.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-857-4565, group@raleighconvention.com, or http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/broadway-series-south/group-sales.

SHOW: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/event/50-shades-the-musical-3687.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H_omK7iqvQ.

PRESENTER: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/broadway-series-south.

VENUE: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/venue/fletcher-opera-theater.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/parking.

OTHER LINKS:

50 Shades! The Musical: http://50shadesmusical.com/ (official website), https://www.facebook.com/50ShadesTheMusical (Facebook page), and https://twitter.com/musical50shades (Twitter page).

Act 5 Entertainment: http://www.act5ent.com/ (official website).

Albert Samuels (writer, producer, director): http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mastery/coaches/samuels.html (Stanford University Graduate School of Business bio).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern will present “Derklöwnschpankeneffekt: Two Plays for Klöwn” on March 28-30 and April 4-6 at Manbites Dog Theater

Jay O’Berski and Jeffrey Detwiler have become the Triangle’s princes of pratfall, first for Shakespeare & Originals and now for Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern. In physical comedy, they are the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area’s equivalent of Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello (although both are imperially thin). But when it comes to hurling verbal brickbats, they most resemble the insufferably cheeky and impishly irreverent Marx Brothers. Indeed, they are consummate clowns who have put big grins on the faces of many local theatergoers.

So is also the case with Little Green Pig’s riotous rendition of Derklöwnschpankeneffekt: Two Plays for Klöwn, presented as part of Manbites Dog Theater’s “Other Voices Series.” “Out at Sea,” translated by Nicholas Bethell, and “Striptease,” translated by Lola Gruenthal, are a twin bill of cabaret-style short plays — both written in 1961 — by Polish expatriate playwright, author, journalist, and cartoonist Slawomir Mrozek (born 1930).

“Out at Sea” stars Messrs. Detwiler and O’Berski and the roly-poly comic actor Carl Martin as three men in a (life)boat who have exhausted all their provisions, and begun a debate about which one of the three — designated Fat (Martin), Medium (Detwiler), and Thin (O’Berski) — they should eat first in order to survive. The fact that the men occupy different rungs of the social ladder has some bearing in their increasing absurdist deliberations. Fat could be a literal capitalist fat cat or a gravitationally challenged commissar from Communist Poland; he is well heeled, pampered, and used to calling the shots. Medium is a cook who specializes in meat dishes, and Thin is a selfish egotist. Who will (figuratively) draw the short straw in this lifeboat lottery?

While Thin, Medium, and Fat vigorously debate who will make the ultimate sacrifice for the common good, up pops Fat’s starchy Butler (James Dymond and a persistent postlady Postlady (Drina Dunlap) in two cameo performances that heighten the hilarity of this deliciously dark comedy from the Theatre of the Absurd.

In “Striptease,” dramatist Slawomir Mrozek transforms the traditional bump-and-grind of an erotic dance into a metaphor for political and/or spiritual oppression. But there is nothing prurient about “Striptease.” At the start of the play, two men in identical business attire, carrying identical brief cases — Jay O’Berski as the passive intellectual Man I and Jeffrey Detwiler as the aggressive activist Man II — are trapped in the backroom of a nightclub by a mysterious power — ultimately embodied by a pair of giant hands designed by Chelsea Kurtzman, Alex Maness, and Stephanie Waaser and manipulated by James Dymond and Drina Dunlap. Man I and Man II’s discussions of their dilemma and their increasingly desperate measures to escape their inexplicable imprisonment provide ample fodder for the comic mills of Messrs. Detwiler and O’Berski, who act like Dancing Fools as they doff their clothing, one item, at a time, in the vain hope of appeasing their unseen tormenter. It was all great fun for the Little Green Pig’s audience last Saturday night at Manbites Dog Theater.

Director Michael O’Foghludha and choreographer Nicola Bullock whip up a pair of delicious comic soufflés. They are aided and abetted by set designer Chad Evans; lighting designer Rebecca Buck; costume designer Chelsea Kurtzman, giant hands designers Chelsea Kurtzman, Alex Maness, and Stephanie Waaser; sound designer Quran Karriem; and stage manager Jessica Flemming — whose combined efforts help make Derklöwnschpankeneffekt: Two Plays for Klöwn a must-see comedy!

SECOND OPINION: March 27th Durham, NC Indy Week preview by Byron Woods (who awarded the show 3.5 of 5 stars): http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/political-satire-and-pratfalls-in-little-green-pigs-derklwnshpankeneffekt/Content?oid=3460689; March 26th Cary, NC Boom! Magazine review by Chuck Galle and Martha Keravuori: http://www.boomnc.com/boom-bits-reviews-books-movies-music-misc/derklownschpankeneffect-review-of-out-at-sea-and-striptease-at-manbites-dog-theater/; March 23rd Raleigh, NC BroadwayWorld.com Raleigh review by Larisa Mount: http://raleigh.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Reviews-Little-Green-Pig-Brings-Absurdism-to-the-Triangle-with-DERKLWNSCHPANKENEFFEKT-20130323; and March 22nd Durham, NC Five Points Star review by Kate Dobbs Ariail: http://thefivepointsstar.com/2013/03/22/serious-klown/.

Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern presents DERKLÖWNSCHPANKENEFFEKT: TWO PLAYS FOR KLÖWN, starring Jeffrey Detwiler, Carl Martin and Jay O’Berski, at 8:15 p.m. March 28-30 and April 4-6 at Manbites Dog Theater, 703 Foster St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $12 Thursdays and $17 Fridays and Saturdays, except $5 students with ID and $2 discount for seniors 62+ and active-duty military personnel.

BOX OFFICE: 919-682-3343 or http://manbitesdogtheater.tix.com/.

SHOW: http://littlegreenpig.com/?p=909 or http://manbitesdogtheater.org/2012-2013/derklownschpankeneffekt/.

VIDEO PREVIEW (by Alex Maness): http://vimeo.com/59423037. SEASON: http://littlegreenpig.com/?page_id=1007.

PRESENTER: http://littlegreenpig.com/.

VENUE: http://manbitesdogtheater.org/.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://manbitesdogtheater.org/about/directions/.

OTHER LINKS:

“Out at Sea”: http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/10007/out-at-sea (Samuel French, Inc.).

“Striptease”: http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/10008/strip-tease (Samuel French, Inc.).

The Mrozek Reader (edited by Daniel Gerould): http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

Slawomir Mrozek (playwright) http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mrozek.htm (Pegasos) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82awomir_Mro%C5%BCek (Wikipedia).

Michael O’Foghludha (director): https://www.facebook.com/michael.ofoghludha (Facebook page).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to Triangle Review, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

What do an escaped tiger, an art therapist dealing with her first-ever client, and a recently dumped and severely depressed young woman have in common? Though this might sound like the lead-in to a bad joke, all of these things are subjects in Actors Comedy Lab and Raleigh Little Theatre’s uproarious and utterly charming production of Kim Rosenstock’s Tigers Be Still.

This quirky little play is about a lot of things but, on the surface at least, it’s about Sherry (Jessica Heironimus), a young art therapist who’s been hired as a school art teacher and saddled with helping the school principal’s troubled son, Zack (Danny Dove), overcome his anger issues. Sherry lives at home with her depressed and recently dumped sister, Grace (Tracey Phillips), and her unseen mother, who has hidden herself away in an upstairs bedroom and only speaks to the sisters via telephone. Oh yeah, and there’s an escaped tiger prowling through town as well.

All of these things considered, it’s easy to assume “Tigers” would be dark and depressing. Somehow, though, these subjects combine into a thoughtful, hopeful, and completely hilarious take on human connections and finding lightness in the darkest of times.

Heironimus brings Sherry’s bubbly sweetness to life without making the character annoyingly saccharine, and Danny Dove’s Zack is the perfect combination of brooding teenage angst and endearing vulnerability. Zack’s father, played by the actor’s real-life dad, Kent Dove, also impresses in his role as a bumbling, clueless, but genuinely concerned parent.  Best of all, however, is Tracey Philips as the jilted Grace. Her constant guzzling of Jack Daniels and her drunken cell-phone serenade to her ex-fiancé constitute some of the show’s most winning (and funny!) moments.

Thanks to the combined efforts of director Rod Rich and set designer Thomas Mauney, the show moves along briskly, never missing a beat or growing dull. Projected images and text announce scene titles and settings, and the characters are constantly moving, making the small set feel much larger than it actually is. Nancy Rich and Bunny Safron add even more visual appeal with unique costumes perfectly suited to each character. Sherry, in all of her delightful oddness, is constantly clad in colorful tights and tops—including an unforgettable octopus sweater, and Grace, with her inextinguishable humor, sports a top that reads “Check Meowt” and features a picture of a cat.

Viewers in need of a truly heartwarming laugh and a new set of characters to love will find their needs met by Tigers Be Still.

Actors Comedy Lab and Raleigh Little Theatre present TIGERS BE STILL at 8 p.m. March 28-30, 3 p.m. March 31; 8 p.m. April 4-6, and 3 p.m. April 7 in RLT‘s Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre, 301 Pogue St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27607.

TICKETS: $15 ($12 students and seniors).

BOX OFFICE: 919-821-3111 or https://raleighlittletheatre.secure.force.com/.

SHOW: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/shows/12-13/tigers.html.

VIDEO PREVIEWS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKEG6kHSUKQ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoOMFwuPqXA&list=UUvWuTxQELG9aiTIv6MjqyjA&index=3.

PRESENTERS:

Actors Comedy Lab http://www.actorscomedylab.com/.

Raleigh Little Theatre http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/. VENUE: http://www.raleighlittletheatre.org/.

MAPS/DIRECTIONS: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/about/map-directions.html.

PARKING: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/about/parking.html.

NOTE: All shows are wheelchair accessible.

OTHER LINKS:

Tigers Be Still (background): http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=4312 (Dramatists Play Service, Inc.).

Kim Rosenstock: http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/rosenstock-kim.html (Doollee.com).

Rod Rich: https://www.facebook.com/rod.rich.33 (Facebook).

Rachel York (center) stars as sultry evangelist-turned-nightclub singer Reno Sweeney in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s tour of its Tony Award®-winning 2011 Broadway revival of “Anything Goes” (photo by Joan Marcus)

When the votes are tallied for the Top 10 Triangle Musicals of 2013, the national tour of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s A-Number-One 2011 Broadway revival of the 1934 Cole Porter musical Anything Goes will be on top of the heap! Indeed, it’s March 19th opening-night performance made Durham Performing Arts Center patrons stand up and cheer!

Award-winning Broadway director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall, who added the 2011 Tony Award® for Best Choreography for Anything Goes to a shelf that already holds her Best Choreography Tonys for the 2004 revival of Wonderful Town and the 2006 revival of The Pajama Game, fills the DPAC stage with ingenious and exuberant dance routines that put a little extra pep in the step of her supremely talented cast of well-respected Broadway veterans and promising newcomers.

Rachel York is a regular ball of fire as sultry evangelist-turned-nightclub singer Reno Sweeney. She sings; she dances; she cracks wise in the hilarious Mae West fashion.

Josh Franklin is a pip as stowaway stockbroker Billy Crocker, who boards the London-bound S.S. American, hoping to hook up — in the mid-1930s sense — with beautiful American debutante Hope Harcourt (Alex Finke), not knowing that she’s traveling with her gorgon of a mother, Mrs. Evangeline Harcourt (Sandra Shipley), and wealthy but stuffy British fiancé Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Edward Staudenmayer). Franklin and Finke have great chemistry; Shipley barks and growls at Hope, who refuses to heel; and Staudenmayer’s sidesplitting portrait of a priggish peer with a surprising secret is a verbal and physical gem.

Even as Billy’s hoped-for romance with Hope hits rough waters, Fred Applegate and Joyce Chittick sidle onto the stage as tough-talking “Public Enemy Number 13″ Moonface Martin and his man-crazy sidekick Erma. Applegate and Chittick are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Additional comic relief is provided by Dennis Kelly as Billy’s loopy boss, Wall Street financier Elisha J. Whitney, a proud graduate of Yale University and a skirt chaser with bulldog persistence; and Chuck Wagner and Jeff Brooks also have their moments of mirth as the ship’s Captain and its Purser, who are desperate to identify onboard celebrities to provide grist for the ship’s gossip mill.

Gary Lindemann contributes an amusing cameo as the Right Rev. Bishop Henry T. Dobson, who boards the S.S. American with two recent Chinese converts (Vincent Rodriguez III and Marcus Shane as Luke and John), whom Dobson fears will backslide into their old sinful ways as soon as they get their hands on a deck of cards.

Magnificent musical staging by director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall and music director Jay Alger also add pizzazz to the production numbers of the current national tour of Anything Goes. They turn the title tune into a show-stopping nine-minute tap-dance extravaganza to end Act I, and then top themselves with a robust mid-Act II rendition of “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” — performed by Rachel York as Reno Sweeney and Jacqueline Burtney, Courtney Rottenberger, Donna Thomas Littleton, Vanessa Sonon as her hip-swinging “angels” Purity, Chastity, Charity, and Virtue, respectively — that really does stop the show for a couple of minutes of frenzied applause,

Original Broadway scenic designer Derek McLane and costume designer Martin Pakledinaz contribute jaw-dropping sets and Technicolor recreations of Thirties glad-rags and shipboard attire, and lighting designer Howell Binkley and sound designer Brian Ronan also do their parts to make Anything Goes a must-see musical. Don’t miss director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall and cohorts’ fresh new take on a classic musical. The show’s dynamic dance numbers will make the audience want to leave their seats join in the fun on stage. Don’t miss Anything Goes!

SECOND OPINION: March 20th Durham, NC Herald-Sun review and March 15th preview, both by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/entertainment/x145780661/REVIEW-All-aboard-for-the-awesome-Anything-Goes and http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/entertainment/x145778351/-Anything-Goes-star-loves-show-s-style (Note: You must register to read these articles); March 20th Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/20/2766130/dpacs-anything-goes-is-close-to.html; March 20th Burlington, NC Times-News “Teens & Twenties” review by Lincoln Pennington: http://teensandtwenties.com/talented-cast-delivers-in-anything-goes/; and March 20th Raleigh, NC Triangle Arts & Entertainment review by Susie Potter http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/03/classic-show-anything-goes-is-still-fun-for-modern-audiences/; and March 20th Raleigh, NC Triangle Business Journal slideshow by Dathan Kazsuk: http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2013/03/20/slideshow-dpacs-opening-night-of.html?s=image_gallery . (Note: To read Triangle Arts & Entertainment’s online version of the March 19th Triangle Review preview by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/03/rachel-york-will-star-as-reno-sweeney-anything-goes-at-DPAC-on-march-19-24/.)

Durham Performing Arts Center presents ANYTHING GOES, starring Rachel York as Reno Sweeney at 7:30 p.m. March 21, 8 p.m. March 22, 2 and 8 p.m. March 23, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. March 24 at 123 Vivian St., Durham, North Carolina 27701, in the American Tobacco District).

TICKETS: $42.50-$111.00 (including fees), except $17.50 Student Rush Tickets.

BOX OFFICE:

DPAC Box Office: 919-680-ARTS (2787), , or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/how_to_buy_tickets.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115558/1732681.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-281-0587, Groups@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/group_services/broadway_group_pricing.

NOTE: DPAC will sell Student Rush Tickets for $17.50 (plus service fee if purchased online), located on Row P of the Balcony. For details, click http://www.DPACnc.com/events/special_offers.

SHOW: http://www.DPACnc.com/events/detail/anything-goes.

NEWS RELEASES: http://www.DPACnc.com/news/detail/wtvd-abc-11s-barbara-gibbs-to-appear-in-anything-goes-at-DPAC-on-march-21 and http://www.DPACnc.com/news/detail/rachel-york-to-star-in-anything-goes-at-DPAC-mar-19-24-2013.

STUDY GUIDES: http://anythinggoesontour.com/study-guide.pdf (Roundabout Theatre Company) and http://www.bard.org/education/studyguides/anythinggoes/anything.html (Utah Shakespeare Festival).

VIDEO PREVIEWS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ5pTQ4gUpI.

SERIES: http://www.DPACnc.com/suntrust-broadway-series.

PRESENTER/VENUE: http://www.DPACnc.com/.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/getting_here.

PARKING: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/parking_guide.

OTHER LINKS:

Anything Goes (background): http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/shows-events/anything-goes.aspx (Roundabout Theatre Company page) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anything_Goes (Wikipedia).

Cole Porter: http://www.coleporter.org/ (Cole Wide Web) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cole_Porter (Wikipedia).

Roundabout Theatre Company: http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout_Theatre_Company (Wikipedia).

The Tour: http://www.anythinggoesontour.com/ (official website).

Tour Cast and Creative Team: http://www.anythinggoesontour.com/cast.php (official web page).

Kathleen Marshall: http://broadwayworld.com/people/Kathleen-Marshall/ (BroadwayWorld.com bio) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Marshall (Wikipedia)

Rachel York: http://www.rachelyork.net/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_York (Wikipedia).

Josh Franklin: http://www.joshfranklin.net/ (official website) and http://broadwayworld.com/people/Josh-Franklin/ (BroadwayWorld.com bio).

Fred Applegate: http://www.fredapplegate.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Applegate_%28actor%29 (Wikipedia).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

The cast of “The Innocents” includes (from left) Ishai Buchbinder as Jude, Hilary Edwards as Laura, Alice Rose Turner as Jackie, Matthew Hager as Stanley, and Scott Heath as Aaron (photo by Alex Maness)

So many of today’s production companies choose to put on “safe” shows—the old standbys that everyone knows and trusts. Even the more daring companies stick a safe show or two into their line-ups, which makes it all the more bold for new company, Common Wealth, to choose a fresh and edgy show for its debut performance. That show, The Innocents, in its United States premiere at Common Ground Theatre, is a fun, bitingly comic, and completely charming masterpiece, one that this new company did absolute justice.

The story focuses on five misguided-in-different-ways twenty-somethings living in Ontario. While it would appear that Aaron (Scott Heath), who is locked away for an out-of-character murder confession, is the most messed-up of the bunch, the story leaves that up for debate. His bumbling, nerdy lawyer, Stanley, brilliantly portrayed by the adorable Matthew Hager, gets more than he bargained for when he takes on the case.  Stanley quickly becomes enmeshed in Aaron’s world, mingling with his sweet, slacker friend Jude (Ishai Buchbinder) and his on-again off-again flame Jackie (Alice Rose Turner). He’s also introduced to headstrong, overly ambitious journalist Laura (Hilary Edwards), who brings his intimacy issues and his failings with the ladies into clear focus in an uproarious early scene.

The set design, with pieces all furnished (and for sale after the production) by IKEA, is simple and tight. Carefully-sectioned areas, which mirror the characters’ carefully-sectioned lives, define the different spaces. Quirky music choices fill in the brief pauses in this fast-moving show, and while all of these things are wonderful, the perfect casting and equally perfect performances, no doubt greatly helped by strong direction from Gregor McElvogue and Rachel Klem, are are what this production the awesome experience that it is—hands down, it’s the best 75 minutes you can spend in a theatre.

Filled with references to Twitter and Facebook, the show perfectly captures the aimless desperation that so characterizes 20-somethings in today’s world. Even more so, however, the story is about the walls that people erect between themselves and that often keep them in that isolated and hungry state well into the later years of life.

Common Wealth presents THE INNOCENTS, a new play by Daniel Karasik, at 8 p.m. March 15 and 16, 3 p.m. March 17 and 8 p.m. March 21-23 at 4815B Hillsborough Rd., Durham, North Carolina 27705.

TICKETS: $15 ($10 students, seniors, and active-duty military personnel).

BOX OFFICE: 919-410-8631, tix@fromcommonwealth.com, or https://www.artful.ly/store/events/685.

SHOW: http://fromcommonwealth.com/commonwealth/Tickets_and_Current_Show.html.

PRESENTER: http://fromcommonwealth.com/commonwealth/Welcome.html.

BLOG: http://fromcommonwealth.com/blog/.

VENUE: http://cgtheatre.com/.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://cgtheatre.com/directions.

OTHER LINKS:

The Innocents (background): http://www.tangoco.net/The_Innocents.html (Tango Co. page).

Daniel Karasik: http://www.tangoco.net/Who_We_Are.html (his Tango Co. bio), https://www.playwrightsguild.ca/playwright/daniel-karasik (his Playwrights Guild of Canada bio), https://www.facebook.com/danielkarasik86 (his Facebook page), and https://twitter.com/TangoCo (his Twitter page).

Carolina Ballet in A Street Symphony choreographed by Zalman Raffael

“I know I can… be what I want to be.” The truth of these words from I can by Nas is evident for Carolina Ballet dancers. They are presenting three new and innovative ballets in this season’s fifth program. They can be urban street, pure and classical, and accessories to unadulterated acts of nature.

A Street Symphony, choreographed by Zalman Raffael, is set to music ranging from Beethoven to Busta Rymes, including the above-mentioned song, I can. Lovely ballerinas are transformed into gangsters in tutus, but some pull off badass (ready to behave in an unpleasant way if necessary, Macmillan Dictionary) more naturally than others. The seven short dances consist of classical ballet steps with an edge interspersed with dance club moves.

The slow monotonous beat of the hip-hop music becomes tiresome after a while, but it becomes fresh again with the frequent song and dance change. The rhythm of the dance often matches precisely with the simple rhythm of the words; for every syllable you hear, there is a corresponding dance step. As opposed to the more complex musical and dance patterns in traditional ballet dances, the song and dance might repeat in your head like a catchy radio tune for hours after you’ve left the theater.

Cecilia Iliesiu dances in “I can” from A Street Symphony.

Jan Burkhard and Yevgeny Shlapko break it down in “Best of Me” from A Street Symphony

The program takes us from the street-wise to the pure in Artistic Director Robert Weiss’s new ballet Idyll. Three couples dance through interconnections representing friendship. Set to music of Richard Wagner, Weiss uses his characteristic body contact and interaction, partnering in novel ways, subtly intertwining, and constantly evolving into new shapes.

The fluid dipping and folding of the bodies, and the sweeping of the arms and legs creates a movement that feels as rare and unlikely to be repeated as a leaf blown by the wind. Seeing the same seemingly random pattern of movement repeated simultaneously across the stage gives the effect of a lucid echo or a hall of mirrors.

Jan Burkhard and Pablo Javier Perez in Idyll

Pablo Javier Perez, Jan Burkhard, Timour Bourtasenkov, Lilyan Vigo, Margaret Severin-Hansen and Gabor Kapin in Idyll

Margaret Severin-Hansen in Idyll

Spring is often thought of as a time of transformation. In Christopher Stowell’s re-imagining of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring the stage is transformed into a new and unrecognizable space. There are no curtains, so the black walls and supports of the far sides and back of the stage are exposed, creating vastness. That combined with the stark lighting makes the dancers appear both vulnerable and aggressive.

Twenty-six dancers move both within the box formed by three suspended panels, and outside of it in the dark, all the way to the walls, the part of the stage the audience rarely sees. They move into and out of the space, circle slowly in the dark, create an eery pyramid of moving bodies, until the sacrificial one, Lara O’Brien, is left alone with walls having closed in around her.

Stowell’s work is conceptually and visually shocking. The raw product of nature’s violently creative work is presented through unusual and unexpectedly modern shapes and movements. The contention between opposing groups, and the sense of impending doom is made especially compelling by the dancers’ expressionless faces. They are like another kind of life form, neutral to the havoc they wreak.

Stravinsky’s music is provided live by pianists Ted Hardin and Anatoly Larkin. The two-piano arrangement is as discordant as you would expect from a fully orchestrated version.

Lara O’Brien and Marcelo Martinez in Rite of Spring

Lindsay Purrington and Richard Krusch in Rite of Spring

Lara O’Brien and Marcelo Martinez in Rite of Spring

This program is sure to appeal to a young audience, and fans of pop-culture and modern dance. For loyal patrons of the ballet it will provide an exciting new look at what ballet can be.

Review and photos by Denise Cerniglia

For ticket information visit: http://www.carolinaballet.com/program/the-rite-of-spring

To see more pictures visit: http://artsviewnc.wordpress.com/

Elizabeth Kline as Snow White and Paige Harper as The Queen.
Photo by Curtis Brown Photography.

When most people think of Snow White, they think of the much-loved Disney version. That version, however, paints a much rosier picture of Snow White’s life. Sure, the Disney heroine contends with an evil stepmother, but in The Grimm Brothers’ version and in the version so daringly presented by Raleigh Little Theatre, it’s her own jealous mother who hates her. Though RLT’s production, entitled “Snow White: The Queen’s Fair Daughter,” is somewhat geared toward younger audiences, the dark undertones make it fun for the adults as well.

Set designer Thomas Mauney keeps things simple, which works well for younger viewers who can’t handle too much stimulation or the wait-time between fancy set changes. However, the high-tech magic mirror in the Queen’s bedroom thrills viewers of all ages. Jenny Mitchell’s costumes, which don’t pander to the Disney version, also provide visual excitement.

Though a lot happens in the course of the show—Snow White is tricked into living in the woods and falls victim to her mother’s conniving ways more than once—the run time comes in at a brief hour and fifteen minutes, just the right duration to keep young viewers captivated.

Also captivating is Paige Harper’s eerily evil Queen. Make no mistake—though this may be a “kids’ show,” Harper unabashedly showcases the Queen’s jealousy and rage. Strong, young actresses Elizabeth Reynolds and Elizabeth Kline turn out solid and sweet performances as the younger and older title character. And, of course, the seven little dwarves entertain with their cute antics and carefully delivered lines.

Not only is the show great for families to attend together, but it also makes for a wonderful school outing. Several busloads full of children were at Wednesday’s matinee performance, and the house remained amazingly quiet. Assumingly, these small viewers were too rapt with the fascinating story to let out a peep or to realize that they were partaking in an educational (but highly entertaining) experience.

The Deep Dish Theater Company cast for “Next to Normal” includes (from left) Lisa Jolley, John Allore, Wesley Miller, and Abigail Coryell, plus Mark Ridenour and Jeffrey Vizcaino (not pictured)

The performance space in Deep Dish Theater Company’s storefront theater — at the Dillard’s end of University Mall in Chapel Hill, NC — is living-room sized. It is perfect for intimate dramas, but not so well suited for musicals, such as the 2009 Tony Award®- and 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama-winning rock musical, Next to Normal, because the performers with their body mics and the musicians sequestered backstage must rely on third parties — such as sound designer Michael Betts II and sound board operator Matthew Lubin to mix a robust rendition of their vocals and instrumentals and deliver it to audiences.

But last Saturday night, severe sound problems sabotaged much of Act One. The mix was so far off that the actors seemed to be screaming their lyrics into their mics, while their accompanists were only intermittently audible. The show’s sound mix was much better after intermission, but by then some of the audience had voted with its feet. That’s too bad, because they missed some compelling characterizations.

Critically acclaimed comedienne Lisa Jolley demonstrates an equally fine flair for drama as she sinks her teeth into the juicy role of Diana, a deep troubled wife and mother well acquainted with grief whose sorrows have unhinged her. Alarmed by her personality changes and hallucinations, Diana’s well-meaning husband, Dan (passionately portrayed by John Allore), sends her to a pair of psychiatrists, Dr. Fine and Dr. Madden (each given a distinct disagreeable personality by Mark Ridenour), who try to suppress her symptoms of mental illness and banish her hallucinationss with stronger and stronger medications and, later, with shock treatments that make her more pliable, but at what price?

A pot-smoking high school musician named Henry (Jeffrey Vizcaino) tries to convince his uptight fellow music student Natalie (Abigail Coryell) to take a toke from his bong (photo by Jonathan Young)

Meanwhile, Diana and Dan’s pretty teenaged daughter Natalie (Abigail Coryell), an aspiring musician, is becoming increasingly upset by the changes in her mother’s behavior. She seeks solace with a fellow music student, Henry (Jeffrey Vizcaino), who has a huge crush on her, and a seemingly endless supply of marijuana to help soothe Natalie’s jangled nerves. Unfortunately for Deep Dish patrons, Coryell and Vizcaino have no romantic chemistry; and although he sings well, he fails to imbue Henry with enough personality to explain why a sharp girl like Natalie would ever give a sloppily dressed boy like Henry a second look.

The seventh and last character in Next to Normal is Dan and Diana’s son Gabriel (played with brio by Wesley Miller). Gabe is a boy with a big secret that cannot be revealed here, but affects the entire family, especially his mother, whom he visits while she is alone and in her most vulnerable state.

Deep Dish artistic director Paul Frellick sets a brisk pace for his cast, and scenic designer Rob Hamilton creates a simple but highly effective set comprised of alternately opaque and see-through scrim-covered panels that can quickly be repositioned to suggest various rooms in Diana and Dan’s home home, Natalie’s school, Henry’s home, and the offices of Diana’s psychiatrists. When the sound levels are corrected, these sets will form a nice showcase for the acting and singing talents of Deep Dish’s stellar cast for Next to Normal.

SECOND OPINION: March 6th Durham, NC Independent Weekly review by Byron Woods (who awarded the show 2.5 of 5 stars): http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/putting-mental-illness-to-music-in-deep-dish-theaters-next-to-normal/Content?oid=3368844; March 5th Chapel Hill, NC Daily Tar Heel preview by Mary Feddeman: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/03/a-theater-experience-that-is-next-to-normal; and March 4th Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/04/2724652/in-second-triangle-outing-next.html.

Deep Dish Theater Company presents NEXT TO NORMAL at 7:30 p.m. March 6 and 7, 8 p.m. March 8 and 9, 2 p.m. March 10, 7:30 p.m. March 13 and 14, 8 p.m. March 15 and 16, and 2 p.m. March 17 at the Dillard’s end of University Mall, 201 S. Estes Dr., Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514; and 8 p.m. March 22 and 23, and 2 p.m. March 24 in the Cary Arts Center, 101 Dry Ave., Cary, North Carolina 27511.

TICKETS: $21 ($19 seniors), except a $2 discount for Wednesday and Thursday shows and $14 for student tickets to all performances.

BOX OFFICES:

Chapel Hill: 919-968-1515 or http://www.etix.com/.

Cary: 919-481-5190 or http://www.etix.com/. SHOW: http://www.deepdishtheater.org/news?n=101.

PRESENTER: http://www.deepdishtheater.org/.

VENUES:

Chapel Hill: http://www.deepdishtheater.org/ (directions: http://www.deepdishtheater.org/location).

Cary: http://www.townofcary.org/ (directions: http://www.townofcary.org/).

NOTE 1: Production dramaturg Lisa Keaton will give a pre-show Meet-the-Play talk at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 8th.

NOTE 2: There will be post-performance discussions on Sunday, March 10th (with dramaturg Lisa Keaton, director Paul Frellick, and the cast); Thursday, March 14th (with the show’s designers); and Sunday, March 17th (with Dr. John Gilmore).

NOTE 3: The Deep Dish Book Selection, Minrose Gwin’s 2011 memoir Wishing for Snow, will be discussed at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 11th at Flyleaf Books, 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (Historic Airport Rd.), Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

OTHER LINKS:

Next to Normal (background): http://www.nexttonormal.com/ (official touring production), http://www.mtishows.com/show_detail.asp?showid=000383 (Music Theatre International), and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_to_Normal (Wikipedia).

Tom Kitt: http://americantheatrewing.org/biography/detail/tom_kitt/ (American Theatre Wing) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Kitt_(musician) (Wikipedia).

Brian Yorkey: http://americantheatrewing.org/biography/detail/brian_yorkey (American Theatre Wing) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Yorkey (Wikipedia).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

The all-star cast of “The New Electric Ballroom” includes (from left) Triangle crowd favorites Katja Hill as Ada, Marcia Edmundson as Breda, and Derrick Ivey as Patsy (photo by Alan Dehmer)

Manbites Dog Theater’s all-star presentation of The New Electric Ballroom, a 2008 tragicomedy by Dublin-born Irish playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh puts sad and fronwy face on the loneliness and sexual frustration of three middle-aged spinster sisters sharing a cramped cottage in a small rural fishing village on the Irish coast. By day, they toil — and gossip — at the local cannery; by night, the two older sisters (Marcia Edmundson as Breda and Lenore Field as Clara) ruefully reminisce about What Could Have Been one magical evening long ago, when they were giddy teenaged girls — at the peak of their physical beauty — drawing hot, hot, hot come-hither looks from New Electric Ballroom headliner Roller Doyle.

But bad Breda — that greedy, oversexed slut — messed up Clara’s chance for a low-rent rendezvous with Doyle and sowed a seed of bitterness between them that has grown into a mighty oak. Hope — which 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson called “that bright thing with feathers” — has long since flown the coop for Breda and Clara. But there still might be a glimmer of that elusive quality for their youngest sister, Ada (Katja Hill), who has not given up her dreams of meeting Mr. Right.

In fact, Ada has caught the eye of Patsy (Derrick Ivey), a painfully shy local fishmonger who cannot summon the courage to ask her out, so time after time he appears on her doorstep unbidden to drop off stringer after stringer of fish. Clara and Breda notice Patsy’s awkward attempts to ask Ada out, and they decide to give the bashful boy a helluva a nudge in the right direction — with hilarious results.

Marcia Edmundson and Lenore Field are terrific as big sister Breda — who has a bit of a mean streak — and middle sister Clara, whose well of bitterness towards Breda threatens to overflow. Night after night, Field and Edmundson probe the past, tearing the scabs off old wounds, describing the trainwrecks of their previous romantic relationships, and expressing their overall disappointment with a life that’s always shoving the fuzzy end of the stick their way. Thus, The New Electric Ballroom transforms their suffering into a delightful dark comedy in which every step forward is followed by two steps back.

Local crowd favorite Lenore Field plays Clara in “The New Electric Ballroom” (photo by Alan Dehmer)

Manbites Dog artistic director and Duke Theater Studies faculty member Jeff Storer also elicits outstanding performances from Katja Hill as the increasingly uncomfortable Ada and Derrick Ivey as her tangle-tongued beau Patsy, who cannot even follow through and ask her out when Clara and Breda have done their best to serve as matchmakers for the wary couple. (Patsy and Ada circle each other like a pair of wounded beats — which, in a way, they are.)

Scenic and costume designer Derrick Ivey has also done a bangup job with the simple but evocative sets and costumes. All in all, the talented cast and crew of The New Electric Ballroom make this 85-minute show, performed without intermission, a night to remember.

SECOND OPINION: Feb. 27th Durham, NC Independent Weekly review by Byron Woods (who awards the show 4 of 5 stars): http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/a-long-ago-night-in-ireland-in-the-new-electric-ballroom/Content?oid=3345135 and Feb. 20th mini-preview by Byron Woods: http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-new-electric-ballroom/Event?oid=3108714; Feb. 25th Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/25/2707227/intense-staging-undercuts-emotional.html; Feb. 24th Raleigh, NC CVNC review by Alan R. Hall: http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=6045; and Feb. 23rd Cary, NC Boom! Magazine review by Chuck Galle and Martha Keravuori: http://www.boomnc.com/boom-bits-reviews-books-movies-music-misc/irish-play-poetic-the-new-electric-ballroom-presented-by-manbites-dog-theater/.

Manbites Dog Theater presents THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM at 8:15 p.m. Feb. 28-March 2, 8:15 p.m. March 6-8, and 2:15 and 8:15 p.m. March 9 at 703 Foster St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $12 weeknights and $17 Friday-Sunday, except $2 discount for seniors 62+ and active-duty military personnel and $5 Student Rush Tickets (sold at the door).

BOX OFFICE: 919-682-3343 or http://manbitesdogtheater.org/tickets/.

SHOW: http://manbitesdogtheater.org/2012-2013/the-new-electric-ballroom/.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://vimeo.com/59201434.

SEASON: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/season/.

PRESENTER: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/.

BLOG: http://theupstager.wordpress.com/.

VENUE: http://www.manbitesdogtheater.org/.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://manbitesdogtheater.org/directions/.

OTHER LINKS:

The New Electric Ballroom (background): http://www.nickhernbooks.co.uk/Book/669/The-New-Electric-Ballroom.html (Nick Hern Books) and http://www.druid.ie/productions/the-new-electric-ballroom-by-enda-walsh (Druid Theatre Company of Galway, Ireland).

Playwright Enda Walsh: http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/enda-walsh/ (Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency), http://www.irelandliterature.com/author-database/author-holder/show/176 ( Ireland Literature Exchange), http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsW/walsh-enda.html (Doollee.com bio) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enda_Walsh (Wikipedia).

Director Jeff Storer: http://theaterstudies.duke.edu/people?Gurl=&Uil=1723&subpage=profile (Duke Theater Studies bio).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Jeremy Fiebig (left) as Cassius and Brian Fisher as Brutus plot Julius Caesar’s assassination

My deepest apologies to Jeremy Fiebig, a fine actor and an even finer person, according to all reports. He plays the pivotal role of Cassius, the straw that stirs the drink in the assassination conspiracy in The Justice Theater Project’s current production of Julius Caesar — and he plays the part with distinction. But in a misguided attempt to make a joke at my own expense, in my review I mentioned his weight and speculated that either of us might provoke unexpected laughter when Caesar says in Act I, Scene 2:

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. [Emphasis added.]

First, you should know that I am fat — not husky or pudgy or plump or gravitationally challenged. F-A-T fat! (Mr. Fiebig is a much smaller man.) If I donned a 3XL version of Cassius’ costume to frolic around the stage at Clare Hall, I would singlehandedly turn the misnamed Tragedy of Julius Caesar — it might more properly be called The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus — into a comedy. My comment that Mr. Fiebig doesn’t fit the skinny profile of Cassius is one of several examples of miscasting that I cited in my review. I also argued that the JTP abridgment of the play renders certain scenes unintelligible to the causal viewer and that the prolonged Quentin Tarantino-style stabbing of Caesar, with blood bags a-spurting, was another turnoff to me.

John Honeycutt as Julius Caesar gets the Tarantino treatment. Note the blood spatters on the floor behind his right hand

I find it interesting that so far, no Triangle Review subscribers have submitted any Letters to the Editor about my Julius Caesar review. But the review’s online readers have posted 21 responses to date. To read them all, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/02/abridge-too-far-the-justice-theater-project-murders-shakespeares-julius-caesar/#comments.

Portia (Michelle Johnson) comforts her husband Brutus (Brian Fisher)

A typical response comes from actress Michelle Johnson, who graciously agreed to allow me to reprint it here:

I’ve spent the last month playing Portia in Julius Caesar and am genuinely perplexed by the unfavorable press that this well-spoken, thoughtfully-cast production is receiving. I hold my BFA in Acting and was consistently impressed by the emotional range shown by my fellow “JC” actors. A strong writer and unbiased reviewer would have looked “outside the box” of mere physicality when critiquing this production, knowing that good theater has little to do with actors being overweight, underweight, attractive or unattractive. What matters is the quintessential story and an actor’s ability to convey it effectively. In that respect, David Henderson’s cast succeeds admirably. My fellow actors (many of whom have their BFAs and MFAs in Theater) displayed a range of depth and emotion throughout this process which should have earned them, at the very least, a review without superficial — and frankly disrespectful — aspersions to their appearances. Perhaps, it merely takes the combination of a trained eye and an open mind to see that such outward judgments are irrelevant. I strongly urge anyone reading negative reviews about this production to go into Julius Caesar as I did: unbiased and receptive, ready to enjoy a classic piece of literature performed by diligent, wholly-capable professionals. I guarantee, it will be a fascinating journey for those willing to see what good theatre really “looks” like.

I have personally apologized to Jeremy Fiebig for putting him in the center of this controversy, but my verdict on this production remains the same. Although several of the online commenters mention multiple reviews other than mine, I can only find two of them: Feb. 19th Cary, NC Boom! Magazine review by Martha Keravuori and Chuck Galle: http://www.boomnc.com/boom-bits-reviews-books-movies-music-misc/julius-caesar-presented-by-justice-theater-project/; and Feb. 14th Durham, NC Independent Weekly review by Byron Woods (who awarded the show 2 of 5 stars): http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/justice-theater-projects-julius-caesar/Content?oid=3291442. (Note: It has always been the policy of Triangle Review to publish links to all other online articles on local theater productions, and to publish Letters to the Editor in the next available issue. If you disagree with our critical assessments, we will always be happy to print your contrary opinions, minus curse words of course.)

EDITOR’S NOTE 1: I e-mailed the first day’s commenters and offered to republish their comments VERBATIM if they would agree to sign their real names and indicate what, if any, connection they have to the JTP production. Only two commenter/cast members — Michelle Williams and Mike Raab — said, “Yes,” to that offer. (Raab’s comment was, “The use of theatrical blood is documented 400 years prior to the actual stabbing of Caius Julius Caesar.”) I received an angry response from a third commenter, but that’s it. I plan to post a link to this issue online in the review’s Comments section; and if any of the commenters change their minds, you will read their remarks here.– R.W.M.

EDITOR’S NOTE 2:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Joe Brack will conclude the three-week run of his one-man show, “My Princess Bride,” based on William Goldman’s 1973 fantasy novel and the 1987 film of the book, on Feb. 14-17 at Common Ground Theatre

On Jan. 31st, former North Carolina resident Joe Brack made a second triumphant return to Common Ground Theatre in Durham, NC — the first was his hilarious performance as David/Crumpet in The SantaLand Diaries in December 2006 — performing in a nifty new show entitled My Princess Bride, which he conceived and performs solo, much to the audience’s delight. Instead of sitting in the seat of the scornful and passing judgment on the employees and visitors to Macy’s SantaLand, as he did in The SantaLand Diaries, Brack assumes the angst-ridden personality of his pimply and painfully shy adolescent self — a real dweeb — and reminisces about how he escaped the cruel taunts of his hipper peers by withdrawing to his bedroom and immersing himself in his favorite fantasy adventure novels, especially The Princess Bride (1973) and its celebrated 1987 film adaptation.

Soon, Brack is joyously reenacting his favorite book, scene by scene, in a pixilated performance during which he smoothly segues from the intrepid farmboy Westley and his boyhood crush, the plucky farmgirl Buttercup, as they come of age in a fictional country named Florin, ruled by the insufferable Prince Humperdinck, who soon falls in lust with Buttercup and will stop at nothing to make her his bride. Brack also strikes all the right poses and adopts all the right accents to play the odious Humperdinck, the Dread Pirate Roberts who shanghaies Westley, a sawed-off evil Sicilian crime boss named Vizzini, a genial Turkish giant named Fezzik, a Spanish swordsman with a hair-trigger temper named Inigo Montoya, and a mysterious Man in Black who gives chase when Vizzini, Fezzik, and Montoya kidnap Buttercup on the eve of her nuptials.

Joe Brack holds the Common Ground audience spellbound as he narrates Westley and Buttercup’s breatheless adventures as they scale the Cliffs of Insanity and gingerly navigate the Fire Swamp. But it is their perils in the castle and dungeons of Prince Humperdinck — after the Man in Black thwarts the kidnappers and returns Buttercup to Florin — that Brack paints most vividly.

The method in Brack’s madness is that he — as teenaged Joey Brack — gradually learns tricks to keep his high school tormenters at bay. With the persistence of Westley, the spunk of Buttercup, the swagger of Inigo Montoya, and the irrepressible humor of author William Goldman, Joe Brack is able to vanquish — or at least lessen — his anxieties and entertain his former schoolyard adversaries. Bravo!

SECOND OPINION: Feb. 6th Durham, NC Independent Weekly review by Zack Smith (who awarded the show 3 of 5 stars): http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/former-raleigh-resident-joe-bracks-my-princess-bride/Content?oid=3268778; and Feb. 1st Durham, NC Five Points Star review by Kate Dobbs Ariail: http://thefivepointsstar.com/2013/02/01/modern-romance-at-common-ground-theatre-in-my-princess-bride/.

City Artistic Partnerships presents MY PRINCESS BRIDE, a one-man show conceived and performed by Joe Brack at 8 p.m. Feb. 14 and 16 and 2 p.m. Feb. 17 at Common Ground Theatre, 4815B Hillsborough Rd., Durham, North Carolina 27705.

TICKETS: $17.

BOX OFFICE: tickets@cityartisticpartnerships.org or http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/313995.

SHOW: http://cityartisticpartnerships.org/cap/ (official website) and https://www.facebook.com/MyPrincessBride (Facebook).

PRESENTER: http://cityartisticpartnerships.org/cap/.

VENUE: http://cgtheatre.com/.

DIRECTIONS: http://cgtheatre.com/directions.

OTHER LINKS:

The Princess Bride (1973 novel): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride (Wikipedia).

The Novel: http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

Novelist William Goldman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Goldman (Wikipedia).

The Princess Bride (1987 film): http://princessbrideforever.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride_%28film%29 (Wikipedia).

Playwright/Performer Joe Brack: http://joebrack.weebly.com/ (official website) and https://www.facebook.com/joe.brack (Facebook).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

A dance can change the way you hear a familiar piece of music. A skilled choreographer can use a subtle movement to draw your attention deep into the song, to a sound you’d never noticed,or move the dancers as if their bodies are singing, keeping you wrapped in the melody.

Carolina Ballet’s Rhapsody, a new ballet choreographed by Zalman Raffael and the opening number for the current program, is this kind of dance. A charmingly fairy-like Cecilia Iliesiu danced the part of a young girl, a confused outsider among people. Jan Burkhard portrayed the same person, more mature, but still an outsider. The pair, in shades of blue, pass and acknowledge each other in confusion. Partnering alternately with Marcelo Martinez, it could be understood as a love triangle, and maybe it is on some level, with reclaimed youth winning out. Even with the subject matter of self-acceptance and belonging, it’s a light and fun dance that mimics the laughing clarinet in the music, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Raffael’s choreography is perfectly musical, but not literally lyrical, so the movement doesn’t just follow the melody, but fills every nook and cranny of the music.

Cecilia Iliesiu in Zalman Raffael’s Rhapsody

Glazunov Pas de Deux, a classical pas de deux by Artistic Director Robert Weiss, paints the picture we see in our minds when we think ballet. Lilyan Vigo and Richard Krusch both have such pleasant and cheerful appearances, and they look completely unaffected by the demanding lifts, leaps, and turns. A royal sort of grace and dignity is with this pair as they dance.

Lilyan Vigo and Richard Krusch in Robert Weiss’s Glazunov Pas de Deux

The two works by Lynne Taylor-Corbett show her diverse skill at moving bodies and stories. The first, December Songs, has a New York, I Love You feel, telling short stories of love and loneliness as people pass a bench in a city park. Each dance is unique with some drama and some comedy. Randi Osetek lets down her hair in relief at the end of a relationship. Yevgeny Shlapko performs a solo in his delightfully odd and jazzy style. The live vocals are sung by Lauren Kennedy, who stands onstage as a narrator telling her own sad story, moving among the memories. Adding to the intimacy is piano accompaniment by Glenn Mehrbach. Music and lyrics were written by Maury Yeston. At times the lyrics are too literal and simplistic. But, they do the job, paired with the dances, of reminding us that everyone longs to for a connection with others.

Yevgeny Shlapko in Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s December Songs

Lara O’Brien and Timour Bourtasenkov in Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s December Songs

Code of Silence, Taylor-Corbett’s second work of the night, is a breathtaking finale for the program. This is a must see. Taylor-Corbett tackles the human rights work of Amnesty International in a moving way. The men, wearing drab jumpsuits under harsh lighting, are remarkable in their portrayal of suffering through violent convulsions. The women, clearly separate from the men’s plight, are sympathetic and affected as they record the violations they witness. At times the women are drawn into the anxiety and fear-driven chaos; other times they offer apprehensive comfort. They bring a light to the stage, and that light goes with them when they leave. Speaking of the light, it plays such an important role in this dance that Ross Kolman’s design can’t go without mention. As I stood to applaud, I was thinking of when I could see this again.

Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Taylor-Corbett’s Code of Silence

Lara O’Brien and Gabor Kapin in Taylor-Corbett’s Code of Silence

Ashley Hathaway in Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Taylor-Corbett’s Code of Silence

Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Code of Silence

Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Code of Silence

The identity of the Carolina Ballet is strong at the midpoint of their fifteenth season. There is a visible reverence to the history and tradition of ballet together with a fearless and limitless drive to present innovative and important work.

Review by Denise Cerniglia

You can see December Songs/Code of Silence/Rhapsody February 15-17 and February 23-24 at Fletcher Opera Theater. Visit Carolina Ballet for times and tickets. Then come back and tell us what you liked!

You can see more pictures from the show at ArtsViewNC

“Monty Python’s Spamalot” plays Raleigh Memorial Auditorium Feb. 12-17 (photo by Scott Suchman)

Like rude boys hijacking their high school history class and goring every sacred cow of the Arthurian Legend, Monty Python’s Spamalot blows raspberries at good King Arthur, his heroic Knights of the Round Table, and his mythic capital Camelot, much to the delight of Broadway Series South and the North Carolina Theatre patrons who awarded Tuesday’s opening-night performance with a vigorous — and well-deserved — standing ovation.

In Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Britain’s bad boys of comedy transformed King Arthur, Lancelot, and cohorts into medieval wanderers, dodging mud puddles, pockets of bubonic plague, fearsome Knights Who Say Ni, insufferable French Taunters, and a bloodthirsty Black Knight, whose general ineptitude with a sword allows even his weakest opponents — such as King Arthur — to carve him up. Arthur Rowan is a stitch as the irrepressible King Arthur, a sort of Energizer Bunny of the Middle Ages who clip-clops alone afoot across the English countryside, accompanied only by his faithful squire/Foley artist Patsy (played with brio by Glenn Giron). Patsy is indispensable to the King Arthur, because he bangs coconut shells together to simulate the sound of the hoof beats of the king’s invisible steed.

Adam Grabau is hilarious as the brave but decidedly bent Sir Lancelot, the Knight of Ni, and Tim the Enchanter. Joe Beurlein keeps the ticket buyers chortling with his antics as a tweedy modern-day Historian, Not Dead Fred, and the light-in-the loafers Prince Herbert; and Joshua Taylor Hamilton is amusing as the handsome Sir Dennis Galahad.

Thomas DeMarcus is delightful as Sir Dennis’ meddlesome mother, Prince Herbert’s exasperated father and the bellicose Black Knight, who cannot win for losing; and Abigail Raye is lovely to look at and listen to as the mysterious Lady of the Lake — and she also demonstrates a fine flair for comedy as the frustrated Broadway diva playing the Lady of the Lake, who disappears from the musical for what seems like eons.

The current national tour of Monty Python’s Spamalot, handsomely produced by Stephen B. Kane, Michael McFadden, and Phoenix Entertainment, looks like a million dollars, thanks to the reproduction on the road of Tim Hatley’s original scenic and costume design. But it is lively and imaginative musical staging of Broadway director Mike Nichols and choreographer Casey Nicholaw — as robustly recreated by tour director B.T. McNicholl and choreographer Scott Taylor — plus the outrageous antics of a charismatic cast — that gins up the tsunami of laughter that rolls in, wave after wave, throughout the show.

SECOND OPINION: Feb. 12th Raleigh, NC Triangle Arts & Entertainment’s online version of the Triangle Review preview by Robert W. McDowell: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/02/monty-pythons-spamalot-gleefully-lampoons-king-arthur-the-knights-of-the-round-table-and-camelot/.

Broadway Series South and North Carolina Theatre present MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 and 15 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and 17 in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $30.10-$89.35 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

Duke Energy Center Box Office: 919-996-8700 or info@progressenergycenter.com (information only).

Ticketmaster:800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115203/927819.

SHOW: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/event/spamalot-2640 and http://www.nctheatre.com/shows/monty-pythons-spamalot.

VIDEO PREVIEWS: http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/media.php.

PRESENTERS:

Broadway Series South: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/broadway-series-south.

North Carolina Theatre: http://www.nctheatre.com/.

VENUE: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/venue/memorial-auditorium.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/parking.

OTHER LINKS:

Monty Python: http://pythonline.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python (Wikipedia).

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975 film):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grail (Wikipedia) and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/ (Internet Movie Database).

Monty Python’s Spamalot (background): http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/ (official website), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamalot (Wikipedia), and http://www.ibdb.com/show.php?ID=384261 (Internet Broadway Database).

The Tour: http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/ (official website) and https://www.facebook.com/MontyPythonsSpamalotTour (Facebpook page).

The Tour Cast: http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/cast.php?section=235 (official web page).

The Tour Creative Team: http://www.montypythonsspamalot.com/creators.php (official web page).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Theater Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

“Mary Poppins,” the latest theatrical offering from Durham Performing Arts Center, provides a healthy dose of magic (no “spoonful of sugar” needed) for both the young and the young at heart. For those who aren’t familiar with the classic tale, it focuses on the Banks family and their new nanny, Mary Poppins ( Madeline Trumble), who floats down from the sky on a magical umbrella and promptly turns the Banks’ boring lives upside down. Full of larger-than-life musical numbers,  a vivacious cast, stunning sets, and a whole lot of “wow,” DPAC’s version doesn’t disappoint long-time fans of the story or first-timers.

The magic starts the moment Mary Poppins enters the Banks’ home and doesn’t let up until the very end. Even the most adult of viewers are left wondering how Mary fits large objects—including a tall plant and hat stand—in her tiny bag, and that’s just one of the many tricks this production has up its sleeve. Chimney-sweep Bert (Con O’Shea-Creal) walks on the ceiling and produces real-life flowers from a chalk drawing; Mary herself flies high in the air, and sets seem to appear out of nowhere.

While intricate sets that float effortlessly into place are the norm at DPAC, this production’s sets are truly spectacular. Particularly notable is the Banks’ charming home, which looks like something out of a pop-up storybook, and the vibrantly colorful chalk-drawing world the Banks children are transported into.

Trumble, with her sweet voice and cheeky comedy, perfectly embodies the rule of sweet-but-stern Mary Poppins, and she’s backed by some superb supporting performers. O’Shea-Creal’s Bert charms with his easy smile, while Chris K. Hoch is perfect as serious father, George Banks. And, doing double duty as the Bird Woman and replacement-nanny, Miss Andrews,  Karen Murphy touches and terrorizes hearts, respectively, in her all too brief time on stage.

While all of the musical numbers prove fun and engaging, certain songs are easy hits. Highlights include “Jolly Holiday,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” which had audience members clapping along at Tuesday night’s performance. Bouncy choreography and sharp sound serve as complements to a show that, like Poppins herself, is practically perfect in every way.

Theatre In The Park’s “The Pillowman” wastes no time diving into its incredibly tense first act. Viewers are introduced to Katurian (Ira David Wood IV), a largely unsuccessful writer of dark short stories, most of which feature brutal child killings. He finds himself being interrogated by two violent cops, the unstable but strangely kindhearted Ariel (Michael Brocki) and no-nonsense Tupolski (Tony Pender), both of whom believe Katurian is responsible for a slew of real-life child murders. As the act continues, viewers learn that Katurian’s mentally handicapped brother Michal, unsettlingly but beautifully portrayed by Samuel Whisnant, sits in the next room, presumably undergoing the same strong-arming.

While the first act is filled with violence and disturbing imagery, these take a backseat to the incredible suspense that slowly builds throughout. The second act goes easier on the audience, with Whisnant’s character offering a bit of comic relief. The relief is short-lived, however, as the story suddenly takes an even darker turn. Saying much more would spoil the frustrating, exciting, and all-around wonderful experience of watching “The Pillowman” unfold on stage, but rest assured that any viewer who can appreciate being taken out of his or her comfort zone will absolutely love every moment of it.

Watching “The Pillowman” is like reading a slew of dark fairytales and, while many brilliant themes are touched upon, the show is ultimately, as one of Katurian’s stories is described, “ a puzzle with no answer.” That shouldn’t, however, stop most viewers from talking for hours post-show about the meanings behind Katurian’s stories and about the meanings behind the show itself.

Ira David Wood III’s direction takes bold risks in the name of good storytelling, and the acting here is stellar all-around. “The Pillowman” is guaranteed to grab you and not let go until the climactic ending. Major kudos are certainly owed to Theatre In The Park for producing something so different, so daring, and so deliciously dark.

The Carolina Theatre and the N.C. Comedy Arts Festival will present award-winning stand-up comedian, actor, and author Steven Wright, who is as famous for his whimsical sense of humor and deadpan delivery and whose trademark long curly hair is instantly recognizable, at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Feb 10th, in the 1,016-seat Fletcher Hall at The Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham, NC. With his untamed locks bouncing beneath a pork pie hat or baseball cap as he paces the stage, the 57-year-old Cambridge, MA native rattles off a series of wry one-liners — such as “What’s another word for thesaurus?” “Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm,” and “When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane” — zinger after zinger, punctuated by an occasional musical interlude. Wright’s acerbic comments about contemporary American life are, by turns, philosophical, ironic, or nonsensical — but always hilarious. For example: “I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died.”

According to the Internet Movie Database, some more of Steven Wright’s choice quips include:

“I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck. But my lawyer thinks he can get me five.”

“A friend of mine once sent me a postcard with a picture of the entire planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said ‘Wish you were here.’”

“Be nice to your children. After all, they are going to choose your nursing home.”

“Yeah, it’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it!”

“If you think nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.”

“We had a quicksand box in our backyard. I was an only child, eventually.”

“You can’t have it all … besides, where would you put it?”

As you might expect, Steven Wright’s official bio is a masterpiece of understatement, with tongue planted firmly in cheek:

In its succinct blurb on its website, The Carolina Theatre rises Steven Wright as a trailblazing comedian whom others try to imitate, and adds, “It was in 1982 when Wright got his big break after being booked for his first television appearance on ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.’ The former ‘King of Late Night’ enjoyed Wright’s performance so much, he invited him to appear again within a week … a rarity on ‘The Tonight Show.’ His back-to-back appearances helped put his fledgling career into high gear. The comic soon found himself performing his offbeat routines on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Late Night with David Letterman,’ along with numerous trips back to ‘The Tonight Show.’”

But Steven Wright’s Comedy Central bio is more detailed:

“Academy Award® winner Steven Wright[, who won a 1989 Oscar® for Best Short Live-Action Film for co-writing 'The Appointments of Dennis Jennings,'] is a prototype comedian that many others continually try to follow. One of four children, Wright was raised in Burlington, MA. Upon graduating from Emerson College and holding a bevy of odd jobs, Steven attended an ‘open mike’ audition and became a regular performer at Ding Ho’s Comedy Club and Chinese Restaurant in Cambridge, MA.

“It was during this time, in August of 1982, that Steven got his big break and was booked for his first ‘Tonight Show’ appearance. [K]ing of Late Night [Johnny Carson] enjoyed the performance so much he invited Steven to appear again within a week, a rarity on ‘The Tonight Show.’ His back-to-back appearances helped put his fledgling career into high gear. The comic soon found himself performing his off-beat routines on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ ‘Late Night with David Letterman,’ and numerous trips back to ‘The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.’

“Wright expanded his comedy career to include comedy albums, film, and television appearances. His 1986 debut album, ‘I Have A Pony,’ earned him a Grammy nomination. In 1985, Steven starred in his first HBO Special ‘A Steven Wright Special.’ In 1989, Steven was honored with an Academy Award for Best Short Film for his film entitled ‘The Appointments of Dennis Jennings,’ in which he starred and co-wrote. Other stars of the film included ‘Roseanne’s’ Laurie Metcalf and British comedian Rowan Atkinson. In September of 1990, Steven starred in his second stand-up special for HBO called ‘Wicker Chairs and Gravity.’ The special included stand-up from The Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto and a short film shot on location in New York and New Jersey.

“Steven has been seen in numerous films including Desperately Seeking Susan [1985], Mike Meyers’ So I Married an Axe Murderer [1993], Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers [1994], and Nora Ephron’s Mixed Nuts [1994]. Steven was the voice of the DJ, K-Billy in Reservoir Dogs [1992] and starred with John Cleese and Jack Palance in New Line’s animated film, The Swan Princess [1994] as the voice of Speed, the turtle. Steve also appeared as a sitcom actor in MGM’s Speechless [1994] with Harry Shearer, and as a Mountie in the MGM release Canadian Bacon [1995], opposite the late John Candy.

“In 1999, Steven played a guest starring role in Albert Brooks’ film The Muse, starring Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie MacDowell, and Jeff Bridges. In 1998 he played a supporting role in the Universal release Half-Baked and was a featured voice in Babe 2: Pig in the City.

“Steven wrote, directed and stars in the 1999 short film, ‘One Soldier,’ the story of a man obsessed with the unanswerable questions in life. The film was screened at numerous film festivals and can be seen on the Independent Film Channel.

“Steven … shot a small role for the sequel to The Mask entitled The Son of the Mask [2005]. Steven can [also] be seen in the Jim Jarmusch film Coffee and Cigarettes [2003].

“Steven Wright is a regular guest on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman,’ ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,’ and ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien.’ Steven Wright continues touring the U.S., Canada, and overseas.

“The website, http://www.stevenwright.com/, features Steven’s paintings, a song written and performed by Steven, written pieces, stand-up and film clips, tour dates and chat rooms. Through the site fans can purchase DVDs of Steven’s two short films, ‘The Appointments of Dennis Jennings’ and ‘One Soldier,’ as well as Steven’s first HBO stand-up special ‘A Steven Wright Special.’”

SECOND OPINION: Feb. 8th Raleigh, NC News & Observer preview by Glenn McDonald: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/08/2659907/steven-wright-is-just-being-himself.html.

The Carolina Theatre and N.C. Comedy Arts Festival present STEVEN WRIGHT at 8 p.m. Feb 10 in Fletcher Hall at The Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan, St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $33.40-$54.90 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

Carolina Theatre Box Office: 888-241-8162, 919-560-3030, or http://www.carolinatheatre.org/tickets.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/114779/1047435

SHOW: http://www.carolinatheatre.org/events/second-city-1.

VIDEO PREVIEWS: http://www.stevenwright.com/clips/index.html.

PRESENTERS:

The Carolina Theatre: http://www.carolinatheatre.org/.

N.C. Comedy Arts Festival http://www.nccomedyarts.com/.

VENUE: http://www.carolinatheatre.org/about-us/venue-descriptions.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://www.carolinatheatre.org/directions.

OTHER LINKS:

Steven Wright: http://www.stevenwright.com/index.shtml (official website), https://www.facebook.com/StevenWrightOfficial (his Facebook page), https://twitter.com/StevenWright (his Twitter account), and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Wright (Wikipedia), and http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0942833/ (Internet Movie Database).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

The “Raisin in the Sun” cast includes (standing from left) Miriam Hyman as Beneatha Younger, Mikaal Sulaiman as Walter Lee Younger, Dee Dee Batteast as Ruth Younger, and Victor Waddell as Travis Younger, plus Kathryn Hunter-Williams (seated) as Lena Younger (photo by Jon Gardiner)

It may be early in the year, but it’s safe to say that PlayMakers Repertory Company’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun” will be one of the highlights of 2013. Lorraine Hansberry’s iconic tale of a struggling African-American family in the late 1950s proves to be just as pertinent today when placed in the able hands of director Raelle Myrick-Hodges. A superb cast—from the smallest bit part all the way on up to the leading role—and a quaint, realistic set add to the beauty of this piece and make it an absolute must-see for all theatre lovers.

Viewers—no matter their race or their station in life—are thoroughly drawn into the lives of the Youngers. Family matriarch, Lena, beautifully portrayed by Kathryn Hunter-Williams, is about to come into a large sum of money, and son Walter Lee (Mikaal Sulaiman) longs to invest it and find the life that has always been just outside of his grasp. What transpires will change the family’s life in unexpected ways. All of the emotional highs and lows play out in a way that is gently comic, achingly sad, and astoundingly honest.

Sulaiman, in his PRC debut, brings anger and a surprising amount of vulnerability to the classic role. Also notable here is Dee Dee Batteast as his loving wife, Ruth; Miriam A. Hyman as his spirited, goal-driven sister, Beneatha; and young Victor Waddell as his ten year old son, Travis. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more endearing cast for this production or a more believable family.

Each scene flows seamlessly into the next, interspersed with real-live audio clips featuring the play’s author. This sophisticated touch, combined with dramatic lighting choices, makes the play nothing short of magic. While the piece touches on many themes—from the hunt for identity to the realization of dreams—the true heart of it is best expressed by Hansberry herself:

“…[I]t is a play that tells the truth about people, Negroes and life and I think it will help a lot of people to understand how we are just as complicated as they are—and just as mixed up—but above all, that we have among our miserable and downtrodden ranks—people who are the very essence of human dignity. That is what, after all the laughter and tears, the play is supposed to say”

The “Raisin in the Sun” cast includes (standing from left) Miriam Hyman as Beneatha Younger, Mikaal Sulaiman as Walter Lee Younger, Dee Dee Batteast as Ruth Younger, and Victor Waddell as Travis Younger, plus Kathryn Hunter-Williams (seated) as Lena Younger (photo by Jon Gardiner)

EDITOR’S NOTE 2: Jesse R. Gephart is a Raleigh, NC actor, director, and theater and music critic. To read all of his Triangle Review reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/jesse-r-gephart/.

Let me preface the first part of this review by letting you in on a little secret: I’m a bad actor. At least I could be potentially perceived as a bad actor for the mere fact that walking into PlayMakers Repertory Company’s Saturday matinee performance of A Raisin in the Sun was my first real experience with that material.

Sure, I’d heard of Raisin. Sidney Poitier was in the original Broadway cast and in the original movie; Hansberry was the first African-American woman to have a work on Broadway; and it was directed by the first African-American to direct on Broadway, Lloyd Richards.

And it’s not that the material didn’t interest me, or that I held some sort of grudge against the piece. In fact I’ve had a copy of it for some time. I just never cracked the cover. In a way, I’m glad it worked out that way. I had a vague sense of some plot elements, but was not prepared for the emotional impact the story would provide.

PlayMakers enlisted Raelle Myrick-Hodges to direct A Raisin in the Sun; and she made some strong choices with the material, choosing to book-end the piece with interview audio of Lorraine Hansberry speaking about the very story we were about to watch. Several other “heightened” moments of theatricality revolve around sound designer Robert Dagit’s underscoring, used as punctuation to key moments, especially in Act II. It’s a little dramatic, but worked pretty well. I’m not sure it would have been so successful had it not been for the work being delivered by the ensemble.

The Younger family is led by Lena (Kathryn Hunter-Williams), a tough matriarch whose home is still full of family: son Walter (Mikaal Sulaiman), his wife Ruth (Dee Dee Batteast), and their child Travis (Victor Waddell), plus Lena’s daughter, Beneatha (Miriam A. Hyman). The core unit works flawlessly together.

Kathryn Hunter-Williams is a strong, grounded force here; I had never before had the opportunity to see her on stage, although I’ve heard of her for years. Mikaal Sulaiman is charged with a difficult task portraying a rather unlikeable, verging on detestable, character, while not alienating the audience so much that his redemption at the end is empty. Walter is a Stanley-Kowalski-type, minus the happy ending.

Sulaiman gets under your skin, and his Walter deserves the beating Lena gives him. As Ruth, Dee Dee Batteast also has her own challenges, playing a character who could come across as one-note; but thankfully this is not so. Batteast hits Ruth’s core, and is an excellent foil to both Walter and Beneatha.

Victor Waddell’s Travis is — as he should be — an innocent, while pulling some appropriate laughs. As Beneatha, it is Miriam Hyman, however, who provides the strongest performance. Beneatha is a young woman determined to make good for her own life by becoming a doctor, and Hyman’s eyes carry such anguish as Beneatha attempts to pull herself out of the mire she is in and into the life she deserves.

Sharp cameos by Matt Garner (more on him later), J. Alphonse Nicholson, Daniel Morgan Shelley, and Nilan Johnson (also more on him later) help round out this excellent ensemble of performers.

The pace of the show is brisk, and keeps the story from wallowing in its own pools of misery. The tension builds well, while still allowing for the emotional impacts of Walter’s treason or the perceived collapse of the family’s dream to resonate long past the moment that Lena finally closes the door on their old life.

My only true hang-up about either production — and I will use this as a segue — is scenic. I’ll confess that a draw to PlayMakers is its visual elements and spectacle. In the past, even when I have been underwhelmed by, say, the script, I can always fall back on, Well, the set was gorgeous; or, The costumes were so beautiful; or better, The talent! Here, all I can really say for the set is that it’s just fine. It’s by far the least appealing set I’ve seen at PlayMakers, and it merely services the play as a fair backdrop.

The set does nothing, in either production, to enhance or help elevate the story. In fact, at times, I feel it works against the piece. It’s just simply present. Set designer Robin Vest missed the mark, especially in Clybourne Park, where the set gets a total transformation during the intermission break. It’s incredible to watch the ease with which the crew transitions the Youngers’ home from a quaint 1950s two-story into a dilapidated and forgotten shell — but there wasn’t enough time.

I understand the confines of the Paul Green Theatre can prove tricky, especially when you’re dealing with a set that requires a sense of true architecture; but I’ve seen PlayMakers soar scenically in the past. Here it fell flat. But, thankfully, this is the only letdown, especially as we move into the Pulitzer Prize-winning Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris.

The “Clybourne Park” cast includes (from the left) Josh Tobin as Tom, Rasool Jahan as Lena, Nilan Johnson as Kevin, Kelsey Didion as Lindsey, and Constance Macy as Kathy (photo by Jon Gardiner)

Bruce Norris’ script starts off on a shared day and with a shared character that we meet in Raisin. In Lorraine Hansberry’s story, Karl Linder (Matt Garner) approaches the Youngers, and offers to buy the house in Clybourne Park out from under them, so as to prevent the first black family from entering the community. In Clybourne Park, Karl visits Russ (Jay O’Berski) and his wife, Bev (Constance Macy), and tries to convince the couple to not sell their house to the Younger family (though they are never mentioned by name).

Russ and Bev are leaving their perfect little life after their son, Jim (Josh Tobin), kills himself in his bedroom after returning home from war. The story starts out at a moderate chug; but once Karl appears, all hell breaks loose. The entire cast is on stage before half the show has passed; the tensions are high — very high — and verbal blows are exchanged at a rapid rate.

Act II of Clybourne Park takes place 50 years later. The all-white neighborhood has become an all-black neighborhood, and now the Youngers’ house stands vacant and falling apart. A white couple, Steve (Matt Garner again) and Lindsey (Kelsey Didion), are trying to buy the house in order to start a revitalization of the neighborhood. Lena (Rasool Jahan) and her husband Kevin (Nilan Johnson) are interested in maintaining African-American ownership of the property, because of its historical significance. Moreover, Lena is a descendant of the Youngers and spent time in the house as a child.

The story dances around race in Act I, sometimes touching down on the truth, but always flitting off of it again. Such was the way in the 1950s; no one really talked about anything in specificity, it was all general.

Act II removes the gloves, and the words racist and racism finally get tossed around — a lot — and Clybourne Park playwright Bruce Norris masterfully builds a substantial amount of dramatic, climactic tension around a series of jokes. I consider it a successful experience to say that I was squirming in my seat at just how awkward the moments became — a testament not only to the writing but to the stellar acting.

Jay O’Berski turns in solid, balanced performance, mixing his stoicism with Russ’ feelings of betrayal by his community. His performance in Act II, while outlandish, was still rooted in that same trademark truth that makes O’Berski one of the strongest working actors in our area today.

Matt Garner, a third-year MFA student at the University of North Carolin at Chapel Hill, turns in what I consider to be his strongest performance to date on stage at PlayMakers. Nilan Johnson, a commanding presence on stage, also turned in a fine performance.

Josh Tobin did strong work with a difficult track. Tasked with three different roles that all lie on the periphery of the story, without a real moment to sink his teeth into the heart of the action, he remained present and memorable, even as Russ and Bev’s late son, Kenneth, who is given brief, yet significant, stage time in the closing moments of the show.

Rasool Jahan turns in a centered, grounded performance as Francine, Russ and Bev’s maid, and really turns up the heat as Lena. Her confidence on stage makes it so you can’t stop watching her.

Kelsey Didion has one of the most difficult roles in the show in Act I, during which she plays Betsy, who is deaf; Didion plays the truth so convincingly that when she opens her mouth as Lindsey in Act II, you’re almost shocked to find out she can actually speak. Constance Macy’s Bev is larger than life, yet still honest, and her Kathy plays just as strong.

PlayMakers should be commended for pulling off this feat. It’s a brilliant move on the artistic staff’s part to rep these two shows. If you’re an audience member who likes to feel involved in the show they’re watching, then this double-header is for you. The cohesiveness of the casts and the range of their abilities is draw enough to buy a ticket.

SECOND OPINION: Feb. 7th Durham, NC Duke Chronicle review by Jamie Kessler (who awarded A Raisin in the Sun 5 of 5 stars): http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/theater-review-raisin-sun; Feb. 7th Raleigh, NC Triangle Arts & Entertainment review of A Raisin in the Sun by Susie Potter: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/02/PlayMakers-repertory-company-breathes-new-life-into-a-classic/; Feb. 6th Durham, NC Independent Weekly review by Byron Woods (who awarded A Raisin in the Sun 4.5 of 5 stars and Clybourne Park 4 of 5 stars): http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/PlayMakers-reps-ambitious-double-staging-of-a-raisin-in-the-sun-and-clybourne-park/Content?oid=3268836; Feb. 6th Chapel Hill, NC Daily Tar Heel review by Mary Feddeman: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/02/5111e5032ac61; Jan. 24th preview by Josephine Yurcaba: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/01/PlayMakers-confronts-prejudice-in-shows, Jan. 16th multimedia preview by Colleen McEnaney, Delia D’Ambra, and Lily Fagan: http://www.dailytarheel.com/multimedia/15797, and Jan. 16th preview by Josephine Yurcaba: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/01/PlayMakers-tackles-issues-of-gentrication-in-new-plays; Feb. 4th Raleigh, NC CVNC review of A Raisin in the Sun by Spencer Powell: http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=6000 and Feb. 4th review of Clybourne Park by Alan R. Hall: http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=5994; Feb. 4th Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/04/2655535/a-fine-pairing-explores-race-gender.html; Feb. 2nd Chapel Hill, NC 97.9 FM WCHL interview with Raelle Myrick-HodgesTracy YoungMikaal SulaimanD.G. Martin http://chapelboro.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=6219769; Jan. 31st Durham, NC Herald-Sun preview by Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan: http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/entertainment/x1733187699/-Raisin-in-the-Sun-and-Clybourne-Park-both-on-stage (Note 1: You must register to read this article); and Jan. 8th Chapel Hill, NC Chapel Hill Weekly & Magazine preview by Jessie Ammons: http://www.chapelhillmagazine.com/blogs/chapel-hill-magazine-blog/PlayMakers-presents-a-raisin-in-the-sun-and-clybourne-park/. (Note 2: To read Triangle Arts & Entertainment’s online version of the Jan. 26th Triangle Review preview by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/01/PlayMakers-repertory-company-presents-a-raisin-in-the-sun-and-clybourne-park-on-jan-26-march-3/.)

PlayMakers Repertory Company presents A RAISIN IN THE RUN at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6-8, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 and 16, 2 p.m. Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19, 2 p.m. Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27, 2 p.m. March 2 CLYBOURNE PARK at 2 p.m. Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12 and 14, 2 p.m. Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20-23, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 and 28, 7:30 p.m. March 1, and 2 p.m. March 3 in the Paul Green Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

TICKETS: $15-$50, except $10 UNC students, $12 all other students, and $15 general admission on Tuesdays (Community Night).

BOX OFFICE: 919/962-PLAY or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets.

GROUP RATES (15+ tickets): 919/843-2311, miwashin@email.unc.edu, or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/groupsales.

SHOWS:

A Raisin in the Sun: http://playmakersrep.org/raisin.

Clybourne Park: http://playmakersrep.org/clybournepark.

NEWS RELEASE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/media/story.aspx?id=fb1dbeca-e7dc-4f13-9ba3-66b9bf2efdf4.

SEASON: http://www.playmakersrep.org/season1213.

PRESENTER: http://www.playmakersrep.org/.

BLOG: http://playmakersrep.blogspot.com/.

VENUE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/aboutus/paulgreen.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://www.playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo.

NOTE 1: The 2 p.m. Feb. 9th performance of A Raisin in the Sun and the 2 p.m. Feb. 16th performance of Clybourne Park will be an Open-Captioned Performances. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/opencaption.

NOTE 2: There will be FREE post-performance discussions with the creative team of A Raisin in the Sun on Feb. 11th and 17th and with the creative team of Clybourne Park on Feb. 24th and 28th.

NOTE 3: Arts Access, Inc. (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) of Raleigh will audio-describe an All-Access Performance of A Raisin in the Sun on Feb. 19th and of Clybourne Park on Feb. 26th, which will also feature sign-language interpretation and Large-Print and Braille programs and — if requested in advance by e-mail to whitneywhite@unc.edu — a tactile tour of the set.

NOTE 4: At 2 p.m. on March 2nd (A Raisin in the Sun) and at 2 p.m. on March 3rd (Clybourne Park), the N.C. Psychoanalytic Foundation (http://www.ncpsychoanalysis.org/), the Lucy Daniels Foundation (http://ldf.org/), and the N.C. Psychoanalytic Society (http://www.ncpsasoc.org/).will sponsor FREE post-show 50-minute “Mindplay” discussions, led by Harold Kudler, MD, who will speak on “Raisin d’être: The Long View of People and Community.”

OTHER LINKS:

A Raisin in the Sun (background): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Raisin_in_the_Sun (Wikipedia).

A Raisin in the Sun (script): http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

Lorraine Hansberry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Hansberry (Wikipedia).

Clybourne Park (background): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clybourne_Park (Wikipedia).

Clybourne Park (script): http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

Bruce Norris: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Norris_(playwright) (Wikipedia).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Jesse R. Gephart is a Raleigh, NC actor, director, and theater and music critic. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review. To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Jesse R. Gephart’s Triangle Review reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/jesse-r-gephart/.

At 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1st, Broadway Series South will host the debut of the North American Tour of this one-man show starring Matt Iseman

 Standup comedian Matt Iseman will star in the hilarious new multimedia one-man show, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Live!, which will debut at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1st, in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium as part of the critically acclaimed Broadway Series South series. The play is based on the 1992 New York Times bestseller Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships by relationship counselor John Gray, Ph.D., which has sold more than 50 million copies in 50 languages.

“This one-man comedy show began in the Netherlands, and has expanded into Germany and France” reports producer Gregory J. Hagglund of Emery Entertainment, Inc. of St. Louis, MO. He adds, “We have secured the rights to the show for the U.S. and Canada for the next few years, and we’ve hired scriptwriters to freshen up and Americanize the show.”

Hagglund also notes, “It is estimated that over a million people have seen the show in Europe. It just keeps selling out in Paris night after night after night.”

He says the show consists of a series of vivid vignettes. “They are slices of life,” says Hagglund.

Vignettes include a man going out on a date night with his wife, the trials and tribulations of finding a babysitter, and locating a parking space close enough to the theater, so the wind won’t wreak havoc with the wife’s hairdo.

Written by Eric Coble, directed Broadway veteran Mindy Cooper, and produced by Gregory Hagglund and Paul Emery for Emery Entertainment, the North American tour of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Live! runs just 90 minutes, including intermission. It showcases the animation and video-production skills of Bazillion Productions of Kansas City, MO; and dramaturg Monique Marvez is another key member of the show’s creative team.

“Matt [Iseman] is very dynamic and has a great personality,” claims Gregory Hagglund. “I think he’s going to do wonders for this show for us.”

Born on Jan. 22, 1971 in Denver, CO, Iseman earned a B.S. degree with honors from Princeton University in Princeton, NJ and an M.D. degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, NY. The athletic 41-year-old 6’3″ actor, comedian, and TV host returned to Denver to do his residency and an internship in internal medicine at the University of Colorado Hospital; but the theater bug bit him hard and he moved to Los Angeles, CA. According to his Facebook bio, Iseman is currently the “host of [television's] ‘American Ninja Warrior,’ ‘Invisible,’ ‘Dumbest Stuff on Wheels,’ ‘Sports Soup,’ and ‘Clean House.’ …”

Producer Gregory Hagglund says that Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Live! employs the principles of John Gray’s book to open the eyes — and clear the path to communication — of couples of all ages who are in moribund relationships.

“There will definitely be some takeaways from this show,” says Hagglund. “If it helps a couple to laugh at themselves and improve their relationship, that’s good, too.”

He adds, “There are some unique interactive visuals in the show, as well as Matt Iseman. They take up the whole stage. Even though there’s just Matt onstage, the show seems much bigger than that.”

Hagglund says, “The book is such a pop-culture phenomenon. The Mars/Venus series has sold in excess of 50 million copies worldwide… It was a transformational book in our country and in our society…. [We hope] people see themselves onstage [in this play] and laugh at themselves, which is more important.”

Gregory Hagglund is excited about debuting Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Live! in Raleigh.

“We are honored to be able to open the show in Raleigh,” he claims. “… [The residents of] Raleigh [are] really a good cross-section of America; but the first and foremost thing is that [Broadway Series South general manager] Jim Lavery and his team … are a good and professional team of marketers.”

Hagglund is also happy that it has been possible to scale down the tickets to the show, to make it accessible to more people.” With ticket prices running from $22 to $32 when purchased at the Duke Energy Center box office, and only slightly more when bought online, Hagglund says, Triangle theatergoers will get great value for their entertainment dollars.

SECOND OPINION: Jan. 7th New York, NY BroadwayWorld.com preview by the BWW News Desk: http://raleigh.broadwayworld.com/article/MEN-ARE-FROM-MARS-WOMEN-ARE-FROM-VENUS-LIVE-Comes-to-Raleigh-21-20130107.

Broadway Series South presents MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS LIVE!, starring Matt Iseman, at 8 p.m. Feb. 1 in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $29.60-$40.90 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

Duke Energy Center Box Office: 919-996-8700 or info@progressenergycenter.com (information only).

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115203/804036.

SHOW: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/event/mars-venus-3753.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://vimeo.com/58431567.

PRESENTER: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/broadway-series-south.

VENUE: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/venue/memorial-auditorium.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/parking.

OTHER LINKS:

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus(book): http://www.harpercollins.com/book/index.aspx?isbn=9780060168483 (HarperCollins) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_Are_from_Mars,_Women_Are_from_Venus (Wikipedia).

Book Excerpt: http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780060168483 (HarperCollins).

John Gray: MMM (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gray_(U.S._author) (Wikipedia). Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Live! (play): https://www.facebook.com/MarsVenusLIVE (official website).  

Matt Iseman: http://www.mattiseman.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Iseman (Wikipedia).

Eric Coble: http://ericcoble.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Coble (Wikipedia).

Mindy Cooper: http://broadwayworld.com/people/Mindy-Cooper/ (BroadwayWorld.com).

Emery Entertainment, Inc.: http://emeryentertainment.com/ (official website).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

The “Raisin in the Sun” cast includes (standing from left) Miriam Hyman as Beneatha Younger, Mikaal Sulaiman as Walter Lee Younger, Dee Dee Batteast as Ruth Younger, and Victor Waddell as Travis Younger, plus Kathryn Hunter-Williams (seated) as Lena Younger (photo by Jon Gardiner)

PlayMakers Repertory Company, the University of North Carolina’s professional-theater-in-residence, will ring in the New Year — and help celebrate Black History Month in February — with an invigorating twin bill of A Raisin in the Sun (1959) by Lorraine Hansberry and Clybourne Park (2010) by Bruce Norris, performed in rotating repertory, on Tuesdays-Sundays, Jan. 26-March 3, in the Paul Green Theatre in UNC’s Center for Dramatic Art.

Raelle Myrick-Hodges will direct Hansberry’s tragic tale of the African-American Younger family’s attempt to integrate a Chicago subdivision in the Fifties, and Tracy Young will direct Norris’ sequel about the white family that sold them the house.

The first play by a black woman to be performed on Broadway, A Raisin in the Sun was nominated for four 1960 Tony Awards®, including Best Play. Clybourne Park also earned four 2012 Tony Award nominations, and won the Tony for Best Play as well at the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

“This is my first time working on A Raisin in the Sun,” Raelle Myrick-Hodges confesses. “I was not one of the youth that read it in high school. The first time I read it was when PlayMakers producing artistic director Joe Haj wanted me to do the play. I initially said no, but Joe was adamant that I read it. And, of course, I fell in love with the language and the characters….”

Myrick-Hodges adds, “My desire to direct the play was a direct result of reading [it]. The stage directions envelope you, taking you to a very specific family in a specific time. And it is so gorgeous in its dreaming for its lead character Walter [played at PlayMakers by Mikaal Sulaiman] as well as its disillusionment.

“Honestly, if it wasn’t going to be a PlayMakers production, I doubt I would have wanted to direct it,” she says. “[But t]he script and the producer made my need to direct the play very high.”

Clybourne Park director Tracy Young recalls, “I had heard about Clybourne Park when it was running at Playwrights Horizons in New York City. I then read it, and was very excited to direct it at PlayMakers.”

Young adds, “The writing is thrilling — very human, very funny, very disturbing, and also very compassionate in its own brutal way (which will make sense when you see the play).

“The play is very astute in depicting what we all struggle with in the areas of identity — racial, gender, sexual, socioeconomic — and how we negotiate (often very clumsily) with others in these areas,” claims Young. “The play is about human imperfection and how in a way, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It challenges the perception that we are living in a post-racial America, and it does that in a way that is both disturbing and, ultimately, enlightening.”

Young adds, “[Clybourne Park] is a comedy. There are strong language and mature themes. It’s a play worth seeing. If possible, audiences should see Raisin first, as it will greatly inform the Clybourne experience.”

Raisin in the Sun director Raelle Myrick-Hodges says, “There is much to this play and to ‘describe’ the plot to you takes away from the truth that theater is about what each individual audience member sees in the play. There are several plots. But, basically, Walter Lee Younger and his family grapple over the choice of what to do with insurance money they have inherited because of the death of their father. The family struggles with poverty vs. gentrification, racism, sexism, and how to balance each family member’s role in the family. I really don’t wish to give away the plot. It’s a classic.”

In addition to Mikaal Sulaiman as Walter Lee Younger, the PRC cast for A Raisin in the Sun includes Dee Dee Batteast as Ruth Younger, Matt Garner as Karl Lindner, Kathryn Hunter-Williams as Lena Younger, Miriam A. Hyman as Beneatha Younger, Nilan Johnson as Bobo, Patrick McHugh as Moving Man, J. Alphonse Nicholson as Joseph Asagai, Daniel Morgan Shelley as George Murchison, Allen Tedder as Moving Man, and Victor Waddell as Travis Younger.

The “Clybourne Park” cast includes (from the left) Josh Tobin as Tom, Rasool Jahan as Lena, Nilan Johnson as Kevin, Kelsey Didion as Lindsey, and Constance Macy as Kathy (photo by Jon Gardiner)

Clybourne Park director Tracy Young recalls, “The first act takes place in 1959, in the home of Russ (Jay O’Berski) and Bev (Constance Macy). They have recently sold their home and, with the help of their maid Francine (Rasool Jahan), are packing and preparing to move.

“The neighborhood minister Jim (Josh Tobin) drops by for a farewell visit, and attempts to console Russ about the death of his and Bev’s son Kenneth (later played by Josh Tobin), who was a soldier in the Korean War and committed suicide two years after returning home. Russ resists Jim’s consolation, and asks him to leave.”

Young adds, “Bev pleads with Jim to stay, and reveals that she has serious concerns about Russ’ ability to cope with the loss of his son. Francine’s husband Albert (Nilan Johnson) arrives to pick up Francine, and is enlisted by Bev to bring Kenneth’s footlocker downstairs from the upper floor of the house. Soon after, Karl Lindner (Matt Garner) arrives with his deaf and pregnant wife Betsy (Kelsey Didion) in tow, and confronts Russ about the selling of his home to a ‘colored family’ (the Younger family from A Raisin in the Sun).

“Karl warns Russ that a black family moving in to the Clybourne Park neighborhood will result in ‘white flight’ and property values dropping,” Young explains. “Russ responds that he doesn’t care, because the community shunned his son because of his involvement in war crimes and the shunning led to the boy’s suicide,” says Young. “Despite much urging from Karl, Russ refuses to reconsider the sale of the home to the Younger family.”

Young adds, “Act II takes place in the same home, but now 50 years have passed. In the ensuing years, the Clybourne Park neighborhood evolved into a predominately black neighborhood, and suffered the effects of poverty, drugs, and urban blight. Now the area is becoming gentrified; and a white couple, Steve and Lindsey (Matt Garner and Kelsey Didion), has purchased the house with the intent of demolishing it and rebuilding a substantially larger house in its place. This time, it is a black couple from the neighborhood, Lena and Albert (Rasool Jahan and Nilan Johnson) who are aiming to stop the white couple from tampering with the history of the historic home by having the home assigned landmark status.

[WARNING: SPOILERS] “With the help of their lawyer Tom (Josh Tobin) and the white couple’s lawyer Kathy (Constance Macy), the two opposing groups meet at the house to argue about [its] fate …,” notes Tracy Young. “Lena reveals that her great aunt was in fact Lena, the matriarch of the Younger family, and that because of this, the house holds a special meaning for her. Throughout the negotiations around the house, many underlying racial biases are alarmingly and humorously revealed. When a worker, Dan (Jay O’Berski), hired by Lindsey and Steve, unearths Kenneth’s military foot locker and reveals its contents, the play comes full circle.” [END OF SPOILERS]

Raisin in the Sun director Raelle Myrick-Hodges says the deep thrust stage of the Paul Green Theatre complicates the staging of Lorraine Hanserry’s landmark drama. “… It is as if you are directing a piece in the round,” claims Myrick-Hodges. “How to make sure the play is staged in a naturalistic way without leaving the audience (or in a thrust situation, half the audience) without enough information to stay engaged in the play.”

Clybourne Park director Tracy Young declares, “The play continually traverses outrageous and biting humor and searing and painful tragedy. The interplay between these two extremes is the tonal essence of the piece and capturing that has been an exciting and rewarding challenge.”

In addition to director Raelle Myrick-Hodges and PlayMakers Repertory Company producing artistic director Joseph Haj, the creative team for A Raisin in the Sun includes production manager Michael Rolleri, scenic designer Robin Vest, lighting designer Kathy A. Perkins, costume designer Jan Chambers, sound designer/engineer Robert Dagit, vocal coach John Patrick, movement coach Craig Turner, dramaturg Mark Perry, and stage manager Charles K. Bayang.

PlayMakers Rep’s creative team for Clybourne Park is much the same, except for director Tracy Young, costume designer Jade Bettin, dramaturg Gregory Kable, and stage manager Sarah Smiley.

“Because the play in running in repertory with A Raisin In The Sun, both Clybourne and Raisin have the same scenic designer, Robin Vest,” notes Clybourne Park director Tracy Young. “Act I of Clybourne takes place at the same time of Raisin, inside the house that the Younger family purchases. The Stoller family are the current owners; and as the play opens, they are packing up and moving out.”

Young adds, “So much consideration was given to creating the kind of house that Lena describes in Raisin: a larger two-story home with a backyard. We wanted to give a sense of openness and of some kinds of ‘natural’ elements. The house has natural wood floors and the wallpaper and curtains are decorated in floral patterns.

“We were also interested in the notion of family and shared memory,” Young explains, “and so there are enlarged picture frames that stand in for architectural elements of the house in both Raisin and Clybourne.”

Tracy Young reports, “In Act II of Clybourne, we flash forward 50 years and see that the house has fallen into disrepair. The new owners are a white couple who are planning to demolish the house in order to rebuild a substantially larger house in its place. The current residents of the surrounding neighborhood are working to oppose this expansion and to preserve the historic nature of the older home and that conflict is what drives the second act of the play.”

The costumes for A Raisin in the Sun and the first act of Clybourne Park are 1950s fashions, Young notes. She adds, “In Raisin, much is said about how the small apartment the family lives in is deprived of natural light. We wanted the Clybourne house to be light and bright, with many windows. Both acts of the play take place during the late summer between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. (but 50 years apart), so the lighting reflects that.” 

SECOND OPINION: Jan. 24th Chapel Hill, NC Daily Tar Heel preview by Josephine Yurcaba: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/01/PlayMakers-confronts-prejudice-in-shows, Jan. 16th multimedia preview by Colleen McEnaney, Delia D’Ambra, and Lily Fagan: http://www.dailytarheel.com/multimedia/15797, and Jan. 16th preview by Josephine Yurcaba: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/01/PlayMakers-tackles-issues-of-gentrication-in-new-plays; and Jan. 8th Chapel Hill, NC Chapel Hill Weekly & Magazine preview by Jessie Ammons: http://www.chapelhillmagazine.com/blogs/chapel-hill-magazine-blog/PlayMakers-presents-a-raisin-in-the-sun-and-clybourne-park/.

PlayMakers Repertory Company presents A RAISIN IN THE RUN at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 Preview, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29 and 31 Previews, 2 p.m. Feb. 2 Opening Performance, 2 p.m. Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 5-8, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 and 16, 2 p.m. Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19, 2 p.m. Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 27, 2 p.m. March 2; and CLYBOURNE PARK at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27 Preview, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30 and Feb. 1 Previews, and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 Opening Performance, 2 p.m. Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12 and 14, 2 p.m. Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20-23, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 26 and 28, 7:30 p.m. March 1, and 2 p.m. March 3 in the Paul Green Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514, on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus.

TICKETS: $15-$50, except $10 UNC students, $12 all other students, and $15 general admission on Tuesdays (Community Night).

BOX OFFICE: 919/962-PLAY or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets.

GROUP RATES (15+ tickets): 919/843-2311, miwashin@email.unc.edu, or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/groupsales.

SHOWS:

A Raisin in the Sun: http://playmakersrep.org/raisin.

Clybourne Park: http://playmakersrep.org/clybournepark.

NEWS RELEASE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/media/story.aspx?id=fb1dbeca-e7dc-4f13-9ba3-66b9bf2efdf4.

SEASON: http://www.playmakersrep.org/season1213.

PRESENTER: http://www.playmakersrep.org/.

BLOG: http://playmakersrep.blogspot.com/.

VENUE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/aboutus/paulgreen.

DIRECTIONS/PARKING: http://www.playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo. 

NOTE 1: The 2 p.m. Feb. 9th performance of A Raisin in the Sun and the 2 p.m. Feb. 16th performance of Clybourne Park will be an Open-Captioned Performances. For details, click http://www.playmakersrep.org/opencaption.

NOTE 2: There will be FREE post-performance discussions with the creative team of A Raisin in the Sun on Feb. 11th and 17th and with the creative team of Clybourne Park on Feb. 24th and 28th.

NOTE 3: Arts Access, Inc. (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) of Raleigh will audio-describe an All-Access Performance of A Raisin in the Sun on Feb. 19th and of Clybourne Park on Feb. 26th, which will also feature sign-language interpretation and Large-Print and Braille programs and — if requested in advance by e-mail to whitneywhite@unc.edu — a tactile tour of the set.

NOTE 4: At 2 p.m. on March 2nd (A Raisin in the Sun) and at 2 p.m. on March 3rd (Clybourne Park),, the N.C. Psychoanalytic Foundation (http://www.ncpsychoanalysis.org/), the Lucy Daniels Foundation (http://ldf.org/), and the N.C. Psychoanalytic Society (http://www.ncpsasoc.org/).will sponsor FREE post-show 50-minute “Mindplay” discussions, led by Harold Kudler, MD, who will speak on”Raisin d’être: The Long View of People and Community.”

OTHER LINKS:

A Raisin in the Sun (background): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Raisin_in_the_Sun (Wikipedia).

A Raisin in the Sun (script): http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

Lorraine Hansberry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorraine_Hansberry (Wikipedia).

Clybourne Park (background): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clybourne_Park (Wikipedia).

Clybourne Park (script): http://books.google.com/ (Google Books).

Bruce Norris: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Norris_(playwright) (Wikipedia).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Greg Flowers (left) and Tim Stancil star in the Towne Players’ of Garner’s community-theater production of “Tuna Does Vegas”

The first play of the Towne Players of Garner’s 2013 season is Tuna Does Vegas, a madcap comedy penned by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard and sassily staged in Garner by Towne Players artistic director Beth Honeycutt. This knee-slapping community-theater production of Messrs. Williams, Sears, and Howard’s third sequel to Greater Tuna  (1981) stars Greg Flowers and Tim Stancil as radio station OKKK’s crusty conservative disc jockeys Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie and a dozen or so other eccentric denizens of the “third-smallest town in Texas” who experience an epic case of culture shock when they travel to Sin City.

Tim Stancil is a hoot as DJ Arles Struvie, who acts uncharacteristically romantic when he whisks his wife (the former Bertha Bumiller) away to Vegas to renew their wedding vows on Valentine’s Day. He is also hilarious as tough-as-a-nickel steak Didi’s Used Weapons owner Didi Snavely (her motto: “If we can’t kill it, it’s immortal”), Greater Tuna Humane Society employee and all-around do-gooder Petey Fisk, town snob and Smut-Snatchers of the New Order vice president Vera Carp, Tastee Kreme Diner waitress Helen Bedd, and Hula Chateaux concierge Anna Conda and acupuncturist Wo Hu.

Greg Flowers is delightful as DJ Thurston Wheelis; second honeymooner Bertha Bumiller Struvie; high-strung Tuna, TX drama teacher Joe Bob Lipsey; and especially Bertha Bumiller’s curmudgeonly aunt Pearl Burras, who secretly poisons her neighborhood’s dogs. Aunt Pearl’s unexpected encounter with a porn channel on her hotel-room TV is a wordless wonder in which Aunt Pearl’s facial expression changes from horror to curiosity.

Tuna Does Vegas is a frisky romp through familiar territory, but there are plenty of surprise twists. This time, “What Happens in Vegas …” does not “[Stay] in Vegas,” much to the delight of Triangle theatergoers. The show concludes its all-too-brief two-weekend run at 2 and 8 p.m. today in the Garner Performing Arts Center (formerly Garner Historic Auditorium).

The Towne Plays present TUNA DOES VEGAS at 2 and 8 p.m. Jan. 26 in the Garner Performing Arts Center, 742 W. Garner Rd., Garner, North Carolina 27529.

TICKETS: $12 ($10 students and seniors 55+).

BOX OFFICE: Tickets will be sold at the door.

SHOW/SEASON: http://www.towneplayers.org/performances/current-season/.

PRESENTER: http://www.towneplayers.org/.

VENUE: http://www.garnerperformingartscenter.com/.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.garnerperformingartscenter.com/Directions.asp.

OTHER LINKS:

Tuna Does Vegas: http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/2934/tuna-does-vegas (Samuel French, Inc.).

Beth Honeycutt: https://www.facebook.com/beth.honeycutt2 (Facebook).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

The Durham Performing Arts Center will present the cheeky R-rated comedy of irrepressible award-winning 57-year-old African-American actress, comedienne, talk-show host, and political activist Whoopi Goldberg at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25th, in its 2,700-seat, state-of-the-art theater in the American Tobacco District in downtown Durham, NC.

According to the Durham Performing Arts Center:

“Multifaceted Whoopi Goldberg will take a break from moderating ABC’s The View to make a rare stop at DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center …. She will perform her stand-up comedy, followed by a question and answer session with audience members.

“Whoopi Goldberg is among a very elite group of artists who have won the Grammy® (Whoopi Goldberg, 1985), the Academy Award® (Ghost, 1991), the Golden Globe® (The Color Purple, 1985, and Ghost, 1991), the Emmy® (as host of AMC’s Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel, 2002) and the Tony® (producer of Thoroughly Modern Millie, 2002).

“She is equally well known for her humanitarian efforts on behalf of children, the homeless, human rights, education, substance abuse and the battle against AIDS, as well as many other causes and charities. Ms. Goldberg is a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations. She has been honored with multiple NAACP Image Awards, numerous People’s Choice Awards (including a special tribute in 1998), and five Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards as Favorite Movie Actress, as well as various awards and honors for her many humanitarian efforts.

“‘DPAC‘s record of hosting the world’s biggest stars continues with what we think will be among our most talked about shows ever,” said DPAC general manager Bob Klaus. “DPAC is the perfect setting for a legendary superstar like Whoopi Goldberg. With great views of the stage and world-class sound, fans will feel like they are in Whoopi’s living room sharing stories with a friend.”

The Durham Performing Arts Center presents WHOOPI GOLDBERG at 8 p.m. Jan. 25 at DPAC, in the American Tobacco District, 123 Vivian St., Durham, North Carolina 27701.

TICKETS: $63.50-$84.50 (including fees).

BOX OFFICE:

DPAC Box Office: 919-680-ARTS (2787), tickets@DPACnc.com, or http://www.DPACnc.com/events/how_to_buy_tickets.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115558/756841/.

SHOW: http://www.DPACnc.com/events/detail/whoopi-goldberg.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cvckp4hLI0&feature=player_embedded.

PRESENTER/VENUE: http://www.DPACnc.com/.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/getting_here.

PARKING: http://www.DPACnc.com/plan_your_visit/parking_guide.

OTHER LINKS:

Whoopi Goldberg: http://theview.abc.go.com/staff/Whoopi-Goldberg/bio (bio from The View) and  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg (Wikipedia).

 EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter that provides more comprehensive, in-depth coverage of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill theater than all of the other news media combined. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

“American Idol” runner-up Diana DeGarmo (right) plays Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ girlfriend Sally in “Nerds” at NCT (photo by Curtis Brown)

EDITOR’S NOTE 2: Jesse R. Gephart is a Raleigh, NC actor, director, and theater and music critic. To read all of his Triangle Review reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/jesse-r-gephart/.

There’s something new happening downtown. The North Carolina Theatre is producing a pre-Broadway tryout of the new musical comedy, Nerds, showing through Feb. 3rd at A.J. Opera Fletcher Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

Nerds has a book and lyrics by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner and music by Hal Goldberg. With the tagline, “Steve, Bill and the dawn of the digital revolution,” it hugely satirizes the meeting and the subsequent paths to glory of Microsoft founder Bill Gates (Stanley Bahorek) and his rival, Apple founder Steve Jobs (N.C.-native Darren Ritchie). A kernel of truth allows for some outlandish happenings. It’s pretty big; it’s very flashy; but in the end, it’s just okay.

This is not to discredit the talent; in actuality, the ensemble assembled here is first rate. The voices are incredible, and the actors are fully invested and committed, doing the very best they can with what they have to work with — and what they have to work with isn’t all bad. But there are some significant barriers standing in the way of Nerds becoming something on which people should spend upwards of $100 or more a ticket.

Helming the cast are the wonderfully talented Stanley Bahorek and Darren Ritchie. The two work very well together, and both bring amazing pipes (the notes they wail are up in the stratosphere). The script takes these two foes and really turns them into fantasy-like caricatures: Gates becomes a menacing, all-consuming, Doctor-Evil-esque figure, while Jobs is the do-good-kid, the beloved slacker who rises up to challenge (and eventually defeat) The Man. It’s a strange take; a very pro-Jobs/anti-Gates bent. That’s neither good nor bad really; it was just an interesting direction to take the story.

“American Idol” alum Diana DeGarmo gives a solid performance as Steve Jobs’ love-interest, Sally; and has a shining gospel moment as the Oracle in Act II. Funnyman Cole Escola (of Logo’s Jeffery and Cole Casserole) stands out in every role he has — including the odd Italian Clown. Leslie Kritzer is a very strong player who makes big, bold choices and has a commitment level second-to-none. A broken heel in Act II proved no challenge for her as she wobbly sauntered off-stage, embracing the moment and making it work.

The ensemble is adeptly rounded out by Benny Elledge, Rob Morrison, James Moye, and Matthew Allen Wilson.

The biggest fault of the new piece — and, perhaps, one of the most challenging fixes — lies in the lyrics. They’re juvenile, forced, and a poor attempt at smarts and wit. The opening number, “I Hope I Win,” shows promise; it’s actually a fair opening to the piece. It lives in the vein of William Finn (25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Falsettoland): lots of words crammed into plunky melodies, introducing us to all of the characters. It’s quick and has some funny moments.

The trouble begins in the second number, “I Am Just a Nerd,” where a forlorn Bill Gates recalls being teased and taunted in school. The show’s writers employ stereotypical images of wedgies and being stuffed in lockers in an attempt to make the audience empathize with his woes, but we do not. And the rest of Act I is full of similarly flat musical numbers.

It’s not until Act II where we get some full-fledged Musical Theater Numbers, like the opener “Down and Out in Silicon Valley” (a la “Skid Row” in Little Shop of Horrors) and the show-stopper “Think Different.” But these are the only two songs of much worth.

Even the climactic “Battle of the Century” is a bit of a snooze — an accidental breaking of a light saber (yes, you read that correctly) kept the audience and actors in a giggle fit, but the song did not achieve what I feel the writers were hoping it would. Very few of the songs are hummable tunes that you take with you from the theater. In looking back through the list, I could only recall the melodies to a couple of them.

Technically and visually, the show’s in fantastic shape. The cast plays before a gigantic green motherboard with different types of lights and projection screens interspersed throughout. A large garage-door-like opening allows for grand entrances or rolling units to pass through it. It’s a very inventive design by Lee Savage.

Jason Lyons provides exceptional lighting design. Projection design by Zachary Borovay helps keep the production modern and allows for some really smart and fun imagery. Alejo Vietti‘s costumes are dead-on, all except for a rather frumpy pair of jeans and black turtleneck that Darren Ritchie wears throughout the latter portion of the show, invoking Jobs’ trademark look.

Director Marc Bruni and choreographer Denis Jones keep things brisk and light, but they can’t draw attention away from what is a challenging book that, in the end, tries to turn itself into a Moral Show, giving Gates the stage in an attempt to work in a message that we as the audience should take home with us. When a show so rooted in over-the-top satire suddenly plays a serious moment, it can throw the train off the tracks. The audience isn’t necessarily prepared for it; and if the show doesn’t handle it correctly, it can be lackluster. Such is the case here.

There is some positive working here: great talent, wonderful orchestrations, and a solid music score; however, the troubled book and flawed lyrics are a huge burden. The show is in a good starting position; the creators need not be afraid to scrap and rewrite — a lot. Nerds may eventually find itself on the Great White Way, but it has a lot of growing up to do between this production and a New York mounting.

SECOND OPINION: Jan. 21st Raleigh, NC BroadwayWorld.com Raleigh review by Larissa Mount: http://raleigh.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Reviews-New-Musical-NERDS-Takes-on-Raleigh-20130121; Jan. 21st Raleigh, NC News & Observer review by Roy C. Dicks: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/01/21/2622908/musical-nerds-will-keep-tech-savvy.html; Jan. 21st Raleigh, NC Triangle Arts & Entertainment review by Susie Potter: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/01/nerds-offers-an-evening-of-giddy-theatre-going-fun/; Jan. 19th Durham, NC Independent Weekly review by Tom Elrod: http://www.indyweek.com/artery/archives/2013/01/19/nerds-a-new-musical-about-steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-premieres-in-raleigh; Jan. 12th Raleigh, NC NBC-17 interview with Diana DeGarmo, conducted by Sharon Delaney for “My Carolina Today”: http://www2.nbc17.com/entertainment/2013/jan/12/diana-degarmo-46094-vi-55203/; Jan. 8th Raleigh-Durham, NC Triangle Tech Talk by Mark Easley, Sr.: http://triangletechtalk.com/1/2013/01/a-unique-startup-in-raleigh-nerds-the-musical/; Nov. 17th New York, NY BroadwayWorld.com preview by the BWW News Desk: http://broadwayworld.com/article/Diana-DeGarmo-Darren-Ritchie-Leslie-Kritzer-and-More-to-Lead-Pre-Broadway-Engagement-of-NERDS-Full-Cast-Announced-20121115; and June 19th New York, NY Playbill.com preview by Adam Hetrick: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/167237-Nerds-Reading-Booting-Up-for-Broadway-Will-Include-Michael-Arden-Kate-Shindle-Charlie-Pollock-and-More and Nov. 15th preview by Adam Hetrick: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/172265-North-Carolina-Staging-of-Broadway-Aimed-Nerds-to-Feature-Darren-Ritchie-Stanley-Bahorek-Leslie-Kritzer-Diana-DeGarmo. (Note: To read Triangle Arts & Entertainment’s online version of the Triangle Review preview by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/01/american-idol-runner-up-diana-degarmo-stars-in-the-pre-broadway-engagement-of-nerds-at-nct/.)

The North Carolina Theatre presents NERDS at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22-25, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 and 27, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29-Feb. 1, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 and 3 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $64.20-$80.10 (including fees), except $25 (cash only) Student Rush Tickets.

BOX OFFICE:

NCT Box Office: 919-831-6941, ext. 6944.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115202/1761293.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-831-6941, ext. 5204, or http://nctheatre.com/theatre/group_sales.html.

SHOW: http://nctheatre.com/shows/nerds.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNKVPQ71o4&feature=player_embedded.

SEASON: http://nctheatre.com/2013-shows.

PRESENTER: http://nctheatre.com/.

BLOG: http://nctheatre.com/stage-notes.

VENUE: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/venue/fletcher-opera-theater.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/parking.

NOTE:Arts Access (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) of Raleigh will audio-describe the show’s 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2nd, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

Nerds: http://www.nerdsmusical.com/ (official website).

Hal Goldberg: http://www.theofficialhalgoldbergwebsite.com/ (official website).

Jordan Allen-Dutton: http://www.jordanallendutton.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Allen-Dutton (Wikipedia).

Erik Weiner: http://www.erikweiner.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Weiner (Wikipedia).

Diana DeGarmo: http://www.dianadegarmo.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_DeGarmo (Wikipedia). 

The North Carolina Theatre presents NERDS at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22-25, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 and 27, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29-Feb. 1, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 and 3 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $64.20-$80.10 (including fees), except $25 (cash only) Student Rush Tickets.

BOX OFFICE:

NCT Box Office: 919-831-6941, ext. 6944.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115202/1761293.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-831-6941, ext. 5204, or http://nctheatre.com/theatre/group_sales.html.

SHOW: http://nctheatre.com/shows/nerds.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNKVPQ71o4&feature=player_embedded.

SEASON: http://nctheatre.com/2013-shows.

PRESENTER: http://nctheatre.com/.

BLOG: http://nctheatre.com/stage-notes.

VENUE: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/venue/fletcher-opera-theater.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/parking.

NOTE: Arts Access (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) of Raleigh will audio-describe the show’s 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2nd, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

Nerds: http://www.nerdsmusical.com/ (official website).

Hal Goldberg: http://www.theofficialhalgoldbergwebsite.com/ (official website).

Jordan Allen-Dutton: http://www.jordanallendutton.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Allen-Dutton (Wikipedia).

Erik Weiner: http://www.erikweiner.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Weiner (Wikipedia).

Diana DeGarmo: http://www.dianadegarmo.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_DeGarmo (Wikipedia). 

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Jesse R. Gephart is a Raleigh, NC actor, director, and theater and music critic. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Theater Review. To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TTR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Jesse R. Gephart’sTriangle Theater Review reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/jesse-r-gephart/.

“American Idol” runner-up Diana DeGarmo plays Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ girlfriend Sally in “Nerds

“American Idol” Season 3 first runner-up Diana DeGarmo will star as Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs’ girlfriend Sally in the North Carolina Theatre‘s pre-Broadway engagement of Nerds, a frisky new PG-13-rated musical comedy about the birth of Microsoft Corporation and Apple. Broadway veterans Stanley Bahorek and Darren Ritchie will co-star as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in the NCT production, which runs Feb. 18-20 and 22-27 and Jan. 29-Feb. 3 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh, NC.

Directed by Marc Bruni and choreographed by Denis Jones, this sassy show will feature music by Hal Goldberg and book and lyrics by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, Emmy Award-nominees for Cartoon Network’s “Robot Chicken.” Earlier versions of Nerds played in 2005 at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and as part of the Philadelphia Theatre Company’s 2007 season. The musical — then called Nerds://A Musical Software Satire — earned the 2007 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Original Music and the Barrymore Award’s 2007 Independence Foundation Award for Outstanding New Play.

According to the North Carolina Theatre:

“[We are] thrilled to announce that Diana DeGarmo will star in [the] upcoming production of Nerds, A New Musical Comedy ….

“Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray, Hair) is perhaps best known as the [2004] runner-up in ‘American Idol’ Season 3. She has been cast as ‘Sally,’ love interest to Steve Jobs. Darren Ritchie (Wonderland, Thoroughly Modern Millie) has been cast as the iconic Jobs. Stanley Bahorek (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) plays Bill Gates with Leslie Kritzer (Elf, Legally Blonde) as ‘Myrtle,’ Gates’ love interest.

“[Nerds] is a cheeky original musical that celebrates the birth of computer technology and the two pop-culture icons that made it possible, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The show follows the lives of the founding fathers of modern computing as they rise from nerds to billionaires, making a mark on history, and defining the golden age of technology as we know it.

“Of Nerds, author Erik Weiner said: ‘Take a look inside your pants. In the pocket. More than likely, you’ll find a computer. Thirty years ago that wouldn’t have been possible, unless people wore pants the size of circus tents. The point is: computers and the internet have become a part of our daily lives. We have many people to thank for this golden age of technology, but perhaps the two biggest innovators are Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.’

“North Carolina Theatre is producing this pre-Broadway engagement, a first for the Raleigh arts community. Local audiences will have the unique opportunity to be a part of the creation of a show aiming for a future Broadway run.

“The [show's] creative team includes book and lyrics by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner …. Music is composed by Hal Goldberg.

“Additional creative team members include director Marc Bruni (Old Jews Telling Jokes, associate director — Anything Goes), choreographer Denis Jones (associate choreographer — Legally Blonde), and Casey Hushion (NCT artistic director). Carolee Baxter and Lisa Grele Barrie are producing for North Carolina Theatre by special arrangement from Vicki Halmos and Carl Levin.”

SECOND OPINION: Jan. 12th Raleigh, NC NBC-17 interview with Diana DeGarmo, conducted by Sharon Delaney for “My Carolina Today”: http://www2.nbc17.com/entertainment/2013/jan/12/diana-degarmo-46094-vi-55203/; Jan. 8th Raleigh-Durham, NC Triangle Tech Talk by Mark Easley, Sr.: http://triangletechtalk.com/1/2013/01/a-unique-startup-in-raleigh-nerds-the-musical/; Nov. 17th New York, NY BroadwayWorld.com preview by the BWW News Desk: http://broadwayworld.com/article/Diana-DeGarmo-Darren-Ritchie-Leslie-Kritzer-and-More-to-Lead-Pre-Broadway-Engagement-of-NERDS-Full-Cast-Announced-20121115; and June 19th New York, NY Playbill.com preview by Adam Hetrick: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/167237-Nerds-Reading-Booting-Up-for-Broadway-Will-Include-Michael-Arden-Kate-Shindle-Charlie-Pollock-and-More and Nov. 15th preview by Adam Hetrick: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/172265-North-Carolina-Staging-of-Broadway-Aimed-Nerds-to-Feature-Darren-Ritchie-Stanley-Bahorek-Leslie-Kritzer-Diana-DeGarmo.

The North Carolina Theatre presents NERDS at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19 and 20, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22-25, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 and 27, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29-Feb. 1, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2 and 3 in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. South St., Raleigh, North Carolina 27601.

TICKETS: $64.20-$80.10 (including fees), except $25 (cash only) Student Rush Tickets.

BOX OFFICE:

NCT Box Office: 919-831-6941, ext. 6944.

Ticketmaster: 800-745-3000 or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venueartist/115202/1761293.

GROUP RATES (10+ tickets): 919-831-6941, ext. 5204, or http://nctheatre.com/theatre/group_sales.html.

SHOW: http://nctheatre.com/shows/nerds.

VIDEO PREVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNKVPQ71o4&feature=player_embedded.

SEASON: http://nctheatre.com/2013-shows.

PRESENTER: http://nctheatre.com/.

BLOG: http://nctheatre.com/stage-notes.

VENUE: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/venue/fletcher-opera-theater.

DIRECTIONS: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/directions.

PARKING: http://www.progressenergycenter.com/parking.

NOTE: Arts Access (http://www.artsaccessinc.org/) of Raleigh will audio-describe the show’s 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2nd, performance.

OTHER LINKS:

Nerds: http://www.nerdsmusical.com/ (official website).

Hal Goldberg: http://www.theofficialhalgoldbergwebsite.com/ (official website).

Jordan Allen-Dutton: http://www.jordanallendutton.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Allen-Dutton (Wikipedia).

Erik Weiner: http://www.erikweiner.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Weiner (Wikipedia).

Diana DeGarmo: http://www.dianadegarmo.com/ (official website) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_DeGarmo (Wikipedia). 

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Robert W. McDowell is editor and publisher of Triangle Review, a FREE weekly e-mail arts newsletter. This preview is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review.

To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Robert W. McDowell’s Triangle Review previews and reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/robert-w-mcdowell/.

Rinde Eckert and Nora Cole will reprise the roles that they played Off-Broadway in the musical “And God Created Great Whales” (photo by Caleb Wertenbaker)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jesse R. Gephart is a Raleigh, NC actor, director, and theater and music critic. To read all of his Triangle Review reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/jesse-r-gephart/.

Before And God Created Great Whales even begins, the PlayMakers Repertory Company audience has visions of what was to come. As they settle into their seats, Nathan, the central character played by Rinde Eckert, sits at a baby grand piano, fiercely scribbling onto music paper, shifting and sorting, erasing and rewriting; and then he stops and stares off into nothing.

Rinde Eckert, the creator and composer of this extraordinary show, now playing in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre as part of PlayMakers‘ PRC² second-stage series, ferociously portrays Nathan — a man determined to create an opera based on Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick. The problem, though, is that Nathan has been diagnosed with a degenerative mental disease that is slowly eating away at his memories and his ability to create.

One of the greatest accomplishments of And God Created Great Whales is that we, the audience, ultimately receive what Nathan struggles the entire time to create. In his moments of lucidity, Nathan and his Muse (Nora Cole) enact the scenes as they are created. Their voices boom through the Kenan Theatre.

Nathan plunks out thrilling lines of music that are then overtaken by pre-recorded tracks that allow Nathan and his Muse to take on characters, to play out chilling operatic moments, sometimes escalating into the frenzied territory of Nathan’s dementia; and then as quickly as they arrived there, we are thrust into darkness and then slowly restored to something familiar, preparing to travel on the next leg of the journey — act by act, scene by scene.

Apart from the Muse, Nathan has worked to assist himself as best he can: he wears a tape recorder around his neck explaining his situation: his memory loss, his goal for completion; and as we watch Nathan spiral further into the void, the tape he plays continues as well and the instructions become more grave. There are other tape recorders — color-coded for different things. One of them is a Master Tape Recorder that holds the sounds of the completed parts to the opera that Nathan is creating, and it’s a smart and affecting device.

But beneath all of this is a love story (isn’t there always?). Nathan is in love with an opera singer; the Muse is created in her image. One tape recorder holds only recorded messages from her. He writes a role for her in the male-dominated story per her request; he works to find the right place for it, the right message — a warning or a promise … or both? It is she, in the end, who is called upon to retrieve the finished piece. When she walks into the stage in her full-length white coat, we recognize her instantly; and it is the best type of revelation, both moving and completely unexpected.

Having been with the OBIE Award®-winning piece since its conception some 12 years ago, Rinde Eckert and Nora Cole have incredible chemistry and work flawlessly together. Eckert’s compositions are beautiful, haunting. They linger long past the time they cease to be.

David Schweizer has a masterful directorial hand over these two strong performers. Ably supported by Clint Ramos‘ costuming and Kevin Adams‘ lighting design, And God Created Great Whales is a truly unique, exhilarating theatrical experience.

SECOND OPINION: Jan. 10th Raleigh, NC CVNC review by Alan R. Hall: http://cvnc.org/article.cfm?articleId=5941; Jan. 10th Chapel Hill, NC Daily Tar Heel review by Josephine Yurcaba (who awarded the show 4.5 out of 5 stars): http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/01/great-whales-is-an-eerie-success and Jan. 8th preview by Josephine Yurcaba: http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/01/great-whales-explores-meaning-of-memory; Jan. 10th Durham, NC Five Points Star review by Kate Dobbs Ariail: http://thefivepointsstar.com/2013/01/10/memory-as-muse-at-prc2-rinde-eckerts-and-god-created-great-whales/;  and Dec. 24th Chapel Hill, NC Chapelboro.com review by Anne Brenner, with additional reporting by Elizabeth Friend: http://chapelboro.com/pages/15112331.php. (Note: To read Triangle Arts & Entertainment’s online version of the Jan. 8th Triangle Review preview by Robert W. McDowell, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2013/01/rinde-eckert-and-nora-cole-will-reprise-their-roles-in-and-god-created-great-whales-at-PlayMakers/.)

PlayMakers Repertory Company presents AND GOD CREATED GREAT WHALES, created, written and composed by Rinde Eckert, at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 12 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13 in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art, 120 Country Club Rd., at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

TICKETS: $25-$40.

BOX OFFICE: 919/962-PLAY or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/.

GROUP RATES (15+ tickets): 919/843-2311, miwashin@email.unc.edu, or http://www.playmakersrep.org/tickets/groupsales.

SHOW: http://www.playmakersrep.org/greatwhales.

PRESENTER: http://www.playmakersrep.org/.

BLOG: http://playmakersrep.blogspot.com/.

VENUE: http://www.playmakersrep.org/aboutus/kenan.

PARKING/DIRECTIONS: http://www.playmakersrep.org/visitorinfo/.

OTHER LINKS:

And God Created Great Whales: http://www.rindeeckert.com/projects/projects_greatwhales.html (official web page).

Rinde Eckert: http://www.rindeeckert.com/ (official website).

David Schweizer: http://broadwayworld.com/people/David-Schweizer/ (BroadwayWorld.com bio).

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Jesse R. Gephart is a Raleigh, NC actor, director, and theater and music critic. This review is reprinted with permission from Triangle Review. To start your FREE subscription to this newsletter, e-mail RobertM748@aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TR in the Subject: line.

To read all of Jesse R. Gephart’sTriangle Review reviews online at Triangle Arts & Entertainment, click http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/author/jesse-r-gephart/.

DPAC’s Jekyll and Hyde takes the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novella and turns it into an exciting and perfectly dark edge-of-your-seat thriller. From the moment the curtain opens and a quote from the novella is scrawled, as if by magic, in front of the audience’s eyes, viewers are enthralled. An amazingly high-tech set, which effectively utilizes projection screens, contributes to the “magic” feel and sometimes lends a cool music-video style to the scenes.

Constantine Maroulis’ Dr. Jekyll hits every note as he expresses his desire to create a distinction between the good and evil that lies within man in the early song “I Need to Know.” His performance continues to be stellar throughout, though he is particularly on-fire as the evil Hyde. In the intense first transformation scene, complete with flashing lights and creepy sound effects, Maroulis instantly and impressively goes from the slightly-nerdy-but-sweet Jekyll to the scarily sexy Hyde. His two leading ladies, sweet Emma (Teal Wicks) and sultry-voiced Lucy (Deborah Cox) also impress. While Wicks has a voice to die for, Cox is steamy, passionate magic onstage. Top moments for her include her bittersweet rendition of “Someone Like You” and her incredibly soulful performance of “A New Life.” Minor characters add their own flair and humor, including Dana Costello’s slutty Nellie and David Benoit’s less-than-holy, giant-cross-wearing Bishop of Basingstoke.

The musical clips along at a steady pace, effectively mixing darker moments with lighter ones, and raising questions about the evil that lies within us all. Maroulis’ electricity and his ability to switch so convincingly from Jekyll to Hyde go a long way in making the main character understandable, if not exactly likeable. Fans of the original story as well as newcomers will find something to enjoy here and are sure to go home feeling slightly eerie but thoroughly entertained.

Rinde Eckert and Nora Cole will reprise the roles that they played Off-Broadway in the musical “And God Created Great Whales” (photo by Caleb Wertenbaker)

PlayMakers Repertory Company will present the OBIE Award-winning musical drama And God Created Great Whales, created, written, and composed by Rinde Eckert, on Jan. 9-13 in the Elizabeth Price Kenan Theatre in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Dramatic Art. The New York Times has saluted Eckert as “an American loner — eccentric with touches of Bertolt Brecht, Samuel Beckett, and Tom Waits.”

Original cast members Rinde Eckert and Nora Cole will perform this provocative piece, which won a 2000-01 OBIE Award for Best Performance and also received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience.

And God Created Great Whales opened on Nov. 14, 2001 at the Theatres at 45 Bleecker/Bleecker Street Theatre, where it ran until Jan. 13, 2002.

PlayMakers Repertory Company is presenting MOM as part of its PRC² second-stage series in which each performance is followed by a talkback with cast and creative team and experts on the subjects raised in the play.

According to PlayMakers Repertory Company:

“And God Created Great Whales is a haunting musical adventure into the psyche of a composer trying to create an opera based on [Herman Melville's] classic novel Moby Dick [1851]. Desperately fighting a degenerative disease eating away at his mind, each day the artist [played by Rinde Eckert] must rely on a tape recorder hung around his neck and a muse [played by Nora Cole] born of his imagination to instruct him on his work….

“‘Grammy Award®-winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Rinde Eckert displays his full creative force in this frenzied, funny and moving play,’ said Joseph Haj, PlayMakers‘ producing artistic director.”

In an exclusive interview with Triangle Review, Rinde Eckert recalled the origins of And God Created Great Whales: “I was approached by a writer friend of mine after he saw my piece The Gardening of Thomas D., which was based on Dante’s Commedia. He felt I should come home to America with my next piece, and suggested we work together on Moby-Dick. Before we could begin, he got involved in writing a novel and left the entire project to me. Shortly thereafter, Melanie Joseph became interested and The Foundry Theater produced the work.”