Reviews 
Justice Theater Project’s Version of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess Is a Must-See Show with a Wonderful and Talented Cast
The Justice Theater Project, headed up by Deb Royals, has been producing socially important entertainment for 12 years now. They never fail at both massive jobs — entertaining and driving home the various gaping inequities in American society. This season JTP’s theme, according to Kristi Vincent Johnson, chairperson of the theater’s board of directors, is… Read More ›
JTP’s Rendition of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess Is Beautiful and Captivating!
The Justice Theater Project’s rendition of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, which concludes its two-week run on June 23-25 at the Umstead Park United Church of Christ in Raleigh, tells a hauntingly beautiful story, set in “Catfish Row,” a tenement in Charleston, SC. Porgy is a disabled beggar. Bess is a beautiful, sultry woman with… Read More ›
The Stonewater Rapture at Imurj Is Delightfully Humorous and Frighteningly Serious
The Stonewater Rapture by Doug Wright has been making the rounds since it won first in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1984. This one-hour, two-character show, dealing with the conflict between hormonic drives and religious convictions in a small Texas town is currently being performed by Aggregate Theatre Company in the basement of Imurj in… Read More ›
The Curious Savage at Forest Moon Theater Is Quirky, Endearing, and Bittersweet
When you look in the mirror do you see yourself, or do you find refuge in an eggshell world where you don’t belong? Do you believe a man is what he claims to be? Or you do you see the worst, in hopes the worst isn’t as bad as you had expected? Or at the… Read More ›
The Stonewater Rapture Is a Very Robust First Production for Aggregate Theatre Company
On the ninth day of Sunday School, I learned that “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” But nothing was said about bearing false witness against myself. Generally speaking, we all know why we lie to ourselves: to protect ourselves from the truth. Shakespeare, Camus, and Vonnegut made careers of telling us so…. Read More ›
TheatreFEST 2017’s Hay Fever at N.C. State Is a 1920’s British Version of "The Bickersons"
N.C. University Theatre’s production of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever, presented as part of TheatreFEST 2017, under the direction of John C. McIlwee, is a fast-paced laugh-fest. Imagine you have made plans to spend a relaxed weekend at your country estate and have invited one or two guests to join you in this pleasant, quiet endeavor…. Read More ›
Lynda Clark as Diana Vreeland Takes TheatreFEST 2017 Audiences on a Roller-Coaster Ride of Emotions in Full Gallop
N.C. University Theatre’s TheatreFEST 2017 production of Full Gallop, written by Mark Hampton and Mary Louise Wilson, is a one-woman show about the life of the iconic Diana Vreeland (1903-89). She was born Diana Dalziel in Paris, France, circa 1903; and she later became the editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine. The play takes place in New… Read More ›
Ian L. Finley’s The Greeks Explores the Oedipus Trilogy on June 9-25 at CAM Raleigh
You might already know how Oedipus Rex is going to end. If you do not, but you know what the Freud’s “Oedipus complex” is, you can likely predict the play’s climactic realization. In the mid-Fifth Century BCE, Sophocles — arguably the most celebrated Greek tragedian in history — wrote a trilogy collectively known as the… Read More ›
McQueen & Company’s First-Rate Cast and Crew for Fool for Love Really Deliver
McQueen & Company Theatre might be a new entity in the Triangle theater scene, but their initial show is quite obviously a collaboration of seasoned veterans. Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love calls for raw, gritty characters who interact in a seedy, run-down motel, and this production delivers on both — in spades! Director Andy Hayworth… Read More ›
McQueen & Company’s Inaugural Production, Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, Shows Promise
The newly minted McQueen & Company Theatre has launched its inaugural production, Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, finalist for the 1984 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. With a flair for social media marketing, a borrowed theater space (Research Triangle High School in Research Triangle Park), and a $3,000 Kickstarter cache, founder-producer Diana Cameron McQueen seems to… Read More ›
DPAC’s The King and I Is a True Classic
Set in the 1860s in Siam, the classic Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical The King and I recently hit the stage at DPAC under the direction of Bartlett Sher. The musical, based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam, tells the story of Anna (Laura Michelle Kelly), a widowed woman who has been brought… Read More ›
Four Voices – Legendary Performers Delight at the NCMA
This is the age of badass women. You can find them everywhere: marching in pink hats, fighting for democracy on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and portraying superheroes in your summer blockbuster. But this week, four badass women were singing in Raleigh, NC, for a rescheduled (and sold out) midweek show, Four Voices: Joan… Read More ›
The Music of Prince Celebrated His Birthday on June 7th in Raleigh in Royal Purple Style
Who can sit down when pop idol Prince’s music comes on the radio? No one who gathered together at Meymandi Concert Hall to celebrate Prince’s music on what would have been his 59th birthday on Wednesday, June 7th, that’s for sure! Fans filled the hall to hear The Music of Prince, performed by the North… Read More ›
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I at DPAC Looks and Sounds Gorgeous, But Its Racial Stereotypes Are Troubling in 2017
In April 2017, the Twitterverse exploded with outrage when Pepsi® created a socially tone-deaf TV ad in which Kendall Jenner seemingly solved the pandemic of police brutality by handing a police officer a soda. People cried “Wasn’t there a meeting? Did no one suggest that this might be offensive? Am I the only one paying… Read More ›
The Tony Award®-Winning 2015 Broadway Revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I Will Play DPAC June 6-11
For the final production of its critically acclaimed 2016-17 “Dream Big” SunTrust Broadway Series, the Durham Performing Arts Center is presenting eight performances of the national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater’s Tony Award®-winning 2015 Broadway Revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, directed by Bartlett Sher and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, based… Read More ›
Bare Theatre’s EverScape Respawns at the New Sonorous Road Studio
respawn (v.): to re-enter gameplay after being killed. EverScape, by triangle native Allan Maule, made its regional premiere last October, having been a smash hit at the New York Fringe Festival. Bare Theatre co-produced a remounted EverScape as the inaugural production in the new Sonorous Theatre and Film Studio location on Hillsborough Street. The crew… Read More ›
RLT Ends its Season with the Crowd-Pleasing Avenue Q
Opening on Broadway in 2003, Avenue Q features a book by Jeff Whitty (Bring it On: The Musical) and score by Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx (The Book of Mormon, Disney’s Frozen). The sleeper hit surprised Tony® viewers by beating out mega-musical Wicked for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score. Given its puppeteering demands,… Read More ›
Lights Up on the New Sonorous Road Studio
No business intends to pack up and move house after only two years in action. When North Carolina State University bought the standalone space at 209 Oberlin Road, the Sonorous Road Film and Theatre Studio had to take the show on the road. The Royal Bakery building on Hillsborough Street, to be precise. Right across… Read More ›
Refreshing, Pleasant, and Utterly Enjoyable, Theatre Raleigh’s Smokey Joe’s Café Is a Nice Change of Pace
Smokey Joe’s Café, onstage now through Theatre Raleigh and directed by Julia Murney, is a true musical revue- meaning it features short vignettes, none of them related to one another, that go along with songs. In this case, the songs in question are 39 hits from Leiber and Stoller. And, while the songs are somewhat… Read More ›
Theatre Raleigh’s Rendition of Smokey Joe’s Café Is a Spectacular Toe-Tapping, Rib-Tickling, Wow-Wasn’t-That-Great Kinda Show
Picture this: You are looking back at the 1950s, a time when doo-wop had taken the world by storm. It was a time when the girls wore tailored dresses and the men wore belts and jackets. (Belts!) You are looking at the cement stoops of some brownstones, lights on in some of the windows. On… Read More ›
Bartlett Theater’s Outdoor Staging of The Seagull Is Inventive, Funny, Moving, and Thoroughly Entertaining — a Must See
I am walking up a gravel driveway, a playbill and a church-style hand fan in tow. To my left is an elegant home with a front porch running the length of the house front and a perfectly manicured lawn. To my right is a sprawling green meadow with a tree line in the distance. I… Read More ›
Ghost: The Musical at NRACT Blooms Gloriously in Performance
Ghost: The Musical, with music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard and book and lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin, opened Friday night at the North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre (NRACT). This musical, which came out in 2011, is, of course, based on the Paramount Pictures 1990 movie, Ghost, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Demi… Read More ›
Matilda the Musical Has Lots to Love
Onstage now through Broadway Series South and the North Carolina Theatre, under the direction of Matthew Warchus, Matilda, based on the book of the same name by Roald Dahl, is just as fabulous as ever. And, while diehard fans of the original story might be surprised to learn that some features of the original story- such… Read More ›
Ghost: The Musical at NRACT Is Haunting
If you have not yet ventured up to the North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre, what are you waiting for? You are truly missing out on some amazing theater. Friday’s opening-night performance of Ghost: The Musical was my third visit to NRACT, and each visit is more impressive than the last. I will admit I… Read More ›
Matilda the Musical at the Duke Energy Center Is Powerfully Designed But Weakly Written
Broadway Series South and the North Carolina Theatre‘s joint presentation of Matilda the Musical, playing tonight through Sunday evening in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, was originally commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Based on British author Roald Dahl’s popular 1988 children’s book, which Dennis Kelly adapted for the stage, Matilda features rousing music and witty lyrics… Read More ›
DPAC’s Finding Neverland Is Inspiring and Powerful
Finding Neverland, onstage now at DPAC under the direction of Diane Paulus, is a story about the power and beauty of the imagination. It’s also, of course, the life story of writer J.M. Barrie and the things that inspired his famous Peter Pan story. It’s fitting, then, that the show would open with all of… Read More ›
Peter Pan Flies High in Finding Neverland May 23-28 at the Durham Performing Arts Center
Few stories are more iconic in literature than Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie’s tales about Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. And even less common are interesting tales about the inspiration behind the stories that become the archetypes that everyone recognizes. With Finding Neverland, now playing at the Durham Performing Arts Center, we are… Read More ›
On May 23-28, Finding Neverland Will Show DPAC Audiences How Peter Became the Pan
The penultimate show of the Durham Performing Arts Center’s critically acclaimed 2016-17 “Dream Big” SunTrust Broadway Series is the First National Tour of the crowd-pleasing 2015 Broadway and 2017 West End musical Finding Neverland, produced by Weinstein Live Entertainment and NETworks Presentations, directed by Diane Paulus, and choreographed by Mia Michaels. Finding Neverland, which won… Read More ›
2013 Tony Award® Winner Matilda the Musical Dramatizes Roald Dahl’s 1988 Children’s Book
On May 23-28, Broadway Series South and the North Carolina Theatre will jointly present eight performances of the four-time 2013 Tony Award® winner Matilda the Musical in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Matilda the Musical, which features music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Dennis… Read More ›
Carolina Ballet’s Carmen Sizzles, Challenges, Romances, and Entertains
When planning a finale, drama and passion are your friends. You use one to balance the other, you up the ante by throwing everything dramatic into the plot, then you up it one more time by adding a healthy dollop of passion. The Carolina Ballet understands drama and passion. They have employed it during this… Read More ›