Raleigh Interviews - Page 2

'It's just been the most exciting whirlwind of a ride to get to do this,' says Jeffrey Kringer. And it has been a whirlwind for Kringer who just graduated from Fredonia State University last May. Kringer is playing the role of anti-hero Sebastian Valmont in the musical CRUEL INTENTIONS. It's his ...

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from April 16th-21st is the national touring production of ANASTASIA. I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing actress Joy Franz, who is currently appearing in it as the Dowager Empress. A role that in the 1997 animated film was voiced by Angela L...

The Lightning Thief musical, based on Rick Riordan's book, has been called a cross between Harry Potter and Dear Evan Hansen, which may be one of the reasons why legions of fans are flocking to see the show as it makes away across the country. Initially developed as a one-hour musical in 2014 by ...

You could say that Katie LaMark has been ready to rock from the time she was a little girl. That's because she is a self-described 'studio kid' whose parents were both musicians. 'My mother is really the rocker of the two of them and my father is a much more disciplined, jazz piano player,' she s...

James Young has been singing and dancing in Broadway shows for over 40 years. These days, he spends his time playing Grandpa Joe in the national tour of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. The show plays the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) next week. Hear what Young has to say about the producti...

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Red Concepcion grew up listening to show tunes. In fact, he remembers listening to cast albums like MISS SAIGON from the age of five. Fast forward 20 plus years and Concepcion found himself playing the role of The Engineer on the UK tour. He says although he knew the music by heart, he had no ide...

After 16 years with Tara Rubin Casting, Eric Woodall has come home. Born and raised in Benson, North Carolina, Woodall is the new Producing Artistic Director of North Carolina Theatre. He is also overseeing the North Carolina Theatre Conservatory, a program which is near and dear to his heart. Hear ...

You may know him as Tom Tilden from the CBS Sci-FI Show 'Under the Dome' or the Duke Energy guy or even as Chad Thompson in his award-winning movie 'Changeover.' But Estes Tarver is more than an actor, writer, director, and producer. He's also the Artistic Director of Moonlight Stage Company in Nort...

Raleigh audiences last saw national recording artist Yolanda Rabun play Medda Larkin in the North Carolina Theatre production of NEWSIES last summer. In fact, she has been nominated for a Broadway World Raleigh Award for that performance. On December 12th, she returns to the Raleigh stage to perform...

Eric Williams grew up watching Christmas movies with his family in St. Louis. In fact, he says it was his family who instilled in him a passion and excitement for the holiday movie genre. And while he likes some of the more traditional classic films, the more recent ones that put a contemporary spin...

It was the kiss seen around the world when the cast of THE PROM took center stage at The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They performed their finale number, at the end of which the two actresses who play the lesbian couple at the center of the show kissed. It was a first for the parade and a moment ...

Although the Lythgoe family is best known for producing reality television shows like 'So You Think You Can Dance' and 'American Idol,' live theater is in their blood. 'It's more part of my DNA,' says Kris Lythgoe. 'I really grew up surrounded by the tradition and frankly know nothing else.' L...

BWW Interview: Theatre in the Park's Ira David Wood III Opens Up About Family, His Legacy, Christmas, and Scrooge...

Later this month, the Raleigh Little Theatre production of CINDERELLA will take the stage for the 35th time. This time, Mike McGee directs and Lauren Knott returns to the title role. Hear what the pair had to say about the changes to this year's production, carrying on a beloved holiday tradition, a...

Look at him, he's the 'King of New York! ' North Carolina Theatre audiences may remember New York actor Jason Gotay as Jack Kelly in the North Carolina Theatre production of NEWSIES last summer. Last month, he opened in the off-Broadway world premiere of RENASCENCE at The Transport Theatre Gr...

For HEAD OVER HEELS' Tanner Ray Wilson, performing on a Broadway stage eight times a week is a far cry from his hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas. 'My dad is a football coach and a basketball coach and a hunter, like outdoorsman extraordinaire,' he says. 'And he was cool enough for some reason to l...

Denis Grindel says he's always been a performer.  After all, he's Irish. It's in his blood. 'I love telling stories,' says Grindel. 'It's a big part of my culture.' 'You grow up hearing stories and legends and song, it's a big part of what being Irish is,' he adds. 'So, it was a natural for me...

Fresh off their fourth PBS special which aired in August, the multi-platinum group The Tenors kicked off their Fan Favorites Tour two weeks ago in Canada. This week, they bring their eclectic mix of classical and contemporary music to The Carolina Theatre in Durham.  'There are so many voices ext...

After 18 years in the news business, Penn Holderness took a leap of faith and jumped into starting his own video production company. As a natural born storyteller, he wanted to tell stories that were not only interesting but relatable. So in 2013, he and his family posted their  'Xmas Jammies' video...

From October 16th-21st, North Carolina Theatre will be opening their 2018-19 season with a production of Lin-Manuel Miranda & Quiara Alegria Hudes' 2008 award-winning musical, In the Heights, at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. I was recently able to get in touch with two of the cast members, Genny ...

The movie 'Ghost' opened in the summer of 1990. Twenty years later, it inspired a Broadway musical. While the movie was the highest grossing film of 1990, the Broadway version, which featured a large cast and a multitude of special effects, did not share the same box office success. 'On the Broad...

Theatre Raleigh closes its Summer Season with the Tony Award-winning musical ONCE. Based on the 2007 film of the same name, ONCE tells the story of a Guy and a Girl who are brought together through their love of music. Dave Toole and Morgan Parpan play Guy and Girl in this production and sat down...

It is hard to believe that decades before Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania or the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, there were thousands of young women, many of them teenagers, who were exposed to radium in dial factories in the United States and around the world. Many of these women suffered...

t might surprise theater fans that Tony-nominated Ramin Karimloo's playlist includes an eclectic mix of Colm Wilkinson, the alt-rock band The Tragically Hip, and North Carolina's own, The Avett Brothers. But Karimloo says for him there is a common thread that ties his favorite genres of music altoge...

Before Danai Gurira exploded on the big screen earlier this year as Okoye in the movie BLACK PANTHER, she made history with her play ECLIPSED. The play opened on Broadway in 2016, marking the first time a Broadway play featured an all-female, all-black cast, director, and playwright. ECLIPSED will m...

Christina Rosetti's poem 'The Goblin Market,' explores the themes of temptation, sacrifice, and the loss of innocence and has been the subject of varied interpretations and creative adaptations ever since its publication in 1862. One such adaptation is a musical version by Polly Pen and Peggy Har...

In the past, immersive theater productions were something seen in bigger cities. But now, Seed Art Share has brought immersive 'shared art' experiences to the Triangle. Next month, the company is presenting William Gibson's classic play THE MIRACLE WORKER at The Borden House in Fletcher Park. I had ...

Mya Ison is still beaming after spending a week in New York for The Jimmy Awards, the National High School Musical Theatre Awards that celebrate the best in high school musical talent. Ison's journey to The Jimmy Awards started at The Durham Performing Arts Center last May when she and Sterling Jone...

PIPPIN is the story of a young prince trying to find the meaning of life. Pippin's struggle to find out where he fits into the world is not unlike the 38 middle school and high school students performing in North Carolina Theatre Conservatory's production, which opens July 6th at the A.J. Fletcher O...

This week, Lea Michele hits the road for the second leg of her LM/DC tour with "Glee" co-star Darren Criss. The duo is scheduled to play the Durham Performing Arts Center on June 30th, and Michele says audiences can expect a fantastic show full of surprises. "Obviosly we sing some of our most popula...

It's been a busy week for Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth. First, she hosted the Banff World Media Festival's Rockie Awards, where she ingeniously sang 'Bring Him Home' accompanied by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC. Then she hosted the Kristin Chenoweth Broadway ...

This week, The Women's Theatre Festival opens its third season, Women Are Heroes, with Sheila Callaghan's Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake). 'I think it is one of the hardest plays I've ever worked on in terms of how to describe it to an outsider,' says Director Kayla M. Kaufman, who is ma...

Can't wait for Hamilton to come to Durham next fall? This weekend, Raleigh theater lovers can enjoy the music of Hamilton at Burning Coal Theatre's songfest, Hamiltunes. Burning Coal's Artistic Director Jerome Davis sat down with me to discuss Hamiltunes, Oakwood history, and the theatre's upcoming ...

Timothy Tyson's book, BLOOD DONE SIGN MY NAME, chronicles his family's journey living in Oxford, NC in 1970, just after Henry 'Dickie' Marrow, an African American Army vet, was shot, beaten, and killed by three white men. Raleigh Little Theatre's Artistic Director Patrick Torres says he hopes the wo...

Robert Askins' Tony Award nominated play Hand to God is about a puppet ministry in Texas that goes awry when a sock puppet wreaks havoc on the church, the pastor, and the other kids. Billed for mature audiences only, Ira David Wood IV says the irreverent Hand to God is one of those plays that walks ...

This week, North Carolina Theatre pays tribute to Janis Joplin and her influences by bringing Randy Johnson's 2014 Tony Award nominated A Night with Janis Joplin to the AJ Fletcher Opera House. Johnson not only wrote and directed the Broadway musical, but he is also directing the North Carolina Thea...

COLIN CLOUD considers himself more Sherlock Holmes than DAVID COPPERFIELD. Still, he says he is incredibly honored to be part of the cast of The Illusionists Live From Broadway coming to The Durham Performing Arts Center in May. 'The caliber of magicians that this show has, I am excluding myself her...

Mike McLean leads the national tour of THE SOUND OF MUSIC back to Durham April 20. McLean says the production is bigger and more beautiful than ever....

Lauren Kennedy started her career at the North Carolina Theatre, having performed in many of their productions since she was 7 years old. She went on to appear on Broadway in Sunset Boulevard (original cast), Side Show (original cast), Les Miserables (Fantine), and Monty Python's Spamalot (The Lady ...