Miss Saigon at Durham Performing Arts Center

Interview: Noah Colvin & Lilly Pritchard of the 2023 Triangle Rising Star Awards

On May 18th, the 2023 Triangle Rising Star Awards took place through the Durham Performing Arts Center. This regional competition brings together high school musical theater students from Central and Eastern North Carolina to perform and compete for the chance to represent the Triangle in The National High School Musical Theater (otherwise known as The Jimmy) Awards in New York City on June 26th. The national competition celebrates outstanding student performances in high school musical productions from all over the United States. Shortly after the Triangle Rising Star Awards, I had the great pleasure of interviewing both of this year's winners, Noah Colvin of Enloe High School and Lilly Pritchard of Heritage High School.

BWW Review: MISS SAIGON at Durham Performing Arts Center is Too Loud, Too Heavy-Handed, and Too Much

In the second act of MISS SAIGON, there is a song called 'Too Much for One Heart.' And that's how one might describe the national touring production of MISS SAIGON which opened at the Durham Performing Arts Center last night. It's just too much.

BWW Interview: MISS SAIGON'S Red Concepción Says this Grittier Version of the Show is Resonating with American Audiences

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 idea how big and epic the show was until rehearsals started. And for that five-year-old little boy growing up listening to the soundtrack in the Philippines, working with Claude Michel Schonberg (music), Alain Boublil (lyrics), and ?Richard Maltby, Jr. (lyrics) is a dream come true. 'It's wonderful as an actor to be in such a creative space,' he says. 'They don't write scores like this anymore.'