Lauren Van Hemert - Page 6

In the summer of 1990, the genre-bending, sleeper movie 'Ghost' opened. It became the highest grossing film that year.

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 external and internal that can stop us from reaching our full potential, and I think the beautiful thing about being on the road is that we are creating an environment that is encouraging for that creative output,' says Fraser Walters, one-third of the band. And Walters is no stranger to being on the road. In fact, he began performing and traveling at the age of eight, first in musical theater and then in operas with such companies as The Edmonton Opera and Seattle Opera. 'I was lucky that my family was quite supportive,' he says. 'You know it really sort of took a community of people to be understanding of a different way to do things.' By 16, he was offered a scholarship to go to school, study theater and play sports in Australia. It was at that time that he landed the role of Jesus in a production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. 'That was such a formative and transformative experience, and it just all turned my world even more so to music being exactly what I wanted to do for the long term.' Twelve years ago, Walters joined The Tenors, along with Victor Micallef. Two years later, Clifton Murray joined the group. Since then, the trio has performed all over the world, including at The White House for the last four Presidents, at Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and during the opening ceremonies of the XXI Olympic Games. And Fraser says it's the weight of their collective life experiences, along with a lot of sacrifices and hard work, that has earned them a stamp of approval from audiences worldwide.

A 'Forbes' headline from last week read: "Ford Prepares for Mass Layoffs After Losing $1 Billion to Trump's Trade Tariffs, Report Says." In fact, Ford is planning to restructure its company to the tune of $25.5 billion, which could cost as many as 24,000 people their jobs. Seemingly ripped from the headlines, Dominique Morisseau's play SKELETON CREW, which opened at PlayMakers earlier this month, is set in a Detroit auto plant on the verge of shutting down amidst the recession in 2008. Already having lost half its crew, the plant is struggling to keep operations afloat. Morisseau examines the plight of four workers and their intertwined relationships.

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 on YouTube. Since then, that video has been viewed over 17 million times, and he's gone on to produce almost 100 more videos featuring his wife Kim and two children, Penn Charles and Lola. Next week, Holderness steps out of his comfort zone once again to take the stage in Theatre Raleigh's production of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW. Hear what he has to say about his family, creating original music, and becoming Riff Raff.

On April 11, 2003, just two days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, along with General Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the media. When asked about the looting and the lack of law and order following the 'liberation' of Iraq, Rumsfeld said: 'Think what's happened in our cities when we've had riots and problems and looting. Stuff happens! Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things. They're also free to live their lives and do wonderful things, and that's what's going to happen here.' The backroom deals and politics leading up to the invasion of Iraq are the subject of David Hare's historical drama STUFF HAPPENS. The play premiered in London in 2004. Two years later, it opened off-Broadway to critical acclaim. Last weekend, Burning Coal Theatre opened their season with Hare's play, which by his own account, is a fictional dramatization based on interviews, televised speeches, and transcripts.

A storm is brewing over Theatre in the Park (TIP), a storm of such magnitude that it brings three strangers together in a honky-tonk bar in the middle of nowhere. The barkeep in this gin joint is Hank. He doesn't see too much traffic (except in September), which makes this random Tuesday unusual. That is the premise of Alex Goldberg's macabre play IT IS DONE, which makes its regional premiere at TIP this month. The play premiered in 2011 and was billed as one of the top Los Angeles Theatre Productions of 2012 by Brad Schreiber of 'The Huffington Post.'

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 Broadway stage they brought in a nationally known illusionist, who builds tricks for magicians all over the world, and it didn't really work,' says Bill Saunders, director of The Temple Theatre's production. 'It was such a huge show,' he says. 'It was 35 people in a show about four people, so we lost the heart and the soul of the musical.' After the show closed and went on tour, the creative team, along with The Fulton Theatre, reworked the show into a smaller-scale, chamber version that would be closer to the movie. The reimagined version premiered at the Fulton Theatre in 2016. Next week, the show opens at the Temple Theatre in Sanford. Hear more of what Saunders and the cast had to say about bringing this beloved movie to the stage.

At the Carolina Theatre in Durham Sunday night, Randy Rainbow got a standing ovation before he even sang one note. In fact, one woman in the audience stood up and called him a national treasure, a beacon of frivolity amidst precarious times. Rainbow's show was interlaced with clips of his viral videos, stories, and live performances of his most popular parodies, including 'Desperate Cheeto,' 'Yes! We Have No Steve Bannon!,'  'Alternative Facts,' and 'Rudy and the Beast.' Rainbow credits his grandmother with 'planting the comedy seed.' He told the audience during the question/answer period that she was hilarious and both she and his mother encouraged him to always be himself. And it seems to be working for him. His last video, 'Kavanaugh' (to the show tune 'Camelot') has almost 400-thousand views and counting.

Last weekend, Lauren Gunderson's THE REVOLUTIONISTS opened at Raleigh Little Theatre, proving once again that women and feminists can be very funny. THE REVOLUTIONISTS tells the story of four women during the French Revolution: Marie Antoinette, an 'occasionally, unexpectedly profound queen who needs better press," Olympe de Gouges, the feminist playwright who published her "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the [Female] Citizen" in 1791, Charlotte Corday, 'an assassin on a deadline,' and Marianne Angelle, a Caribbean slave who has come to France to rally for her people's freedom. Under the direction of Amy White, the capable cast of four women seem more comfortable with the quick-witted, comedic elements of Gunderson's smart script than the dramatic ones that mark the second act. Still, in the last moments of the play, the quartet come together in a display of sisterhood, solidarity, and strength, which is at the heart of this play, that is ultimately believable and poignant.

From the outset, it is clear, that Theatre Raleigh's production of ONCE is not going to be a typical theatrical experience, but a completely immersive one. Based on the 2007 movie of the same name, ONCE is a story about a Guy and a Girl who come together through their love of music. From the get-go, a band of players greets the audience with music and merriment, transporting the occupants of The Kennedy Theatre from Downtown Raleigh to smack dab in the middle of Dublin's North Strand. And that talented band of players it turns out makes up the brilliant ensemble cast, led by Jack Boice, Megan Ort, and Tracy Thomas. They sing, dance, act, and play multiple instruments, as do the two leads, played by David Toole and Morgan Parpan.

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 with me to talk about mastering dialects, playing musical instruments on stage, and what's next for Theatre Raleigh. ONCE runs from September 5 - 16 at The Kennedy Theatre at The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.

There's an irony about sitting in a theater on opening night reviewing a play about a play and the sometimes-tempestuous relationship between the players and the critics. But that's exactly what Terrence McNally's IT'S ONLY A PLAY is about, a group of theater people waiting for the reviews of their play after the opening night performance. Last week, the show opened at Theatre in the Park (TIP) in Raleigh to mixed reviews. All the makings of a good show are there. The ensemble features some of the Triangle's most exceptional comedic performers including Ira David Wood IV, Brian Westbrook, Rob Jenkins, and Lynda Clark. In addition, the production is directed by the ever so talented Jesse R. Gephart. And the set is simply spectacular. But not even this talented cast and crew can save McNally's script, which feels more like a diatribe than a farce.  Yes, there are funny moments, but they are few and far between and more reliant on the physical comedy of the competent cast than McNally's pen.

With the fiery intensity of a tigress, Judy McLane channels opera diva Maria Callas in Theatre Raleigh's production of Terrence McNally's MASTER CLASS. The Tony Award-winning MASTER CLASS opened on Broadway in 1995. The play is inspired by the master classes Callas taught at Julliard in 1971 and 1972. McLane is masterful as the temperamental Callas, moving across the stage like a woman possessed, regaling the audience with stories, never 'missing an opportunity to theatricalize,' criticize, and dramatize.

When THE BOOK OF MORMON opened on Broadway in 2011, it was called blasphemous, crude, raunchy, and genius. The brainchild of the creators of adult animated series "South Park," THE BOOK OF MORMON won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical. This week it plays at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) for the second time. Having now celebrated its seventh year on Broadway and two national tours, it's hard to tell whether THE BOOK OF MORMON has lost some of its shock value or if audiences are just more desensitized to it; nevertheless, it's still ridiculously funny and wildly entertaining. THE BOOK OF MORMON is about two Mormon missionaries, who are sent to Uganda to spread the word of God. Knowing nothing about Africa, other than THE LION KING, they are totally unprepared for the harsh realities of this primitive village. But with the 'good book' in hand, they are determined to win over the villagers and maybe find themselves in the process.

Kristin Chenoweth kicked off the next leg of her tour in Boone after a six-week hiatus last weekend. She lit up The Schaeffer Center as part of the Appalachian Summer Festival. The concert was a homecoming of sorts for Chenoweth's ever-talented musical director Mary-Mitchell Campbell who is from Wilson and graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Chenoweth opened her concert with a selection of songs from The American Songbook, showcasing her soaring soprano voice and effervescent personality. She even channelled her character from the NBC series 'Trial and Error,' singing 'Bird in a Gilded Cage' first as Lavinia and then as herself, in true Chenoweth style. She recorded this part of the concert on her assistant's cell phone, which she posted on YouTube. For the next set, Chenoweth transitioned to singing Broadway show tunes including a most poignant and moving rendition of 'Bring Him Home' from LES MISERABLES, as well fan favorite, 'Popular' from WICKED. To end the show, she sang an eclectic mix of Don Henley, Dolly Parton, and Christian music singer Sandi Patty's 'Upon This Rock,' for which she was joined by a group of local students. The students also joined her in singing Campbell's inspirational ballad, 'Reasons for Hope.'

This week, Judy McLane steps into Maria Callas' shoes for the opening of the Theatre Raleigh production 'Master Class.'  'Master Class' is about opera singer Maria Callas as she teaches a fictional master class at Julliard towards the end of her life. Written by Terrence McNally, the play opened on Broadway in 1995 and won two Tony Awards. McLane, who is best known for her work in the Broadway production of 'Mamma Mia,' trained as a classical singer and says she is no stranger to Callas' work. She sat down with me to talk about Maria Callas, 'Mamma Mia' and more.

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 untimely deaths from painting the dials of luminous watches, using their lips to bring their paint brushes to a point. The Radium Girls, as they became known, are the subject of THESE SHINING LIVES, which opens this weekend at The ArtCenter of Carrboro as part of The Women's Theatre Festival. 'To me, the story of The Radium Girls has a lot of similarity to the 'Me Too' movement,' says Director Jorie Slodki. 'This is a story about women whose bodies were considered expendable at work, and their bodies were harmed at work, and when they tried to get help, especially getting help from men, the men either lied to them about the nature of the problem, they told them that it wasn't a big deal, or they accused the women of causing the problem themselves.'

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 altogether. 'I just love to tell stories where words are not enough to just say, where the emotion is too strong, and you have to sing,' he says. 'I think with songs from theatre, bluegrass, etcetera, there's a lot of emotion in the story.' 'That's why in my shows the gap between these genres are not as far apart as it seems on paper,' he adds. 'I'm grateful that I get a chance to crossover and sing such an eclectic mix.' And it's that eclectic mix that audiences can expect to hear when Karimloo joins The Avett Brothers' cellist Joe Kwon for a concert benefitting The Frankie Lemmon School and Development Center next month.

Any Stephen Sondheim musical is a lofty feat for even the most seasoned of performers. Sondheim's music is notable for its quick syncopated rhythms, timing and nuance, which is one reason Raleigh Little Theatre's Teens on Stage production of INTO THE WOODS is such an achievement. INTO THE WOODS tells the story of a childless baker and his wife who look to reverse their family curse by venturing into a mythical wood full of familiar fairytale creatures, including Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella. The Tony-Award winning musical opened on Broadway in 1987 and inspired the 2014 Disney film of the same name. Like the stage musical and film, Act I, reimagines beloved fairytales right up to the point of happily ever after, with Act II taking a grim look at what comes after. And it is in Act II that the Teens on Kids ensemble really shine with their renditions of 'Moments in the Woods,' 'No More,' 'No One is Alone,' and the finale.

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 make its regional premiere next month as part of The Women's Theatre Festival. ECLIPSED is about five women who are struggling to survive the second Liberian Civil War. Four of the women are the forced wives of the Commanding Officer and one is a peace worker. 'One of the things that really struck me about this play and looking at the second Liberian Civil War was that it was the work of women that led to the end of the conflict,' says Michele Okoh, director of the Women's Theatre Festival's production. 'Yes, these women are in a position where they are being subjugated and where they are struggling for survival, but that's a temporary condition, and they will be able to shine.'