Perry Tannenbaum has been covering the performing arts across the Carolinas since 1987. He has also acted onstage in productions by Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, innovative Theatre, and Charlotte Repertory Theatre. Among the diverse artists he has interviewed, Tony Kushner, Beth Henley, John Guare, Maya Angelou, Dave Brubeck, Gary Burton, Joseph Papp, and Judith Jamison were the most memorable. Beside his regular coverage of the Charlotte performing arts scene for Creative Loafing and CVNC.org, Perry has been covering Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston for over 25 years and makes yearly pilgrimages to New York for his annual roundups of Broadway, Off-Broadway, opera, and jazz. His reviews, interviews, and features have appeared in American Record Guide, Backstage, Classical Voice North America, Dance International, Early Music America, JazzTimes, Stage Directions and TheaterMania.com.
June 15, 2019
You might think SHOW BOAT is impossibly quaint and politically incorrect. Well, it is, but an excellent CPCC Summer Theatre cast keeps the ol' boat afloat on 'Ol' Man River.'
June 7, 2019
Israeli filmmaker/director Amos Gitai has crafted a multimedia piece that hurls accusations at his countrymen - most fiercely in Hebrew rather than Arabic. It's a powerful indictment, even if it is a bit one-sided and inflammatory.
June 7, 2019
Getting over the seedy scenery and the pre-recorded orchestra, I found Theatre Charlotte's THE PRODUCERS more politically incorrect - and nearly as enjoyable - as the previous three times I've seen this Mel Brooks romp.
April 30, 2019
Charlotte Ballet's SPRING WORKS, with a surprise cameo from the Merce Cunningham centennial, is another varied and provocative display by the Queen City's preeminent performing arts troupe
April 16, 2019
Well-aware of the Peter Shaffer implications of programming MOZART'S REQUIEM with a Salieri symphony, Charlotte Symphony flipped the script, revealing a happy-go-lucky Salieri and a fearsome Mozart.
February 24, 2019
Although Tchaikovsky's SLEEPING BEAUTY suite was the headliner, Charlotte Symphony and guest conductor Joseph Young were far more convincing in American fare by Aaron Copland and Michael Daugherty.
February 7, 2019
The BNS production of JITNEY was quite a treat in late 2017, but this season's August Wilson offering, TWO TRAINS RUNNING, is even richer and more refined.
January 31, 2019
No amazing synthesis or revelation emerges in Charlotte Ballet's audacious SHAKESPEARE REINVENTED collaboration with UNC Charlotte, but the evening bristles with excitement and electricity, probably because the two imaginative choreographers didn't allow their academic partners to get inside their heads - or their art.
December 7, 2018
Joseph Robinette's adaptation of Jean Shepherd's beloved Yuletide story doesn't make all the right moves, but A CHRISTMAS STORY, THE MUSICAL will still warm your holiday spirit if you're patient with it.
December 6, 2018
Two wives grapple with the prospect of meeting their common old flame in Noel Coward's FALLEN ANGELS, a situation that played out very differently in 1925 than it does today.
November 14, 2018
THE DAFFODIL GIRLS, Jeff Swearingen's makeover of 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' transformed David Mamet's real estate shark tank into a Girl Scout Cookie drive. Now in a further mutation, Three Bone Theatre successfully produces this children's theatre hit with an all-adult cast.
November 6, 2018
Charlotte Symphony's celebration of Italy with music by Berio, Berlioz, Paganini, and Mendelssohn's ITALIAN SYMPHONY actually peaked with Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1, thanks to the spectacular virtuosity of Sergej Krylov.
November 2, 2018
After we're rid of the obligatory 'Memory,'CP's fond farewall to Pease Auditorium, THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT, is a lot of fun - but not a lot of music,
October 31, 2018
A less-than-imperial Tracy Lord picks up strength, energy, and enlightenment as THE PHILADELPHIA STORY chugs along at Theatre Charlotte, cresting in time for an affecting epiphany.
October 22, 2018
While nobody onstage reminded us exactly what we were celebrating, Charlotte Symphony's MUSIC FOR A ROYAL CELEBRATION, commemorating the Queen City's 250th anniversary, was a concert fit for a king.
October 17, 2018
With a company that mostly outclassed the replacement cast I saw on Broadway, the HAMILTON tour not only set off a ticketbuying frenzy across Charlotte, it fulfilled theatergoers' wildest expectations.
October 15, 2018
With three sailors on shore leave, a carnival of fantastics seeking to console a disconsolate janitor, and the oddest choreography for Bellini's 'Casta Diva' you'll ever see, FALL WORKS launched Charlotte Ballet's 2018-19 season with wit and style.
October 7, 2018
Charlotte Symphony has kicked off its 2018-19 season with an all-Beethoven program highlighted by the FIFTH SYMPHONY and a guest turn by pianist Garrick Ohlsson, adding an extra performance to meet anticipated. They're also meeting great expectations
October 6, 2018
At times BECKET looms before us like a vast Shakespearean tapestry and at others like a bloated two-hander, but this CPCC Theatre production plays well at Halton Theater, which is really good news as Pease Auditorium bites the dust.
October 3, 2018
MATILDA may be losing some of its appeal as a children's story, especially when Children's Theatre of Charlotte makes it more realistic than the national tour that came to town just two years ago.
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