Lauren Kennedy News

Tickets are now on sale for a one-night-only performance by Tony Award-winning performer Beth Leavel at Theatre Raleigh at 8 p.m. Feb. 10.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 19th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Raleigh Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 12th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Raleigh Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Raleigh Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

Set in Chinquapin, Louisiana during the late 1980s, Steel Magnolias takes place in Truvy's beauty salon where all the ladies who are 'anybody' come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle (who is not sure whether or not she is still married), the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to several of her friends.

From November 4th-13th, North Carolina Theatre will be launching their 2022-23 season with a production of Robert Harling's STEEL MAGNOLIAS at A.J. Fletcher Opera Theatre, which is located inside Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Actress Kathleen Garrett is taking on the role of Ouiser Boudreaux. She has most recently appeared as Laura Bush on the Showtime series, THE FIRST LADY, as well as Netflix's Emmy nominated miniseries, INVENTING ANNA. Next, she'll be seen on NCIS: LOS ANGELES. She has countless other screen credits which includes appearing on episodes of different TV shows such as HOME IMPROVEMENT, ER, MURDER, SHE WROTE, MURPHY BROWN, THE WEST WING, BEVERLY HILLS, 90210, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, LAW & ORDER, and many more. She's also appeared in Oscar nominated films such as 2007's AMERICAN GANGSTER directed by Ridley Soctt and 2020's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 directed by Aaron Sorkin. I had the great pleasure of interviewing her about a lot of this and more.

​​​​​​​Theatre Raleigh announces its 2023 main stage season, including such award-winning musicals as 'Jersey Boys,' and 'The Prom' and the world premiere of N.C. playwright Allan Maule's 'The Weight of Everything We Know.'

North Carolina Theatre has announce the full cast for its first production of the 2022-23 season, Steel Magnolias, by Robert Harling. Directed by Lauren Kennedy, performances run from November 4-November 13 at A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater at Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.

Continuing their 2022 Main Stage Season, Theatre Raleigh will present The Play That Goes Wrong, directed by Theatre Raleigh favorite Tim Seib, from September 14th through 25th.

You could still smell the new paint in the newly refurbished theater during the opening night of Theatre Raleigh’s CITY OF ANGELS. It’s fitting that director and choreographer Lauren Kennedy Brady was fulfilling a dream of bringing this production to life while also debuting the company’s new theater.

Theatre Raleigh is continuing their 2022 Main Stage Season with the well-loved musical, City of Angels. Leading this production are Adam Halpin as Stine, Adam Monley (Broadway: Tootsie, Les Misérables) as Stone and Megan McGinnis (Broadway: Little Women, Side Show, Les Misérables) as Donna/Oolie. City of Angels opens August 3rd.

Broadway performer Janine DiVita (Jagged Little Pill, If/Then) joins Patrick Oliver Jones, host of the award-winning theater podcast Why I'll Never Make It, onstage for an evening of conversation and song at The Green Room 42 on June 8. It's also a bit of a reunion for DiVita and Jones as they performed together back in 2019 for Theatre Raleigh's production of Bridges of Madison County, directed by Lauren Kennedy.

North Carolina Theatre, the region’s premiere nonprofit professional regional theatre, has announced their 2022-23 season sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield on stage at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh!

The Why I'll Never Make It podcast is going live again at The Green Room 42, this time with Broadway performers Joshua Morgan (Ain't Too Proud, LES MISERABLES) and Janine DiVita (Jagged Little Pit, If/Then).

What do Fiyero, Alfred P. Doolittle, and Carl Hanratty have in common? They were all played by one of the brightest stars of stage and screen, Norbert Leo Butz. He has created some of Broadway's most beloved characters, and now Butz is lending his talents to Give or Take- a new movie that is in theaters now and arrives on DVD & Digital on February 22, 2022.

After their incredible 2021 season, Theatre Raleigh is already gearing up for their 2022 season with the announcement of the Main Stage lineup.

This is the last chance to vote for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Raleigh Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Time is running out to vote for for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Raleigh Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Based on Colin Higgins' 1980 Academy Award nominated film of the same name, 9 to 5 follows three female coworkers in the late 1970s. Pushed to the boiling point, they team up to concoct a plan to get even with the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot they call their boss. In a hilarious turn of events, Violet, Judy, and Doralee live out their wildest fantasy - giving their boss the boot! While Franklin Hart remains 'otherwise engaged,' the women give their workplace a dream makeover, taking control of the company that had always kept them down.

From October 12th-17th, North Carolina Theatre will be presenting a production of 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, which is located inside Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The show features a book penned by Patricia Resnick, who was one of the screenwriters behind the original movie, and an original score written by Dolly Parton. North Carolina Theatre's production stars Sara Jean Ford as Judy Bernly (the Jane Fonda role), Lauren Kennedy, the Producing Artistic Director of Theatre Raleigh, as Violet Newstead (the Lily Tomlin role), and Ryah Nixon as Doralee Rhodes (the Dolly Parton role). Not to mention that Raleigh's own Ira David Wood III, the Artistic and Executive Director of Theatre in the Park, will be making a special appearance in the show as the Chairman of the Board. I recently had the great pleasure of interviewing actor Ben Davis, who will be taking on the role of Franklin Hart, Jr. Ben has previously appeared on Broadway in LES MISÉRABLES, LA BOHÈME (which earned him along with his fellow cast members a special Tony Award in 2003), THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, VIOLET, and DEAR EVAN HANSEN.