DREAMGIRLS, SUNSET BOULEVARD & More Announced for North Carolina Theatre 2022-23 Season

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! Opening in November, this season includes shows that connect to the hopes, challenges, and ambitions of the region and embody the season's theme: Women. Together. Survive. Thrive.

"This season NCT proudly honors the strength, endurance, and prosperity of women. Our selections showcase incredible female characters exploring themes of sisterhood, spirituality, love, and success. Through laughter and heartache, these shows personify the resilience and power of women. What an amazing season to share with all!" said Eric Woodall, Producing Artistic Director.

North Carolina Theatre's five show season features female leads that inspire as they move through the stories on our stage. In November, the season starts with laughing and learning in Truvy's beauty salon in STEEL MAGNOLIAS. Next, experience glamour, greed and grit as women take the power in the music business with the musical styles of gospel, R&B, smooth pop, disco and more in DREAMGIRLS. From page, to screen, to the stage comes the award-winning THE COLOR PURPLE will take center stage in A.J. Fletcher Auditorium where friendship provides strength in Celie's challenging life journey. Flying back to the NCT stage under her umbrella is MARY POPPINS, who unites a family through love and care. Finally, in October North Carolina Theatre takes you for your close-up with Norma Desmond as she grasps to reclaim fame from the shadows of SUNSET BOULEVARD.

North Carolina Theatre's 2022/23 Season artwork is by Raleigh artist, Andie Freeman.

"We are so grateful to have been able to move forward through this difficult time with the support of our community. Our 22-23 season hopes to honor this generosity with shows that connect to our region's hopes, challenges, and dreams, examined through the complex lens of women," said President & CEO, Elizabeth Doran. "Women - so powerfully impacted in this dynamic time - are experiencing and leading massive change in the world today. These stories of our 22-23 season allow women to lead us into the heart of what it takes for all of us to survive and thrive - together."

2022-23 Season Overview

STEEL MAGNOLIAS

(November 4-13, 2022, | A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater) "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion." Set in the fictional Louisiana parish of Chinquapin, the women who regularly gather in Truvy's beauty parlor are, as the title suggests, as delicate as magnolias but as tough as steel. Filled with hilarious repartee and verbal lacerations, the play deepens when the spunky Shelby (who is diabetic) contradicts her doctor's advice and risks pregnancy. Based on true family events of playwright Robert Harling, the play exemplifies the universal and unconditional strengths of sisterhood, resilience, and love.

DREAMGIRLS

(February 7-12, 2023, | Raleigh Memorial Auditorium) Dreamgirls transports us to a time in musical history when rhythm and blues blended with other styles of popular music to create a new American sound. Spanning from gospel, R&B, and smooth pop to the arrival of disco, this musical mirrors the glamorous and electrifying rise of groups like The Supremes, The Marvelettes, The Temptations and The Shirelles. Through exploring themes of ambition, hope and betrayal, Dreamgirls reveals the behind-the-scenes reality of the competitive entertainment industry, and how women not only survived but redefined the phenomenal "dream." Dreamgirls was the winner of six Tony Awards, including Jennifer Holliday for Best Actress, and winner of the Academy Award for Jennifer Hudson.

THE COLOR PURPLE

(April 25 - May 7, 2023, | A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater) This musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (and the popular Steven Spielberg film) spotlights Celie, a downtrodden young woman whose personal awakening over the course of forty years forms the arc of an epic story of the gift of courage summoned by friendship. With a joyous score featuring jazz, ragtime, gospel, African music and blues, The Color Purple is a celebration of life. It is a story of hope and a spirt-filled testament to the healing power of love, endurance and female solidarity. The Color Purple was the winner of Tony Awards in both 2006 and 2015, including Best Revival and Best Actress for LaChanze and Cynthia Errivo, respectively.

Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's MARY POPPINS

(July 25-30, 2023, | Raleigh Memorial Auditorium) This magical musical is based on the Mary Poppins children's books by P. L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film. It is a fusion of various elements from both, including beloved songs from the film. This musical is an enchanting mixture of an irresistible story, unforgettable songs, breathtaking dance numbers and astonishing stagecraft! In this production Mary Poppins flies into 1910 England to attend to the troubled Banks family. Using a combination of magic, games and common sense, she teaches the family members how to value each other again. Mary Poppins takes the children on many supercalifragilisticexpialidocious adventures, but Jane and Michael aren't the only ones upon whom she has a profound effect. Even grown-ups can learn a lesson or two from the nanny who advises that "anything can happen if you let it."

Andrew Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD

(October 10-15, 2023, | Raleigh Memorial Auditorium) In her mansion on Sunset Boulevard, faded silent-screen goddess Norma Desmond lives in a fantasy world. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her return to the big screen. Being "aged out" of Hollywood, Norma teeters in between the past and the present, retracting into her own reality to keep her fame, passion and purpose alive. Persuaded to work on Norma's "masterpiece," Joe is seduced by her and her luxurious lifestyle and becomes dangerously entrapped in a claustrophobic existence until his love for another woman leads him to try and break free. Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony Award-winning masterwork of dreams and desire in Hollywood includes the lush, swelling standards "With One Look," and "As If We Never Said Goodbye." Starring Raleigh's own Lauren Kennedy, in the show that gave her Broadway debut.

For more information visit: https://nctheatre.com/

Watch the season announcement video below!