Raleigh Interviews - Page 3

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...

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 altoge...

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 m...

Christina Rosetti's poem 'The Goblin Market,' explores the themes of temptation, sacrifice, and the loss of innocence and has been the subject of varied interpretations and creative adaptations ever since its publication in 1862. One such adaptation is a musical version by Polly Pen and Peggy Har...

In the past, immersive theater productions were something seen in bigger cities. But now, Seed Art Share has brought immersive 'shared art' experiences to the Triangle. Next month, the company is presenting William Gibson's classic play THE MIRACLE WORKER at The Borden House in Fletcher Park. I had ...

Mya Ison is still beaming after spending a week in New York for The Jimmy Awards, the National High School Musical Theatre Awards that celebrate the best in high school musical talent. Ison's journey to The Jimmy Awards started at The Durham Performing Arts Center last May when she and Sterling Jone...

PIPPIN is the story of a young prince trying to find the meaning of life. Pippin's struggle to find out where he fits into the world is not unlike the 38 middle school and high school students performing in North Carolina Theatre Conservatory's production, which opens July 6th at the A.J. Fletcher O...

This week, Lea Michele hits the road for the second leg of her LM/DC tour with "Glee" co-star Darren Criss. The duo is scheduled to play the Durham Performing Arts Center on June 30th, and Michele says audiences can expect a fantastic show full of surprises. "Obviosly we sing some of our most popula...

It's been a busy week for Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth. First, she hosted the Banff World Media Festival's Rockie Awards, where she ingeniously sang 'Bring Him Home' accompanied by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman of NBC. Then she hosted the Kristin Chenoweth Broadway ...

This week, The Women's Theatre Festival opens its third season, Women Are Heroes, with Sheila Callaghan's Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake). 'I think it is one of the hardest plays I've ever worked on in terms of how to describe it to an outsider,' says Director Kayla M. Kaufman, who is ma...

Can't wait for Hamilton to come to Durham next fall? This weekend, Raleigh theater lovers can enjoy the music of Hamilton at Burning Coal Theatre's songfest, Hamiltunes. Burning Coal's Artistic Director Jerome Davis sat down with me to discuss Hamiltunes, Oakwood history, and the theatre's upcoming ...

Timothy Tyson's book, BLOOD DONE SIGN MY NAME, chronicles his family's journey living in Oxford, NC in 1970, just after Henry 'Dickie' Marrow, an African American Army vet, was shot, beaten, and killed by three white men. Raleigh Little Theatre's Artistic Director Patrick Torres says he hopes the wo...

Robert Askins' Tony Award nominated play Hand to God is about a puppet ministry in Texas that goes awry when a sock puppet wreaks havoc on the church, the pastor, and the other kids. Billed for mature audiences only, Ira David Wood IV says the irreverent Hand to God is one of those plays that walks ...

This week, North Carolina Theatre pays tribute to Janis Joplin and her influences by bringing Randy Johnson's 2014 Tony Award nominated A Night with Janis Joplin to the AJ Fletcher Opera House. Johnson not only wrote and directed the Broadway musical, but he is also directing the North Carolina Thea...

COLIN CLOUD considers himself more Sherlock Holmes than DAVID COPPERFIELD. Still, he says he is incredibly honored to be part of the cast of The Illusionists Live From Broadway coming to The Durham Performing Arts Center in May. 'The caliber of magicians that this show has, I am excluding myself her...

Mike McLean leads the national tour of THE SOUND OF MUSIC back to Durham April 20. McLean says the production is bigger and more beautiful than ever....

Lauren Kennedy started her career at the North Carolina Theatre, having performed in many of their productions since she was 7 years old. She went on to appear on Broadway in Sunset Boulevard (original cast), Side Show (original cast), Les Miserables (Fantine), and Monty Python's Spamalot (The Lady ...

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Coming to the Garner Performing Arts Center on November 12th as part of their Broadway Voices series is Three-Time Tony Nominee Rebecca Luker. I was recently able to get in touch with Luker via email, so today, you shall be reading our conversation....

Coming back to the Durham Performing Arts Center from February 16th-March 20th is the Tony Award winning Broadway musical, THE LION KING! Featuring Ben Lipitz in the role of Pumbaa, a role originated on screen by Ernie Sabella and on Broadway by Tom Alan Robbins....

BWW TV: Jeff Hobson of THE ILLUSIONISTS National Tour...

The circus is coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from May 12th-17th in the form of the national touring production of the Tony Award-Winning revival of Pippin! In this national tour happens to be John Rubinstein, who originated the title role in the orginal Broadway production back in 1972....

Working Its Way Back to the Durham Performing Arts Center from April 7th-12th is the national touring production of the long-running Tony and Grammy Award-Winning smash, Jersey Boys featuring Matthew Dailey as Tommy DeVito, a role originated on Broadway by Tony Award-Winner Christian Hoff....

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from March 10th-15th is the national touring production of the Tony Award-Winning hit Broadway musical Kinky Boots starring North Carolina native J. Harrison Ghee as Lola, a role originated on Broadway by Tony Award-Winner Billy Porter....

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from February 17th-22th is the national touring production of Motown: The Musical featuring Reed Shannon in the roles of Young Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson....

Returning to the Durham Performing Arts Center from January 7th-25th is the national touring production of Broadway's smash hit musical Wicked featuring Emily Behny in the role of Nessarose, a role originated on Broadway by Michelle Frederer....

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from December 9th-14th the new national touring production of Annie features Gilgamesh Taggett in the iconic role of Oliver 'Daddy' Warbucks....

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from November 18th-23rd is the national touring production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella features Andy Jones in the role of Prince Topher, a role originated on Broadway by Tony Nominee Santino Fontana....

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from October 8th-19th is the brand new national touring production of the long-running hit, 'The Phantom of the Opera', featuring Broadway veteran Linda Balgord in the role of Madame Giry...

Coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center from September 16th-21st, the national touring production of 'Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage' based on the 1987 classic of the same name features actor Jesse Liebman as Neil Kellerman, a role created on screen by acclaimed theatre director, Lonn...

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J Hernandez never really expected to become a professional actor. 'Personally, I didn't think I was very good at it,' he laughs. Fortunately, others disagreed. Tonight, he opens in FROST/NIXON at New City Stage in Philadelphia. For Hernandez, who specializes in classical theatre, it marks a signific...

Get your tissues handy, Triangle - Ghost the Musical is coming to town next week. Based on the iconic 1990 film of the same name, Ghost tells the story of Sam, a murdered man whose ghost makes contact with an otherwise fraudulent medium in hopes of reconnecting with the love of his life, Molly. In a...

Spring Awakening opens this weekend at Raleigh Little Theater. I recently sat down with the director, Glen Matthews, and cast members Kate Brittain (Thea), Adam Keller (Melchior), Nicholas Polonio (Moritz), and Brishelle Miller (Wendla), to talk about the show. They shared with me about how the cast...

Beauty and the Beast may have first appeared on Broadway almost 20 years ago, in 1994, but the show is alive and well. Newly re-imagined, the current US national touring company will be making its way to Durham for an engagement from October 8 - 13. In preparation for the show's arrival in the trian...

I sat down with Ray Kennedy, long time director/choreographer for Opera House Theater Company at the Oklahoma! wrap party on a warm Sunday afternoon in a saloon-like venue in Historic Downtown Wilmington, NC. A sense of graceful accomplishment sounded clearly in his sigh as we began to chat. Ray Ken...

Durham is about to get Blue! The Blue Man Group comes to town this Thursday. In anticipation of their arrival, I chatted with Blue Man Mike Brown about exactly what Blue Men do, what it takes to be a Blue Man, and what audiences can expect when they see a Blue Man Group show....

Get out your most sparkly shoes, because Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is headed for Durham. This glitzy show follows drag queens through the Australian outback on a bus named, of course, Priscilla. The big production numbers are paralleled only by the heart of the storyline. Ultimately, it's a sho...

Opening exactly 56 years to the date of the actual event, Million Dollar Quartet is coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center this week. On Tuesday, December 4, 1956, four music icons came together for a jam session. Those four - Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis - an...

The national tour of the Tony Award-winning best musical Jersey Boys is starting an engagement at the Durham Performing Arts Center on October 30th. To commemorate the occasion, it was my honor to interview the show's book writer Rick Elice to find out more about this show which has become an inte...