Raleigh Interviews - Page 3

Denis Grindel says he's always been a performer.  After all, he's Irish. It's in his blood. 'I love telling stories,' says Grindel. 'It's a big part of my culture.' 'You grow up hearing stories and legends and song, it's a big part of what being Irish is,' he adds. 'So, it was a natural for me...

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 ext...

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...

From October 16th-21st, North Carolina Theatre will be opening their 2018-19 season with a production of Lin-Manuel Miranda & Quiara Alegria Hudes' 2008 award-winning musical, In the Heights, at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. I was recently able to get in touch with two of the cast members, Genny ...

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 Broad...

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...

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 ...

...

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...

...

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...