Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Company Carolina The ArtsCenter Closes Feb. 3 Recently revived by a film starring Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd is a wondrous tale of grotesque, soul-sucking revenge. Company Carolina’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical, while admirably ambitious in scope, falls short of adding any unique prints to the […]
Megan Stein
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Local pro wrestler’s toughest foe may be fellow Tar Heel Vince McMahon
On the rainy Sunday evening before New Year’s Eve, tucked away in Raleigh’s RBC Center arena, an estimated 5,000 rollicking, patriotic, oft-conservative lovers of professional wrestling sit with their cameras accessible and overpriced beer cups steady. Holding signs that read “FU,” “You Suck,” “Woooooo” and “Hooooooo,” the fans quiet as the lights dim, eager to […]
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A special King service in Oxford
It is 10:30 in the morning on the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, and a special service in his honor is a-brewing at the First Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C. Early arrivals tread the worn concrete steps into the small church. Older ladies settle into the discomfort of their church pews in style, […]
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Would you like tithes with that?
Three years ago at Christian Assembly Church’s “Drive-Thru Christmas,” a young boy wanted to meet Jesus Christ so badly that he jumped out of his parents’ car during the last scene and ran up to the actor portraying Jesus. He then joined the children onstage while Jesus hugged them in front of a mural of […]
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Cinderella; The Santaland Diaries
Cinderella Raleigh Little Theatre, A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater, Progress Energy Center, Raleigh Through Dec. 16; www.raleighlittletheatre.org Raleigh Little Theatre’s annual Christmas-time production of Cinderella began as homage to English holiday tradition, according to director and RLT artistic director Haskell Fitz-Simons. Now in its 24th year, the elaborate musical has become a local tradition as well. […]
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A Shoe for Your Foot; Urinetown: The Musical
A Shoe for Your Foot Paperhand Puppet Intervention Through Sept. 3 at UNC-CH’s Forest Theatre, Sept. 7-8 at N.C. Museum of Art Paperhand Puppet Intervention’s newest show, A Shoe for Your Foot, upholds the group’s idealistic and creative vision by seeking simplicity in an otherwise chaotic and complex world. In the program notes, co-creator Donovan […]
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Urinetown: The Musical; Transactors Improv Co. on tour
Urinetown: The Musical Raleigh Little Theatre Through Aug. 26 The crowning achievement of Raleigh Little Theatre’s production of Urinetown: The Musical is its unflagging playfulness. Filled with satirical dialogue, Urinetown‘s cleverness is a part of its fun. Set in a Gotham-esque town sometime after a fictional period known as “The Stink Years,” the musical comedy […]
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The Eternal Tamiris
This week’s Past/Forward performance featured a reconstruction of Laura Dean’s Sky Light (done by Rodger Belman) and the world premiere of Rudy Perez’s I Like a View But I Like to Sit With My Back to It. Sky Light was a ritualistic party set entirely to drumming, and Perez’s piece was like watching a flock […]
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Chess: The Musical
Chess: The Musical North Carolina Theatre Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh Through July 22 “I don’t know why I can’t think of anything I would rather do than be wasting my time with someone like you.” By the time Florence (Carrie A. Johnson) and Anatoly (Aaron Ramey), the star-crossed lovers of Chess, sing their tentative vows of […]
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Argentine Identities
Though the Argentine Festival’s last three pieces, Llueve, Plano Difuso, and The Stab were seemingly unconnected, each subtly revealed the inner workings of the personas on stage, collectively creating a multi-faceted approach to the meaning of identity. The first piece, Llueve, was a collage of intimacies, as if different impressions in the three dancers’ memories […]