Larisa Mount - Page 3

Hot Summer Nights | Theatre Raleigh's Urinetown is the latest resident of Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts's A. J. Fletcher Opera Theater. The 2001 musical comedy, written by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis, takes place during a decades-long drought which has caused water to be a precious commodity. The strain on resources leads to a world in which private toilets are no more, and the public must pay to use the restroom. Narrated by a policeman named Officer Lockstock, along with pigtailed Little Sally, Urinetown follows Bobby Strong, a public amenity employee who dares to ask, 'what if the law is wrong?' Seeing the plight of those around him as they struggle to come up with the funds to use the pay-per-pee toilets, Bobby starts a revolution by letting customers in for free and standing up to greedy businessman Caldwell B. Cladwell. During his journey, he meets the woman of his dreams, who happens to be Cladwell's daughter, Hope. Filled with playful musical theater references, political schemes, and plenty of heart, Urinetown is a success for Hot Summer Nights | Theatre Raleigh.

Two sets of parents talking about an incident on the playground. On the surface, it doesn't seem like a particularly enticing plot for a play. However, the particular parents in Hot Summer Nights | Theatre Raleigh's God of Carnage turn this conversation into real drama. The plot starts out simple enough: on the playground, Henry won't let Benjamin join his gang, so Benjamin hits Henry with a stick, knocking out two of his teeth (incisors, as his mother would be quick to point out). When Benjamin's parents, Alan and Annette Raleigh (played by Derrick Ivey and Julie Fishell), arrive at the home of Henry's parents, Veronica and Michael Novak (played by Dana Marks and Michael Tourek), things get complicated. The conversation includes topics of culpability, reparation, and parenting philosophy. To further complicate the matter, Alan is constantly answering his cell phone to discuss business matters, Annette and Veronica both battle extreme nausea, Michael's mother keeps calling, the Novaks are dealing with the recent demise of their daughter's pet hamster, and ultimately, everyone turns to liquor to ameliorate their woes.

On June 2, the best and brightest from area high schools gathered together at the 2013 Triangle Rising Star Awards, honoring the best in high school musical theater. Each of the 20 finalists were nominated based on performances in their schools' productions, and represented a diverse array of shows including The King and I, Godspell, and Grease, among others.

Recently, the theater company called the TEAM did some work in Chapel Hill, as part of a residency program with PlayMakers Repertory Company. According to their website, 'the TEAM is a New York City-based theatre company dedicated to dissecting and celebrating the experience of living in America today.' Founded in 2004, the TEAM writes collectively as a unit, separately from their individual careers in the arts. They met collaborator Taylor Mac in 2008. Some members of the TEAM spent a week in residence with PlayMakers Repertory Company, developing new work by collaborating with each other and experts among the faculty at UNC. In the two-to-four-year process of writing a show, the week they spent in residence at PlayMakers is step one. Their current work focuses on the themes of drive and discipline, based on the idea that in America, perhaps we have an abundance of drive and a deficiency of discipline.

Currently showing at Hot Summer Nights | Theatre Raleigh, the 1966 Musical I Do! I Do! Follows a married couple throughout the journey of their marriage, from their wedding night in their new home, to the day they move out of that home fifty years later. The couple, who comprise the entire cast, Agnes and Michael Snow, is played by real-life married couple Annie Floor and Erik Floor.

The lauded film-turned-hit-Broadway-musical Sister Act has come to town and is playing at the Durham Performing Arts Center. The show has everything from crime drama to nun choreography. It's fun for the whole family.

It's an old-fashioned musical - with a twist. NC Theatre's current production is the 2006 Broadway musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, subtitled, 'A Musical Within a Comedy.' The show's premise is that the narrator, named simply Man in Chair, guides the audience through his favorite show album (on vinyl, of course), the fictitious 1928 The Drowsy Chaperone. In a tongue-in-cheek look at the musical comedies of Broadway in the 1920s, the Man in Chair provides modern-day commentary on the things that make such shows at once laughable and wonderful. The show-within-the-show tells of a star, Janet Van Der Graaff, about to give up life on stage for marriage. Of course, no classic musical would be complete without its own off-the-wall subplots. The Drowsy Chaperone includes everything from a spit-take obsessed butler/hostess pair to pun-loving gangsters disguised as bakers, as well as Van Der Graaff's chaperone who has her own romantic entanglements with the hopelessly clumsy Adolfo. The premise is what makes this show work - the modern-day lens creates a show which is accessible without sacrificing on humor.

Durham just got a whole lot more glittery!

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 show about accepting yourself and others for their own brand of fabulous. I recently had the chance to speak with Wade McCollum, who plays Tick/Mitzi. I got the scoop on what it's like to perform in such a demanding show, how he prepared, and the ins and outs of his complex character.

The current production at Hot Summer Nights | Theatre Raleigh, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee follows a group of kids (played by adults) as they navigate the fiercely competitive pre-teen spelling circuit. As the young characters compete for the top prize (a trip to Washington, DC to compete in nationals), they deal with social pressures, family tension, rampant hormones, and more. Don't let the plaid jumpers and pink overalls fool you - though this show is about kids, it's certainly for adults. The writing provides a grown-up's perspective on the chaos of pre-adolescence as the contestants proclaim that life is 'Pandemonium.' Audience members get in on the action as well, as several volunteers become contestants in the bee. Folks who are game for anything and don't mind some good-natured humor aimed their way should absolutely try their hand at the bee.

Closing out the 2012-2013 season at PlayMakers Repertory Company is the world premeire of Spring Training, a commissioned work by UNIVERSES, as a part of their prc2 line-up. UNIVERSES is a group of performers who create original work using a blend of performance styles, including vocal percussion, spoken poetry, music, and prose (and much more) to create dynamic new theater. Spring Training was inspired by Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and deals with coming of age in America.

The cast is truly an ensemble, but as Algernon Moncrieff, Gus Allen anchors the play with poise and consistency. Though the British accents aren't perfect, the actors seem to enjoy their work, and that translates to the audience. Though written over 100 years ago, the acting and directing prove that Wilde's work is still comically relevant and makes an entirely enjoyable evening of theater.

Burning Coal Theatre Company's ambitious production of Ruined tells of the lives of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Amid a conflict which has no clearly defined 'good guys,' the women have little reprieve from the violence and well-established culture of sexual abuse. In a world where children are handed automatic weapons, no one is safe. The story follows Mama Nadi as she runs her own business, which is half bar and half brothel. Mama takes in women to work for her in the brothel, and it can be argued that the women are significantly safer there with Mama Nadi, since they cannot return to their villages and have no way of protecting themselves or earning income elsewhere. Making her own way as a single woman in war-torn Africa, Mama Nadi is rare. Three women who work for her, Josephine, Salima, and Sophie, are featured in the story. Mama takes a big risk by taking in Sophie, a girl who is 'ruined.' The meaning of 'ruined' is not explicitly evident, but it's clear that it devastatingly awful. Mama Nadi's is a somewhat neutral place, as men from both sides of the conflict patronize the establishment. Mama is no-nonsense, and maintains a strict 'leave your bullets at the bar' policy.

PlayMakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill is currently staging a production of Kander and Ebb's 1967 Tony Award-winning best musical Cabaret that is racy, dazzling, and thought-provoking. Starting and ending on two very different trains, and set largely in the Kit Kat Klub nightclub and in a boarding house, Cabaret features many characters of uncertain goals, ambiguous sexuality, and real heart, who are, whether they are willing to admit it or not, facing real danger with the rise of the Nazi Party looming. Though perhaps existing on society's fringe, the show is a real testament to the average German and their inability (or even refusal) to believe that something truly terrible could be brewing in their own nation. Interestingly enough, the story is largely told through the story of a Brit, Sally Bowles (played to perfection by Lisa Brescia), and an American, her lover Cliff Bradshaw (the undeniably charming John Dreher), as they provide a sort of outsider's perspective on how people reacted to the decline of Weimar Germany and the rise of Nazism. Hosted by the club's Emcee, played by Taylor Mac, the show goes from glitzy dance numbers to heartfelt ballads and back again as it navigates through one of the most tenuous times in the history of the Western world.

The Actors Comedy Lab and Raleigh Little Theatre present playwright Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still, a dark but hilarious tale of depression, grief, and escaped zoo animals. Presented in Raleigh Little Theatre's Gaddy Goodwin Teaching Theatre, Tigers Be Still is the simple enough story of a young woman, Sherry, trying to get her life back together as she starts her job as a middle school art teacher with a side gig as an art therapist. Oh, and it also happens that a tiger has escaped from the local zoo.

The theater scene in the Triangle is thriving, and a brand new theater company is jumping into the mix. There are so many wonderful voices bringing live theater to the area, and this one fits right in. Common Wealth Endeavors opened its debut season (which has been coined a 'beta test' of sorts) with the US premiere of young Canadian playwright Daniel Karasik's The Innocents.

The Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern is staging two pieces from the canon of the Theatre of the Absurd, both by Polish playwright S?awomir Mro?ek. Out at Sea and Striptease together create a night of theater titled derklownschpankeneffekt. Each of the two plays, approximately forty minutes apiece, is quite different. One features three men stuck on a raft far out to sea, and the other features two men (who may or may not be the same man, it's hard to tell) trapped in a room after encountering one another, at the mercy of a giant hand who wants their clothes.

The 2011 Tony Award-winning Best Revival has docked in Durham and brings honest-to-goodness Broadway talent to the Triangle. Anything Goes is tap dancing its way into the hearts of audiences who are eager to see a traditional musical get new life.

One-actor shows are such a specific kind of challenge - how does one actor keep up the momentum? How does one actor keep the show lively and engaging? How does one actor memorize over an hour and a half of text? I certainly don't know the answers to any of those questions, but luckily actor Jesse R. Gephart and director Dana Marks have got it all figured out.

PlayMakers Repertory Company is unafraid to tackle big issues, issues that are polarizing, issues which make audiences uncomfortable. The magic of PlayMakers is their ability to tackle those issues while showing their respect for the intelligence of the audience and trusting audiences to understand the value of taking risks in the theater. This has never been so true as with Clybourne Park.