Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT at Belk Theater
by Perry Tannenbaum - November 29, 2024
While Marc Shaiman's score often sounds effortful in striving to make SOME LIKE IT HOT what it was in the first place—a musical with cherry-picked hits for Marilyn Monroe to sing—the book by Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin helps the story and its main characters diversify and evolve. Director Casey N...
Review: JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING at The Arts Factory
by Vickie Evans - November 12, 2024
JaJa's African Hair Braiding is a humorous depiction of West African immigrants. Even though it was funny, it also packed a powerful message of the challenge of deportation immigrants face....
Review: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY at Blumenthal Performing Arts
by Perry Tannenbaum - October 05, 2024
At Belk Theater, with a house twice as large as the venues where GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY played London and Broadway, the touring musical seems more like a distant mirage than a precious rolling stone by a dream team.The Belk's wretched sound further hamstrings Conor McPherson's book and Bob Dyla...
Review: BNS Productions Presents CLYDE'S
by Vickie Evans - September 17, 2024
This was my first time seeing any work by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Lynn Nottage. I was delighted at the storyline of 'Clyde's' and the wonderful direction and casting crafted by BNS Productions....
Review: SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA CHAMBER MUSIC at Dock Street Theatre
by Perry Tannenbaum - June 09, 2024
Wiancko is more about theming each of the 11 concerts in the chamber series, more about the Zen of each program. Nuttall was laid-back and West Coast in his attitude: If you want to applaud between movements, go right ahead. A couple of times, Wiancko took what seemed like a Far Eastern approach, re...
Review: THE JAZZ STYLIST OF THE 'INCOMPARABLE SAMARA JOY' at Belk Theater
by Vickie Evans - June 06, 2024
There are no adjectives that can effectively describe the level of greatness in which Samara Joy delivers the sounds of Jazz. She is phenomenal and an 'old soul' in a beautiful contemporary body. She is on the frontline of bringing jazz to a new generation of followers....