THIS WEEKEND! The Central Piedmont Drama Club presents “Will and Whimsy: Sixteen Dramatically Illustrated Sonnets of Shakespeare”!

Shakespeare isn’t meant to be read. He’s meant to be performed! If you’ve never been able to understand a word of Shakespeare, let the Central Piedmont Drama Club be your translators! Modern scenes play hand in hand with the original text making the sonnets come alive!
“Will and Whimsy: Sixteen Dramatically Illustrated Sonnets of Shakespeare” is free to attend and appropriate for audiences of all ages.
Come see our student stars shine in the new Parr Center Theater on July 14 & 15 at 7:30 p.m. and July 16 at 2:30 p.m.

The students of the Central Piedmont Drama Department cordially invite you to attend a special performance of “The Clearing” by Jennifer Reif next weekend at the Levine  Campus’ Georgia Tucker Fine Arts Hall. Come on out to one of these FREE  Performances and cheer on our aspiring performers!

Click on the image below for more information.

Broadway World Review of Music of the Night at CPCC Theatre

https://www.broadwayworld.com/charlotte/article/BWW-Review-Like-Panoramic-Pease-MUSIC-OF-THE-NIGHT-Was-Fun-While-It-Lasted-20181102?fbclid=IwAR3_EV3xe2UnKfyalKVLtSYUhi6UB5kznsxloMefVADdEXd5VR4mwgtCRa4

One final performance Sunday 11/4 at 2:30pm in Pease Auditorium. Check online at tix.cpcc.edu for tickets.

 

 

Congrats to CPCC Theatre and Summer Theatre Nominees for Broadway World Charlotte Theatre Awards 2017

We want to congratulate all of our students, faculty and staff who have been nominated for the 2017 Broadway World Charlotte Theatre Awards. Follow this link https://www.broadwayworld.com/charlotte/liveupdate2017region.cfm?btype=1766&region=Charlotte#sthash.oMcXr1BW.h8h2Mnr8.dpbs to vote for your favorites from this past year.

Best Scene Design (local)

James Duke The Bridges of Madison County

Gary Sivak Fiddler on the Roof

Bob Croghan Mamma Mia

Biff Edge A Comedy of Tenors

Best Actor Play Drama (local)

Brian Logsdon Pride & Prejudice

Hank West Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Jonavan Adams Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Tom Scott Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Actor Play Comedy (local)

Craig Estep A Comedy of Tenors

Gabe Saienni A Comedy of Tenors

James K. Flynn A Comedy of Tenors

Josh Logsdon A Comedy of Errors

Winston Sims A Comedy of Tenors

Best Actor Musical (local)

Beau Stroup Fiddler on the Roof

Billy Ensley Ragtime

Carson Palmer A Chorus Line

Dakota Mullins James and the Giant Peach

Gabe Saienni The Bridges of Madison County

J. Michael Beech Mamma Mia

Jeffrey Keller Mamma Mia

Johnny Hohenstein Fiddler on the Roof and Ragtime

Josh Logsdon Fiddler on the Roof and Ragtime

Matthew Schulman Fiddler on the Roof

Patrick Ratchford Mamma Mia and Ragtime

Ryan Deal The Bridges of Madison County

Tony Wright A Chorus Line

Tyler Dema A Chorus Line

Tyler Smith Ragtime

Best Actress Drama (local)

Shar Marlin Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Best Actress Comedy (local)

Amanda Becker A Comedy of Tenors

Caroline Renfro A Comedy of Tenors

Taffy Allen A Comedy of Tenors

Best Actress Musical (local)

Annabel Lamm Ragtime

Bailey Rose A Chorus Line  and Mamma Mia

Brittany Harrington Ragtime

Eleni Demos A Chorus Line

Haley Vogel Fiddler on the Roof

Kathryn Stamos Mamma Mia

Lexie Wolfe A Chorus Line

Lucia Stetson  Ragtime

Meredith Fox A Chorus Line

Morgan Wakefield Fiddler on the Roof

Sarah Henkel The Bridges of Madison County

Sophie Lamm Fiddler on the Roof

Susannah Upchurch Fiddler on the Roof and A Chorus Line

Taffy Allen The Bridges of Madison County

Best Director Play (local)

Cary Kuglar A Comedy of Tenors

Corlis Hayes Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Heather Wilson Pride & Prejudice

Best Director Musical (local)

Cary Kuglar The Bridges of Madison County

Todf Kubo A Chorus Line

Tom Hollis Fiddler on the Roof, Mamma Mia and Ragtime

Best Music Director Play or Musical (local)

Amy Boger Morris The Bridges of Madison County

Craig Estep The Bridges of Madison County

Drina Keen A Chorus Line, Fiddler on the Roof, Mamma Mia and Ragtime

Jean Colghan Phillips James and the Giant Peach

Best Choreographer (local)

Ron Chisholm Fiddler on the Roof, Mamma Mia and Ragtime

Tod Kubo A Chorus Line

Best Play (local)

A Comedy of Tenors

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Pride & Prejudice

Best Musical (local)

A Chorus Line

Fiddler on the Roof

James and the Giant Peach

Mamma Mia

Ragtime

The Bridges of Madison County

Best Costumer (local)

Barbi VanShaick A Chorus Line and Fiddler on the Roof

Bob Croghan Mamma Mia

Jamey Varnadore ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Ragtime

Rachel Hines A Comedy of Tenors

Best Lighting Design (local)

Gary Sivak A Chorus Line and Mamma Mia

James Duke Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Jeff Childs The Bridges of Madison County

Jennifer O’Kelly Ragtime

Sarah Ackerman A Comedy of Tenors

Best Sound Design (local)

Stephen Lancaster A Comedy of Tenors, A Chorus Line, Fiddler on the Roof, ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mamma Mia, Ragtime, The Bridges of Madison County

 

 

 

 

CPCC Theatre Receives Three Nods from Creative Loafing’s Best of Charlotte Awards-Critics Picks

Creative Loafing announced their Best of Charlotte awards in the issue hitting newsstands today. Congrats to all involved in garnering these awards from Creative Loafing this year. The hard work of the students, faculty and staff is evident in all that they do. Onward and upward!

 

Best Musical – ‘Ragtime’

Folks who confine their diet of musicals in Charlotte to touring productions at the Performing Arts Center are missing out big time on the locally produced blockbusters playing out at smaller venues around town. Actor’s Theatre, Children’s Theatre and Theatre Charlotte all astonished with excellent productions this year. Maybe it was sheer luck, but Central Piedmont Community College’s wintertime production of Ragtime was the most timely of the year, underscoring the sad fact that institutional racism, police brutality and prejudice against immigrants aren’t quaint relics of the Jazz Age. As the martyred Coalhouse Walker, Tyler Smith’s impassioned “We are all Coalhouse!” reverberated through a city in turmoil.

 Best Drama – ‘Jitney’

As Charlotte was fully wakening to how badly we have neglected and mistreatedour underclass, theatergoers may finally have been zonked by the realization that our city is exceptionally rife with African-American acting and directing talent. Kim Parati made an auspicious directorial debut at Theatre Charlotte with a freshened-up Raisin in the Sun, but this was a vintage year for August Wilson — in two dramas directed by Corlis Hayes, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at CPCC and Brand New Sheriff’s Jitney at Spirit Square. Hayes brought out the best in John W. Price and Jermaine Gamble as the father-son antagonists in Jitney, with Gerard Hazelton adding a mix of comedy and poignancy as the gypsy cab company’s resident lush. Move over OnQ Productions, there’s a brand new black theater company in town.

Best Actress – Shar Marlin

The field of contenders is larger among the ladies, but the roles were more thinly distributed, eliminating productivity as a decisive criterion. But which other benchmark should override all others? We’re turning to Shar Marlin for her sheer power and imperial dominance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a dramatic stunner that also showed Marlin’s blues-singing chops. Dignity in the face of exploitation and discrimination. Diva!

Here is the link to all of the awards announced. https://clclt.com/charlotte/BestOf?category=2168599&year=2017

Comedy of Tenors Has Plenty of Doors and Plenty of Farce – CVNC.org Review

THROUGH 7/9: CPCC’s Comedy of Tenors Has Plenty of Doors and Plenty of Farce

Event  Information

Charlotte — Wed., Jul. 5, 2017 at 7:00 PM ( Fri., Jun. 30, 2017 – Sun., Jul. 9, 2017 )

Central Piedmont Community College: A Comedy of Tenors
$22-$18; Children $10 — Pease Auditorium, CPCC , (704) 330-6534 , http://www.facebook.com/cpccarts

June 30, 2017 – Charlotte, NC:

 

Ken Ludwig has written over 20 plays and musicals over the past quarter of a century, nine of which have now been presented in Charlotte. While the books for his two Gershwin musicals, Crazy for You and An American in Paris, display his craftsmanship, Ludwig’s most enduring comedy is undoubtedly his first Broadway hit, Lend Me a Tenor. First produced in 1989, Tenor was converted to a London musical in 2011, after a Broadway revival the previous season. So why shouldn’t the playwright entertain the notion of recycling his Tenor characters into a sequel? The idea evidently seems so natural to Central Piedmont Community College Summer Theatre, an organization that rarely produces a musical or a comedy that isn’t at least a decade old, that it has brought A Comedy of Tenors to Pease Auditorium less than two years after it premiered in Cleveland.

Ludwig brings back the arrogant and flamboyant Italian tenor Tito Merelli and his wife, Maria, both highly passionate and usually squabbling. Impresario Henry Saunders, formerly the GM of the Cleveland Grand Opera, is now bringing the greatest concert in the history of opera to Paris, still as nervous, domineering, and hot-tempered as before. Saunders is provoked, but it isn’t by his son-in-law and former assistant, Max, whose singing prowess was discovered in Cleveland a farce ago. Max is now on the bill as one of the four tenors who will wow Paris, but his father-in-law feels free to yank him out of rehearsals anyway to deal with the crisis du jour.

Fresh blood stirs up the fresh complications and misunderstandings. Back in Cleveland, it was Saunders’ daughter who was the victim of mistaken identities. Now she’s back in Cleveland, married to Max, and on the verge of delivering his first child. Instead, it’s Tito’s daughter, Mimi, who is our ingénue, embarking on a similar path of confusion. She’s in love with the third tenor on the bill, Carlo, but they haven’t yet summoned the nerve to divulge their marriage plans to her parents. In the hurly-burly of evading discovery by the Merellis, Carlo tells Maria of his plans to marry her daughter, but the eavesdropping Tito gets a vivid impression that his wife has become Carlo’s sex slave. On the flipside of this specious reason for jealousy, a real one happens to be in town, Russian soprano Tatiana Racon, Tito’s old flame. Almost forgot: on the day of the performance, the fourth tenor, Jussi Björling, cancels to attend his mother’s funeral. They will need to replace him.

Besides the repeating characters, the hotel suite setting, performer dropouts, and the last-minute frenzy of preparing to go onstage, there are other holdover motifs that link Ludwig’s Tenor farces. Both of them have pesky bellhops, both have fast-forward mash-ups of the entire show before the final bows, and whether your access route is Shakespeare or Verdi, there are comical uses of Othello to watch out for in both pieces – more subtly done in this newer farce. Under the direction of Carey Kugler, that’s about all the subtlety you will find, for the script offers an abundance of physical comedy. Slapping, frantic hiding, broad suggestions of sexual activity, and a plateful of tongue are all on the menu. There is scurrying galore during the countdown to the concert, and Biff Edge’s scenic design provides four doors plus a patio looking out on the outdoors for farcical entrances and exits.

This is 1936, so Ludwig could easily be forgiven for making his operatic saga all about the men. Yet, the women aren’t altogether objectified, and they certainly aren’t marginalized. The Russian temptress Racon can carry herself like an established diva, and we sense that Mimi isn’t destined to be a hausfrau either, since she is embarking on a movie career – a happenstance that enables costume designer Rachel Hines to expand the fashion gallery beyond eveningwear, formalwear, and lingerie. Nor is Maria, Ludwig’s Desdemona, the same pure and worshipful seraph we find in Shakespeare. In addition to the vamping, it’s the women who have the lionesses’ share of the slapping and straddling.

Drugged and suicidal in the previous Lend Me a Tenor, Tito emerges as our hero in the sequel, supplanting Max. Surely this is Craig Estep‘s finest hour in straight comedy as Tito and his lookalike, the pathologically talkative bellhop, though a couple of provisos might be added. First, he does sing here, since the three tenors are destined to rehearse the “Libiamo!” from La Traviata, and Estep’s previous hookup with James K. Flynn in Monty Python’s Spamalot was certainly a CPCC Summer Theatre gem in 2013. Flynn could have been eyeing the Tito role for himself, yet he’s perfectly cast as Saunders, just sympathetic enough in panic mode to prevent us from finding him loathsome in his overbearing moments. Winston Smith doesn’t have as much to do as Max as he would have had in Lend Me, but when it came time to sing the trio, he proved capable of holding his own with Estep. As it turns out, Max isn’t in total eclipse. Eventually, he’s the one who untangles all the twists that Ludwig has put in the plot. Gabe Saienni got far more of a workout as Carlo, hiding from his future in-laws and fleeing from Tito’s deluded jealousy, so he had to sustain his terror of Tito while remaining worthy of Mimi’s love. The only real problem in Saienni’s performance was in the trio, where he was vocally a weak link.

If I could have heard them better, I would probably find myself saying that Taffy Allen as Maria and Amanda Becker as Mimi were marvelous. Loudness wasn’t the issue. I’m leaning toward my wife Sue’s theory on Allen: the thickness of her Italian accent was probably the main barrier between Maria and me. Allen has crossed over into midlife just enough to make her credible as Tito’s wife, and her aggressive attempts to reconcile with her husband were even funnier than her previous fawning on Carlo. Deep into Act II, when sexual activity runs rampant, Allen got a chance to be jealous that she definitely didn’t waste. Becker’s audibility problems seemed to stem from a rush to adhere to Kugler’s snappy pacing. But I found her attitude delectable, both as a daughter and future bride, and her jealousy, punctuated by right-handed and left-handed slaps, could hardly have been better when Mimi suspected Carlo of carrying on with her mom.

Caroline Renfro didn’t enter the fray as Racon until Act II, but it was pretty funny when she did, since the glamorous diva instantly devoured the incredulous bellhop with her pent-up passion, mistaking him for Tito. Old flame or not, Renfro had the moves and the looks to make that old flame new. Still in a generous mood, Racon agrees to add her soprano voice to the concert, presumably because the bellhop will be a new-made star after it’s over. I’m not sure that this extra episode was as savvy as the rest of Ludwig’s script, since it required a pair of hurried scene changes. At Pease Auditorium, this final segment literally hit a snag when the curtain that had been drawn over the hotel suite to simulate the backstage scene at the opera house got stuck before we reverted to the hotel for the fast-forward rehash of the entire play. When frantic actors and stagehands finally freed to curtain so it could slide back into the wings, the audience burst into applause. More laughter ensued as Kugler’s recap, even faster than the pace that had previously prevailed, was tossed off with an overacted style truly befitting a silent film.

A Comedy of Tenors continues through Sunday, July 9

Creative Loafing Previews CPCC Theatre’s Ragtime

Follow the link to Charlotte’s Creative Loafing’s preview of CPCC Theatre’s Ragtime opening Friday February 10th in the Dale F. Halton Theater. http://clclt.com/charlotte/us-reset-brings-new-relevance-to-el-doctorows-ragtime/Content?oid=3824984

Get your tickets at the SunTrust box office 704-330-6534 or online at tix.cpcc.edu 24/7.

Creative Loafing Review of CPCC Theatre’s Pride & Prejudice

“Jon Jory is best known as the artistic director who brought renown to the Humana Festival and the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville — and widely believed to have penned Keely and Du, Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, and Anton in Show Business under the penname of Jane Martin. When it comes to adapting Jane Austen, whose Pride and Prejudice is currently on view at Pease Auditorium in a CPCC Theatre production, Jory is no dilettante. He has also adapted Sense and Sensibility and Emma.

Even if all the subtleties aren’t always pointed under Heather Wilson-Bowlby’s poised direction, it becomes obvious that Jory’s adaptation preserves the style and thrust of Austen’s liveliest masterwork. Most of the credit goes to Moriah Thomason as Austen’s prejudging heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, though it’s hard to deny she is amply counterbalanced by the hauteur of Brian Logsdon as Fitzwilliam Darcy. Thomason unveiled her elegance in the ATC production of Stick Fly back in February. Here she adds vivacity and wit, so I couldn’t get enough of her.

We see where Elizabeth gets her wit from in Tony Wright’s slightly jaundiced portrait of her father, and Anne Lambert’s rendition of Mrs. Bennet has more than enough vanity, giddiness, and silliness to distribute among the younger Bennet sibs. My chief disappointment was the hoarseness that afflicted Lexie Simerly as Liz’s elder sister Jane. If only she could have borrowed some extra decibels from Iris DeWitt, whose towering presence made the imperious Lady Catherine De Bourgh a perfect victim of Elizabeth’s punctiliously polite sass.”

by Perry Tannenbaum Creative Loafing November 02,2016

Creative Loafing Reviews CPCC Summer Theatre’s Chicago

Check out the review of CPCC Summer Theatre 2016’s production of Chicago in this week’s Creative Loafing!

“…the Halton may now be the best place in Charlotte to see a live musical…” Perry Tannenbaum Creative Loafing

http://clclt.com/charlotte/theater-reviews-chicago-and-manifest-pussy/Content?oid=3757691

 

Get your tickets at the door, online 24/7 at CPCCTix tix.cpcc.edu or at the SunTrust Box office 704-330-6534