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.

 

 

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

Congrats to Blumey Winner Justin Rivers!

justinriversCPCC Summer Theatre sends its hardiest congratulations to Justin Rivers of CATA High in Monroe for his well deserved win as Best Actor in a High School Musical at the Blumey Awards Sunday night. Justin will be appearing in Sister Act as TJ this summer as part of our Intern Company. And to all the other nominees and winners at the Blumeys we send our best for a job well done. #cpccsummertheatre #cpccsisteract

Get your tickets to Summer Theatre 2016 now at CPCCTix tix.cpcc.edu or call the SunTrust Box Office 704-330-6534.

Second Week of CPCC’s Phantom of the Opera Heading for a Sellout!

CPCC’s joint production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera which combines the talents of the Drama, Dance and Opera programs runs Wednesday 11/18 through Sunday 11/22 in the Halton Theater. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are all sold out. Tickets are available for Wednesday and Thursday evening at 7:30pm. Grab them while you can. Call the SunTrust Box Office at 704-330-6534 or go online to tix.cpcc.edu.

CPCC Theatre, Opera Theatre and Dance Theatre Present The Phantom of the Opera

CPCC Drama , Music and Dance programs have combined to present Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera November 13 – 21 in the Dale F. Halton Theater on the Central Campus of CPCC. Tickets are available at the SunTrust Box Office 704-330-6534 or online at tix.cpcc.edu.

For almost 30 years Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera has captivated audiences with his retelling of  the story of the a masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House. Exercising a reign of terror, over all who inhabit it, the Phantom falls madly in love with an innocent soprano, Christine, and devotes himself to creating a new star by nurturing her extraordinary talents. From the roof of the Paris Opera House to the flooded catacombs below, The Phantom of the Opera thrills through one of the most sensational scores ever written for the stage. Truly the “Angel of Music” takes one through the haunting “Music of the Night”, as the “Masquerade” unfolds around us.

Tickets are $18 to 20. Student tickets $5.00 with ID.

Meet the Christines of CPCC Theatre’s Phantom of the Opera

CPCC Theatre, Opera and Dance open Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera on Friday November 13th at 8:00pm in the Dale F. Halton Theater to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the opening of the facility. As part of the show two very talented young ladies have been cast in the role of Christine Daae. Why two actresses for one role? The role of Christine Daae is one of the most demanding vocal roles ever written for the Musical Theatre stage. At no time in the history of the show has one actress appeared in ever performance in a single week. So when we set out to cast Phantom we knew we were going to need two Christines in order to present the show. And we couldn’t be more pleased with the two dynamite performers we found.

Karley Kornegay is absolutely thrilled to be joining the cast of CPCC’s The Phantom of the Opera in the role of her dreams. Karley has studied classical voice for four years now with Jacquelyn Culpepper at Davidson College. Some of her previous credits include Peter Pan (Mrs. Darling), Sweeney Todd (Pirelli) Rent (Mrs. Cohen), Les Miserables (Montparnasse/Ensemble), and Footloose: The Musical (Eleanor Dunbar). She would like to thank her family for always loving and supporting her. 

Anna Belle Lusk will complete her AFA at CPCC this spring where she has maintained a 4.00, and will be transferring for a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance next fall. In the past, she has performed in the Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey), and recently spent a month in Mexico studying opera at a vocal intensive.  Anna Belle is thrilled and humbled to be a part of Phantom, and sends much love and thanks to her parents, teachers, and friends for believing in her dream. 

Both of these talented ladies will making their premier performances with CPCC Performing Arts in Phantom of the Opera. Karley will appear on 11/13, 15, 19, 21. Anna Belle Lusk will perform on 11/14, 18, 20, 22. We invite you to see both of these fabulous performers as they present the role of a life time. You can get your tickets to Phantom at the SunTrust Box Office 704-330-6534 or online 24/7 at tix.cpcc.edu.