OK, so the 2003-04 arts season didn’t pan out exactly as planned. A couple of the kingpins on the Charlotte performing arts scene went through some headline-making upheavals. Symphony musicians balked at a salary cut, walked out on strike, and spooked their season until Halloween, heaving the orchestra’s first nine concert dates down the crapper.
Meanwhile, in the space of three months, four of Charlotte Repertory Theatre’s top theater professionals had the impulse to “resign” as Rep’s meddlesome board of trustees went into financial frenzy followed by PR panic. When the smoke had cleared, the company’s performance schedule was in shambles.
All of these unexpected twists turned last year’s Fall Preview into faulty presumption. But hope springs eternal as a new season begins. Peace reigns at Symphony, which can suddenly afford the most glittering array of guest artists in its history. Rep remains without an artistic rudder. Yet with new leadership quietly taking over their boardroom, Charlotte’s flagship Equity company is holding out an olive branch to its founder, Steve Umberger. The beancounters up at Rep’s new NoDa headquarters are swearing to subscribers that the show for 2004-05 will go on as advertised.
We can make even sunnier predictions in other sectors of the local performing arts scene. NC Dance Theatre stormed one of New York City’s most prestigious citadels last spring, the Joyce Theatre, emerging with heady accolades from the Gotham press corps. They build on that eclat on September 23-25 at Belk Theater, opening their new season with a tasty mix of old and new dances, fetchingly titled Beatles, Barbeque & Balanchine.
NCDT artistic director Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux hopes to replicate the success of last fall’s Red Hot “n’ Bluegrass, the combo that wowed ’em in the Big Apple. Buoyed by the rave notices, Bonnefoux wants to perform more and tour more.
“I wish we’d have more season,” Bonnefoux confesses, “so we could do even more programs because there are so many works that I’d love to do. There’s much more Balanchine for us to celebrate, and we’re presenting lots of new works with Dwight Rhoden and Alonzo King and Mark Godden and Septime Webre. It’s a good mix of different styles.”
Dwight Rhoden’s piece, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Beatles’ first US tour, figures to be the season’s biggest crowd-pleaser. The world premiere rocks with numerous Fab Four faves.
Coming off the success of their two Summer Sensations series, Blumenthal Performing Arts Center is bringing noticeably more programming to Spirit Square — and they’re reportedly selling noticeably more subscriptions to their big Broadway Lights Series at Ovens and the Belk. Small wonder. Three hugely popular musicals are in the lineup, including Hairspray (June 28), Movin’ Out (January 25), and the most hilarious musical ever written about Broadway, Mel Brooks’ The Producers (October 19).
If their lamentable artistic drift and their ludicrous belt-tightening have robbed Charlotte Rep of its former luster, there are plenty of bright spots elsewhere on the local scene. For theatergoers in search of consistent excellence, clearly the torch has been passed to Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. Their victory as CL‘s Theatre Company of the Year in 2003 was their third in the past five years — and they swept both our readers’ and critic’s awards in this year’s Best of Charlotte just two Loafs ago.
The cutting-edge comedies and dramas that were once snatched up by Rep are now falling into Actor’s Theatre’s sure grasp. ATC’s first full season at 615 E. Stonewall finds them at the forefront of the local scene — with a perfect catch phrase for opening night:
Play ball!
Opening Day Excitement
Lon Bumgarner, our reigning Theaterperson of the Year, directs the Charlotte premiere of Take Me Out, a paean to our national pastime. It’s the hottest script out there right now. Chip Decker, artistic director at Actor’s Theatre, knows it.
“We’re obviously very excited about getting the rights to it as quickly as we did,” Decker declares, “and it being the Best Play of 2003 and winning the Tony Award. It’s a great piece, not only about what it says as a social commentary, but also just about baseball. Everyone relates to it just because it’s Americana and it’s got a message.”
A dozen years after Magic Johnson’s notorious brush with HIV, there are still taboos in sports. Richard Greenberg plays hardball with the major league hang-ups of today’s high-priced athletes, exploring the effect of one man’s shocking revelation on teammates and fans. There are plenty of laughs too as the yarn unwinds.
But ATC’s fall classic wasn’t easy to cast with Hispanics and an Asian on the team, so Decker is relieved to report signing up the requisite Spanish and Japanese speakers for the cast. They’ll be heading for a belated spring training shortly with opening night scheduled for September 15.
“Our stage manager is a former ballplayer himself,” Decker explains, “so he and another guy have set up a week-long baseball minicamp for the cast. The first week is going to be nothing but going out and playing ball together.”
There’s plenty more excitement in store at Actor’s Theatre, where Decker is currently playing bass guitar in the company’s revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Decker himself will direct Eric Coble’s Bright Ideas (November 3) which Decker describes as a satirical farce that skewers parents who begin mapping out their children’s lives before the child is even conceived.
Christmas on Stonewall Street will feature a doubleheader of revivals, as Epic Arts Repertory’s A Mad, Mad Madrigal opens in tandem with ATC’s Santaland Diaries on December 3. Decker is eagerly welcoming Epic Arts into his facility for the entire 2004-05 season, beginning with Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (October 7).
Decker has nothing but praise for Epic Arts’ co-founders, the husband-and-wife tandem of Stan Peal and Laura Depta.
“Laura is a brilliant actress,” says Decker, “and Stan is just an up-and-coming phenomenal playwright. The two of them are going to be a force to be reckoned with. And we’re as excited as hell to have them under our roof.”
Epic Arts will also offer the first public performance in the intimate 60-seat Studio Theatre newly nestled into the Stonewall Street estate. That happens when Peal offers his latest installment of Halloween at the Poe House (October 30).
We’re straying more than a month beyond the winter solstice in announcing Steve Umberger’s curtain call at Charlotte Rep. But it sounds like God himself is writing the script when we proclaim that Umberger will return to direct the regional premiere of The Exonerated at Rep, opening February 4.
Happily, the Ubiquitous One’s return to the local scene after a year’s absence occurs in a matter of weeks as he directs Theatre Charlotte’s revival of Cabaret (September 9). Billy Ensley stars as The Emcee after he tosses aside his Hedwig wig. The presence of Patrick Ratchford, Polly Adkins and Dennis Delamar in the cast will amp up the excitement. Another distinguished Rep alum shows up at the Queens Road barn as Randell Haynes directs the Theatre Charlotte version of Picasso at the Lapin Agile (October 28).
Leadoff Hits
Aside from wishing to jump aboard the annual Charlotte Shout hoopla (September 3-25) in style, local theater groups are learning the wisdom of putting their best foot forward in opening their seasons. Getting to first base with your audience in September helps to build audience loyalty for the entire season and jacks up subscription sales.
Local theater companies are likely to see more hits from their leadoff shows than ever before. BareBones Theatre Group is obviously eager to please, opening on September 9 with Psycho Beach Party. That same night, Carolina Actors Studio Theatre brings us an apocalyptic vision that stunned audiences at the 2003 Humana Festival in Louisville, Bridget Carpenter’s The Faculty Room.
Then we get a peep at Off-Tryon Theatre’s Pageant beginning September 16, with men playing all six contestants for the Miss Glamouresse crown — and a new winner at successive performances. A trio of pleasantries opens the following night. CPCC Theatre presents the revised version of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, while Children’s Theatre launches its mainstage season with Laura Numeroff, on hand for a book signing, and her If You Give a Mouse a Cookie performed by the Tarradiddle Players.
Rep’s interim artistic director, Terry Loughlin, directs Joe DiPietro’s Over the River and Through the Woods — not a huge surprise since he directed the Blowing Rock Stage Company production back in June. The unlikely DiPietro festival resumes on December 4 when the company opens I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! as their Special Holiday musical.
All the major players on the local theater scene will converge under the Charlotte Shout umbrella on September 19 as the Metrolina Theatre Association presents its first annual Metrolina Theatre Awards at McGlohon Theatre. Red carpet arrivals, emotional acceptances, artful sanctimony — the works!
The Real Producer
PAC chieftain Tom Gabbard gets huge kudos for the Broadway Lights lineup. With old-timey titles like The King and I (September 19) in the mix with the hot new titles — and new slice-and-dice subscriptions for those who like one or the other — more people are apt to be pleased with their tickets.
“Response has been really phenomenal,” Gabbard acknowledged after the first day ticket sales were tabulated, “way beyond the norm.”
It’s not just the season slate that’s creating the box office buzz. Gabbard and the PAC created momentum for young and old theatergoers with major Summer Sensations attractions that included Rent and Camelot. They’re also pepping up activity at Spirit Square and shining a fresh spotlight on Charlotte’s fringe theater scene.
“There’s no question that the best time to plant the seed for coming back to see a show is when they’re bouncing out of the theater having had a great experience,” Gabbard explains. “Whether it’s a bubbly show like Mamma Mia! or Quickspeare [at the new City Stage fringe theater festival], those kinds of experiences where people are having a good time here make them want more.”
They’ll get it. Capitol Steps, Second City’s 45th Anniversary Tour, Rockapella, Vassar Clements, and Natalie MacMaster are among the notables who will keep the Spirit jumping at McGlohon Theatre. Def Poetry Jam revisits the Belk (November 29) after last year’s triumph. Savion Glover, Garth Fagan Dance Company, Smoky Joe’s Cafe, and Stomp will keep the Belk hopping between the big Broadway tours.
And Gabbard wants to bring more fringe theater to the Center City. He’s working behind the scenes to make the Duke Power Theatre at Spirit Square affordable to little companies again.
“One of the hopes for City Stage was that it would get some people thinking about coming back to that space,” Gabbard asserts. “We want to create an environment that it’s just fun to be at, a place where you can visit with friends and visit with theatergoers that have like interests. We’re trying to convey a message not just to the public but also to the theater community, that we want Spirit Square to be a vibrant space year-round.”
We’ll be roaming both the fringe and the Center City keeping you in-the-know about Charlotte’s burgeoning performing arts scene. But to really play ball — and catch the electricity while it’s still hot — you’ve got to drop your remote, your iPod, and even your Loaf.
Be there!
This article appears in Aug 18-24, 2004.
