Main Attractions

Almost Heaven: The Songs of John Denver
Sat., Oct. 20, 2007, 4 & 8 PM; $32/$25
The engaging off-Broadway hit featuring almost 30 John Denver classics (“Leaving on a Jet Plane,” “Annie’s Song,” “Sunshine On My Shoulders, “Rocky Mountain High”) offers an exhilarating look into the mind and spirit of a troubadour whose distinctive musical magic fostered optimism for decades. The tour’s talented ensemble perform fresh new arrangements that offer unexpected depth in understanding the times that gave birth to the songs. Based on the artist’s autobiography, the show is sensitively conceived and produced by Denver’s longtime friend and manager. From the beginning of his recording career in 1972, when he changed his name from Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., John Denver’s sales now exceed 60 million.

Flamenco Vivo
Carlota Santana
Fri., Oct. 26, 8 PM; $30/$24
Co-presented by Thalian Hall & UNCW
Flamenco strikes primal chords in the emotions of audiences of all ages and traditions. It’s a celebration that sizzles in intensity and passion, a brilliant display of exuberant, fiery dance that transcends cultural boundaries. Carlota Santana, designated “The Keeper of Flamenco” by Dance Magazine, leads her renowned company of dancers and musicians in Fiesta Flamenca, acclaimed at venues including The Joyce Theatre, Lincoln Center, Smithsonian Institution and major theaters throughout the U.S. and abroad. The company will also conduct a master class on the campus of UNCW.

An (Outrageous) Evening with John Waters
Fri., Nov. 2, 8 PM; $28/$20
(Adult themes, big hair, R-rated)
Writer/director John Waters says his pencil-thin mustache continues to claw itself into the public consciousness. “It’s like Pamela Anderson’s breasts. It gets work on its own.” The Baltimore legend and delightfully wicked genius behind camp classics including Hairspray, Pink Flamingos and Polyester brings his irreverent hilarity to Thalian Hall, preceding the kickoff of the Cucalorus Film Festival. Drawn at an early age to exploitation movies with lurid ads, Waters subscribed to Variety at the age of twelve, absorbing the magazine’s insider lingo. In 1967, he made his first 16-mm film, Eat Your Makeup, the story of a deranged governess and her lover who kidnap fashion models and force them to model themselves to death. In 1972 Waters created what would become the most notorious film in American independent cinema of the 1970’s, Pink Flamingos. The once-called “Prince of Sleaze” danced all the way to his Baltimore ATM with this summer’s blockbuster musical film adaptation of "Hairspray."

The Male Intellect:
An Oxymoron?
Fri., Nov. 16, 8 PM; $28/$20
There are two types of people who should rush and see this show – men and women. Writer/actor Robert Dubac’s brilliantly-constructed journey through the disheveled mess of a man’s brain could easily be subtitled “A Very Funny Man’s Hilarious Opinions About What Women Want, Who Women Are, How Women Think, and How They Just Don’t Understand Poor, Pitiful, Mistreated Men.” Dubac seamlessly transforms himself into five alter egos – each offering their own brand of misguided advice. Hailed by critics and audiences alike across the country, this 90-minute masterpiece is an immensely clever combination of theater and stand-up comedy that is knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud funny, while hitting so many nails on the head that there’s not a soul left in the audience who’s stayed immune from glances from that person sitting in the next seat.

Second City’s Dysfunctional
Holiday Revue
Fri., Nov. 30, 8 PM; $28/$20
If you have a treasured, favorite holiday tradition, be assured that Second City will skewer it in this part-scripted/part-improv irreverent take on the season. What started as a workshop in Chicago in 1959 has grown into a global comedy empire, birthing generations of the world’s most famous comics. Alums include John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Mike Myers, Julia Louis Dreyfus and hundreds more. The concept is simple: six actors, accompanied by a musical accompanist, dish out sketch comedy and songs drawn from forty years of comedy archives, plus on-the-spot topical improvs that change with every performance. It’s hilarious, thought provoking, smart, silly, sophisticated and wild. If there’s a subject you’ve always been forbidden to discuss at the dinner table, you’ll hear a whole song about it at a Second City show. Not recommended for those who may be a bit thin on a broad sense of humor.

It’s a Wonderful Life: The Live Radio Play
Sat., Dec. 15, 4 & 8 PM; $25/$18
The “On Air” sign lights up and you’re in the studios of WBFR Radio on Christmas Eve, 1946. NC Stage Company/immediate theatre project’s production of this adaptation of the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life invites you to experience Frank Capra’s beloved story in a refreshingly new and intimate way. Dozens of characters and locations of the beloved movie are brought to life by the long-lost radio formula of five actors, live sound effects, and your vivid imagination. Already becoming a tradition in Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto, this new imagining of the uplifting story of George Bailey is the perfect antidote to today’s commercialized holiday season.

Creole Jazz Serenaders, with Don Vappie
Fri., Jan. 18, 2008, 8 PM; $28/$20
Don Vappie is labeled the “Jimi Hendrix of the banjo.” This landmark group’s repertoire includes Creole Jazz from the early years as well as music from Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers and more. Their CD Creole Blues is one of Offbeat Magazine’s “essential 100 CDs of the 20th Century” and their recording In Search of King Oliver was the subject of a Public Radio International program of the same name. The group had the honor of performing the world premiere of Jelly Roll Morton’s lost manuscripts, and Vappie’s family and band was the subject of the PBS documentary "American Creole: A Family Reunion" aired last fall. Vappie frequently plays with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Cherryholmes
Fri., Feb. 1, 8 PM; $28/$20
Cherryholmes entered the record books when the group was named “Entertainer of the Year” at the same time as being named “Best New Artist” at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards. The incredible family of performers (dad, mom, and four children ages 13-21) travel throughout the country 300 days a year, singing, dancing and playing the music that’s winning fans worldwide with the group’s trademark drive, infectious energy and true showmanship. Their CD Cherryholmes was nominated for last year’s Best Bluegrass Album of the Year. They have appeared on The Grand Ole Opry, at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium, with Ernest Tubb’s Midnight Jamboree, Nashville’s Country Music Fan Fare, in Branson, Dollywood, the IBMA Fan Fest and countless radio and TV shows, festivals and concert venues throughout the U.S. Additional industry awards include SPBGMA’s “Group of the Year” and “Banjo Player of the Year.”

Billy Stritch Sings the Mel Tormé Songbook
Thur., Feb. 28, 8 PM; $25/$18
Billy Stritch has commandeered piano mics in every premiere club and cabaret in Manhattan, as well as many of the legendary concert halls around the world. Whether headlining solo, with his own trio, or serving as arranger and musical director for artists including Liza Minelli, Charles Aznavour, Linda Lavin, Christine Ebersole & others, Stritch is a consummate entertainer as well as a gifted composer (he wrote Reba McEntire’s four-million selling Grammy®-winning hit “Does He Love You”). His sensitive tribute to the music of Mel Tormé spans the legend’s early compositions (“Born to Be Blue,” “A Stranger in Town”) through Tormé’s arrangements of Rodgers and Hart classics (“Mountain Greenery,” “Blue Moon”), Cole Porter (“Just One of Those Things”), the Gershwins (“Isn’t It Romantic?”) and many more Tormé classics. Stritch is spot-on, and swings.

Justin David
Fri., Mar. 7, 8 PM; $25/$18
He’s the young songwriter, guitarist, mandolinist, fiddler and singer who’s among the fastest-rising stars on the pop country circuit. A top-five finalist of TV’s Nashville Star, David has toured for several years as a featured artist with the legendary Roy Clark. His spotlighted performances and onstage charisma bring lines of folks to meet him after the show. As a teen, he participated in the Master Artist Apprentice program of the National Endowment for the Arts, and was first heard by Clark in Branson, MO. 2005’s Nashville Star brought more exposure to this multi-instrumentalist. David continues to tour with Clark when he’s not on the road with his own band, who will make more than a dozen stops in North Carolina this coming year. Here’s one to watch – and say you-saw-him-when.

Broadway Showstopper Carol Woods
Sat., Apr. 5, 8 PM; $25/$18
She’s got a power as electric as Niagara Falls and a voice as big as a church full of Arethas. Carol Wood’s credits include “Jeanette” in The Full Monty, the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, Smokey Joe’s Café, Grind, Big River, and the role of the inimitable “Mama Morton” in Chicago where she literally stopped the show night after night on the Great White Way and across America on the national tour. She starred in the recent movie adaptation of The Honeymooners and appeared with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall honoring President Clinton and at the Eisenhower Tribute to Tom Brokaw. Writing about her Olivier Award-nominated turn in Blues in the Night in London, UK, critic Barney Hoskyns remarked, “If Southeast power lines ever go on the blink, Londoners will never notice if they can just hook up with Carol Woods. Eight times a week, she takes the stage at the Piccadilly Theatre and practically blows it apart.”

In the Mood, The 1940s Musical Revue
Sat., Apr. 19, 4 & 8 PM; $32/$25
It’s stockings-with-seams, jitterbugging that makes you check your pulse, tight vocal harmonies and big band classics that wiggle the bolts from the floor. It’s a trip back to the 1940’s, perhaps the last time when all of America was listening and dancing to the same kind of music -- up-tempo big band instrumentals and intimate, warm ballads. It’s rhythm. Swing. Jazz. Brass. Sentimental and romantic. In the Mood is a retro 1940’s musical revue featuring a large company including singers, dancers and a sensational big band orchestra with the music of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Harry James, The Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra, and more. Originally produced to mammoth response by the National Archives as part of the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of WWII, national touring began in affiliation with the USO and the show has become a worldwide phenomenon.

Cypress String Quartet’s Inspired by America
Fri., Apr. 25, 8 PM; $30/$24
The captivating Cypress String Quartet melds its acclaimed virtuosity with innovative technology to create Inspired by America, a collaboration with best-selling author Jacob Needleman (The American Soul) and multi Emmy and Peabody Award-winning film producer Michael Schwarz. Supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and blending live music, original film and spoken word, this special event fuses precision musicianship with world-class technology to create an evocative, thought-provoking portrait of what it means to say, “I am an American.” The Cypress String Quartet unifies the performance with some of the finest chamber music composed in the United States, with movements from Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Dvorak’s American Quartet, and selections from original commissions by Grammy®-nominated composers Benjamin Lees and Jennifer Higdon.

JUST ANNOUNCED:
EMILE PANDOLFI TO REPLACE STEPHAN MOCCIO DUE TO PASSPORT PROBLEMS

Emile Pandolfi
Fri., May 2, 8 PM; $25/$18
Pianist Emile Pandolfi will come to the rescue for historic Thalian Hall, stepping in on short notice to take a seat at the hall’s Steinway grand to fill a date previously announced for Canadian pianist Stephan Moccio. Moccio faced last minute immigration procedural delays that will prevent his performing on May 2 as scheduled. Pandolfi is a favorite of local audiences, having performed at Thalian Hall several times in past seasons. Reviews of the popular pianist’s recordings almost always comment upon Pandolfi’s performances of selections by Andrew Lloyd Weber or Rogers and Hammerstein – or stylistic influences of Debussy or Chopin.
With the majority of his performance repertoire being lush, intricate arrangements of Broadway and standards from the pantheon of the “American Popular Songbook,” his influences are, in fact, more classical than pop. And it is this subjective layering of classical style Pandolfi infuses onto the broad palate of selections performed in his frequent concerts that seems to pluck a connective thread with audiences everywhere.When lines form at the end of an evening with hundreds of persons in queue to have CDs signed, it’s more akin in tone to a family or class reunion than it is a line of unknown faces waiting for a signature.

The Piano Men: Jim Witter Sings the Music of Elton John & Billy Joel
Fri., May 23, 8 PM; $28/$20
Dove and Juno Award nominee, Canadian recording artist Jim Witter and his band lead an expertly crafted tour of an entire decade, a musical time machine saluting two of the century’s most popular contemporary songwriters, Billy Joel and Elton John. Enthralled audiences return to the news headlines, automobiles, people, events and TV shows that shaped a decade. Along the way, the sounds of “My Life,” “Candle in the Wind,” “Rocket Man,” “Just the Way You Are” and many more classic hits create return visits to specific landmarks along a pop culture timeline. If you can still smell the interior of your 1973 VW Beetle, you’ll recognize every song. If you watch re-runs of Gilligan’s Island or Green Acres, you’ll find yourself singing along. If you remember exactly where you were when Elvis [may have] died, this is the show for you.