Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands the Moore Brothers Five Days of Laughter! Page 8 Band Performs Sunday, July 24
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
EXPLORE BILTMORE ViLLAGE PAGES 20-22 HART presents the Broadway Smash Musical Gypsy. PAGE 3 The 2011 Folkmoot Festival Takes the Stage in 12 Counties in Western North Carolina. PAGE 18 Hear Music of the The Historic Biltmore Village Mountains while Art and Craft Fair. PAGE 21 Celebrating the Art of Craft at the Craft fair of the Southern highlandS The Moore Brothers Five Days of Laughter! PAGE 8 Band performs Sunday, July 24. page 37 PLUS INTERVIEWS WITH: Charlie Flynn-McIver page 4 Rory Scovel page 8 Carl LaBove page 9 Tom Segura page 13 Andie MacDowell page 17 Martha Kooles page 23 John & Suzanne Gernandt page 23 Photo by Carol Lamb Patti Bell page 36 of Morganton, NC. July 2011 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 14, No. 11 PRINTS COLOR RAPID RIVER ARTS stage preview HART PRESENTS THE BROADWAY MUSICAL SMASH Gypsy ourteen sets, more than a hundred costumes, a full orchestra, and a cast of thirty help make Gypsy one of Haywood Arts Regional Theatre’s biggest productions ever. There are Fabout a dozen Broadway musicals that critics will regularly label “the best.” Gypsy, based on the life of legendary Burlesque Queen Gypsy Rose Lee, is one of those. Gypsy opened in 1959 and was the second collaboration between Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, and Arthur Laurents. Just two years before, along with Leonard Bernstein, they created West Side Story. This time the composer would be Ju- her namesake, became a legend. lie Styne, who had just created the hit Bells In the decades that have followed, the Are Ringing. show has been revived more than any other The team, using Lee’s memoir as a Broadway musical. Angela Landsbury was a guide, focused on the mother figure as the smash in the 1970’s, then Tyne Daly in the center of their story. Momma Rose was 80’s, Bette Midler on TV in the 90’s, Berna- a loving mother, protective as a lioness, dette Peters ten years ago, and last year Patti and absolutely driven to make her daugh- Lupone rocked the great white way. ter a star. For a time she succeeded, and All of the Momma Roses have been “Baby June and her newsboys” played the unique masterful interpretations of what famed Orpheum Circuit in the glory days may be the best role ever written for a of vaudeville for a number of years. But mature actress. For our production we have vaudeville began dying with the competition Lyn Donley as Momma Rose and Laura from sound movies just as Baby June began Gregory as the famed Gypsy. to grow up. Gypsy is based on the book by Arthur Most people would see the writing on Laurents, directed by Steve Lloyd, with the wall and settle down, get a regular job music by Julie Styne, and lyrics by Stephen and live a normal life. Momma Rose dug in Sondheim. Music Director Chuck Taft. her heals and pushed her daughters forward. Sponsored by Med West. For years they struggled on, sinking lower The cast includes Raymond Yarnutoski, into poverty with each season. Sarah Conklin, Ellery Neal, Sean Conklin, June finally bolted and in reality be- Amy Hunt, Madison Garris, John Winfield, came the successful Hollywood actress June Charles Marth , Roger Magendie, Alexia Havoc. Rose Louise, the untalented one, was Grant, Jonathan Milner, Drew Koon, Sean left behind, and Momma’s determination Bruce, Jacob Hunt, Chris Martin, Susan finally pushed the shy young girl into the Rudniak, Alice Harbeson, Amanda Zurena, world of Burlesque. Amaris Catton John Catton, Nat Neal, Louise had always loved to read, and Tierney Cody, Jennifer Fincher, Tabatha her humor and self taught intelligence, Judy, Andrea Cody, Chris Martin, and Zak coupled with a statuesque figure and lady- Shankun. like style, lifted her above her seedy sur- HART’s summer musicals are a special roundings and made her more than a star treat, and this is a huge production. Audi- – she became a legend. ences are encouraged to make reservations. From the beginning, Ethel Merman was to star as Momma Rose. Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, who had each created hits IF YOU HART presents GYPSY a Musical for the star, turned the project down. But GO Fable. Performances July 8, 9, 14, Julie Styne had played pit piano in a Bur- 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30 at 7:30 lesque house when he was thirteen, giving p.m. Sundays, July 10, 17 and 21 at 3 p.m. him just the right background to create a Tickets: $22 for adults; $20 for seniors; great score. student/child $10. Special $5 discount tickets When it opened, Gypsy was overshad- for students for Thursday and Sunday owed by The Sound of Music, and the performances. Box office hours: Monday- biggest hit of the season, Fiorello, which tied Saturday 1-5 p.m. Call (828) 456-6322 for for the Tony Award for best musical. Gypsy reservations. Tickets available at www. ran a little over 700 performances. It doesn’t harttheatre.com. HART, Performing Arts www.jewelsthatdance.com even rank in the top 100 longest running Center at the Shelton House, 250 Pigeon St. Broadway shows. But in the end Gypsy, like Waynesville, NC 28786. (AYWOOD3Ts!SHEVILLE .#s s(OURS-ON 3AT Vol. 14, No. 11 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — July 2011 RAPID RIVER ARTS stage preview Part 1 of a 3-Part Discussion INTERVIEWED BY DENNIS RAY CONVERSATIONS WITH Charlie Flynn-McIver harlie Flynn-McIver is the Artistic Director of the North Carolina Stage Company in Asheville. Prior to NCSC, Charlie toured with Judith Light in the National Tour Cof Wit, and was seen at Syracuse Stage, The Hangar Theatre, Theatre Virginia, Vermont Stage Company, Alabama Shakespeare Fes- tival, and in New York at the Melting Pot and the Lincoln Center Institute. Charlie Flynn-McIver, Artistic Director of the North Carolina Stage Company. Rapid River Magazine: How did the con- cept for NC Stage Company come about, sional theatre.” I asked “Where?” And she and when did you decide you wanted to said, “Asheville.” open a theater? Well, that was it I guess. So it’s a shared Charlie Flynn-McIver: My older sister dream and endeavor with Angie. That really moved to Asheville in 1990 at the same time just addresses the place though. The why is a as I started pursuing my MFA in Acting little more complicated. from UNC Chapel Hill. I helped her move When this idea started to foment in to here and it was really my first experience me, I think was when I noticed a disconnect with this amazingly beautiful part of the between the artists and the theatres I was country. It just caught my imagination and I working for. I don’t want to overstate that visited as often as I could. because I was a part of some great produc- I moved to NYC in 1993 after my grad tions that brought great joy and value to the work and worked a lot in regional theatres communities where those theatres were. But across the US, but always made sure I had after a while, the work started to feel a little time to visit my sister and her growing mercenary like. family in Asheville. Each time I came back, I longed for an artistic “home” that felt Asheville seemed to get even better to me. safe and artistically fulfilling and connected So, somewhere along the line, I started to the community it served. The larger daydreaming about a professional theatre in theatres I had worked at had become so large Asheville. Not necessarily starting one, but (physically and logistically) and I was a visit- thinking, how cool would it be to have an ing artist, so that feeling of immediacy with acting job in THIS town. an audience was hard to achieve. I’d worked in some great regional Everybody seemed to be worried about theatres, which involves living, rehearsing where their next job was coming from and and performing in the town the theatre’s in, not how they were going to change the lives but none of the towns really held a candle of the people in the audience that night. to Asheville in my mind. The idea grew into So I wanted to make a place where that creating a professional theatre in Asheville. relationship between artist and audience Every time I’d mention it to someone was the motivating factor. Local theatre I’d met on an acting job, they would almost professor and blogger, Scott Walters, wrote always have some story about their time in a post about NC Stage several years ago Take Your Craft to Asheville. It was incredible how many di- which reflects a lot of the things we believe Another Level verse people I’d meet in NYC had had some in (see http://theatreideas.blogspot.com/ experience with Asheville. And it always search?q=flynn-mciver). Workshops and Core Programs ended up with them saying how they loved for Adults and Youth Asheville and how they want to get back. RRM: Did you always plan to have the the- THEN, on our first date, Angie was atre in downtown Asheville? How did the telling me about her career in theatre in location come about? NYC. You know, the usual first date kind CFM: We looked about when we first got of stuff. She’s from Charlotte and I’m from here and were interested in finding a home The Only Professional Durham but we’d met in NYC a few days for NC Stage.