Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC): Artery, Indy Week

(Far) too much of a good thing: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at DPAC

Byron Woods — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:43:00 -0400

PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT

Durham Performing Arts Center
Through May 5

Its characters may or may not be the kind of folks they used to warn some of us about back on the farm.

But PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT is most definitely the kind of show they warned me about in grad school.…

Lush life: Anything Goes is a dazzling, old-fashioned romp

Emma D. Miller — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:10:00 -0400

ANYTHING GOES
* * * * 1/2 stars
@ DPAC
Through March 24

“Times have changed,” croons dazzling nightclub star Reno Sweeney in the title song of Anything Goes. “The world has gone mad today and good’s bad today.”

Maybe so, but the touring production of this Broadway revival shows that some good things have staying power.…

The most amazing season, eh? A closer look at DPAC's new Broadway line-up

Zack Smith — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:23:00 -0500

To summarize the lineup of touring Broadway shows coming through the Durham Performing Arts Center’s new season as succinctly as possible: Hope you like Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Sir Andrew’s work may be found in three of the seven new shows announced at DPAC’s SunTrust Broadway Preview Event on Friday, specifically the touring version of the recently-closed revival of Evita, the 2011 West End musical version of The Wizard of Oz film with new songs by Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and a whole concert featuring songs from Lloyd Webber’s extensive oeuvre, including The Phantom of the Opera and Cats.…

Leave 'em wanting more: Deborah Cox sparkles, briefly, in Jekyll and Hyde at DPAC

Chris Vitiello — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:40:00 -0500

Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical
* * 1/2 stars
Durham Performing Arts Center
Through Jan. 13
Tickets $35-$95

If you’re not a Deborah Cox fan, you’ll probably become one if you see Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical at the Durham Performing Arts Center this week. The Grammy-nominated R&B star pushes the rest of the cast out of the way with her round, rich voice and nuanced singing.…

The animals have the advantage in War Horse

Byron Woods — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:18:00 -0400

WAR HORSE
3.5 stars (out of 5)
Durham Performing Arts Center
Through Oct. 7

The image has come to symbolize the chaos and carnage of war: A panic-stricken horse, impaled by a spear, whose death-dance dominates the center of Pablo Picasso’s Guernica. Man’s inhumanity to man is a fundamental trope in the discourse of war—and one we can grow all too quickly numb to.…

ADF 2012: Paul Taylor's flawed program

Chris Vitiello — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 13:49:00 -0400

PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY
American Dance Festival
@ DPAC
Through July 21

The Paul Taylor Dance Company took the stage at the Durham Performing Arts Center last night for their annual visit to the American Dance Festival, which concludes this evening. The mainstay company brought out a crowd expecting to see virtuosic performances from the principal dancers, and Michael Trusnovec, Amy Young and Michelle Fleet didn’t disappoint them.…

This American iPad: A Q&A with Ira Glass

Zack Smith — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 13:39:00 -0400

Those familiar with Ira Glass' wry, quizzical voice as the host of public radio's This American Life will get to experience his unique brand of storytelling in person when he appears at the Durham Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 23. The appearance comes after a week in which This American Life made headlines when a piece involving monologist Mike Daisey's trip to a factory creating Apple computer products was revealed to be mostly fabricated.…

Joey the war horse comes to Durham, and what the new DPAC season says about Broadway

Zack Smith — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:33:00 -0400

Last week, the slogan "New York Has Never Been So Close!” was proclaimed at least four times in the presentation for the 2012-2013 SunTrust Broadway series at the Durham Performing Arts Center.

But while I’m certainly looking forward to several of the touring productions, including the season opener, War Horse, I was left wondering, What does this lineup say about the current state of Broadway?

Eight plays will come through DPAC starting in October: War Horse, Jersey Boys, Million Dollar Quartet, Jekyll & Hyde, Mary Poppins, Anything Goes, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Sister Act.…

Rock Of Ages is rote and uninspired

Zack Smith — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:02:00 -0400

ROCK OF AGES
* * 1/2 stars
Durham Performing Arts Center

A visit to the Durham Performing Arts Center for the touring production of Rock of Ages yields a number of odd sights. Audience members, mostly people in their 40s and 50s, are wearing suits and evening wear to a play that’s based, in part, on the fashion excesses of 1980s youth culture.…

People-watching at the club, with Twyla and Frank: Come Fly Away at DPAC

Byron Woods — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:02:00 -0400

COME FLY AWAY
4 stars out of 5
Durham Performing Arts Center
Through Oct. 2
dpacnc.org

It’s understandable that modern dance aficionados might have paused when considering the touring version of COME FLY AWAY, choreographer Twyla Tharp’s evening-length tribute to musical legend Frank Sinatra which closes a stand at Durham Performing Arts Center on Sunday.

As mentioned in our preview, Tharp had already gone to the well three times with Ol’ Blue Eyes between 1976 and 1983, reconfiguring various groupings of his hits that she’d choreographed into what ultimately became one of her most widely interpreted—and controversial—works, Nine Sinatra Songs.…

Exclusive ADF video preview: PAUL TAYLOR's THE UNCOMMITTED

Byron Woods — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:08:35 -0400

Exclusive video footage from the world premiere of THE UNCOMMITTED by PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY at the 2011 American Dance Festival. Taylor has dedicated the work to departing ADF president Charles Reinhart.…

Exclusive video preview: SHEN WEI's LIMITED STATES world premiere at ADF (NSFW)

Byron Woods — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:28:36 -0400

Please note that this video clip contains nudity and should be considered not safe for work. Viewer discretion is advised.

Exclusive video footage from the world premiere of LIMITED STATES by SHEN WEI DANCE ARTS at the 2011 American Dance Festival.…

First facts: Shen Wei's upcoming world premiere, LIMITED STATES, at ADF

Byron Woods — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 09:13:37 -0400

Thursday afternoon, the American Dance Festival released the tantalizing first details of choreographer SHEN WEI's new work, whose world premiere next Thursday is easily anticipated as one of the high points of ADF’s 2011 season.

Its name is LIMITED STATES.…

Please—no photos: Emanuel Gat Dance at ADF

Byron Woods — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:45:17 -0400

When a film studio foregoes all previews of an upcoming release, that usually conveys a certain lack of faith in the finished product. This week, we'll find out what a similar circumstance means in choreographer EMANUEL GAT's case when his company performs during the American Dance Festival at the Durham Performing Arts Center.…

Exclusive video preview: SERAPH, Pilobolus world premiere

Byron Woods — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:29:05 -0400

Exclusive video footage from the world premiere of SERAPH, a collaboration between the dance company PILOBOLUS and the MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab, at the 2011 American Dance Festival. Pilobolus performs at the Durham Performing Arts Center through July 2.…

Video preview: Ronald K. Brown / Evidence at ADF

Byron Woods — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:42:00 -0400

New video preview of the dance company Evidence performing a section of Ronald K. Brown's new suite to Stevie Wonder, ON EARTH TOGETHER, at the 2011 American Dance Festival. The company appears with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company through June 25 at Durham Performing Arts Center.…

Exclusive video preview: Dayton Contemporary Dance Company at ADF

Byron Woods — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:01:00 -0400

Exclusive video preview of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company performing a section of Donald McKayle's RAINBOW 'ROUND MY SHOULDER at the 2011 American Dance Festival. The company appears with Evidence through June 25 at Durham Performing Arts Center.…

Cutting thinning HAIR: A new conspiracy theory about an old rock musical

Byron Woods — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:01:45 -0400

HAIR
2.5 stars (out of 5)
Durham Performing Arts Center
through May 15

I believe I’ve stumbled upon a late-breaking conspiracy theory—so please say you heard it here first:

A Vast (or, possibly, Half-Vast) Right Wing Conspiracy is actually funding the revival and tour of that touchstone 60s rock musical, HAIR.

Impossible, you say?…

A bittersweet homecoming for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company

Marc Maximov — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 01:40:00 -0500

MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY
Presented by Duke Performances
@Durham Performing Arts Center
Feb. 4-5

The Durham Performing Arts Center was energized Friday night with the North Carolina homecoming of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Cunningham founded the company in 1953 at Black Mountain College in western North Carolina; he died a year and a half ago, and his will outlined plans for a final two-year tour for his company, which will disband for good in December.…

When is good, good enough? DPAC's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and TIP's A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Byron Woods — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:28:00 -0500

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
3½ stars out of 5
Durham Performing Arts Center
Through Dec. 12

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
3 stars out of 5
Theatre in the Park
Through Dec. 15

It’s a hideous proposition, particularly for a theater critic. Still, I must admit: On some occasions, the biggest question we’re asked to answer isn’t if a show is good.…

Dancing toward solidarity: sensational Billy Elliot at DPAC

Kate Dobbs Ariail — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:32:00 -0400

BILLY ELLIOT
5 stars
Durham Performing Arts Center
Through Nov. 14

Most of us will never know the kind of community solidarity that features so movingly in Billy Elliot The Musical because most of us in "right-to-work" North Carolina have little experience with organized labor. But the real-life British coal miners’ strike of 1984-85 that forms the backdrop of this rousing story heralded a lasting change in the relations between labor, capital and government.…

Building a musical—literally: BILLY ELLIOT at DPAC

Byron Woods — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:33:00 -0400

In its first two years, Durham Performing Arts Center has hosted the professional touring versions of 12 Broadway musicals. But the demands of number 13, BILLY ELLIOT, which opens this Saturday, Oct. 30, have posed a set of challenges new to the venue.…

Preview: Pilobolus and Art Spiegelman's "Hapless Hooligan in 'Still Moving'"

Byron Woods — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:39:40 -0400

The news is already breaking on the new Pilobolus Dance Theater collaboration with cartoonist Art Spiegelman, creator of In the Shadow of No Towers and the ground-breaking graphic novel, Maus.

Laura Collins-Hughes' June 20 article in the Boston Globe first tantalized us with descriptions of the working process and still images from the work.…

RUBBERBANDance Group's Victor Quijada at ADF: The Independent Interview

Byron Woods — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:04:17 -0400

RUBBERBANDance Group choreographer Victor Quijada has truly walked between the worlds.
After growing up in the hip-hop culture on the streets of Los Angeles (which gave him the nickname Rubberband in description—and honor—of his moves) and transformative teenage years at the L.A. County High School for the Arts, Quijada danced with Twyla Tharp and Eliot Feld in New York.…

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A Wickedly entertaining modern-day political allegory: Wicked at DPAC

Byron Woods — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:25:15 -0400

Wicked
4.5 stars
DPAC
Through May 16

By now, they’re the kind of marketing metaphors we’ve all probably become numb to:

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Terminator.
Christian Bale is Batman.…
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