Asheville is poised to one-up MTV with the launch of the WNC Video Music Awards. Bioflyer Productions, the Arden-based event organizers, aim to provide a new way for Asheville creatives to showcase their abundance of quality video projects. A curated assemblage of submissions will be screened at the competition, a democratic affair in which all […]
The collaboration between Montford Park Players and the Warren Wilson College theater department of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is part Shakespeare and part wild Gypsy bazaar. It’s also all fun and totally enthralling, making this the second successful team up Montford has done in the past few months (after teaming up with The Magnetic Theatre […]
A curious cartoon by Charles Addams appeared in The New Yorker on April 6, 1938. In the single-panel drawing, a witchy woman in a low-cut, Gothic black dress and a tall butler resembling a Cro-Magnon man listened to a traveling vacuum salesman’s pitch in a crumbling, cobwebbed house. Over the years, Addams grew the cast […]
It’s hard to say if the Addams Family (the cartoon, the TV show, the movie) translates successfully to the musical format. The answer is is subjective and depends upon the viewer’s feelings about music theater and/or Addams-brand noir-schtick. There’s something jarring around the gloriously macabre Addamses cavorting and bursting into song. On the other hand, […]
After seeing the show Impossibilities: An Intimate Evening of Magic, Mind Reading and Mayhem, I am firmly convinced that Asheville’s arts scene is missing exactly this type of show. A big tip of the magician’s hat to NC Stage Co. for bringing this dynamic duo and their warm, friendly and all around dazzling show to […]
Water shutoffs in Detroit, the recent takeover attempt of Asheville’s water system by the State of North Carolina: Haywood Arts Regional Theatre’s staging of the oddball musical smash Urinetown is timely. The show is all about people living under a public utilities nightmare scenario where water is restricted to levels of personal discomfort and hygiene. […]
The Rural Academy Theater will “clop its way into your backyard and heart,” claims a press release by the horse-pulled production’s organizers. This year, the annual mobile mini-circus includes a slapstick interpretation of North Carolina’s pro-fracking legislation, a depiction of human presence on a geological timeline and an evening showing of Georges Méliès’ 1902 silent […]
“Die Fledermaus,” a libretto often rewritten and performed with local flair, will soon transform into its Asheville incarnation with the help of Asheville Lyric Opera. Set in Western North Carolina’s famous Giltmore home and based around the Southern mountain charm of the Vanerburgh family, ALO’s adaptation is intended to “create a deeper sense of appreciation […]
Each week, Xpress highlights notable WNC crowdsourcing initiatives that may inspire readers to become new faces in the crowd. This week features renovations at the Magnetic Theatre and Holiday Childress’ debut solo album.
Take an accomplished Hollywood writer, director and actress with decades of comedy writing experience, throw her unexpectedly into the flawed and unpredictable American healthcare system, and you’re bound to end up with entertaining anecdotes. Such as: A mysterious accident catapults an Asheville woman into a dystopia of drugs, disillusionment and worst of all, the dreaded […]
Gather ’round, folks — it’s story time. Asheville Community Theatre’s monthly storytelling series, Listen to This: Stories in Performance, closes its fourth season this week.
When bringing a beloved stage production like Little Shop Or Horrors (based on a B-movie from Roger Corman) to life, you have to have a good balance of humor, thrills and chills. You also need more than a little creative pizzazz to make it work without coming across as cheap or amateurish. As the underdog […]
Lexington Avenue Arts and Fun Festival returns on Sunday, Aug. 31 with a full day’s worth of music, art street theater, local vendors, food and drink and more. Festival planners just released the lineup, which includes more than a dozen bands on two stages, with an additional stage programmed by Lex 18 moonshine bar. The […]
Internal racism in the African-American community is not something that very many people would be comfortable talking about, much less seeing unfold on stage in front of them. Yet the new production by the unflinchingly brave Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective delivers as many laughs as it does thought-provoking moments. Sisters, by Marsha Jackson, isn’t […]
The inventive new Anam Cara Theatre production of the bloodiest of all of Shakespeare’s plays, Titus Andronicus, owes more than a slight nod to HBO’s Game of Thrones, and may hold the secrets to that show’s origins. Indeed, I spent a good part of the evening wondering if, perhaps, George R. R. Martin saw a […]
“This ain’t your granny’s chamber music,” claim husband and wife, Jonathan and Jennifer Adams, on their band’s website. The couple’s sound is constructed of guitar and cello pairings, delivered with more spunk than you’d expect from any instrumental family band and packaged under the name Montana Skies. The duo’s knack for extracting spiced-up grooves from […]
Shakespearean tragedy Titus Andronicus is considered to be the Bard’s bloodiest and most violent. Themes include sibling rivalry, murder and revenge. So gruesome is it that it fell out of favor with the sensitive Victorians but came back into popularity by the middle of the 20th century. Anam Cara Theatre Company puts its own spin […]
It’s time to break out the old leather-studded collar and golden tiara. New Mountain Asheville will host Seelie Court Masquerade, a two-night “multi-sensory fantasy event featuring two rooms of music, fashion, theater and dance,” according to a press release, and all attendees are strongly encouraged to dress their faerie best. Masqueraders will enjoy various live […]
The old adage “don’t make promises you can’t keep” resonates throughout the profession premiere of Promises (the play was staged as a student production at Appalachian State University in 2013). It is the 65th such premiere in Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s 40 years. Written by Appalachian State professor Joel Williams and directed by Screen Artists […]
Charlotte’s Web, the E. B. White classic tale of friendship, sacrifice and veganism before its time, is so well known you would think it would be hard to effectively present it on stage for contemporary audiences. In its sophomore season, Asheville Creative Arts easily overcame that concern. The company’s current version of the show, performed […]
The group behind Teatro del Gusto calls the cabaret circus a “feast for the senses.” The new series, which premiered at The Orange Peel on July 13, included vaudeville, burlesque, and classic circus entertainment. Local rockers Red Honey opened the show with a set of half a dozen tunes — some original and some covers. […]
