More recent play-going

We have been staying pretty much at full-speed-ahead with our playgoing since visiting Spoleto. In early June, I very much enjoyed the upbeat "Hairspray" as produced by the West Side Civic Theatre in Lewisville; the interesting and well-done "Duck Hunter Shoots Angel" at Twin City Stage; and chiefly very entertained by Kernersville Little Theatre's musical "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," which chewed up a lot of Kathy's life as she was the stage manager (in addition to her KLT presidential duties.)

In the midst of that production, we raced up to Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va., and back, catching the new show "Elvis Has Left the Building" in the middle of that whirlwind. The comedy is the latest show by Duke Ernsberger and V. Cate, who first wrote "Don't Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell," with which we have a long and enjoyable relationship. Speaking of which, I also caught a very pleasing production of that show in Burlington that involved Katie Jo Icenhower (director) and actors Scott Icenhower and John Collier.

We also snuck out to see the movie presentation of the "Company" concert that starred Neil Patrick Harris. And very much enjoyed and were amused by Triad Stage's "Masquerade."

Speaking of whirlwind trips, we were able to sneak up and surprise Carson Gregory, who had acted in both "Conversations in a Cafe" and "All About Faith," seeing her perform in "Hello, Dolly" and a new musical interpretation of the "Little Mermaid" story at the Allenberry Playhouse in Boiling Springs, Pa. That was a great deal of fun.

Last but not least, we were just in Charlotte to see the musical "Next to Normal" on tour. Kathy had seen it in New York, and the much-vaunted Alice Ripley was touring with it, so we bought tickets as soon as we could, some time back. Sadly, Alice's performance was a disappointment to me, though I really liked the show, the set, the effects, the music and the performances of the rest of the cast. The young woman who sang and acted the Natalie part was especially good. Alice, however, often sang weakly and occasionally off-tune, which affects me almost physically when I hear it. Kathy and I both agreed that we'd like to see this show with a different actor in the lead female role, just to see if it's actually better than the much-hyped current lead.

More to come soon!