CAROLINA THEATRE/ DURHAM—Ask any high-school theater geek, and they’ll have heard of Gilbert and Sullivan. Ask me, I was one. But amazingly, I graduated high school and went all through college without once seeing one of their plays or hearing any of the songs.
All of that changed when I attended a rehearsal for The Mikado, performed by the Durham Savoyards. Founded in 1963, the troupe is dedicated to performing solely Gilbert and Sullivan standards. While they rotate through a number of titles, they return to the more popular ones more frequently.
This outing marks director Derrick Ivey’s second time helming the opera. His first time directing for the Savoyards occurred in 2003, when he directed a different version of The Mikado.
“The one we did in 2003 was a really radical re-visioning. It was a modern setting, and we had a huge back story,” Ivey says, noting that the text and music remained unchanged. The modern characters then stepped into the Japanese story after the choreographed overture, creating a layered story-within-a-story effect. That production was the last time the Savoyards performed the opera.
Though the Savoyards only have one large performance each year, they make sure to do it in style. Sarah Nevill, one of the show’s producers, says that the group has sold more tickets than at this point last year. As far as Nevill knows, no other group like the Savoyards exists in North Carolina.
A technical rehearsal was underway during my visit; as I walked through the Carolina Theatre’s backstage corridors, cast and crew bustled about, absorbed in their preparations. A peek into the makeup rooms revealed actors getting their faces brushed with white paste to simulate Japanese Kabuki-style makeup. Actors padded around the halls in dressing gowns, with hair held in caps to aid in wearing wigs later. Orchestra members tuned up in the pit the cast’s first full-dress rehearsal (involving not only costumes, but also make-up and wigs). Continue reading »
Jennifer Coolidge in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call—New Orleans, which plays its final Triangle engagement Thursday, Jan. 14, at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. (Photo courtesy of First Look Pictures)
It took one simple acronym to put Jennifer Coolidge in the public eye: “MILF.” Since her appearance as the teen-deflowering Stifler’s mom in 1999’s American Pie, the actress says she’s been inundated with scripts for “horny mother and trophy wife” roles. But she looks back on the part with fondness: “It’s gotten me a lot of dates.”
Coolidge will appear at Goodnight’s for a stand-up comedy show beginning tonight and continuing through Sunday, though she doesn’t quite know what her set will be: “Probably a lot of weird stories about being an actress.” She should have plenty of those, for the last decade has made her a familiar face in film and TV, particularly in such films as Legally Blonde, A Cinderella Story and Best in Show.
“Kids will go up to me who’ve seen Cinderalla and go ‘Are you a bad witch?’ Sometimes you’ll get someone who goes, ‘You’re the crazy evil lady in Pootie Tang! Someone said they loved the girl I played on an episode of Friends, and I forgot I did Friends. It all becomes a distant memory.”
In the past year, Coolidge has played a hooker on ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a plastic surgery addict on Nip/ Tuck, another mom in Gentlemen Broncos, and a small part in Bat Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans for Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage.
“It’s honestly my favorite film from last year,” says Coolidge, who that both Cage and Herzog were a pleasure to work with, despite their gonzo on-set antics. “I had no idea what it would be like working with Nic Cage, but he’s just such a nice person, a real professional.”
And she’s a big supporter of the film, which is still playing in the Triangle: “I think it’s one of the best movies of the year, and not just because I have a small part in it. Watching it, it was just brilliant. And I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen Nic Cage in. He takes such huge risks sometimes, and he just went for it.” She also praises Werner Herzog as “un-Hollywood,” and reveals that despite the outrageous content of his films, he’s “never taken anything stronger than an Aspirin.”
Who would she like to work with? “I always liked Jack Nicholson, and I always hoped one day to get in a movie with him. I’ve always been obsessed with him and Anthony Hopkins. I would love to be like the mother or mentor of Angelina Jolie, or some up-and-coming young actress and show her how to operate the high-powered guns.”
Despite her prolific output, Coolidge says her acting plans this year are unclear.” “I’m doing the standup so I don’t get bored with my life,” she says. “When you live in Hollywood, it’s like you’re behind a tall hedge, this life that doesn’t feel normal. When I started doing standup as a lark, you have to fly everywhere and hang out with people at hotels and get to know the area. I’ve gotten to see all these parts of the United States I never would have seen otherwise. It’s like there’s this whole life I’ve been missing.”
She’s looking forward to checking out the local sights in Raleigh, which could include the flea market. “I have yet to go to a city where they don’t have a good flea market,” she says.
“It’s hard to find places where people are enthusiastic about what’s local,” she says. “I went on a date with this guy at one stop, and he took me to the mall.”
Indy contributor Danny Hooley wrote this preview of David Cross’ performance in Durham Wednesday night. He then went to the show and found that the show started before the patrons even entered Fletcher Hall.
Poor “Larry the Cable Guy.” He thought he was going to a Jeff Foxworthy show. Instead, he found out that the ticket he purchased for the Carolina Theatre Wednesday night was for his old nemesis, David Cross.
When he discovered his boneheaded mistake, he tried the only thing he could think of: scalping.
“Git ‘er donnnne! Y’all need tickets?”
There he was, in all his plaid, bare-armed glory, harassing people lined up at the door, just before 8 p.m.
“It’s a souvenir,” Larry informed one patron as he showed him the very special ticket. “You know why? ‘Cause I signed it. And then I wrote ‘GIT R DONE.’ And then I wrote ‘DAVID CROSS SUCKS.’ HAHA HAHAHA! It’s only a hundred dollars.”
Lisa Creech Bledsoe on "Notes from IgniteRaleigh: To be a spark, and not to be rickrolled": "Speed dating for the tech set," funny! Nice write up of an incredible event. I'm voting for Scrubby next year. Scrub-by, Scrub-by, Scrub-by!
Lisa aka @glowbird (the boxing chick)
DK on "Notes from IgniteRaleigh: To be a spark, and not to be rickrolled": Just moved back to the Triangle from Seattle, which is where Ignite started. It kind of caught on and blew up really fast, and organizers had to keep upping the venue.
I think people have been looking for this kind of cabaret for a while. They like going somewhere and being a crowd together, and it's
Christine Fawley on "Notes from IgniteRaleigh: To be a spark, and not to be rickrolled": A fabulous night highlighting the diversity of talent and intellectual pursuits here in the Triangle. An event like this could be held every month and still barely scratch the surface of the passions of our community.
We were honored to be included and appreciated the support and enthusiasm of the crowd as we delivered "20
