Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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MARCH 8-14, 2017 UCW 15 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM EVENTS The TEN Tenors, Australian musical sensation that blends rock, pop and opera in dynamic live performances, first toured internationally on a European circuit in 2001. They sold 120,000 tickets in five days. They have now sold over 3.5 million concert tickets worldwide, produced six platinum and gold records, and performed alongside music legends such as Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie, Keith Urban and Christina Aguilera. And they are coming to the Crown Complex courtesy of Community Concerts on Saturday, March 18. The group will travel to Fayetteville as part of their 20th Anniversary World Tour, "The Power of TEN." "The Power of TEN" tour promises to demonstrate just that – how powerful ten tenors onstage can be, and why they've kept audiences enthusiastically returning for so many years. On this tour, The TEN transform popular rock and pop anthems with their distinctive "tenorial" renditions, bringing their trademark charisma and gorgeously arranged music to the stage. When asked about the song he is most excited to perform on tour, longest-serving member and musical director Paul Gelsumini said "…Simon and Garfunkel's 'The Boxer.' This arrangement is remarkable and I could never sing it enough." Virgilo Marino, who joined in 2016 as the group's newest member, has performed in many internationally prestigious operatic capacities, from the Concorso Riccardo Zandonai in Italy to Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Singapore. Florian Voss, who also joined The TEN in 2016, uses his skills not just to impress audiences, but also to empower others. His many credits include a partnership with non-profit organization The Broadway Dreams Foundation to help gifted young artists develop their musical abilities. "The [TEN family] is large and unique like the music and genres that we have covered. Members may come and go … but our style and presence [remains] true," said Gelsumini. These impressive musicians also enjoy the little things about touring. Guitarist David Orr said, "I love to explore the new cities and find awesome venues to sit back and enjoy some live music!" Benjamin Keane, pianist, added that he loves "being able to live life as a local and do what the locals do" as he travels. The show on March 18 will be preceded by a short induction ceremony for new members into The Fayetteville Music Hall of Fame. The Fayetteville Music Hall of Fame was founded by Community Concerts to honor those who have brought musical distinction to our community. Past winners of the prestigious award include Bo Thorp, long-term creative director and voice of the Cape Fear Regional Theater, and the late dance legend and ballet teacher Charlotte Blume. Community Concerts, founded in 1935, is an "all- volunteer, non-profit whose goal is to bring the finest in top-notch entertainment to Fayetteville." After The TEN Tenors concert, Community Concerts will hold its season finale on April 11, featuring the Broadway smash hit "RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles." Michael Fleishman, attractions director for Community Concerts, shared his excitement about the show on March 18: "If you think three or four tenors are great, wait until you see what TEN can do. Don't miss this! It's a show you'll long remember." Tickets to see The TEN range from $30 to $75.50 and are available in person at the Crown Box Office or online at www.CapeFearTix. com. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. Let The Ten Tenors Serenade You by LESLIE PYO The Ten Tenors are set to perform at the Crown on March 18. Ashlee Olivia Jones as Esther LESLIE PYO, Assistant Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200. Intimate Apparel is a show of visual and conceptual dichotomies that allow you to arrive at subtle, tender and painful conclusions for yourself. "It's a play set in 1905 about who you're not supposed to love and who perhaps you do anyway," Director Khanisha Foster said. "There's something dangerous and beautiful about that. A lot of what we explore in the play is what the rules of the time are versus what happens when people actually connect to each other." Upon arriving to Intimate's first preview, I was immediately struck by the sweep of a deep, luxuriously red curtain on the right side of the stage. Nestled in front of the curtain were a red velvet chaise lounge, a stuffed red armchair and a grand piano. A chandelier dangled above the red carpet. These reds, arranged with powerful simplicity by Scenic Designer Josafath Reynoso and beautifully lit by David Castaneda, grabbed my eye first. My gaze then wandered left, ascending a short wooden staircase to a shelf full of bolts of fabric, and then back down to the left side of the stage. Here, in the "rented room" of black seamstress Esther Mills (played stirringly by L.A. native Ashlee Olivia Jones), I saw a single desk with a sewing machine, lit by a single kerosene lamp. Grace Schmitz did a great job rounding out this bland visual impression with her costume design, dressing Esther in whites, browns and olive greens. As the play unfolds, Esther never leaves the stage, weaving back and forth between her kindly if exasperating landlady, Michelle Walker's Mrs. Dixon, and the red, rich world of Lauren Mae Shafer's warm but ignorant Mrs. Van Buren. Mrs. Van Buren is a lonely Manhattan socialite who hires Esther to sew her beautiful undergarments that go ever-unseen by her aloof husband. Her relationship with Esther is illustrated by Foster's skillful blocking: in at least half of their scenes, Mrs. Van Buren continuously stands up on and then steps down from a block of wood while Esther flutters around her, adjusting her lingerie. The visual seesaw seems to mimic Mrs. Van Buren's conflicting awareness of her hierarchical place in relation to Esther and her genuine desire for friendship with her. It is also on the "red" side of the stage that Esther visits her friend Mayme, a prostitute who sometimes lets herself dream of being a concert pianist. Alason Little is irresistibly fresh and funny, free-spirited and guarded as Mayme, and it is a treat to watch these two actresses connect onstage. Once a week, Esther's horizontal tread is broken by visits up the staircase to Mr. Marks, a Hasidic merchant of beautiful cloth played with an enchanting sincerity and quiet by Patrick Poole. It is here, among the bolts of carefully crafted cloth that Mr. Marks loves to show Esther, that the show finds its underlying heartbeat and most intimate moments. For their heartfelt but tentative friendship encapsulates the theme that Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Notage's script weaves throughout: humans in relation to social structures that tell them who or what they can and can't have intimacy with. There is a beautiful moment when Esther reaches out to touch Mr. Marks' coat and he flinches away. "The color won't rub off on you," a flustered Esther quickly apologizes. "No, no…" Mr. Marks urges. He explains that he can't be touched by anyone other than his relatives or future wife. "It is rabbinical law. Not mine," he explains. I felt both respect and regret in his words. Beethovan Oden, who lives in New York, is convincing as George – Esther's letter- writing, long-distance marriage proposal – the outcome of which provides yet another thought-provoking juxtaposition. Director Khanisha Foster returns to CFRT for her third time to do Intimate Apparel. She had her directorial debut with The Bluest Eye in 2015, returning in 2016 to direct Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which became CFRT's highest grossing non-musical at that time. "I was thrilled to come back to the community," she said. "It's been a very loving process." Intimate Apparel runs through March 19. Visit www.cfrt.org or call (910) 323- 4233 to purchase tickets. CFRT's Intimate Apparel: Social Structures and Human Connection by LESLIE PYO LESLIE PYO, Assistant Editor. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200.