A sneak peek into "It Takes Two" starring Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell

A sneak peek into "It Takes Two" with Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell

Click HERE for more info!!

Lauren Kennedy to star in [title of show] at George Street Playhouse

By Andrew Gans www.playbill.com

Casting has been announced for the George Street Playhouse's upcoming production of of [title of show], the four-person Broadway musical that chronicles the creation of that musical.Directed by Matt Lenz, performances will begin Nov. 16 at the New Jersey venue with an official opening scheduled for Nov. 19. The production will continue through Dec. 12.The cast will feature actor, musician and Playbill.com columnist Seth Rudetsky as Jeff, Tyler Maynard as Hunter, Lauren Kennedy as Heidi and Susan Mosher as Susan. Jesse Vargas will music direct and play the role of Larry, the music director."I am so thrilled to welcome this extraordinary group of artists, including my old friend Seth Rudetsky. As this season has come together, a theme has emerged common to all five plays: the importance of discovering one’s true self and what one truly desires as opposed to what the world tells us we should want," stated artistic director David Saint. "The other prevalent theme in [title of show] is relationships and how they evolve as life happens. The truly remarkable thing about this musical is how these very profound ideas are conveyed, and the show is truly hilarious and touching. This is a perfect show for our audiences."The design team comprises scenic designer R. Michael Miller, costume designer Michael MacDonald, lighting designer Phillip Rosenberg, sound designer Walter Trarback and projection designer Michael Clarke.[title of show], according to the George Street Playhouse, is a "musical comedy for anyone who has followed a dream. When two struggling writers, Jeff and Hunter, make a commitment to write something new in three weeks, they quickly find that writing a comedy about the process of writing is more interesting than anything else they could write. A show about four friends taking risks, creating art, killing Vampires (the dream-destroying kind, not the Dracula kind) – and how relationships change when life happens."[title of show] — the new musical that, according to a fan-favorite song in the show, would rather be nine people's favorite thing than 100 people's ninth favorite thing — played its final performance at the Lyceum Theatre Oct. 12, 2008. Following runs at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2004 and the Vineyard Theatre in 2006, the entire original cast — including co-creators Jeff Bowen (score) and Hunter Bell (book) as well as co-stars Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff — made the leap to the Broadway stage. A Chorus Line's Michael Berresse, who helmed the acclaimed Off-Broadway run, also directed the Broadway version, which featured musical director-arranger Larry Pressgrove onstage playing the electric keyboard. The musical was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Bell).For tickets visit www.GSPonline.org. George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ.

It Takes Two : An Evening with Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell at the Davis Theater in Concord, NC

A sizzling evening of music performed by two Broadway and television stars will open the 2010-2011 season of On Stage at the Davis Saturday, September 25.

It Takes Two: An Evening with Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell includes showstoppers from Broadway, standards from the Great American Songbook, swing numbers, country classics and rock and roll. The show will be at 8 p.m. in the theatre in Cabarrus County’s historic courthouse. Tickets are $42 and available online at www.CabarrusArtsCouncil.org and at the Davis Theatre Box Office, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 704-920-2753.

Individually, Kennedy and Campbell are respected, much admired and sought-after Broadway, theatre, recording film and television artists. When they are on stage together, the audience is treated to a rich and joyous duet of music and laughter – a magical evening from start to finish.

Here’s what reviewers are saying about them:

“From the bravura opening number to their charming encore, Campbell and Kennedy have personality plus and know how to project it.” (ClassicalVoiceofNC.com)

“The couple’s combined Broadway experience translates into bang-up, class A entertainment.” (Raleigh News and Observer)

“Alan Campbell is a charismatic golden boy with a voice to match” (Wall Street Journal)

“Kennedy gives a star-making performance. Her singing rings out as clear as a fingernail flick on a crystal champagne glass. Intoxicating.” (New Jersey Star Ledger)

North Carolina native Kennedy has appeared on Broadway as Fantine in Les Miserables, Lady of the Lake in Monty Python’s Spamalot, Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard and Daisy Hilton in Side Show. Her regional theatre credits include Nefertari in The Ten Commandments with Val Kilmer at the Kodak Theatre.

Florida native Campbell received a Tony Award nomination for the role of Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard opposite Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige. He starred in Susan Stroman’s 2000 Tony Award winning musical Contact at Lincoln Center. His film credits include Weekend Warriors, Bump in the Night, Simple Wish and Tom, Dick and Harry. On television, he co-starred onJake and the Fatman, Three’s a Crowd, Another World and All My Children.

Read more about these wonderful performers at www.goingbarefoot.com.

AUDITIONS FOR 'A CHRISTMAS STORY' PRE-SHOW ENTERTAINMENT

Got talent? Got holiday spirit?
A Christmas Story wants you as an opening act!

Broadway Series South in association with Hot Summer Nights presents the
beloved
holiday classic play, A Christmas Story, December 7 - 24, 2010 in A.J.
Fletcher Theater at the Progress
Energy Center for the Performing Arts; General Management by North Carolina
Theatre. Tickets are on sale now-
and your performing group can be part of the pre-show festivities!

We're looking for local singers, school choruses, acoustic musical groups,
handbell choirs, etc...to
perform ON STAGE 15 minutes prior to each of our 20 shows. What a fantastic
performance opportunity
for your group during this magical time of year!

There are 3 ways to audition:

* Email a performance clip (no longer than 3 minutes, please!) to
hotsummernights@me.com
* Upload a video to www.youTube.com and e-mail the link to us
* Attend our open audition during theatreSPARK September 18th from
11-12pm on Lichtin Plaza
outside Raleigh's Progress Energy Center for the Performing
Arts. Please email your contact info to
pre-register for the audition.

All pre-show performances at A Christmas Story must have a holiday theme.
We will provide 2 microphones on stands.
Accompaniment must be recorded on a CD playable through the Fletcher
Auditorium sound system.
A cappella singing/acoustic instruments are also allowed.

Performances will begin 15 minutes prior to each show, and run no longer
than 10 minutes.


We look forward to seeing you on stage as we inaugurate this new, exciting
Holiday Tradition in Raleigh!

Presenting sponsor: Barton College

Ghostlight Records Releases Cast Recording of GOOD OL' GIRLS starring LAUREN KENNEDY, 8/31

Ghostlight Records in association with White Sand Entertainment and Ken Denison, Executive Producer, will release the cast recording of the acclaimed Off-Broadway musical GOOD OL' GIRLS on Tuesday, August 31st. Produced by Keith Levenson, the CD features the original cast, which includes Lauren Kennedy (Spamalot), Sally Mayes (She Loves Me), Teri Ralston (Company), Gina Stewart (Dawson's Creek) and Liza Vann (Machiavelli), with music by Nashville hit-makers Marshall Chapman (Jimmy Buffett, Wynonna, Olivia Newton-John) and Matraca Berg (Reba McEntire, Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill). The new CD will be available at Amazon, iTunes, Sh-K-Boom (link) and wherever music is sold.

GOOD OL' GIRLS played Off-Broadway, at The Black Box Theatre at The Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre earlier this year. Paul Ferguson wrote and adapted the musical from the works of two prominent Southern authors, Lee Smith (author of 12 novels including her newest, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger) and Jill McCorkle (author of 8 books including Going Away Shoes), GOOD OL' GIRLS was directed by Randal Myler (It Ain't Nothin' But The Blues; Hank Williams: The Lost Highway; Love, Janis).

Two of Nashville's leading singer/songwriters redefine the modern Southern woman in GOOD OL' GIRLS, a musical about love, loss and laughter. Through the language of five unique southerners, GOOD OL' GIRLS celebrates childhood through old age, with big hair and bigger hearts. Official website is at www.goodolgirls.com.

Read more: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ghostlight_Records_Releases_Cast_Recording_of_GOOD_OL_GIRLS_831_20100830#ixzz0yCpCMd6v

Classical Voice of North Carolina "Lauren Kennedy plays 'Tell Me On a Sunday' to Packed House, Standing Ovation"

Another rave review for "Tell Me On a Sunday" at Hot Summer Nights!!

Classical Voice of North Carolina review by Alan R. Hall

August 20, 2010, Raleigh, NC: Raleigh’s Lauren Kennedy is a Broadway actress who spends her summers at “Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy,” a summer series that plays in the Kennedy Theater, downstairs at the Progress Energy Performance Center in Raleigh. Kennedy, the Producing Artistic Director, and shares the reins with her husband, Managing Director Alan Campbell. But for this season she is also performing in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s one-woman tour-de-force Tell Me on a Sunday. Friday’s show was a sell-out, and Kennedy’s stunner of a performance received a standing ovation.

If the show is not familiar to you, this may help: Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote Tell Me on a Sunday as the first of two acts under the title Song and Dance. The second act of this show is a ballet, performed to “Variations on a Theme by Paganini,” which Webber wrote for his brother, Julian, a cellist. But the work is seldom performed as a complete show sinceTell Me on a Sunday is compact and produceable on a less-than-grand scale, while a full-scale ballet is not.

Kennedy’s show is backdropped by a video screen, which helps us keep up with changes in scene, letters her character sends home, and the various boyfriends who make up the tally in “Emma’s” romantic misadventures. While Webber wrote the work for a young Cockney Londoner who moves to New York City to make it big, Kennedy plays her instead as a hayseed from North Carolina who makes the same trip, to be with her first misadventure, “Chuck,” a musician. Emma arrives in the Big Apple complete with a thick Southern accent, which all her New York friends call “adorable.” Emma manages to lose her accent pretty quickly, after her second misadventure, Tyler King, flies her out to L.A. to star in films he is producing. “Capped Teeth and Caesar Salad” is the musical number that seems to sum up her L.A. adventure, but not before she levels a scathing accusation at King, in “You Made Me Think You Were In Love.”

After she realizes that King is not her white knight, Emma returns to New York, where she meets Joe, a Nebraskan she describes as “Metro-sexual.” Joe turns out to be her longest relationship, eliciting the most songs: “An Unexpected Song,” “Come Back With That Same Look in Your Eyes,” and the central song of the work, “Take That Look Off Your Face,” which reprises several times during the show.

Throughout the work, Kennedy is dead-on, covering a gamut of emotion from scared and vulnerable to confident and defiant. She handles several on-stage costume changes with aplomb, never dropping a note. And her technique is flawless, handling a soft, tender torch song one minute and belting out a showstopper the next.

Interestingly enough, Emma actually gets her first big break on the same night that she breaks up with Paul, her latest fling and a married man. She finishes on a high note with a final rendition of “Take That Look Off Your Face,” indicating that, like her new career, the right man will come along as long as she keeps trying. The final note brought the crowd to its feet, and cheers rang the room for several minutes.

Hot Summer Nights closes this season with another week of Tell Me on a Sunday, but if you wish to see this short but powerful stunner, call right away for reservations. This one is going to sell out.

Tell Me on a Sunday continues through August 29 in Raleigh and then plays in Wilson from September 1-5. For details, see our calendar.

To read view on Classical Voice of North Carolina site click HERE

NEWS & OBSERVER REVIEW: "Kennedy adds warmth to 'Tell Me On a Sunday"

News & Observer Review- Roy C. Dicks

Most people know of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage-filling extravaganzas "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera." But he also can be intimate, as in "Tell Me on a Sunday," a one-woman one-act musical being staged by Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy with Raleigh's own Broadway star, Lauren Kennedy.

The hour-long piece has a varied history. It started as a 1979 British concept album, and then became one-half of the 1982 musical "Song and Dance." The story of a young English woman finding love and adventure in New York City was substantially revised for its 1985 Broadway run and reworked again for its 2003 and 2010 versions.

Although the show has some of Lloyd Webber's catchiest songs, critics have faulted the shallow plot that concentrates on Emma's series of failed relationships and complained about her unsympathetic, self-centered character.

The right performer can sway reactions to the show, however, and Lauren Kennedy proves it with a warmly charming interpretation. It helps that the script has been completely Americanized and fitted to Kennedy's persona, turning Emma into an optimistic innocent from North Carolina gone to the Big Apple to seek her fortune in the theater.

The show's clever structure has Emma singing not only to herself, but also to unseen boyfriends, best pal Viv and her mother back home. Kennedy makes Emma's hurt when she finds her new boyfriend is unfaithful readily believable. When Emma follows a film producer to Hollywood, Kennedy astutely projects her initial star-struck awe and eventual boredom. After Emma returns, Kennedy knowingly charts her relationships' progressive sophistication and coldness, eventually leading Emma to realize she has changed too much.

Kennedy confidently sings Lloyd Webber's range of styles, making the several versions of "Take That Look Off Your Face" full of conflicting emotions and the title song appropriately soaring. Kennedy impresses with her stamina and charisma throughout, deftly guided by director Matthew-Jason Willis.

This is the company's most technically accomplished production this season. A simple brick wall on which appropriate photos and videos are projected backs minimal furnishings. Chris Bernier's lighting design adds intriguing color and movement. Julie Florin's five-piece band (placed high above the action to one side) supplies mellow accompaniment in beautifully balanced sound, Kennedy's lyrics and quiet moments coming through clearly. However, tempo choices sometimes seem more relaxed than necessary, allowing the pace to sag in places.

Musical fans should take this rare opportunity to experience Lloyd Webber in miniature and Lauren Kennedy up close and personal.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/19/636349/kennedy-adds-warmth-to-tell-me.html#ixzz0x5Cz5jPr