Ambition blooms for one of Charlotte’s smallest arts groups and one of its biggest

Heading into a new fall arts season, leaders of one of the city’s smallest performing arts groups — and one of its largest — talked about similar goals: to engage with audiences while bringing in special, impactful shows in the new season.

The Charlotte Observer recently spoke with Blumenthal Performing Arts, which bring in national Broadway tours, other artists and musicians, as well as produces major events like the Charlotte International Arts Festival. And the Observer also checked in with BNS Productions, Charlotte’s only Black repertory theater company.

Here’s what they had to say.

Blumenthal Performing Arts

Tom Gabbard, president and CEO

What events and shows that you are producing are you most excited about?

Generally, the things that get me most excited are the things we’re uniquely bringing to Charlotte. We want to provide things that people, but for Blumenthal, wouldn’t have a chance to experience, or they’d have to go to New York or London to see it.

First one I’ll start with is the revival of the musical ‘The Wiz’ (Nov. 7-12). This is the first time that this show has been redone and freshened up to be contemporary for 2023. The show is playing 21 weeks in a handful of cities, all to get ready to open in New York in the spring. That rarely happens that we have a show that comes to Charlotte and we’re seeing the Broadway cast in advance of New York seeing it.

We’re also bringing from London ‘Message in a Bottle’ (April 2-7, 2024.) It’s a dance theater piece done to the music of Sting, and Sting has been very involved with this. It tells a story of three families forced to leave their country because of war, and they have to flee and immigrate to other countries.

The last one I’ll point to that is something Charlotte is getting fresh and new is ‘Back to the Future: The Musical’ (July 9-21, 2024.) It just opened a few weeks ago in New York. We are one of only two cities that have announced it on tour… The storytelling in this is quite wonderful. So whether you’re a fan of the film, or seeing that story for the first time, people will have a great time.

Who is a performer to watch in the upcoming season?

We are thrilled to see Rob McClure returning to Charlotte. Rob will be starring in the musical version of ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ (April 30-May 5, 2024.) He originated the role on Broadway, and thankfully he’s going out on tour. We love that film for Robin Williams and all the different characters he becomes. Rob has that same ability to instantly become all these different voices, all these different characters.

What is your biggest challenge right now?

This is a transformative moment for us. We’re seeing it in all facets of our life that change has really accelerated the last few years in how we work, how we play and how we entertain ourselves. Blumenthal is really trying to listen carefully to see how we need to change. Fortunately, we’re in a city where people do love the arts. But sometimes how they consume it is not in a traditional theater, so we’re going outside a lot through things like the (international) arts festival.

What is a good way to encourage audiences to sample new shows or events they are not used to seeing?

Become a season ticket holder because there is no theater in the country that does this similarly. If you’re with the PNC Broadway Lights, for instance, we give people an option of up to four shows they can swap out to attend anything else in our theaters. It doesn’t have to be another Broadway show. It gives people an opportunity to explore.

What show or event from another arts group are you looking forward to catching?

Coming up soon, because I have so much admiration for her as an artist but also as a human being, is Renée Fleming singing with the Charlotte Symphony. One of the most revered soprano singers of several generations, but a remarkable human being with a beautiful outlook on life.

BNS Productions

Rory Sheriff, founding artistic director

(Matthews Playhouse and the African American Playwrights Group co-hosted staged readings at the 2023 BIPOC Playwrights Festival in May. Sheriff’s “Speakeasy” was selected to be the show to receive a full production this fall.)

Tell us about ‘Speakeasy’ and your involvement with the BIPOC Playwrights Festival in Matthews. What should people expect?

‘Speakeasy’ is an original piece that I wrote. It’s been inspired by my parents, my aunts, uncles and some community members that I grew up with in my neighborhood in Reading, Pa., in 1978. I was a kid at the time, but my parents split and my mom never really worked. So she decided to open a speakeasy, which down South is more like a liquor house or a juke joint, an illegal bar in someone’s house. My mom did it in my grandparents’ house.

I remember the voices of the characters of folks that were coming and drinking, and the good times that they were having, so I just created this story around that experience and ‘Speakeasy’ was born.

I created a story and I took a blueprint out of the way August Wilson tells the story about common people in the neighborhood, and make them relevant to the story. There’s some drama, comedy and a dash of romance. It’s going to take you on a ride.

(“Speakeasy” runs from Sept. 22-24 at Matthews Playhouse of the Performing Arts, 100 E. McDowell St., Matthews. For ticket information, go to matthewsplayhouse.com/speakeasyplay. Another upcoming show from BNS is Jermaine Nakia Lee’s “For the Love of Harlem,” covering a weekend in the lives of artistic visionaries who shaped the Harlem Renaissance. That show runs from Sept.29 to Oct. 1 in the New Theater at The Parr Center, Central Piedmont Community College. Ticket info: tix.cpcc.edu/)

Who is a performer to watch in the upcoming season?

Oh wow… I love all the actors. There’s too many, I can’t do that. All of them are hardworking actors in their own right. There’s some really, really talented actors in the area.

What is your biggest challenge right now?

Funding and space is the biggest challenge for us. We don’t have a set building to perform at. Right now we’re kind of embedded with CPCC... and I feel welcome and feel at home there. But at the same time, it’s still not ours.

So my biggest goal, my three- to five-year goal, is to somehow have an African-American multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art theater that houses our rehearsal hall, an African-American art gallery, a performance center for us and things that we can teach up and coming, underserved individuals about the arts. So that’s our challenge and I’m here for it.

What is a good way to encourage audiences to sample new shows or events they are not used to seeing?

There’s a thing that we call audience development. We go into the community and perform parts of a show that we have coming up and then we give out some tickets. So it’s a give-and-take of we give out tickets, they bring a friend and we’ll perform for them. They like us, they feel comfortable with us and come and see the show.

It has been working for us over the past years. It’s just being connected to the community that you serve, knowing the community that you serve... As we say, just being real and genuine because you want people to come and you want to connect with people. They’ll come if they trust you and they believe in you. It’s been working for us.

What show or event from another arts group are you looking forward to catching?

Free Reign (Theatre Company in Rock Hill) has ‘A Soldier’s Play’ coming up, so I’m going to check it out. I also definitely want to see ‘The Wiz’ and ‘MJ the Musical’ down at Blumenthal.