WIDESPREAD PANIC PHOTO BY JOSHUA TIMMERMANS
SHORTS
A Night Out
With pandemic restrictions lifting, performing arts
venues welcome back patrons
LBY CHRISTINE R. GONZALEZ IVE indoor and outdoor arts performances have resumed
at a cautious trickle. Patrons have a handful of
live opportunities this July, all centering around
music, with theatrical productions resuming later
this summer.
Riverfront Park, the new amphitheater along the Cape
Fear River in downtown Wilmington, opens with rock group
Widespread Panic in mid-July.
Live music can be found all around town with the resumption
of many summer concert series on lawns, amphitheaters, muse-ums
and more, including the Greenfield Lake Amphitheater,
Airlie Gardens, and the Bellamy Mansion’s Summer Jazz series.
Stage productions such as Beehive at Thalian Hall and
Legends Live On! at the Wilson Center are music revues. Full pro-duction
plays will be hitting their stride near September.
“In the theater world, things don’t happen exactly on a dime,
so getting things back to a more typical time, it will be by the
end of the summer I think,” Thalian Hall’s Executive Artistic
Director Tony Rivenbark says.
Rivenbark explained that it takes six to 10 weeks to plan a live
theater production.
“While the theater buildings are ready, there is no product to
put in them yet. They (productions) have to reassemble casts,
have rehearsals and do it all over again. That’s why Broadway
won’t open up until September,” he says.
Shane Fernando, vice president for advancement and the arts
at the Wilson Center, shares the excitement for the return of
touring theatrical groups.
“We are so thrilled to begin making announcements for our
Stars series and the Broadway series,” he says. “As these shows
begin their casting and teching in New York, they are also
rebuilding these tours. This has never happened in our nation’s
history in terms of theater, particularly in touring, where every-thing
is starting from scratch again.”
Two of the Wilson Center’s top selling shows, Beautiful and
Cats, were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fernando
confirmed those two shows are coming back and about 9,000
tickets will be honored.
Thalian Hall’s first major event will be in September with Give
‘Em Hell, Harry! starring President Harry Truman’s actual grand-son,
actor Clifton Daniel.
Airlie Gardens Summer Concert Series
July 2 Monkey Funktion
July 16 Jack Jack 180
Bellamy Mansion Summer Jazz Series
July 8 The Manny Santos Jazz Band
Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
July 9 & 10 Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange)
Wilson Center
July 9, 10, 11 Legends Live On! Starring Legacy
Thalian Hall
July 16, 17, 18 Beehive: The ‘60s Musical
Riverfront Park Amphitheater
July 16, 17, 18 Widespread Panic
July 30 & 31 GRiZMAS in July featuring GRiZ
Upcoming:
The popular Sounds of Summer concert series in
Wrightsville Beach Park will take place every Thursday
evening in August, weather permitting.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com 17
WBM
Mark your calendar for July Events!
Rock band Widespread Panic will be the first major act to
perform at the new Riverfront Park Amphitheater in down-town
Wilmington.