Flat Rock – Flat Rock Playhouse soon presents separate tributes to three of the most famous classic rock bands of them all — The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, and The Rolling Stones — and a musical about country star Johnny Cash.
Leading off the new FRP season, the Here Comes The Sun Band and Friends (Nat Zegree) plays Beatle hits and album cuts on Feb. 23-26. Next up is Rumors: The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show, on March 16-18. The third Music on the Rock® act, on April 13-15, is Jumping Jack Flash: A Tribute to the Rolling Stones. Tickets are each $45, $55, or $65 for all three shows.
Season Highlights
Meanwhile, FRP unveiled its 2023 season on Feb. 1. Season tickets go on sale on Feb. 28. Single-show tickets go on sale on March 8. Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash opens on April 21. This is not a tribute act. It is a “unique musical about love and faith, struggle and success, rowdiness and redemption, and the healing power of home and family.”
Macbeth is performed Oct. 6-22, in a rare presentation of Shakespeare at FRP. This black box show has limited seating, with the audience sitting on the stage close the action. FRP heralds the classic as a “haunting story of ambition and its dark consequences, as a military hero and his wife conspire to seize political power. A terrifyingly prophetic tale of revenge, murder, and madness, Macbeth lays bare the fallout when the darkest side of humanity cheats its way into a position of power. One of Shakespeare’s bloodiest, scariest – and yet – most popular tragedies.”
Steel Magnolias, an audience favorite, is on May 12-28, and is about “sisterhood, resilience, and love.” Other productions, in chronological order, are family show Cinderella: Enchanted on June 9-July 12, A Chorus Line July 13-Aug. 6, drama The Girl on the Train Aug. 17-Sept. 2, The Music of Dirty Dancing Sept. 8-24, Macbeth, Slowpoke! The True Story of a Tortoise and Hare on Nov. 3-12, and the holiday musical A Flat Rock Playhouse Christmas on Nov. 24-Dec. 21.
Auditions for card-carrying actors and others were held Feb. 3 for some minor roles. FRP Artistic Director Lisa Bryant stated, “We were thrilled with the turnout of community members, filling the halls of the Studio 52 Education Building. While not everyone may be getting a callback, know that we appreciate your passion for theatre.”
Zegree is a Treat
The Here Comes The Sun Band amplifies its showmanship to the Nat Zegree Degree. Zany pianist Nat Zegree joins the act to play Beatles tunes. Zegree has put on an annual one-person show at FRP. He first made waves at FRP in Million Dollar Quartet, by portraying Jerry Lee Lewis with comical antics and piano playing that is acrobatic, frenzied and remarkably precise.
The Here Comes The Sun Band is an all-star combo of musical actors who have played various tributes for FRP, including an annual Eagles outdoor concert. They consistently put on tremendous shows, with their vocals and multi-instrumental musicianship. Their motto is “We don’t impersonate. We celebrate!”
The band consists of Dustin Brayley, Ryan Dunn, Ryan Guerra, Eric Anthony, and Paul Babelay. These college buddies have premier recent gigs. Bearded, oft-grinning Brayley toured as part of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Others have graced stages of Broadway and the Lincoln Center.
Jumping Jack Flash
A Rolling Stones tribute band typically centers around the swagger of its Mick Jagger persona. Joey Infante portrays Jagger with much gusto in Jumping Jack Flash. This seasoned act debuted in 2005. Infante is part of Roxanne, a band still actively recording and which performed on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip in the late Eighties.
Young Hutchison portrays lead guitarist Keith Richards. Pat Hennessy is guitarist Ron Wood, Matt Quilter is bassist Bill Wyman, and Jon McCracken is drummer Charlie Watts. Watts died two years ago.
Rumours
Rumours: The Ultimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute Show honors one of the biggest rock and pop acts of the Seventies and Eighties. This act formed in 2012 in Los Angeles, also home of the actual Fleetwood Mac, and was part of AXS TV’s World Greatest Tribute Bands special.
The focal point is 1975-1987, with the Fleetwood Mac lineup fronted by Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, instead of earlier hits with Peter Green or Bob Welch. The band uses “period-accurate equipment and costumes” and “spot-on characterizations and musical performances.”
Jesika Miller portrays lead singer Stevie Nicks. Taylor Locke is vocalist-guitarist Buckingham. Ned Brower acts as zany, tall, bearded drummer Mick Fleetwood. Nic Johns plays bassist John McVie. Tuzy Ellis acts as vocalist Christine McVie, who died last Nov. 30.
Film Scene; Vet Stories
Flat Rock Playhouse’s interior was transformed into of a circa-1946 movie theater, for a scene shot on Jan. 27 for the Hallmark Channel’s A Biltmore Christmas.
Two days later, FRP was the setting for storytelling of combat veterans both to educate the public and as a therapeutic way of dealing with trauma. The N.C. Veterans Writing Alliance Foundation sponsors the event, which was also in FRP pre-pandemic in 2019. Ticket sales and purchases of the group’s two-volume collected works entitled Brothers and Sisters Like together raised money for Blue Ridge Honor Flight, which flies veterans to see war memorials in D.C.
“We are honored to have been able to put their powerful stories back on the Leiman Mainstage,” Bryant stated.
FRP show tickets can be purchased online at www.flatrockplayhouse.org, or by calling 828-693-0731.