North Carolina Theatre thanks donors with music and spa services

LOCAL FEATURE

By Dathan Kazsuk | Sep 29, 2013

Twitter: @TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: @trianglearoundtown

Up until a couple years ago, one would never have expected to find me at a symphony or a musical. I use to think – granted back in the day – the these things were for just girls. I guess a lot has changed over the years.

Lauren Kennedy and her daughter Riley Campbell.

In recent years, I’ve seen classics such as Wicked, Rent, Jeckyll & Hyde and Anything Goes. I’ve seen some of the obscure ones as well, in the likes of Avenue Q, Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Shop of Horrors. I’ve also seen some very witty performances such as War Horse and Nerds (which I have to admit was a great show).

Sharing a table with a couple cast members of Les Miserables, 
and the owners of Synergy Spa.

Thanks to Theatre in the Park, I’ve been behind the scenes for A Christmas Carol, getting to meet Ira David Wood. With the North Carolina Theatre, I’ve met cast members of Legally Blonde and actress, singer/model, Cybill Shepherd. I’ve talked to North Carolina Symphony’s lead conductor, Grant Llewellyn, prior to him conducting a performance in France. Durham Performing Arts Center has hooked me up with interviews by cast members of The Jersey Boys and West Side Story. I’ve talked to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs … oh, wait, the actors who portray them onstage, that is.

A couple performers of the play, CATS.

I’ve kind of been around the block. Or around the World from where I stood three years ago.

Recently, I was invited to come to a party thrown by the North Carolina Theatre to thank their members and donors. The event took place at Synergy Spa & Aesthetics in Raleigh off Glenwood Avenue and brought in around 70+ patrons. There I had the opportunity to meet Lauren Kennedy and her daughter, Riley, who will both appear in NCT’s performance of Les Miserables this season (starring as Fantine and Cosette). 

A couple girls from the Spa pose for a photograph.

Inside the spa, I strolled through the rooms and eventually found myself getting a 10-minute chair massage by massage therapist Terri Campbell.

“You can’t write about it, without experiencing it,” she says. Sure enough I was coaxed into a good, deep massage that left me rather relaxed.

The evening ended with Lauren singing a few songs to the crowd, which unfortunately I had to miss due to a prior engagement. But I’m hoping this year to get my wife to the theater to view the performance of Les Miserables. The show runs from Feb. 11-23.