2007-2008 Performances

ALMOST HEAVEN: THE SONGS OF JOHN DENVER
Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 8 PM
Tickets - $32, $28, $24

The engaging off-Broadway hit featuring almost 30 John Denver classics (Leaving on a Jet Plane, Annie’s Song, Sunshine On My Shoulders, Rocky Mountain High) offers a personalized and exhilarating look into the mind and spirit of a troubadour whose distinctive musical magic fostered optimism for decades. The first national tour’s talented seven-member, energetic ensemble share evocative arrangements that take us to unexpected depths in understanding the places and times that gave birth to the songs. Based on John Denver’s autobiography, the show has been sensitively conceived and produced by Denver’s former personal manager and longtime friend. From the beginning of his recording career in 1972, when Denver changed his name from Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., the singer/songwriter/actor/activist’s record sales now exceed 60 million.  John Denver died in a plane crash in 1997 at the age of 53.

www.offbroadwaybooking.com
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THE MALE INTELLECT: AN OXYMORON?
Saturday, November 17, 2007 - 8:00 PM
Tickets - $28, $24, $20




There are two types of people who should rush and see this show - men and women.  Writer/actor Robert Dubac’s brilliantly-constructed journey through the disheveled mess of a man’s brain could easily be subtitled “A Very Funny Man’s Hilarious Opinions about What Women Want, Who Woman Are, How Women Think, and How They Just Don’t Understand Poor, Pitiful, Mistreated Men.”  The show contains far more laughs than most relationships. Dubac seamlessly transforms himself into five alter egos - each offering their own brand of misguided advice. The gender gap has never been more hysterically straddled -- regardless of your age or how many times you’ve been dumped. Hailed by critics and audiences alike across the country, this 90-minute masterpiece is an immensely clever combination of theater and stand-up comedy that is knee-slapping, laugh-out-loud funny, while hitting so many nails on the head that there’s not a soul left in the audience who’s stayed immune from glances from that person sitting in the next seat.

www.maleintellect.com
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CHRISTMAS WITH THE LETTERMEN
Saturday, December 1, 2007 - 8:00 PM
Tickets - $38, $34, $30




In 1961, a young singing group named The Lettermen released their first 45 on Capitol Records.  On the record’s “B side” was a romantic ballad called The Way You Look Tonight. Suddenly, the song that wasn’t expected to get noticed had shot to #13 on the Billboard charts.  They released a second love song, When I Fall in Love, and the trajectory to the top continued.  People were hungry for the rich harmonies and romantic message, and it was the beginning of a career that would eventually produce more than thirty Top 40 albums. Hit after hit has made The Lettermen one of the most legendary vocal groups in the history of American popular music.   Classics including Theme from A Summer Place, Going Out of My Head/Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Hurt So Bad, Put Your Head on My Shoulder and Shangri-La are embedded in our cultural lifeblood. The Lettermen made more than 200 appearances on popular TV shows like “American Bandstand” and “The Ed Sullivan Show” and toured with headliners including Jack Benny, Bill Cosby and Bob Hope.  Founding member Tony Butala still leads the acclaimed group in concert appearances around the globe. The Lettermen’s holiday-themed show features seasonal favorites in addition to many of their worldwide hits.

www.thelettermen.com 
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WHERE THE SPIRIT LEADS:
FROM POP TO GOSPEL WITH ROZLYN SORRELL
Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 8:00 PM
Tickets - $28, $24, $20

It’s time for you to meet one of the musical treasures of North Carolina. Rozlyn Sorrell's spirited passion and remarkable vocal talents have taken her to some of this nation’s largest cathedrals, into recording studios with international superstars, into film and television, and recently as special guest soloist with the North Carolina Symphony.   She was a featured soloist on the “Hour of Power” and a principal cast member in both the “Glory of Christmas” and “Glory of Easter” at Robert  Schuller's Crystal Cathedral for several years before locating to North Carolina.  She has performed and recorded with artists including Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Al Jarreau, Cece Winans and others, and her film and television appearances include Beverly Hills Cop II, Nightmare of Elm Street III, General Hospital  and Matlock.  As more audiences across NC discover her dynamic appeal and vocal power, Rozlyn shares her love for the “higher standards” from both sacred and secular repertoire in this engaging performance that pulls unknown gems and acclaimed favorites from both realms. Her debut CD “I’ve Got to Sing My Song” is now available nationwide.  Rozlyn is officially endorsed by Christian Music Presenters (CMP.)

www.rozlynsorrell.com
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VALENTINE'S WITH CURTIS STIGERS
Saturday, February 16, 2008 - 8 PM
Tickets - $28, $24, $22

Sampson CenterStage lucks out on nabbing one of today’s most romantic singers for the most romantic weekend of the year. Curtis Stigers muddles pre-assumed musical labels as comfortably as he tunes his audience’s fortunate ears to a new definition of jazz – with a style that embraces the music of Randy Newman and Tom Waits as easily as the classic standards of Hoagy Carmichael and Duke Ellington.  Having achieved early pop star status with top ten hits including Never Saw a Miracle and I Wonder Why, touring with Elton John, Eric Clapton & others and being included on the mega-hit movie soundtrack for “The Bodyguard,” Stigers now concentrates on the music that moves his own spirit, lending his distinct style to a songbook that defies categorization other than being true “class.” During the past year, he has appeared with Wynton Marsalis at Lincoln Center and with Diana Krall at Montreaux.  With Curtis Stigers and his trio, no good song merits indifference.  And they all become better in his sax-cradling hands.

www.curtisstigers.com
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A NIGHT AT THE BEACH 2008!
The TAMS AND THE BAND OF OZ
Saturday, March 1, 2008 - 8 PM

Click Here For Ticket Information and Order Forms

Okay now...pick a favorite and start singing along!

Shama Lama Ding Dong... What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am...  Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy... Hey Girl, Don’t Bother Me... I Been Hurt...

The people of Sampson County can tell you that you don’t have to have the ocean to enjoy A Night at The Beach!

It’s all about the shag, the beach music, the endless buffet, the auction and the dancing – all in support of the Class Acts performing arts series for students. Through sponsorships from area individuals, companies and corporations, more than 8,000 students attend professional performances, free of charge, right here at home this year.

Sampson CenterStage’s annual “Night at the Beach” has become the social event of the year, a beach music lover’s dream-come-true. Students and teachers all over Sampson County count on you to dance the night away on their behalf. Don’t disappoint them!

For more information about our “A Night at the Beach,” call 910.592.7200 or visit www.sampsoncenterstage.com. Advance reservations required.  Sponsor and table packages available until 12 noon on Wednesday February 20, 2008.

www.thetams.com
www.bandofoz.com

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JUSTIN DAVID
Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 8 PM
Tickets - $28, $24, $20




Meet the young songwriter/guitarist/mandolinist/fiddler/singer who’s one of the fastest-rising stars on the pop country circuit. Among the five finalists of TV’s “Nashville Star, David has toured for several years with the legendary Roy Clark, where Clark hands over almost a half-hour of solo time to this multi-talented artist who now comes to more than a dozen NC venues this year with his own five-piece band. It’s easy to see why. When you take a listen to his debut CD, every song says “hit.” Unpretentious, cordial and warm as any performer on the road today, David’s onstage charisma brings lines of folks waiting to meet him after the show. As a child, he looked upon fiddle competitions as his parttime job.  Other kids mowed lawns – Justin played music. As a teen, he participated in the Master Artist Apprentice program of the National Endowment for the Arts, and headed to Branson, MO after graduation to try to make his living as a working musician.  It was there where he was heard by Roy Clark -- who invited the young man to board the tour bus. “Nashville Star” brought more exposure to the multi-instrumentalist, and David continues to tour with his mentor and friend Roy Clark when he’s not on the road on his own.  Here’s one to watch – and say you-saw-him-when.

 www.justindavidmusic.com
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CYPRESS STRING QUARTET: INSPIRED BY AMERICA
Saturday, April 26, 2008 - 8 PM
Tickets - $30, $26, $22

The Cypress String Quartet has captivated audiences around the world with their virtuoso performances.  Now they meld tradition with technology to create Inspired by America, a collaboration with best-selling author Jacob Needleman (The American Soul) and multi Emmy and Peabody Award-winning film producer Michael Schwarz. Supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and blending live music, original film and the spoken word, this special event fuses precision musicianship with world-class technology to create an evocative, thought-provoking portrait of the American spirit and what it means to say, “I am an American.”  The acclaimed Cypress String Quartet unifies the performance with some of the finest chamber music composed in the United States, with movements from pieces including Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Dvorak’s American Quartet and more, including selections from original commissions by Grammy-nominated composers Benjamin Lees and Jennifer Higdon.

www.cypressquartet.com
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PERCY SLEDGE
Saturday, May 17, 2008 - 8 PM
Tickets - $38, $34, $30




When a Man Loves a Woman is one of the most recognized signature tunes ever recorded.  That song title and the name of Percy Sledge are as intertwined in our collective soul music consciousness as almost any pairing in the entire music industry. Released in the summer of 1966, the hit shaped a musical genre for decades.  Percy Sledge later released his CD Blue Night in 1994, again to great acclaim including a Grammy nomination and winning the Blues Foundation’s W.C. Handy Award for Best Soul/Blues Album of the Year. His newest release Shining Through the Rain is, in Sledge’s own words, “an album of soul music the way it was truly meant to be.” In the words of Rolling Stone magazine, “Shining Through the Rain shows that Percy Sledge can still locate the emotional essence of a song, as he did so unforgettably on When a Man Loves a Woman, his 1966 debut single. Throughout this easy-grooving record, Sledge seems to expend no more energy than it takes to keep a porch swing rocking."  A Percy Sledge concert is a celebration of rhythm and blues, romance and heartache, telling us the truth of what it’s all about...  Sampson CenterStage is going to rock.

www.psledge.com
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