Kip's Korner

  ‘Tis the season for The Illusionists – Magic of the Holidays , the latest installment of the world-famous, blockbuster touring magic spectacular from Cirque du Soleil. This year’s family-friendly show will be performed at the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall on Thursday, December 5 th , at 7pm. Prepare yourself for even more illusions, close-up magic, mentalism, and technological spectacle performed by master magicians, illusionists and one mentalist. The “one mentalist” is Chris Cox. And he graciously made time to Zoom with our very own Wil Elrick about The Illusionists . Big shoutout to Wil for taking over the interview (since I couldn’t make it that day) and ask my Kip’s Korner questions! First, here’s a little background on Chris Cox – The Mentalist: Cox, a multi-award-winning “mind reader who can’t read minds,” has performed on Broadway, London’s West End, and the Sydney Opera House. He stars in the BBC’s “Chris Cox’s Mind-Boggling Magic,” and “Killer Magic” and has appeared...

  When I read in Deidra Lang’s Bio that she had been an OG Fly Girl from “In Living Color” and had also appeared on Broadway in the original production of Ragtime, I thought to myself, I have got to speak to this woman asap!! Sorry I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s start over (but I simply had to get that out first). Tina: The Tina Turner Musical will be playing here at the VBC Concert Hall next week, November 22 nd through the 24 th , Friday through Sunday, for five performances. Deidre Lang will be portraying the role of Tina’s grandmother, Gran Georgeanna (or GG). And Kip Driver cannot wait!! Ok, now we’re back on track. Seriously though, anyone who has had the long and varied career of being an original Fly Girl, performing on Broadway in the original production of Ragtime and now traveling the country starring in TINA , is someone that I have a million questions to ask. Although there wasn’t time to ask quite that many questions, I did get a fair amount answered. Her...

  Broadway Theatre League has officially been accepted… as a member… of The Broadway League in New York City! We are extremely excited about this opportunity because it will be opening doors for us (one in particular) that we have only dreamed about until now: Broadway Theatre League of Huntsville will be hosting Alabama’s first and only High School Musical Regional Awards Program during the 2025-26 school year! Not only will the awards program be a wonderful celebration of all the incredible productions our high school theatre programs present, BUT it will finally give us a place at the table at The Jimmy Awards which take place every summer in New York City since 2009. If you’re not familiar with The Jimmy Awards, here is a blurb best explained by The Broadway League Foundation, Inc: The National High School Musical Theatre Awards, better known as The Jimmy Awards, invites two nominees from each local regional ceremony to New York City for a 10-day theatre intensive that incl...

  You might have noticed that Kip’s Korner has been quiet for the last few weeks. That is because my beautiful mother, Ann Campbell, has been in hospice care and we had to say goodbye to her this past week. We had a private family “Celebration of Life” for her a few days ago at Williamson Memorial Gardens in Franklin, TN. My mother was a strong woman of faith and an extremely talented singer and musician. I like to believe that I inherited her talents and that is what made my professional career in musical theatre possible. Ann used her talents for the lord, playing piano at her church in Clanton, AL starting at the age of nine and was very active at Whitesburg Baptist Church for decades, where she sang in the choir and was also frequently featured in a trio, duets and as a soloist. I have no doubt in my mind that if my mother had chosen a different path in life, she easily could have had a career on Broadway. Which got me thinking about all the phenomenal “Mother” roles in music...

Hopefully y’all are just as excited as me that “Show & Tell” with BTL has been renewed for Season Four and will be back on the air again in October through May 2025! For those of you unfamiliar with “Show & Tell” let me break it down for you:   “Show & Tell” is BTL’s morning talk show where we discuss all things that fall under the umbrella of the arts. Huntsville has a thriving arts community and we are proud that it is a place where you can experience Theatre, Music, Dance & Visual Arts everywhere here on the local level, but also with the Broadway touring productions that BTL brings to Huntsville. We are here to support and shine a light on all of it!   We have a new episode every week which airs at 6am on Fox54, Monday through Friday. Episodes are also available to watch on our YouTube channel @BroadwayHuntsville. CALL TO ACTION: Go on now and subscribe to our YouTube Channel -->  @BroadwayHuntsville I was only at BTL for Season Three so I will only...

Jessica Rush on Opening Night of TINA I remember seeing Tina Turner’s video for “What’s Love Got to Do With It” in high school and I was immediately enthralled by her. She was dressed in a black leather mini dress and denim jacket with her spiky blonde hair, just strutting her stuff around downtown Manhattan and singing her heart out. Come to find out later I was witnessing her big comeback, but to me at the time she was brand new and completely original and cool. Well, I’m super excited that Tina: The Tina Turner Musical is kicking off our new season which is only three months away. It turns out my dear friend of 24-years, Jessica Rush, was in the original Broadway cast of Tina as Rhonda Graam. So of course, I called her to hear all about her experience with the show and a whole lot more. Before I share our chat, here’s a little information about Jess: Jessica Rush is a mom, wife and award-winning actress most recently seen on Broadway as Rhonda in the original Broadway company ...