SALEM NEFF

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'Jesus Christ' lifts the spirits

By SALEM NEFF | April 25

If you think it’s a musical, you should update your rock opera vocabulary. “Jesus Christ Superstar” prophesizes — in sweet, sweet melody — the final days of the son of God. Not a sound was murmured without echoing vibration in the Department of Dramatic Art-sponsored Studio 3’s production of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber opus. Friday night’s sold-out crowd in Playmakers Theatre certainly demonstrates the show’s continuous appeal 34 years after the original was staged.

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Freelon adds touch of jazz

By SALEM NEFF | March 28

After a long delay dating back to October, Nnenna Freelon and her ensemble opened the new Cobb Theatre in style on Thursday night. The 5-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist hails from Durham and was the perfect choice for the benefit concert supporting its host, the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. Freelon’s husband, Phil, designed the building and her son is a junior African and Afro-American studies major at UNC.

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Coffee shop revived in film

By SALEM NEFF | November 12

Strong's Coffee Shop returns. No longer in business on Franklin Street, the former hangout appeared in a documentary detailing the cultural phenomenon of the coffee shop Thursday night. The 75-minute film, produced and directed by juniors Franklin Horn and Aislinn Pentecost-Farren, opened to a full house in Gardner Hall. Horn and Pentecost-Farren created the film as part of a semester independent study last spring.

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Mismatched bits mar 'Beauty'

By SALEM NEFF | November 11

"Stage Beauty" flows like a sleazy piece of live theater. Seventeenth-century English theater saw a transition from stiff gender barriers to the loosening of the proverbial girdle for actresses. As a period piece and film, "Stage Beauty" has fancy speech and little character development - but memorable love scenes. Billy Crudup portrays an actor of female roles, and Claire Danes, who steals his bit as Othello's Desdemona, seems to desire him - although there is never a true clarification of his bisexuality.

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Existential Film ultimately flawed

By SALEM NEFF | October 21

It begins with a coincidence. A Sudanese doorman, very tall, about 18, collects publicity shots of celebrities. Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) runs into Sam - that's his name - three times. Why? Thus begins our mystery: David O. Russell's existential comedy "I Heart Huckabees." Except the mystery is no psychological thriller; instead, we'll call it a philosophical quest.

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'Exhibit A' touts varied Features

By SALEM NEFF | September 30

You won't find any Dollywood or Graceland here. The Features' new album, Exhibit A, flaunts the emergence of a new Tennessee sound marked by the spirit of rock 'n' roll. The four Features bandmates emerged from the small Tennessee town of Sparta. Matthew Pelham (vocals) is backed by Roger Dabbs on bass, Parrish Yaw on keyboards and Rollum Haas on drums. Now, after February's Beginning EP, the band's true beginning is complete with a full-fledged debut album.

SALEM NEFF

'Jesus Christ' lifts the spirits

Freelon adds touch of jazz

Coffee shop revived in film

Mismatched bits mar 'Beauty'

Existential Film ultimately flawed

'Exhibit A' touts varied Features

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