Broadway national tour launches in Wilmington

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A taste of Broadway is coming to the Cape Fear. The national tour of The King and I has been doing tech rehearsals at The Wilson Center in Wilmington.

“You know, it’s top notch. It’s modern. And they can really accommodate a large Broadway tour like we have,” said Ben Antipuna, who is the Company Manager of The King and I.

It is high praise for Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center. Antipuna says it’s the perfect spot to launch the Broadway national tour.

“This is thrilling. This is something that we’ve been working on before we even opened to develop these type of opportunities for our community and for our students,” said Shane Fernando, the Executive and Artistic Director for The Wilson Center.

Fernando says this will be the first ever Broadway national tour to launch at The Wilson Center. The tour chose The Wilson Center for their tech rehearsals.

Fernando says this is a major accomplishment.

“It certainly puts us on the map. It also speaks very highly of the type of skilled labor that we have here in the Cape Fear region,” said Fernando.

They expect the tour to bring in more than $500,000 for the entire city.

“The Wilson Center has been top notch. From the technical staff to the administrative staff, they really have met our needs. And in the theatre world, things come up every day and they’ve been very flexible in accommodating us,” said Antipuna.

Antipuna says they would love to bring more tours to Wilmington. Fernando says this experience has already begun to open more doors for the arts.

The first performances of The King and I will be Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm. Fernando says they are already booked for the launch of Evita, coming up in January.