DURHAM -- The Durham Performing Arts Center on Friday announced its 2010-11 season, adding six musicals to its previously announced season highlight, "Billy Elliot the Musical."
"Billy Elliot" was a Broadway hit last year, but many fans also want to see "In the Heights" and "Shrek The Musical." "Disney's Lion King" also returns to the Triangle.
Rounding out the season will be "The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein," "Hair" and the Blue Man Group.
"In the Heights" takes place in a Manhattan neighborhood electrified by the sounds of hip-hop, salsa, merengue and soul. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards in 2008 and won best musical and three other awards. It will be presented in February.
Single tickets for the shows are not available yet. Season ticketholders have preference. For details go to www.DPACnc.com or call 680-2787.
Get the biggest news in your email or cellphone as it's happening. Sign up for breaking news alerts.
The splintered music world truly coalesces only one night of 365 for the Grammy Awards. This year was united in the triumph of recovered British soul singer Adele's trophy haul and the tragedy of Whitney Houston's death. 
Whitney Houston was underwater and apparently unconscious when she was pulled from a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub, and she had prescription drugs in her room, officials said Monday as the regal pop star's family made arrangements to fly her body home to New Jersey for a funeral at the end of the week. 
When did you know you were old? Not just old, but officially, certifiably, "tell-the-coroner-to-crank-up-the-hearse-and-drive-slowly" old? 
A year ago, Clive Davis' glittery pre-Grammy showcase was winding down after a number of electric performances when the grandest name of all, Whitney Houston, walked on stage to close the evening with what promised to be a show-stopping tribute to her famous cousin, Dionne Warwick. 
Staff writer David Menconi kept a running commentary at his On the Beat blog. You can read what he had to say here. 
New York and Boston are little more than 200 miles apart, but it often seems as if they're separated by a Jupiter-sized chasm - and not just because of sports rivalries like last week's Super Bowl. 
Well, the fifth time was the charm. After standing the Triangle up four times on concert dates since 2005, Aretha Franklin finally showed up, holding forth Thursday night at the Durham Performing Arts Center. 
Scotty McCreery, the reigning "American Idol" from Garner, has received a double dose of good news - he now has a second gold single, and he's up for a second country music award. 
Live music in Durham has ebbed and flowed over the years, but it's been on a definite upswing the past year and a half - and Motorco Music Hall, a 500-or-so-capacity club near the old Durham Bulls baseball park, is one of the key players. 
As far as local excitement, Sunday's Grammy Awards will have to go a long way to top last year - when Durham's Merge Records unexpectedly snatched last-minute victory from the jaws of defeat by winning the album-of-the-year grand prize (for Arcade Fire). What to do? Find out with out free entertainment newsletters, delivered straight to your inbox!
Subscribe to Lifestyles - it's free!
Subscribe to Movies - it's free!
Subscribe to Restaurants - it's free!
Subscribe to What's Up - it's free!
