The appeal of the show, according to Fiddle & Bow Owner Justin Atkin, lies partly in the novelty of seeing two such performers on the same stage and partly in the chemistry of musicians who have spent their careers learning how to make a room move. Both men are high-energy performers, and the evening promises the sort of loose, driven exchange that can make a concert feel less like a program than a conversation conducted in rhythm.

Taken together, the revived room and the production in it create the pleasant sensation that the evening has arrived at exactly the right time: old work freshly heard, old space newly hospitable, and a musical that still knows how to make a city’s underside seem, if not noble, then undeniably, irrepressibly alive.

When the Mill Town Players reopen the Historic Pelzer Auditorium with “Guys & Dolls” on Friday, it will offer more than a production of a Broadway favorite. Friday is the unveiling a theater that has been substantially remade after a seven-month, $1.4 million renovation, a project that has given the century-old building a second life without quite disguising its age.

The hard, wooden, unpadded opera chairs — all 556 of them — came out as part of a renovation so thorough that Ragland, the artistic director and founder of the Mill Town Players, recently found himself climbing onto a furniture dolly and sliding down the bare, sloping hardwood floor of the historic hall, no obstructions anywhere, just the old wood and the open air of a building being returned, deliberately and at considerable expense, to something better than it was.

Strong direction and an excellent cast, headed by Will Ragland’s “Oscar Madison” and Todd A. Janssen’s “Felix Unger,” kept the audience both laughing and anticipating the next laugh. They were not disappointed.

The plot seems simple enough, and is best described in the final lyrics of the theme song of the television version of “The Odd Couple:” “Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?”

Photo: Escobar Photography

“We sent out a survey to our patrons, and this was an overwhelming pick,” said Ragland. “That's what convinced me. I actually had chosen something to do something different in this slot, and then when that survey came in, I thought, 'Okay, this is what the people want.' So we're going to give them what they want.” Photo Courtesy of Escobar Photography

Anderson’s Market Theatre is offering a taste of King’s music in the one-weekend only: “A Natural Woman: A Carol King Tribute Concert.”

The vibe of the show is as mellow and cool as King’s music, led by the lead performance of Ashley Wettlin, who pays homage to the great singer without giving into the temptation to impersonate King, offering her own vocal talents as a tribute to the songs.

Singer/songwriter/ producer Ashley Wettlin, will help audiences feel the earth move with a concert featuring the music of Carol King who has sold more than 75 million records worldwide with 118 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1955 and 1999 including: “Jazzman,” “So Far Away,” “I Feel the Earth Move,” “It's Too Late,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

Tickets available here: Readers can use code OBSERVER at checkout for $5 off each ticket at tickets.markettheatre.org

Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. at: AndersonEvents.com or  UpchurchMerch.com

A limited presale is available starting at 10 AM on Thursday at 10 a.m. using the passcode: CIVIL

It’s easy to see that “Tick, Tick, Boom” was originally conceived as a one-man show. Instead, it was rewritten for Broadway as a work for three performers, who often flash notebook covers to remind the audience of character changes.

The musical jukebox, featuring songs stamped forever in many of our memories, pays tribute to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Bobby Darin, Nat King Cole and others, had an almost-full house at opening night smiling, bobbing their heads and even a few snapping their fingers for the tribute.

As part of the annual Youth Art Month activities, the Anderson Arts Center hosted the student art exhibit show on Sunday. More than 400 entries from Anderson County schools and home school students were on display.

The first big fight of the 2025 legislative session in South Carolina is splitting Republicans and Democrats as well as attorneys, businesses and insurers as the Senate looks to change how the state handles some civil lawsuits.

A bill that supporters said is far from a finished product is making its way to the Senate floor this week.

If you are a fan of Agatha Christie or any of the BBC detective shows, you are not likely to find a more enjoyable and satisfying production than MTP’s “And Then There Were None.”

Shows continue through March 2. Tickets here.

In the end, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is a recollection on the socioeconomic and psychological legacies of racism against African Americans which are at the root of so much of the generational self-destruction still evident today.

Market Theatre’s presentation is not to be missed and runs through Feb. 24. Tickets here.

As executive director, she hopes to expand the center’s involvement in public art with both the City of Anderson and Anderson County.

Her work as a painter, mixed media artist and photographer has been included in more than 200 exhibitions around the world, and retirement will not mean an end to her creative efforts.

The production is an enthusiastic deep-fried tribute to cornbread Christmas, and a throwback to the energy of “The Arthur Smith Show,” which was televised nationwide from 1951-1982 or “The Porter Wagoner Show.” The only thing missing was Speck Roads, although Mill Town Players founder Will Ragland brings a fried chicken breath performance, complete with Whispering Bill Anderson wig.

The Market Theatre kicked off a Halloween offering this weekend, with “The Rocky Horror Show,” a mixture of horror, science-fiction and sexual coming of age story intended exclusively for an adult audience. This one is not for the kids.

The show is based on the movie of the same name which debuted in London in 1973 as a sendup of corny sci-fi films from the 1950s, the same fare “Mystery Science Theater” later tackled on cable television (which did not feature a transvestite host).