arts & lifestyle
UrBan living with Southern charm
Carolinas cities offer variety in downtown, metro living by Matt Comer. Q-Notes staff
Y ou don't have
to move to
Atlanta, D.C., or
New York to get a
taste of urban, down
town living on the
East Coast. Cities
small and large across
the Carolinas offer
exciting options for
those who desire
something a bit more
than the usual
Southern suburban
experience.
Charlotte
The newest and
most luxurious devel
opment in the Queen
•City is bound to draw
excitement from
across the Carolinas,
and perhaps the
entire southeastern
region.
The Vue, set to be
completed in mid-to-
late 2010 according
to sales manager Rob
Vue Charlotte, currently under
construction at the 31st floor.
McCrorey, will
include more than
400 luxury units in a
51-story, towering
building over
Uptown's First Ward. -
The Vue's units
start at $319,000 and
continue upward to
$2 million or more. It
will the be tallest resi
dential building in
North Carolina.
McCrorey said that
the tough housing
■ market and economy
has "definitely slowed
down the pace of
sales," but that units
are still being sold.
"We're at 65 per
cent sold right now,"
he told Q-Notes. "We
are considered a lux
ury building in
Charlotte. People can
really perceive how
scarce this opportuni
ty is going to be in
the future because so many
other projects here are being
postponed or canceled."
The development will fea
ture state of the art amenities
and security. McCrorey's espe
cially proud of the building's
bio-metric finger-print control.
A 25-yard, Olympic-sized pool,
4,000 square foot work-out
facility, a concierge and 24-
hour doorman service is just
the beginning of what might
turn out to be the place for
Uptown Charlotte living,
info: www.vuecharlotte.cpm
Raleigh
It's beginning to look a lot like
gay town — you won't have to
wait too awful long before a
veritable gayborhood pops up in down
town Raleigh.
The Hue, a seven-story condo devel
opment with first floor retail sits on the
corner of Glenwood and Hargett — right
across the street from The CC and next
to Legends. Those LGBT nightlife lovers
might enjoy themselves living so close to
their favorite watering holes in what
A rendering of the Hue Raleigh’s pool and courtyard.
developers are calling "the future of
downtown Raleigh living."
Amenities in the Hue, scheduled for
completion this year, include a resident's
cocktail lounge, contemporary courtyard
with pool and barbecue grill, private fitness
room and concierge service. Individual unit
features include spacious private balconies,
see Southern on 18
‘Dangerous’ liaisons with
queer lust, seduction, betrayal
Queen City Theatre to present all-male version of
play based on classic French novel
by Matt Comer . Q-Notes staff
S ince the 1782 publication of the
French novel "Les Liaisons dan-
gereuses," better known as
"Dangerous Liaisons" to the English-speak
ing world, European and American play
wrights, and later filmmakers, have been
obsessed with capturing the spirit and
risque sexuality of author Pierre Choderlos
de Laclos' characters.
In April, Charlotte will get a taste of the
classic French tale in an all-male, gay ver
sion produced by Queen City Theatre
Company.
While mainstream media will likely turn
their attention to the retelling gf the 1996
Charlotte "Angels in America" drama pre
sented in "Southern Rapture" by Actor's
Theatre, "Dangerous" will present a much
more openly sexual tale that has managed
to stay alive in the minds of Westerners for
centuries. This contemporary adaptation of
"Les Liaisons dangereuses" by playwright
Tom Smith is bound to turn some heads;
thank the heavens above Charlotte isn't as
conservative as it was in 1996.
Director Glenn Griffin, one of four
Queen City Theatre founders, says that ’
despite the raw sexuality of the produc
tion, the piece has artistic and real-life
meaning. If art celebrates life, how can it
not celebrate and explore sex, a key com
ponent of it?
"I think the original novel could only do
so much for the period it was in," Griffin
told Q-Notes during a recorded conversa
tion available exclusively at Q-Notes Online.
'There is so much sexual energy suggest
ed. The movies and plays based on novel
once again suggested all of that. But this
play really plays into the sex of-it; the
game of it and the manipulation — all
of the ways that sex can be used, even
as a weapon."
The she^r amount of open sexuality in
the play made casting difficult, a Queen
City Theatre founder and "Dangerous"
Cast of Queen City Theatre Company’s production of ‘Dangerous.’
actor Kristian Wedolowski said.
"Glenn was very clear in the auditions
as to what the show would be about," he
said. "Some people did audition and did
get cast and got our phone call and had to
Photo Credit: QCTC
turn it down. Either they were gay and
their partners wouldn't allow them to do
such a show on stage and others were
see Seven on 27
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