Goldsboro entertainer Michelle Braxton will headline the Cabaret during the North Lenoir High School Booster Club’s gala March 15 at Walnut Creek Country Club.
Event organizers hope to raise $15,000 to fund the flying equipment and the orchestra for the high school’s April 18-21 “Wizard of Oz” production — the 50th Broadway musical under the direction of Marian Kennedy, which also was her first at North Lenoir. Money also will fund college scholarships for the school’s Drama Club seniors.
Kennedy’s brother, nationally known entertainer and La Grange native Ray Kennedy, will emcee the gala and accompany the musicians on keyboard during the Cabaret show.
Braxton will sing a variety of numbers from Broadway musicals. Appearing with her will be Heather Shaw and Samantha Holland.
For more than 25 years, Braxton has shared the stage with such performers as Ricky Skaggs and Ben Vereen. She recently made her Thalian Hall debut in Wilmington in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” directed by Ray Kennedy.
She attended Mount Olive College and graduated from Meredith College. She was Miss Goldsboro in 1991, and Miss North Carolina’s first runner-up and preliminary talent winner the same year.
As a Mount Olive College Singer, she went to New York City with Marian Kennedy for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“Marian was so tiny that the parade organizers put her on the float with Santa Claus,” Braxton said. “Having her to look up to was great. I feel blessed to call her a friend.”
Braxton lives in Fuquay Varina with her husband John and two sons.
Shawis no stranger to the theater and performing arts world. In 2002, she was named America’s National Teenager and in 2005 was third runner-up to Miss North Carolina, recognized with talent and interview awards.
An N.C. State University graduate, she was a majorette for the “Power Sound of the South” Marching Band, a member of the University Singers and a chancellor’s aide. She has performed in numerous regional productions statewide, including Opera House Theater Company, Cape Fear Regional Theater and the North Carolina Theater.
Her favorite role was in “The Sound of Music” where she played the role of Liesl with the original great-grandchildren of Captain Von Trapp. She recreated the role at the Aladdin Theater in Las Vegas.
Originally from Elizabethtown, Shaw calls Raleigh home and is employed with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina in the Corporate Affairs and Community Relations department. She also is the “face” of Capital Ford in Raleigh.
Holland was a student of Marian Kennedy’s at North Lenoir and participated in many of the school’s musicals under her direction.
“I was very shy, but she got me to sing on stage,” said Holland, whose biggest break in high school was the supporting role of Irene Malloy in “Hello Dolly.”
She later entertained on the Palm Beach Princess for six years, working with Ray Kennedy.
“It was really fun working on a cruise ship,” Holland said. “If you don’t have butterflies before you go on stage, you’re doing something wrong, but when the lights come on, the adrenalin starts pumping.
“It’s very fun working with Ray,” she said. “There are always new adventures right around the corner. He and Marian have really helped me, and I really appreciate them.”
Holland does variations of several artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline and Bette Midler.
She is the daughter of Robert Holland Jr. and Betty Jo Hughes, both of Kinston.
Living in New York City, Ray Kennedy is vice president of the USO of the Metropolitan area. He works in entertainment and with programs that support the military, military families and Wounded Warriors.
He has spent many years as director/choreographer for Opera House Theater Company in Wilmington, the Cape Fear Regional Theater in Fayetteville, The Temple Theater in Sanford, the Blowing Rock Stage Company in Blowing Rock, The Flat Rock Playhouse in Hendersonville and The Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pa.
Kennedy was the director/choreographer/costume designer for “Beehive” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and has produced fashion videos for Sherri Hill, noted pageant, prom wear and fashion designer. He recently joined her on “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”
He had a long career as president of Kennedy Entertainment Inc., producing entertainment on a variety of cruise ships. For 24 years, he was entertainment director for the Palm Beach Princess and produced shows at the Marco Polo Resort in Miami and at theaters in Boca Raton, Fla.
He also has touring and off-Broadway acting credits.
In 2012, Kennedy made his symphonic debut, accompanying on piano the USO Show Troupe with the El Paso Symphony. He was co-chairman for the New York Gala for the African Children’s Choir in December, a charity which educates thousands of orphans in seven African countries. He will co-chair this year’s gala.
The North Lenoir graduate also is a graduate of UNC Greensboro and the Burt Reynolds Institute of Theater Training.
The gala will include a social hour, dinner buffet, disc jockey and a live and silent auction. Ralph Tyndall of Sandy Bottom, will conduct the live auction. There’s still time for area merchants and residents to make donations for the auction.
North Lenoir High School Gala
March 15
Walnut Creek Country Club, Goldsboro
6 p.m. — Reception
7 p.m. — Buffet dinner
8 p.m. — Cabaret show
9 p.m. to 11 p.m. — DJ and dancing
Live and silent auctions during evening
Tickets: $28
Info: Donna Goodson, 252-566-5119; Loretta Butts, 919-778-7732