Culture
Actor Darryl Van Leer to Perform ‘Roadhouse Lounge’ at OHIO Lancaster
< < Back to actor-darryl-van-leer-to-perform-roadhouse-lounge-feb-8-at-ohio-lancasterActor Darryl Van Leer will perform his one-man show, Roadhouse Lounge, at 3:30 p.m. in the Wagner Theatre on the Ohio University Lancaster campus. The event is FREE and open to the public.
The show is a musical tale of redemption that follows the story of Matthew Porter, proprietor of a once famous blues and rock ‘n’ roll juke joint called The Roadhouse. The juke joint has been deteriorating for more than a decade, and Matthew has been declining along with it. When he receives a letter from the government claiming eminent domain for a new interstate highway, Matthew reaches the depths of despair and begins to mourn the loss of a historic landmark.
Hope walks in – in the form of New York Times reporter Dawson Edwards, who has come to write an article on famous juke joints in the South. Matthew transports the reporter and the audience back in time to when the Roadhouse was booming, and transforms into the most electrifying performers of all time: Ray Charles, Little Richard, Elton John, Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, Jelly Roll Morton, Big Joe Turner, Lionel Richie, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Together, Matthew and Dawson launch a plan to save the Roadhouse by earning the building a place on the National Register of Historic Places. Van Leer, a trained musician, brings to stage live music. With 21 on stage costume changes and 115 different sound effects, the audience will laugh, sing, and be inspired in this 90 minute feel-good production.
Darryl Van Leer has performed at more than 300 universities in America and has been honored with awards from NACA (National Assoc. for Campus Activities) and Campus Activities Today and received a nomination for “Best Performance” from Hollywood’s NAACP Image Awards.
As a full-time actor, Van Leer has shared the screen with such actors as James Earl Jones, Samuel Jackson, Gregory Harrison, Rue McClanahan, and Beau Bridges. Most recently Van Leer starred in TLC’s reality series, The Messengers. Van Leer was one of the four finalists in the series that was devoted to finding America’s next great inspirational speaker. He starred in the role of a tough-love father in the Nickelodeon movie, First Time, the story of Jackie Robinson. He also played the father in Aaron Spelling’s weekly series Safe Harbor, co-starring with Gregory Harrison. Other television series in which Van Leer has co-starred in include One Tree Hill and Sheena. Additionally, Van Leer has been featured in two HBO original movies, The Second Civil War and Up Against the Wall, as well as Fox’s Steel Chariots and NBC’s original movie, Witness to the Execution.
The event is sponsored by the Ohio University Lancaster Cultural Events and Diversity Committees. The committees work to bring in presentations, speakers and acts throughout the academic year to enhance the cultural experience on campus. For additional information, visit www.ohio.edu/lancaster.