Let’s go see a show!
The Lifetime Learning Center (LLC) offers entertainment away from home with its Best of Broadway day trips. All performances feature professional shows directly on tour from Broadway, presented at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Leave the driving and planning to us and join in the fun and excitement of the Best of Broadway!
Registration fees include a continental breakfast or refreshments at check-in, comfortable motor-coach transportation, a three-course gourmet luncheon or dinner at a fabulous Durham-area restaurant, and reserved seating at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC). We invite you to leave the driving and planning to us and we’ll drop you off and pick you up at the front door of DPAC. Snacks are served on the return trip. We meet in the Orringer Auditorium Lobby on the New Bern campus for check-in. Departure times will vary based on the show times. All registrants will receive a letter/email with complete instructions about two weeks prior to each trip.
Registration for Best of Broadway events is available below. If you prefer, you can register by calling the LLC at 252-633-2618.
Please see our refund and ticket transfer policy and read the following DPAC announcement before registering for LLC Best of Broadway day trips.
Girl From the North Country:
The Music of Bob Dylan
Best of Broadway Day Trip
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024
Durham Performing Arts Center
Registration: $219
Video preview
Girl From the North Country is a love letter to America, celebrating its strength and resilience with the poetry of Bob Dylan's music to unite, heal, uplift, inspire, and illuminate through the darkest of times.
Set in 1934 in the midst of the Great Depression, this musical drama takes place in a guest house inhabited by a collection of wayward souls, some passing and some permanent. At the center is a family, that includes the down-on-his-luck proprietor, a wife with dementia, an alcoholic son, and a pregnant teen daughter. The Depression has certainly taken its toll on those that dwell in the guest house.
Director Conor McPherson deftly uses the music of Bob Dylan with a wealth of actor-musicians playing typical instruments of the 1930s. You'll hear Dylan classics including Slow Train, Like a Rolling Stone, Idiot Wind, Hurricane, and Forever Young.
Ain't Too Proud:
The Life and Times of the Temptations
Best of Broadway Day Trip
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024
Durham Performing Arts Center
Registration: $249
Video preview
Ain't Too Proud is the electrifying new musical that follows The Temptations' extraordinary journey from the streets of Detroit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With their signature dance moves and unmistakable harmonies, they rose to the top of the charts creating an amazing 42 Top Ten Hits with 14 reaching number one. The rest is history of how they met, the groundbreaking heights they hit, and how personal and political conflicts threatened to tear the group apart as the United States fell into civil unrest.
Winner of the 2019 Tony Award for best choreography, this thrilling story of brotherhood, family, loyalty, and betrayal is set to the beat of the group's treasured hits, including My Girl, Just My Imagination, Get Ready, Papa Was a Rolling Stone, and so many more.
The Lion King
Best of Broadway Day Trip
Saturday, June 1, 2024
Durham Performing Arts Center
Registration: $239
Video preview
Simba, a young lion prince, is flourishing in the African Pride Lands when a wicked tragedy takes his father's life and he flees. He reaches adulthood in exile with the help of two comedic friends. Now Simba must take on a formidable enemy to fulfill his destiny to be king.
Based on the 1994 Disney animated film, The Lion King is best known for its music, written by Sir Elton John and Lebo M, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The imaginative staging, costume design, and the use of masks and puppets was due to the brilliance of director and costume designer Julie Taymor. She was determined to showcase how each specific character would move and did not hide that each animal on stage was actually a human.
The Lion King has won six 1998 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical, and is the 1999 Grammy Award winner for Best Musical Show Album. The Lion King is now the third-longest show running in Broadway history.
Contact Information
Lifetime Learning Center
Brock Administration Building
New Bern Campus
252-633-2618