Cape Fear Regional Theatre (CFRT) is finishing its well-attended and delightful 2025-26 season with praise, worship, and step.
The theater’s latest production, Crowns: A Gospel Musical, began with packed house preview performances on May 7-8. The show’s May 9 opening was a sold out affair and due to popularity, CFRT has already extended Crowns through May 31.
Crowns was written by Regina Taylor, the actress and playwright with a Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award, and originally produced by McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, New Jersey, and Second Stage Theatre in New York City.
Allyson Tucker, a seasoned Broadway performer, is making her directing debut with Crowns. Tucker has appeared in numerous regional theater shows, along with national commercials. She is also a former member of the Radio City Rockettes. Most recently, she was a featured guest at the acclaimed cabaret venue 54 Below in New York City.
Bold Symbols of Dignity, Resilience, and Identity
Crowns follows sharp-tongued, baseball cap-wearing Yolanda, a teen who is sent from Brooklyn to the South by her mother after a tragic loss. Hoping to open her eyes, her mother sends her to live with her grandmother, Mother Shaw. There, she finds herself surrounded by a vibrant group of church ladies who view their hats as “crowns”—bold symbols of dignity, resilience, joy, and identity.
As the women share their personal stories of struggle, triumph, tradition, and hard-won victories, Yolanda begins to see her own life through a new lens. Each hat tells its own tale—of first dates, funerals, Easter Sundays, baptisms, and flirtations.
As Yolanda absorbs their testimonies, her icy defenses gradually melt, leading to healing, belonging, and self-discovery. Hilarious, heartfelt, and at times racially charged, Crowns bursts with powerful gospel music and electrifying dance.
Crowns is like The Color Purple meets a fashion show at a gospel concert. It’s full of attitude—or more fitting for this show, hattitude. The production is not a traditional plot-driven type of musical. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s funny and stirring, and the story is told through Black church culture and the women who foot stomp through gospel numbers that get the audience singing and clapping along.
The show runs 1 hour and 40 minutes with a 10 minute intermission. It unfolds over two acts with 12 songs each. Every cast member delivers an outstanding performance. The beautifully detailed set transports the audience to an old Southern country church, complete with warm brown wood-paneled walls and a classic vestibule, creating the immersive feeling that you’re attending a real church service.
At times during the show I could hear audience members singing or humming along to their familiar traditional gospel tunes. My favorite was “Sparrow,” which is sung by Alannah McMillan as Velma. She sang it from the depths of her soul and got the crowd stirred.
By the end of the show, audience members appeared ready to get up and dance themselves. If the show went a bit longer, who knows—a revival might have broken out. Sometimes we just need to celebrate and rejoice through pain and hard times. Crowns reminds us of that.
‘You Know When Something Hits’
I met Emily Ruth Perry, 40, who was taking her mother-in-law for Mother’s Day. The two were enjoying themselves, laughing and at times clapping along. Perry said she attends a show three to five times a year. With Crowns, she said the show resonates with her even though she’s from Pittsburgh.
“This story is resonating. I love the story telling,” Perry said. “I didn’t grow up in the South or in a small town, but I have relationships and have encountered enough of it, that parts of it feel very true. It’s just so wonderful. You know when something hits. The singing is phenomenal.”
Perry said she recommends Crowns. ”I would recommend it if you were a believer or had a church background,” Perry added.
I highly recommend seeing Crowns. You’ll likely leave the theater energized, uplifted, and with a newfound perspective on how to properly wear your crown. It resonates deeply and hits just right.
Crowns: A Gospel Musical continues at CFRT’s temporary location at 1707 Owen Drive. It’s a great opportunity to catch this outstanding show in a wonderfully intimate setting. The show runs until May 31. Purchase tickets online or by calling 910-323-4233.
