Welcome to the weekly Port City Life newsletter with me, StarNews cultural issues reporter John Staton.
I was on vacation last week, hanging out with my family in the Tennessee mountains. (While on a hike, my son and I almost stepped on a juvenile timber rattler, but that’s another story.)
But I was hard back at work this week, part of which involved power-watching 11 episodes of TV shows with Wilmington connections in just over 48 hours. I mean, someone has to do it, right?
You’ll see some of the fruits of my labors this week, with info on Wilmington-shot shows, the Wilmington actors in them and much, much more.
Let’s get the weekend started.
Weekend weather outlook
After a brief respite from the heat this week, it’s going to be back into the oven this weekend. Highs in the low 90s Friday and in the mid-90s Saturday and Sunday, with lows in the mid to upper 70s. At least it’ll be sunny, right?
Go | See | Do
It’s the last weekend of July, if you can believe that, and Wilmington’s entertainment scene has plenty of ways for you to spend it.
It’s your last chance to see musical comedy “9 to 5” at Thalian Hall, and also the final weekend to see Opera Wilmington’s performance of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at UNCW’s Cultural Arts Building.
We’ve also got film screenings at Thalian Hall (“Jane Austen Wrecked My Life”) and Jengo’s Playhouse (“coming-of-old-age” film “Familiar Touch”), art openings for Fourth Friday Gallery Night, a ton of concerts and at least one quirky event to celebrate the release of the sequel to Adam Sandler’s slob comedy “Billy Madison.”
Link to full events list below.
The Dish with Port City Foodies
A popular Castle Street restaurant plans an expansion, while a grab-and-go market downtown closes its doors.
Plus, food writer Allison Ballard has the low-down on more than a dozen new restaurants in the works for the Wilmington area.
Getting to know Paul Teal
The late Wilmington actor died tragically in 2024 after a battle with cancer, but his talent lives on in a bonkers new Netflix series, “The Hunting Wives.” Teal play a huge role in a series that’ll keep you guessing.
News you can use
In addition to Teal’s performance in “The Hunting Wives,” there’s a lot of Wilmington to watch on streaming this weekend, if you want to say out of the heat.
Wilmington- and Southport-shot series “The Waterfront” is still a top-10 show on Netflix, and this week all three seasons of gritty, Wilmington-shot drama “Hightown” hit the streaming service as well.
Plus, we’ve got a look at the Wilmington connections in Amazon’s mega-popular Prime Video series “The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
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