Jeffrey Ellis - Page 101

Jeffrey Ellis

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 35 years. In 1989, Ellis and his partner launched Dare, Tennessee's Lesbian and Gay Newsweekly which later became known as Query. Ellis is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theater in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly.  He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors - the history of which can be traced to 1989 and the first presentation of The First Night Awards - which honor outstanding theater artisans from Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and also includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors recognition. Midwinter's First Night honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. An accomplished director, Ellis helmed productions of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, all in their Nashville premieres, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show. Ellis was recognized by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror. Since 2015, Ellis has been increasingly in demand as a director by a variety of Tennessee theater companies and he has helmed productions of Picnic (Circle Players), The Last Five Years (VWA Theatricals), The Miss Firecracker Contest, Cabaret, My Fair Lady, Daddy's Dyin'...Who's Got the Will?, South Pacific, Winter Wonderettes and The Wizard of Oz (The Larry Keeton Theatre), The Little Foxes (ACT 1), The Boys in the Band (Jeffey Ellis Presents), Singin' in the Rain (Arts Center of Cannon County) and The Secret Garden (Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro) and, in 2020, the 70th anniversary season production of La Cage Aux Folles for Circle Players. Later this year, he will be directing Beautiful: The Carole King Musical for Center for the Arts.




LEARN MORE ABOUT Jeffrey Ellis

First Show:

EVITA, starring Patti LuPone

Favorite Stories:



Roxy Regional Theatre Offers Staged Reading of GROSS INDECENCY For 4-Show Run
March 24, 2012

Beginning March 21, the Roxy Regional Theatre will delve deeper into the life and times of the man who penned such classics as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, with a limited run of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde in theotherspace, the Roxy's 50-seat black-box theatre located upstairs.

BWW Interviews: Onstage at The Barn: Memories From the 45 Years with Lisa Marie Wright
BWW Interviews: Onstage at The Barn: Memories From the 45 Years with Lisa Marie Wright
March 23, 2012

In recognition of The Barn's 45 years of bringing the magic of live theater to the stage, we continue our special series of Onstage at The Barn: Memories from The First 45 Years, with actress Lisa Marie Wright, who made her debut at the Barn in A Christmas Cactus in 1998, and most recently was onstage playing the Christine Penmark, the mom of the dastardly Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed at Street Theatre Company…

BWW Interviews: DELANEY AMATRUDO's Wicked Take On THE FRIDAY FIVE
BWW Interviews: DELANEY AMATRUDO's Wicked Take On THE FRIDAY FIVE
March 23, 2012

Today, the spotlight falls upon Delaney Amatrudo, one of Nashville's most acclaimed young actors who finishes up her run as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at Page High School in Williamson County. Her resume boasts a collection of roles that would make anyone envious, including her starring stint in Circle Players' productions of 13 the Musical and Footloose. Last summer, she played Millie Owens in the First Night staged reading of William Inge's Picnic (which I directed, so I know how wicked good she is). Speaking of Wicked, the girl's been in training to play Elphaba since she was tyke!

BWW Interviews: RYAN BOWIE Gives His Heart to Answer THE FRIDAY FIVE
BWW Interviews: RYAN BOWIE Gives His Heart to Answer THE FRIDAY FIVE
March 23, 2012

Today, the spotlight falls upon Ryan Bowie, who is a company member and director of fundraising and development at Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre, currently onstage in the staged reading of Moises Kaufman's Gross Indecency through Saturday night, March 24, and who will be opening in The Red Badge of Courage (running March 30-April 7) and in Spring Awakening (April 13-May 5). Obviously, Ryan pours his blood, sweat and tears into his work-but you've probably never realized just how true that assertion is.

BWW Interviews: Onstage at The Barn: Memories From the First 45 Years with Joanna Hackman
BWW Interviews: Onstage at The Barn: Memories From the First 45 Years with Joanna Hackman
March 21, 2012

In recognition of The Barn's 45 years of bringing the magic of live theater to the stage, we continue our special series of Onstage at The Barn: Memories from The First 45 Years, with actress Joanna Hackman, who recently made her debut at the Barn in the hit comedy Boeing Boeing, and who will be leaving Nashville shortly to give the West Coast a shot at her (and those of her husband Daniel Hackman) talents…

BWW Reviews: National Tour of MARY POPPINS Brings Its Imaginative, Colorful Magic to TPAC's Jackson Hall
BWW Reviews: National Tour of MARY POPPINS Brings Its Imaginative, Colorful Magic to TPAC's Jackson Hall
March 21, 2012

Who knew that Mary Poppins, that brightly colored stage spectacle of a musical comedy confection, would be the theatrical offering that most eloquently addresses the questionable shenanigans of unscrupulous bankers, financiers and other assorted nefarious London financial district/Wall Street types and which champions the importance of family and the common folk?

Roxy Regional Theatre Offers Staged Reading of GROSS INDECENCY For 4-Show Run
March 21, 2012

Beginning March 21, the Roxy Regional Theatre will delve deeper into the life and times of the man who penned such classics as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest, with a limited run of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde in theotherspace, the Roxy's 50-seat black-box theatre located upstairs.

BWW Reviews: Tennessee Rep Serves Up Well-Acted SUPERIOR DONUTS at TPAC'S Johnson Theatre
BWW Reviews: Tennessee Rep Serves Up Well-Acted SUPERIOR DONUTS at TPAC'S Johnson Theatre
March 18, 2012

Despite their best efforts, director Lauren Shouse and her amazingly talented cast just can't give Tracy Lett's Superior Donuts the emotional heft-the literary gravitas-that the playwright so mightily struggles for in his sitcomesque script which pales in comparison to his supposed masterpiece, August: Osage County. Clearly, it's the success of that earlier, heavily-decorated and awarded, Pulitzer Prize-winning play that most theatre companies are invoking as they attempt to sell tickets to this decidedly lesser work, hoping to capitalize on its success in hoodwinking an unsuspecting audience.

Copeland's New Version of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Closes at NCT
March 18, 2012

Debuting Nashville Children's Theatre-where it will continue through March 18-is producing artistic director Scot Copeland's original adaptation of The Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete), described as "an exquisitely theatrical adaptation of the French fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont.

Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING Closes
March 18, 2012

From the same writing team that created Frankly, My Dear-Duke Ernsburger and Virginia Cate-comes the latest comedy opening at Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre: Elvis Has Left the Building. Running through March 18, the comedy is directed by Martha Wilkinson, artistic director of the company that is celebrating its 45th season of bringing theater to Nashville audiences.

On a Roll With Neil Simon Plays, Director Johnny Peppers Ushers BRIGHTON BEACH To The Stage Thru 3/18
March 18, 2012

Make no mistake about it: Johnny Peppers loves directing shows by Broadway playwright Neil Simon, as evidenced by his two latest theatrical adventures. With Brighton Beach Memoirs performing to audience acclaim as part of Circle Players' 2011-12 season at The Keeton Theatre-coming right after the closing of Barefoot in the Park that was part of Franklin's Pull-Tight Players' season-Peppers has been immersed in the stage works of one of the theater's most prolific writers.

Woodbury's Arts Center of Cannon County's CAMELOT Closes
March 18, 2012

The Arts Center of Cannon County in Woodbury invites theater-goers to "rediscover the grandeur of one of history's greatest love stories" via Lerner and Loewe's timeless musical Camelot-starring John Blankenship, Katherine Sandoval Taylor and Kinsey Brewer-running through March 18.

BWW Interviews: Will Butler, On Becoming Eugene Morris Jerome in Circle Players' BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS
March 18, 2012

Will Butler is pretty jazzed up about playing Eugene Morris Jerome in Circle Players' upcoming production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs which might be due, in part, to the fact that he's pretty certain he's got all the lines down pat. But the real reason he's excited is that Brighton Beach marks his return-it's kind of a comeback for the young actor-to the Nashville stage since his "senior capstone project" at Belmont University in 2010.

BWW Reviews: Belmont's HAIRSPRAY is a Shiny, Sparkling Musical Theater Triumph
BWW Reviews: Belmont's HAIRSPRAY is a Shiny, Sparkling Musical Theater Triumph
March 17, 2012

This spring's sparkling, stellar production of Hairspray-the musical tale of one Tracy Turnblad, a "stout" girl who loves to dance and loves people no matter their shape, size, color or way of life-is as entertaining a production of the hit musical as you could ever hope to see. Led by a crazy talented bunch of youthful performers (if this were the 1930s, you can bet your bottom dollar they'd be requisitioning somebody's barn for a colorful musical spectacle) who perform their collective heart out for enthusiastic audiences, the production is satisfying on every level.

BWW Reviews: Circle Players' BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS Comes Vividly To Life Via Focused Performances
BWW Reviews: Circle Players' BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS Comes Vividly To Life Via Focused Performances
March 16, 2012

Directed with care and attention to detail by Johnny Peppers, who is quickly becoming the go-to guy for Simon shows in Nashville (just prior to the opening of Circle's Brighton Beach Memoirs, his production of Barefoot in the Park for Franklin's Pull-Tight Players closed), the play features young Will Butler as the play's nominal lead-and stand-in for Simon himself, upon whose life the richly drawn characters and situations are derived-Eugene Morris Jerome, a 15-year-old Polish American Jewish boy living in Brooklyn with his parents, his brother, his aunt and her two daughters.

BWW Interviews: BONNIE KEEN Tackles The Friday Five (And Lives to Tell About It)
BWW Interviews: BONNIE KEEN Tackles The Friday Five (And Lives to Tell About It)
March 16, 2012

Today, the spotlight falls upon Bonnie Keen, one of Nashville's most beloved entertainers, who this weekend lends her estimable talents to the staged reading of Christopher Davis and Frederick Richardson's Punchinello, a new family-friendly musical based upon the children's books of Max Lucado. The staged reading of Punchinello is set for Friday and Saturday nights, March 16 and 17, with a 7:30 p.m. curtain, in Wallace Chapel at Christ Church Nashville, 15354 Old Hickory Boulevard. (Tickets are $10, $5 for children under 12.)

BWW Interviews: CASEY HEBBEL takes on The Friday Five
BWW Interviews: CASEY HEBBEL takes on The Friday Five
March 16, 2012

The spotlight today falls upon Casey Hebbel, one of the crazy talented Belmont University musical theatre students who will one day be collecting Tony Awards like they're so many theatre action figures. Until then, she's still got a few classes to attend and another musical to star in: She opens tonight (Friday, March 16) in Belmont University Musical Theatre's production of Hairspray, sure to be one of the season's highlights.

Austin Price Stars in ALL SHOOK UP! at Cumberland County Playhouse Opening 3/16
March 16, 2012

A square little town in a square little state in the middle of a square decade is about to be changed forever as All Shook Up! takes over the stage. Natalie, a young mechanic, dreams of love, adventure and of one true love who'll take her away from her dreary surroundings. Natalie's best friend Dennis has long had a secret crush on her. Since the Mayor outlawed everything that's fun, it seems like the whole drab town is singing the blues.

Williams, Peppers Star in World Premiere Production of SOUTHERN FRIED NUPTIALS for Bethlehem Players
Williams, Peppers Star in World Premiere Production of SOUTHERN FRIED NUPTIALS for Bethlehem Players
March 15, 2012

Bethlehem Players will find themselves back in Mississippi this spring with the premiere of Southern Fried Nuptials, as the Frye family struggles to marry off daughter Harline in the latest comedy from Dietz Osborne and Nate Eppler, the award-winning playwrights of Southern Fried Funeral, the critically acclaimed comedy that first introduced the Magnolia State family, their friends and kinfolk.

Boiler Room Theatre Continues 12th Season With Travis Brazil-directed OF MICE AND MEN
Boiler Room Theatre Continues 12th Season With Travis Brazil-directed OF MICE AND MEN
March 15, 2012

Travis Brazil directs as Boiler Room Theatre continues its 12th season with John Steinbeck's classic drama Of Mice and Men, starrng Ross Bolen and John Mauldin, opening Friday April 13, at the theatre's venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, for a run that continues through May 5.



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