Jeffrey Ellis - Page 102

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.

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.

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.

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.

Robyn Berg directs the upcoming Nashville production of Dustin Lance Black's 8, a play chronicling the historic trial in the federal constitutional challenge to California's Proposition 8, presented by Rhubarb Theater Company on Monday, May 7, at Darkhorse Theater.

Here's Bakari King singing 'Marvellaphony Organoni' from Punchinello...

Laura Matula sings 'Can You Unbreak a Heart' from Punchinello, music by Christopher Davis, lyrics by Frederick Richardson.

Theater audiences in Nashville will be treated to something new this weekend as the new musical Punchinello, based on the writings of Max Lucado, will be presented in a staged reading at Wallace Chapel at Christ Church Nashville this Friday and Saturday nights.

In the play, 90-year-old Mabel Tidings Bigelow-the first woman to swim the English Channel from England to Franc -insists on celebrating her daughter and granddaughter's annual visit with a croquet party. As the game unfolds, she relives vignettes from the last 80 years, interweaving past and present to reveal the precise moment of opportunity gained and love rejected, the moment that defined her life.

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.

The gala will feature a dinner reminiscent of the dinner created for the Titanic's first-class passengers, as well as a silent auction with themed packages. John Joslyn, co-owner of Titanic Museum Attraction, will give a special presentation based on his experience with the Titanic, including a $6 million expedition and multiple Titanic television specials. Mr. Joslyn has developed and currently oversees two high-end Titanic museum-attractions in Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

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 Joy Tilley Perryman, who this past holiday season starred in It's A Country Christmas, Carol. Today, Joy shares her memories of her Barn experiences to the ones that we've been sharing for two weeks to celebrate the 45th anniversary…

Smokey Joe's Cafe is a show features nine performers, who take audiences back to the 1950s and 1960s with their renditions of many wonderful hits of the rock and roll era. Four of the male singers come together to form a group reminiscent of the two famous quartets Leiber and Stoller wrote for-the Drifters and the Coasters-while other cast members deliver songs made famous by some of the most powerful figures in the world of music, including Elvis Presley, Dion and Big Mama Thornton.

Vali Forrister, producing artistic director of Actors Bridge Ensemble, talks about Act Like a GRRRL. Act Like a GRRRL, Inc., is an autobiographical writing and performance program for teenage girls. Based in Nashville, the program offers space and support for young women to gain a public voice, work with professional female mentors in a variety of creative fields, and foster friendships with peers from diverse backgrounds.

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.

Donald Margulies' Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends-starring Molly Breen, Holly Amber, Tony Hortert and Bryce Damuth-debuts at Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main this Thursday, running through March 25, in celebration of the theater company's second anniversary.

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 actror Daron Bruce, who is one of the most accomplished thespians to be found in Nashville, taking on a wide range of roles that have showcased his talents to perfection, while helping to prepare actors of future generations as head of the theater department at Nashville's historic Hume-Fogg Academic High School, considered one of the top providers of secondary education in the nation. Today, Daron adds his memories of his Barn experiences to the ones that we've been sharing for two weeks to celebrate the 45th anniversary…

The musical review was created by David Grapes (the former artistic director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre), with musical arrangements and medleys by Andrew Philip Herron, and traces the careers of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney from early on, as the two made their way to Hollywood and became America's Sweethearts, through their sensational careers both in Hollywood and on Broadway.

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 Rona Carter McLaughlin, who is one of the most accomplished actors to be found on a Nashville stage, taking on a wide range of roles that have showcased her abilities to perfection. Today, Rona (who most often is seen onstage at Nashville Children's Theatre) adds her reminiscences of life at The Barn to the ones that we've been sharing since last week…

The spotlight today falls upon Darryl Deason-mild-mannered Murfreesboro dentist-by-day; high-flying, widely respected director/producer/actor-by-night-who shares the spotlight today with Katherine Sandoval Taylor, who opens tonight as Guenevere in The Arts Center of Cannon County's production of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot (playing through March 23; curtain's at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees) which is, interestingly enough, produced by Darryl Deason himself. Ah! Syncronicity (ya gotta love a good calendar application!).