Jeffrey Ellis - Page 110

Sideshow Ensemble is comprised of 12 self-proclaimed theatre 'freaks' that form a proverbial melting pot of emerging Nashville artists. Sideshow, a ten-month training immersion and theatrical cross training program, strengthens the core disciplines and bolster additional skills by providing opportunities for the 'freaks' to train and exhibit skills outside of their current artistic disciplines. The Flu Season will be their first foray into full-scale production together.

Truth be told, seeing Martha Wilkinson in a black pageboy wig while she delivers a wonderfully droll comic character performance might be worth the price of a ticket to Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's revival of Boeing-Boeing, the Marc Camoletti farce (adapted by Beverly Cross) under the direction of Charles Burr that is running throughout the month of December. But Wilkinson's superb performance notwithstanding, there's much more to love about the show.

With a plethora of theater productions of A Christmas Carol filling local stages throughout December, you'd be hard-pressed to not find yourself in the audience of one of those productions. But if you have the presence of mind-and a ticket-you'd search far and wide for a more pleasing rendition of Charles Dickens' iconic work than the one now onstage at Hendersonville's Living To Go Church courtesy of the new Actors Point Theatre Company, which is dedicated to bringing professional theater to Sumner County.

Dance-the quality of performance, the merits of the performers, the creativity of the choreographers-at Middle Tennessee State University has certainly improved since the last time I reviewed the fall dance concert at MTSU. Of course, it was 32 years ago and the dance program at the university has grown by leaps and bounds.

Lakewood Theatre invites audiences to spend Christmas with Laura, Mary, Carrie, Ma, Pa Ingalls-along with a few surprise visitors-in A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas, a play with music, running at Lakewood Theatre December 2-17.

Janie and John Chaffin and company have decked the halls and baked the cookies, so Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, the venerable Nashville theatre celebrating its 45th year of bringing the best of Broadway to Music City USA, ushers in yet another holiday season with three shows offered for audiences of all ages.

Obie Award-winning director Les Waters today has been named as the new artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Waters, who for the past eight years has been the associate artistic director at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, will begin transition to his new post effective January 9, 2012 and assume full-time duties at Actors Theatre in late March.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will once again present the holiday cult A Christmas Story adapted by Phillip Grecian and based on the motion picture by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, and Bob Clark. A Christmas Story runs December 8-22 at TPAC's Johnson Theater.

An Adult Guide to the Orchestra is described as 'a fun and witty look at symphony orchestras and the musicians who create the music.' Written by Sheldon Kurland, a classically trained musician who studied at Juilliard and was later known for his influence in bringing the lush string sound to Country Music in Nashville (Music City), during the heyday of "the Nashville Sound," this irreverent book casts a humorous light to the somewhat serious world of classical music.

Nashville Children's Theatre (NCT) will be revamped-for one night only-for the 21 and up crowd on the evening of Friday, December 9, when the theater holds Big Kid Night, "because kids shouldn't have all the fun," featuring a performance of Junie B. In Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!, starring Brooke Bryant as the irrepressible first grader Junie B. Jones.

Lakewood Theatre invites audiences to spend Christmas with Laura, Mary, Carrie, Ma, Pa Ingalls-along with a few surprise visitors-in A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas, a play with music, running at Lakewood Theatre December 2-17.

Featuring a cast of actors from throughout Middle Tennessee, The Renaissance Players will present the musicalized version of a holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, The Musical, December 2- 18 in the Anne Deason Performance Hall at The Renaissance Center in Dickson. The Charles Dickens classic gets the full Broadway treatment with music by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid) and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Seussical).

Under the sure-handed direction of Morton, who has brought together an impressive cast of adult actors with two different casts of youngsters, the whole of Oliver! is remarkable, a thoroughly delightful evening of theater that allows those older thespians to show off their talents while showcasing the budding talents of her younger charges, who display stage presence and focus throughout the tune-filled musical. In fact, it is Morton's skilled and practiced eye in regards to casting that really sets this Oliver! apart from any of the others we've seen. Frankly, the woman knows what she's doing.

Directed by David Alford, who certainly knows his way around the breakroom (what with his own experiences playing Crumpet the elf, Sedaris' velvet smock/candy can tights-wearing doppelganger), The Santaland Diaries is the perfect seasonal antidote for the countless, treacly-sweet productions of A Christmas Carol that will dominate the Nashville theatrical landscape over the coming weeks.

Memphis native and the Olivier Award-winning playwright of The Mountaintop, Katori Hall is featured in a new video from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) - the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization - as part of its Americans for Marriage Equality campaign.

I can now feel the tiny pin pricks of the needles piercing the flesh of the Jef Ellis voodoo dolls held about the neck by various members of the cast and crew as they exact their revenge while they continue reading this review. I say: Bring it on! Sticks and stones and all that...

More to the point, Ragtime in Concert at Street Theatre Company is not to be missed. It is an awe-inspiring night of theater, staged with confidence and a practiced eye for what works visually by Cathy Street and Jane Kelley (who also conducts the 30-some member ensemble) and featuring the always significant contributions of music director Rollie Mains, this production obviously emphasizes the extraordinary musical score that, without danger of exaggeration, should be included in the pantheon of musical theater's greatest accomplishments. I defy you to hear the title tune, 'New Music,' and 'Wheels of a Dream' (or any number of other songs from the score, to be honest) and not to find your heart soaring - they are finely crafted works of art.

Directed by David Alford (who first wore Crumpet the elf's turned-up slippers for Tennessee Rep) and starring audience favorite Matt Chiorini, who returns to Nashville to take on the festive mantle of the acerbic, take no prisoners, would-be actor and serious One Life to Live fan (wonder how he's doing in wake of the soap opera's demise), The Santaland Diaries opens Saturday night, November 19 at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and runs through December 3.

Long Way Down, Nashville playwright Nate Eppler's critically acclaimed new work which premiered locally earlier this year, has been named a semi-finalist for the 2012 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award.

Memphis, the musical, is a lot like Memphis, the city: You either love it or you hate it. But if you let its sincerely heartfelt story and evocatively written music wend its way into your heart, you'll find your soul. With the national touring company now ensconced at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall through Sunday, it's easy to see why Memphis won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical, its spirit is infectious, its music glorious and its cast - what a stunning ensemble they are! - nothing short of wondrous.