Jeffrey Ellis - Page 111

Oliver! - the Lionel Bart musical about London street urchin Oliver Twist and the scores of ruffians and ragamuffins who make up something of a family for the orphaned boy - opens at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre on Friday night, running through December 23, offering regional audiences the opportunity to fall in love with the 1960 musical once more.

The Sanders Family of Smoke on the Mountain trilogy fame returns to Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse November 18 for their 12th season of A Sanders Family Christmas, taking audiences back to Mt Pleasant Baptist Church to celebrate Christmas 1941, just weeks after Pearl Harbor, for their final Saturday night singing before Dennis reports for basic training. The Sanders Family will share songs and testimonies; all the while Preacher Oglethorpe continues his pursuit of June (played by CCP favorites Jason Ross and Patty Payne).

Nashville theater mavens and the fans of internet-borne musicals (it's a sub-genre of some group, look it up!) are fairly a-dither in anticipation of this week's opening night for ACT 1's production of A Fann-Made, Permission-Granted, Unofficial Production of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (yep, that's the unwieldy name, thanks to the fine print, legal kinda stuff at the bottom of the page), as it takes over Darkhorse Theatre for six performances (Friday and Saturday nights only) November 18-December 3.

Dance Theatre of Tennessee brings the sparkling magic of the season to life with its version of The Nutcracker, which will be presented to audiences in four Middle Tennessee in the coming weeks. Highlighted by Tchaikovsky's brilliant score, the irresistible story of young Clara, a special gift and her fanciful dream to a world of sugary confections has charmed generations, Dance Theatre of Tennessee brings the endearing and enduring holiday classic to life this season with brand new sets and costumes. As part of its mission of bringing ballet to the people, Dance Theatre of Tennessee brings 'The Nutcracker' to four Middle Tennessee counties: Sumner, Dickson, Montgomery and Rutherford.

Although she is loath to admit it, Cathy Street (the eponymous artistic force behind the acclaimed Street Theatre Company) says only time will tell if the 'In Concert' series at STC truly will become a theatrical phenomenon - even if evidence already suggests that it is.

Byran Fenkart, who plays the starring role of DJ Huey Calhoun in the national tour, made his Broadway debut in Memphis as the Huey stand-by to Tony nominee Chad Kimball, says the experience of mounting Memphis in Memphis is one he'll never forget - and one which affected the entire company in so many ways.

With audience participation required to bring it fully to life onstage, Jeff Wirth's The Antics of Romantics is overflowing with imagination and creativity, making it one of the most exhilarating theater offerings we've seen this season. Directed stylishly - with generous wit and flashes of comic brilliance - by Brent Maddox, Wirth's play is now onstage at Belmont University's Black Box Theatre at the Troutt Theatre complex starring an accomplished and adept cast of student actors who, obviously, are having the times of their lives.

Truth be told, seeing Henry Haggard and Jeff Boyet playing first graders may be enough to ensure that you get yourself to Nashville Children's Theatre for the company's wonderfully entertaining production of Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. But the production holds so many delightful riches - not the least of which is Brooke Bryant's completely engaging portrayal of the title character - that it is certain to delight audiences of all ages who make it to NCT to revel in this holiday season respite that imparts a lesson while eliciting laughs, gasps and so much more over the course of an hour or so in the theater.

Myth, an original musical by Blackbird Theater co-founders Wes Driver and Greg Greene and composer Michael Slayton, will be presented in front of an audience for the first time on Saturday, November 12, at Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theater.

Harriet Harms and Karla Cooper Kelso, longtime performing arts sign language intepreters at Nashville Children's Theatre (NCT), will be honored as the theater holds its 13th Annual Grand Day on Saturday, November 12. On this unique day, guests can enjoy a performance of Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! and a grand carnival.

Ginger Newman and Kate Adams-Johnson have perfected the recipe for musical success: Take three ginger-haired beauties, pair them with three dark and handsome young men and add a musical score that includes some of the best-known and most-beloved songs of the 1930s and '40s. That's the winning formula the talented duo have mixed together to grand effect in The Keeton Theatre's production of The All Night Strut, the winning musical revue that is as effervescent as a glass of champagne and as entertaining as a Manhattan Transfer concert.

Crist is a promising writer - although her works for the theater would benefit greatly from some workshopping of the material before audiences are asked to buy tickets - and a warm-hearted, genuine woman who, quite frankly, I adore. But I don't adore being made to feel ignorant or unsophisticated because we don't like the same things.

You can hardly swing a cat in Nashville without hitting someone in costume as Edna Turnblad or her dancing progeny Tracy, so popular has the show become with local theaterati. But, truth be told, if I never live to see another Hairspray, I can now die a happy man: Because I saw director/choreographer Justin Boccitto's exceptional, extraordinary and exhilarating take on the show, starring a phenomenal cast of Lipscomb University theatre students who so brilliantly bring the now-iconic characters of 1962 Baltimore to life with thorough commitment and so much energy you can't help but leave the theater with a spring in your step and a song in your heart.

When you live in a city ringed by suburbs like Old Hickory and Hermitage, when one of the most popular tourist attractions is The Hermitage and we all think of Andy Jackson as someone we know (his visage is found on countless public buildings throughout the city), it just makes sense that Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson would be of interest - not just to me, but to my readers in general and theater lovers in particular. Nashville, you see, is inextricably linked to any version of the Andrew Jackson story you may happen upon, whether it's a Broadway musical (which probably was best-suited to an off-Broadway climate than it was on the main stem) or any of the best sellers that have stocked bookstore shelves in the past decade.

Trish Crist, the award-winning playwright of What, follows up to that critically acclaimed play with Who, presented by Rhubarb Theater Company November 4-12 at Darkhorse Theater. 'The fast-moving collection of stories are all set in Nashville and the play is a smart sequel to What, which was named Best Original Play of 2009 by the Nashville Scene,' Crist explains.

Voting is now under way for the second BroadwayWorld.com Nashville Theatre Awards and, for the first time, theater companies outside Nashville will be recognized with the BroadwayWorld.com Tennessee Theatre Awards.

Studio Tenn presents its production of A Christmas Carol at the Franklin Theatre, running December 8-18. The production, named 'Best Christmas Show in Nashville' by the Nashville Scene's Annual Best Of issue, is now in its second season and opens the same weekend as the annual 'Dickens of a Christmas Festival' on Main Street.

A Lincoln impersonator looking for a really good time, a Middle Eastern immigrant looking to rent a room, World of Warcraft devotees giving their friend an ultimatum, and a sexy co-worker looking for a promotion - those are just a few of the diverse characters to be found among the 12 exciting new plays at The Ten Minute Playhouse. Set for November 6 and 7 at the Darkhorse Theater, The Ten Minute Playhouse presented by New Works Nashville features a collection of new plays by Middle Tennessee playwrights performed in staged readings by local talent.

Lindy Pendzick and husband Greg Pendzick take on the roles of Grace and her wisecracking spouse, with leading kids' roles played by Crossville's Mary Kemp, Ellie Burnett, Cory Clark, Phillip Hall, and Molly McKinney of Pikeville, plus Crossville's Katey Dailey, Chelsea Boelter, Aiden Morrison, Alli Crain, Perrianna Evans and Emery Smith, along with Andy Swafford of Bledsoe County, and Jacob Copeland of Jamestown.

Myth, an original musical by Blackbird Theater co-founders Wes Driver and Greg Greene and composer Michael Slayton, will be presented in front of an audience for the first time on Saturday, November 12, at Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theater.