Jeffrey Ellis - Page 84

Compellingly dramatic and musically inspiring, Caroline, Or Change-the musical now onstage at Street Theatre Company through the end of the month-might very well be the most startling and thoroughly extraordinary production from the company in its rather brief existence in Nashville.

Parade, the acclaimed musical by Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry, will finally be given its Nashville area premiere-starring Megan Murphy Chambers and Paul Cook, under the direction of Sondra Morton-as Boiler Room Theatre presents the show October 5-20 at its venue at the historic Factory at Franklin.

Over the course of three nights-Thursday, September 20 through Saturday, September 22-Boiler Room presents three musicals that will be rated by the audience and a panel of media/industry professionals. Immediately following each presentation, a 10-minute talkback session will allow judges to offer ideas and suggestions and ask questions of the authors/composers. The musical which emerges from The Boiler Room Pressure Cooker Round 2 will emerge with the grand prize: a full production at the Boiler Room Theatre as part of its Lucky 13 Season. Show dates will be March 21-23, 2013.

Two of Cumberland County Playhouse's favorite actresses and singers-Weslie Webster and Brenda Frye-will be presented in a special 8 p.m. concert performance on Saturday, September 29, entitled interestingly enough An Evening with Brenda Frye and Weslie Webster.

Boldly moving into their second season of challenging audiences with compelling, new and exciting theater, Sideshow @ Actors Bridge will bring sexy back as they present the regional premiere of 13P member Sheila Callaghan's Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake).

Rachel York leads the national tour of Roundabout Theatre Company's Anything Goes (which features some faces familiar to fans of Tennessee theater), the new Broadway revival of Cole Porter's timeless classic musical theatre masterpiece that lays anchor at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall October 23-28.

Growing up as a baby boomer in the South, you carry with you at least a modicum of guilt-regardless of whatever your upbringing actually may have been-about racism and the impact of one's skin color on the society in which you are raised. Here in the South, we're well aware of our history founded upon racist attitudes and built upon the backs of slaves, so we struggle with racism continually and it is never far from our minds-to the point, quite honestly, that we may have come much further in our consideration of the racist conundrum than our Yankee (old habits die hard) counterparts. And in these upwardly mobile times, there is a very good chance you might find yourself struggling anew with racial stereotypes and archetypes if you are among the pioneers of neighborhood gentrification.

Back in the day-1907, actually-when John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World premiered at Dublin's Abbey Theater, it apparently caused riots, its tale of an apparent patricide engendering great public outrage and overt hostilities. Four years later, when the play debuted in New York City, audience members hurled epithets, rotten tomatoes and various other vegetation across the footlights, protesting the play's perceived "immorality."

There is absolutely no doubt about it: The playwriting trio of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten very clearly know the people about whom they write so prolifically. Their affection and respect for the Southern way of life is obvious in every honey-drawled word, as is their abundant understanding of Southern people and folkways themselves. It's something that fairly reverberates through every line, every script, every moment they create for the stage-and it provides a heartbeat that is as real as the smell of honeysuckle hanging heavily on the warm summer winds.

Fun-filled and light-hearted, Much Ado About Nothing-the latest Shakespeare-in-the-Park offering from Nashville Shakespeare Festival-offers its audiences a tuneful, sprightly way to celebrate late summer amid all the trappings of theatrical magic, brought to life by a confident, self-assured cast uttering the Bard's timeless words set to the tuneful music and lyrics of Janet McMahan and David Huntsinger.

Smokey Joe's Cafe features the songs of Leiber & Stoller and stars Melinda Doolittle, Ryan Greenawalt, Libby Hodges, Harvey Hubert, Laura Matula, John-Mark McGaha, Abner Ramirez and Amanda Sudano Ramirez.

Set against a backdrop of the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, the Arts Center of Cannon County presents Chicago-the story of Roxie Hart (with Alexandra McNamara and Jessica Storvik alternating in the role) a housewife and nightclub dancer who maliciously murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her-running September 14-13 in Woodbury.

Theater people from throughout Tennessee gathered at Belmont University's Bill and Carole Troutt Theatre on Sunday night for the 2013 First Night Honors to pay tribute to a group of eight remarkable people who have made indelible marks on the theater scene throughout their storied careers. Hosted by Holly Shepherd and Joel Diggs, the gala evening honored the eight leading lights of Tennessee theater as they were recognized as members of the First Night Class of 2013 Honorees.

Theater aficionados from throughout Tennessee gathered at Belmont University's Bill and Carole Troutt Theatre on Sunday night for the 2013 First Night Honors, paying tribute to a group of eight remarkable people who have made indelible marks on the theater scene throughout their storied careers. Hosted by Holly Shepherd and Joel Diggs, the gala evening honored the eight leading lights of Tennessee theater as they were recognized as members of the First Night Class of 2013 Honorees.

Dressed to the nines-despite forecasts of thunderstorms and a tornado watch that hung over the region-theater people from throughout Tennessee gathered at Belmont University's Bill and Carole Troutt Theatre on Sunday night for the 2013 First Night Honors. Hosted by Holly Shepherd and Joel Diggs, the gala evening honored eight leading lights of Tennessee theater as they were recognized as members of the First Night Class of 2013 Honorees.

Chris Bosen and Nate Eppler, the curators of The Ten Minute Playhouse-named one of the Top 11 Theatrical Events of 2011 by The First Night Honors-have been invited by Street Theatre Company to present new programming in-residence during the 2013 season.

Steven Dietz's Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure has been performed all over the country, but when Nashville Children's Theatre presents it as the opening production of its 81st season, it will be the first time the play has been presented by a theatre for young audiences. And in another noteworthy first, the production marks the first time that Nashville Children's Theatre has mounted a show of some two hours in length.

Taylor Tracey makes her Nashville stage debut as Elle Woods in The Keeton Theatre's production of Legally Blonde, the Musical, running September 13-29 at the theatre, located at 108 Donelson Pike.

Clay Steakley and Jennifer Richmond will take on the roles of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald this fall as Actors Bridge Ensemble presents the world premiere of Bill Feehely's Outside Paradise, November 9-18 at Belmont University's Black Box Theatre. Outside Paradise follows the life and love of literary legends F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald through the jazz age and into infamy. Funded by a Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission Creation Grant, this new work examines the volatile passion, deep commitment and remarkable work of this iconic pair and their closest confidants.

Ariel Dorfman's Death and The Maiden, starring Phil Brady, Trish Crist and Bakari King, will be presented by Nashville's Rhubarb Theater August 23-25 at Darkhorse Theatre-with a special encore performance as part of the 2012 First Night Honors tonight, August 31, at Belmont's Black Box Theatre.