Jeffrey Ellis - Page 85

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.

Broadway's Aaron Tveit-fresh off starmaking turns in next to normal and Catch Me If You Can-is the featured performer for this year's Tennessee Performing Arts Center Gala, set for tonight, August 25, and this year honoring community leader John Ferguson.

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

Yankees might find the idea crazy to turn a classic Irish play into a bluegrass musical set in the Virginia Mountains, but Southerners know that the Blue Ridge Mountains were settled by Scots-Irish folks-and that a fiddle is a fiddle all over the globe. So it should come as no surprise that John Fionte, Cumberland County Playhouse's New Works Director-who describes himself as a Boston Yankee in the Cumberlands-was a bit skeptical when he first heard the premise of Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge, the new musical that opens in Crossville on Thursday, August 23.

Curtain goes up Thursday night, August 23, on the regional premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, directed by George W. Manus Jr. for Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main. Guirgis' 2005 play uses flashbacks to an imagined childhood and lawyers who call for the testimonies of such witnesses as Mother Teresa, Caiaphas, Saint Monica, Sigmund Freud, Pontius Pilate and Satan.

Nashville's own American Idol finalist-and Belmont Unviersity almuna-Melinda Doolittle leads a cast of powerhouse vocalists in Smokey Joe's Cafe, Studio Tenn's first musical production of its 2012-2013 season, opening September 20 at the historic Franklin Theatre.

Director Lisa Gillespie is responsible for my most recent serving of Steel Magnolias (onstage at Boiler Room Theatre in Franklin through September 8), which like all richly decadent Southern delicacies, sates something within me that yearns for a memory-laden repast-serving up Harling's artful blend of comedy and drama that is so redolent of my upbringing. In fact, every new production of Steel Magnolias that I see reminds me of a family reunion, where the same stories of kinfolk and friends are told time and again, providing a rich heritage from which to draw sustenance.

First Night Award-winning Boiler Room Theatre is looking ahead to its 2013 season, unveiling the seven shows that will make up the company's Lucky 13th Season. The 2013 season shows have been announced via social media this week, with each day featuring the announcement of another title in BRT's slate of shows.

American Negro Playwright Theatre and SistaStyle Productions invite theater-goers in Nashville to join them in a celebration-on Friday, August 24-of their D.C. Black Theatre Festival win with a special presentation of Mary McCallums' SingleVille, directed by 2010 First Night Honoree Barry Scott.

Today, the spotlight falls upon Angela Gimlin, who is appearing this weekend in the debut work from Nashville's Kirk-Burgess Productions: Prince Gomolvilas' play Mysterious Skin, based on the Scott Heim novel of the same name, that weaves together the interconnected stories of two young men, each struggling to overcome his horrific past. Angela, whose versatility is obvious in the production, plays the distant mother of one of the boys' and a surly Little League functionary who simply doesn't want to be bothered.

Kirk-Burgess Productions makes an auspicious debut on the Nashville theatrical scene with a solid production of Prince Gomolvilas' play Mysterious Skin, based on the Scott Heim novel of the same name, that weaves together the interconnected stories of two young men, each struggling to overcome his horrific past.

Martha Wilkinson, the nine-time First Night Award-winning actress (who's been singled out for honors by both The Tennessean and Nashville Scene, as well) who is one of the few actors in Nashville whose very name can lend starpower to the box office of any show she's in, is back onstage this weekend in Nashville Shakespeare Festival's World War II-era adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing. So, in honor of Martha's role as "the ultimate diva of Nashville theater," we've come up with a poll, asking the $64,000 Question: What Martha Wilkinson role would you love to see her play onstage again?

Described as "bold, captivating and often shocking," Mysterious Skin, a play by Prince Gomolvilas based on the novel by Scott Heim, is being brought to the Darkhorse Theatre stage, thanks to producing/directing duo of L.T. Kirk and Jonathan Burgess.

Bobby Wyckoff, a favorite of audiences at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, directs The Dixie Swim Club, the latest offering from the playwriting team of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, running August 23-September 30 at the dinner theatre located at 8204 Highway 100 in West Nashville.

Broadway's Aaron Tveit-fresh off starmaking turns in next to normal and Catch Me If You Can-is the featured performer for this year's Tennessee Performing Arts Center Gala, set for Saturday, August 25, and this year honoring community leader John Ferguson.

There comes a moment in Xanadu-the deliciously campy musical theater confection that is based on the unintentionally campy 1980s movie of the same name-when the Greek muse Calliope suggests that "it's just like children's theater for 40-year-old gay people" (or words to that effect) which perfectly captures the show's charm and unfailing appeal for audiences of every conceivable ilk and for one theater critic, in particular.

Featuring a triumvirate of capable, confident and consummately talented actors-LaToya Gardner, Kevin Mead and Lisa Graham-in the show's leading roles, it is a beautifully sung, interestingly staged and tremendously affecting musical that succeeds even despite the limitations of director Ralph Gabriel's sometimes questionable choices.

Next weekend marks the annual return of Nashville Shakespeare Festival to Centennial Park for the company's 25th offering of some of the Bard's best-known and best-loved works. We're wondering what production is your favorite from among the 10 most recent offerings from the company?