Jeffrey Ellis - Page 88

The Full Monty, with book by Terrence McNally, music and lyrics by David Yazbek, runs through Aug. 4, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays, except for the Friday, July 27 performance, which will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $16 for students and seniors age 65 and older.

Opening ACT 1's 2012-13 season at The Darkhorse Theatre in Nashville this fall will be the company's revival of Michael Cristofer's The Shadow Box, the 1977 Tony Award winner for best play (which won for Cristofer the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, brought to the stage by director David McGinnis, who makes his ACT 1 directorial debut with this effort.

Broadway star Bailey Hanks will take on the role of Doralee Rhodes in The Roxy Regional Theatre's upcoming production of Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 The Musical, which opens at the Clarksville venue on September 14.

Last week we launched The Nutty Five as our way of welcoming all these talented people into our midst-even the ones who have Nashville connections, like today's star of the show Danny Young, who is the drummer for The Nutty Professor band (who may be just as jazzed up about his new drum set for the show as he is working with Jerry Lewis).

We've been introducing the company's members to Nashville over the past several days and today it is Allison Little's turn to take on our five Nutty questions so that when you see her, you'll feel like you already know her. Or, if you actually do know her already, you can just puff out your chest and say, "I knew her when…"

Members of the 2012 First Night Honors' Class of Honorees will be revealed to the public Monday night, July 23, during the First Night Preview Party, which will be held at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, 8204 Highway 100 in Nashville.

Nashville actor/playwright/director Matthew Carlton's Hanging Mary has earned top honors during the 2012 Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights (AFPP) held July 6-July 13 at The Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia.

Welcome to the fifth installment of Music City Confidential, my column to collect the flotsam and jetsam, informationally speaking, of theatre in Tennessee. Sorry for the long delay since the last installment, but I've been theatering my butt off all over the Volunteer State in search of intriguing gossip and riveting news stories just for you, my gentle readers.

Today, our altogether welcoming (my mama raised me right) spotlight falls on Alex David, who's part of the ensemble and is the double for Julius Kelp/Buddy Love (played by star Michael Andrew), and who is obviously having the time of his life in Nashville. And keep this in mind: Alex may need your help when he's sent flying by a mechanical bull!

In fact, director Kate Adams and musical director Ginger Newman have crafted Nashville's own lovely and, I daresay, star-studded version of the musical which simply proves once again that Into the Woods is one of the most enchanting, most entertaining and most moving examples of contemporary musical theater at its best

Obviously, my mama raised me right-and what better way is there to welcome these newcomers to our midst than with the public airing of some of their most embarrassing moments and the admission of their long-held dreams. Among those enormously gifted artistic types is ensemble member Carly Blake Sebouhian (who fairly drips stage presence in her performance-we got a sneak preview of a few numbers last Wednesday), whose ever-growing resume offers an account of her impressive theatrical experience. Her charm and lovely spirit are sure to set her apart to gain the attention of Nashville audiences who will see her onstage in The Nutty Professor.

Nashville Children'sTheatre will unveil its second student summer musical production on July 27 and 28 with Avenue Q: School Edition, based on the original Broadway hit and Tony Award-winning musical by Robert Lopez, Jeff Marx and Jeff Whitty.

Jeremy Benton has come a long way since he was dancing around in the backyard of his family's home in Springfield, Tennessee. In fact, way back when-before he even had his first dance class with Cherri Coleman at the Springfield School of Classical Dance-for all he knew he might have even created or invented what he later learned was referred to as "tap."

Think of it as a newfangled take on our venerated Southern hospitality-my mama raised me right, for goodness' sake-and what's more Southern than welcoming newcomers into our community? Whiskey and barbecue, of course, but until then this column will have to suffice, even if the ensemble's Patrick O'Neill has suffered through some 20 years of barbecue deficiency. Until we can rectify that situation, this is just gonna have to do…

What with contemporary musical theater's artistic bent toward the nostalgic in recent years, it should come as no surprise that Happy Days, the ABC sitcom that painted an affectionate portrait of life in Milwaukee in the late 1950s/early 1960s, was adapted by the show's creator Garry Marshall and composer Paul Williams into a musical comedy.

In fact, Wilkinson's new and fresh version of The Odd Couple comes down to one thing: Casting. Sure, Oscar is still a slovenly and slobby, even if quick-witted, mess, and Felix is an effete fussbudget (and, if I were a psychologist, I could have a field day with all the subtext going on in that hot NYC apartment in the mid-1960s), but their friends seem different thanks to the director's choice of actor for each role.

Today's spotlight falls on one very special member of the cast, who just happens to be in every sense of the phrase "Nashville's own…" Meghan Glogower. Graduating from Belmont University's amazing musical theater program in early May, she auditioned for her first Broadway-bound show (aka The Nutty Professor Musical) and was cast! After whirlwind weeks of rehearsal in New York City, she's back in her adopted hometown-Megan's a native of Winter Haven, Florida, which means an invasion of Floridians is expected in the coming weeks, as well-dancing her butt off ahead of the show's opening.

After two successful weekends of sold-out performances for The Theater Bug's The Paper Bag Princess, artistic director/founder Cori Anne Laemmel has announced that a third weekend of 'encore' performances are planned for Saturday and Sunday, July 14 and 15, at the company's new home in East Nashville.

Today's spotlight falls on Ronnie Nelson, who hails from Ammon, North Carolina, and plays Norm in the show. When you go to see The Nutty Professor, keep this is mind: Ronnie's the tall, good-looking guy among an ensemble filled with tall (and not-so-tall), good-looking guys-and he's played Nashville before (as part of the national tour of Cats) and he's got a hankering for some good ol' down-home biscuits and gravy, so I predict you might see him at the Loveless Cafe or Pancake Pantry while he's in town.

Today's spotlight falls upon Matthew Hayes Hunter, aka Matt Hunter, who is currently onstage in Legally Blonde the Musical at Woodbury's Arts Center of Cannon County. The show only runs through Saturday night, so you better make it snappy if you want to catch his bravura performance. Coming up, he'll be performing at The First Night Honors on Sunday, September 2, at The Troutt Theatre at Belmont University, and in late September he'll be appearing in the MTSU Theatre production of Guys and Dolls.