Jeffrey Ellis - Page 99

Carol Irvin, Michael Ruff and Daniel W. Black star in Cumberland County Playhouse's 48th season-opening production of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning Driving Miss Daisy, which opens this Saturday, January 21.

Director Elizabeth Hayes' staging of the play-which is based upon a work that proved to be Bixby's final story-is confident and creative, her expert handling of her ensemble heartfelt and thoughtful. In fact, it's Hayes' complete understanding of the play which elevates it far beyond what appears on the page. Her artful approach to the material allows it to transcend the obvious manipulation and sentimentality that pervades the script, adapted by Schenkman from Bixby's film script (his final one, he supposedly finished the script on his deathbed, after starting it in 1960) which he filmed on a shoestring budget in 2007.

Who's who in Tennessee theater? Sometimes, without a program in your hand, it's difficult to know who's playing whom-hence, our newest feature: Hey, Jef, Here's My Headshot...featuring some of the Volunteer State's best-known-or soon-to-be-known all over the freakin' world-thespians. And have you ever wondered who the amazing photographers are who make thEm Look damn good? We're gonna tell ya...Today's actor/subject/model is the gorgeous and talented Molly Breen, photographed by Nora Canfield.

Today, the spotlight falls upon Gregory Pember, who is currently onstage at Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre, opening tonight in the Tony Award-winning Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater musical Spring Awakening, based on German playwright Frank Wedekind's play of the same name. Greg takes on the role of Moritz Stiefel, the dreamy-eyed, nervous and sex-obsessed teenager with the interesting hair in the recent Broadway and touring productions-and the role that won John Gallagher Jr. the Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Musical.

Who's who in Tennessee theater? Sometimes, without a program in your hand, it's difficult to know who's playing whom-hence, our newest feature: Hey, Jef, Here's My Headshot...featuring some of the Volunteer State's best-known-or soon-to-be-known-thespians. And have you ever wondered who the amazing photographers are who make them look damn good? We're gonna tell ya...Today's actor/subject/model is the handsome and talented Dan Kassis, photographed by Tyler Andrews (whom you can contact via www.tylerandrews.com).

The event will feature Broadway star Alli Mauzey (Wicked, Hairspray) reprising her role as Cinderella, and new to the cast this year is Melinda Doolittle ('American Idol') as one of the stepsisters. More Broadway stars and the Nashville Symphony will join in to make this special evening a memorable celebration of the important work that Show Hope is doing.

Now onstage at The Larry Keeton Theatre, in a winning production directed by Ginger Newman and choreographed by Kate Adams-Johnson, Smokey Joe's Cafe offers audiences one of the best nights of theater they'll ever have the pleasure of attending. Seriously! In fact, my love of the musical revue-which features 39 songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who provided much of the soundtrack for the lives led in the middle of the last century-is almost stupefyingly of the adoring variety. Truthfully, I can't pinpoint exactly what it is about Smokey Joe's Cafe that I love so much, but alas, there it is: I love the show without question (hell, I'd marry it if we could get a marriage license down here in the South) and I am particularly in love with the rendition served up by Newman, Adams-Johnson and company out in Donelson.

Who's who in Tennessee theater? Sometimes, without a program in your hand, it's difficult to know who's playing whom-hence, our newest feature: Hey, Jef, Here's My Headshot...featuring some of the Volunteer State's best-known-or soon-to-be-known-thespians. And have you ever wondered who the amazing photographers are who make them look damn good? Today's actor/subject/model is the gorgeous and talented Stefani Paige, photographed by Nora Canfield.

Who's Who in Tennessee theater? Welcome to our new feature...Hey, Jef, Here's My Headshot...featuring some of the Volunteer State's best known actors and the photographers who make them look so great! We start the new series with Evan Taylor Williams, photographed by Alanna Johnson.

Plays and playwrights selected for this edition of the Ten Minute Playhouse are: Dropped Call by Garret Schneider, Lyla Builds a Spaceship by Darren Van Michael, Double Header by Brooke Bryant & Carolyn German, Unfortunate Introduction by James Skelley, Ecotone by Ritchie Simmons, Atheist's Surprise by Joe Giordano, Types by Sean Hills, Bobby Met His Father by Thomas Heine, ReinCarnival by Rachael Swann, World's Finest Team-Ups! by Bob Giordano, Mr. Baxter Learns a Lesson by Laura Cockarell and Cold Fish by Nate Eppler.

The revival of Circle Players' production of Titanic the Musical at TPAC's James K. Polk Theatre runs through April 8.

In the play, 90-year-old Mabel Tidings Bigelow-the first woman to swim the English Channel from England to Franc -insists on celebrating her daughter and granddaughter's annual visit with a croquet party. As the game unfolds, she relives vignettes from the last 80 years, interweaving past and present to reveal the precise moment of opportunity gained and love rejected, the moment that defined her life.

Circle Players, one of the first resident companies at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, makes a triumphant return to that cultural edifice in downtown Nashville to mount its latest revival of Titanic the Musical just in time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic.

Today, the spotlight falls upon Jama Bowen, who is currently onstage at TPAC's James K. Polk Theatre, playing Marion Thayer in Circle Players' revival of Titanic the Musical, the latest project for her in a very busy 2012 for the versatile actress.

You can now add Senate candidate to actress and activist Park Overall's resume, as the Greeneville, Tennessee, native announced today that she has filed qualifying papers to see the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge Republican Bob Corker for his U.S. Senate seat.

Two critically acclaimed plays that are among the most compelling works in contemporary theater will make up the 2012-13 season of Nashville's Blackbird Theater, which embarks upon its third season of "intelligent entertainment" with productions of John Logan's Red and Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.

Completely charming and thoroughly engaging, Click Clack Moo-Cows That Type is given a colorful and upbeat production at Nashville Children's Theatre, under the direction of Scot Copeland who leads his terrific five-person ensemble through the musical that draws on 1960s-style pop and 1940s-flavored swing music to tell its fanciful story.

The gala will feature a dinner reminiscent of the dinner created for the Titanic's first-class passengers, as well as a silent auction with themed packages. John Joslyn, co-owner of Titanic Museum Attraction, will give a special presentation based on his experience with the Titanic, including a $6 million expedition and multiple Titanic television specials. Mr. Joslyn has developed and currently oversees two high-end Titanic museum-attractions in Branson, Missouri and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Smokey Joe's Cafe is a show features nine performers, who take audiences back to the 1950s and 1960s with their renditions of many wonderful hits of the rock and roll era. Four of the male singers come together to form a group reminiscent of the two famous quartets Leiber and Stoller wrote for-the Drifters and the Coasters-while other cast members deliver songs made famous by some of the most powerful figures in the world of music, including Elvis Presley, Dion and Big Mama Thornton.

Just days before the world commemorates the centennial of the sinking of the HMS Titanic, Circle Players, Nashville's oldest community theatre company, will present a revival of Titanic the Musical, at the James K. Polk Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on April 5-8.