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What a way to open a brand-new year of live theater in Nashville: in Funny Girl, audiences may have found exactly what they were longing for as Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s touring presentation provides a portentous kick-off to 2024. In fact, we can’t recall a standing ovation more gratifyingly sincere and genuine in the 35+ years we’ve been reviewing shows at TPAC than the one with which the company was rewarded on opening night in Andrew Jackson Hall. It was appreciative and effusive – downright enthusiastic and straight from the heart – the thunderous and sustained reaction to two-and-a-half hours of gloriously exhilarating musical theatre straight out of the golden age.
Imagine walking into Jackson Hall on opening night, as I did, thinking, “Why did the directors reimagine this pleasant, if somewhat plodding, old-school musical with an ensemble of multi-ethnic women, trans and non-binary actors cast in the roles of America’s founding fathers?” Then leaving the theater after the final curtain wondering, “why on earth would anyone ever feel the need to cast the roles with men?” and reveling in the fact that 1776 tapped into my heart in unexpected ways, eliciting an emotional and, I daresay, patriotic response.
Truth be told, this may be the most impressive assemblage of talent we’ve ever encountered on the Jackson Hall stage in our 30-some years of reviewing Broadway at TPAC. Seriously.
Make no mistake about it: SIX, the Tony Award-winning musical about six women historically tethered to one another by a common – but not “a commoner” – ex-husband, is raucously funny one moment, remarkably heartfelt the next, with plenty of history punctuating the moments in between. SIX, the high-spirited and energetic take on the lives of Henry VIII’s half-dozen wives, is also totally unlike any musical theater offering that has come before it.
Moses Pendleton, the founder and artistic director of MOMIX – the celebrated dance company that inaugurates Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s 2022-23 International Dance Series this weekend – readily admits that he’s had a lifelong affinity for Lewis Carroll and his fanciful tale of a young girl whose unexpected journey to Wonderland provides the inspiration for the company’s Alice! which will transport audiences from the James K. Polk Theatre on their own wondrously captivating journey.
Hairspray (6/11/24-6/16/24)
Moulin Rouge! (10/8/24-10/20/24)
Shucked (11/5/24-11/10/24)
Tennessee Performing Arts Center is at 505 Deaderick Street, Nashville, TN.
Frozen (5/7/24-5/18/24)
Annie (3/27/24-3/30/24)
Beetlejuice (3/12/24-3/17/24)
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (2/13/24-2/18/24)
Girl From the North Country (1/30/24-2/4/24)
The Cher Show (1/19/24-1/20/24)
Mrs. Doubtfire (11/7/23-11/12/23)
Wicked (10/11/23-10/29/23)
Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (3/22/22-3/27/22)
The Nutcracker (11/27/21-12/24/21)
Videos
Shiners Nashville Cirque Comedy Show
Woolworth Theatre (10/5 - 11/11) | ||
Moulin Rouge!
Tennessee Performing Arts Center (10/8 - 10/20) | ||
Hairspray
Tennessee Performing Arts Center (6/11 - 6/16) | ||
Beetlejuice
Tennessee Theatre (6/11 - 6/16) | ||
Frozen
Tennessee Performing Arts Center (5/7 - 5/18) | ||
THE NASHVILLE BALLET PRESENTS LIVE IN STUDIO A: FIVE SHORT STORIES, MAY 17-19 & 22-23, 2024
The Martin Center for Nashville Ballet (5/17 - 5/23) | ||
To Kill a Mockingbird
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium (6/7 - 6/9) | ||
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