Jordan Ravellette

Who'd have thought that a play written in 2000 and based upon a work by Aeschylus from 463 BC (give or take a year or two) would prove to be so timely in the 21st Century? Yet that is exactly what Big Love, a play by Charles Mee, directed by Amanda Card and produced by Tamara Todres, Kristin McCalley and Clayton Landiss, has proven in six performances at a former Methodist Church in Inglewood, delivering a production that challenges preconceived notions about a myriad of issues, ranging from sexism, racism and any number of other "isms" that punctuate our current conversation.

Studio Tenn and Tennessee Performing Arts Center's joint venture to produce Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita in Nashville resulted in the production claiming the top prize as "Outstanding Musical of The Year" at Sunday's Midwinter's First Night event at The Larry Keeton Theatre. Nashville Repertory Theatre's production of Nate Eppler's original play Good Monsters took the title of "Outstanding Play of The Year" in the annual ceremony that dates back to its origins in 1989.

Actors Bridge Ensemble's 21st season continues with the Nashville premiere of smash hit Broadway comedy, HAND TO GOD by Robert Askins, directed by Mitch Massaro, December 9-18 at the Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, 37209. The entrance to the Chapel is on 47th Avenue.

Actors Bridge Ensemble's 21st season continues with the Nashville premiere of smash hit Broadway comedy, HAND TO GOD by Robert Askins, directed by Mitch Massaro, December 9-18 at the Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, 37209. The entrance to the Chapel is on 47th Avenue.

Stephen Sondheim's Assassins - his musical treatment of the history of presidential assassinations in America - remains one of the most compelling and intriguing works to be found in the musical theater canon, focusing on a veritable rogue's gallery of historic figures whose infamy lives on decades after their horrific actions first gained them the notoriety they so often pursued in their disparate, yet somehow weirdly connected, lives.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company opens its 14th season with the Tennessee premiere of BONNIE AND CLYDE the Musical running today, June 5th, 6th and 7th at Liberty Hall at The Factory at Franklin. BONNIE AND CLYDE is a thrilling and sexy musical with a non-traditional score, combining blues, gospel and rockabilly music.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company opens its 14th season with the Tennessee premiere of BONNIE AND CLYDE the Musical running June 5th, 6th and 7th at Liberty Hall at The Factory at Franklin. BONNIE AND CLYDE is a thrilling and sexy musical with a non-traditional score, combining blues, gospel and rockabilly music.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, is excited to announce that it will stage Leslie Brisscue's Scrooge the Musical featuring a classic score and everyone's favorite holiday skinflint. This charming musical will have audiences singing each night as they leave the theatre. This production will run from December 6th until December 22nd with shows on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sundays.

Now onstage in a thoroughly effective production directed by Sondra Morton at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre, Parade is not your mama's or your granddaddy's musical comedy, to be certain.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, follows its successful run of STEEL MAGNOLIAS with Jason Robert Brown's Tony Award Winning PARADE. The production will run from tonight, October 5th through the 20th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, follows its successful run of STEEL MAGNOLIAS with Jason Robert Brown's Tony Award Winning PARADE. The production will run from October 5th through the 20th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory.

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.

Shows are opening and closing all over Tennessee this summer and theater companies are offering up all manner of fun and games, which means there's all sorts of foolishness going on backstage during intermission. Among the best attended and best reviewed productions of 2012 is Boiler Room Theatre's next to normal (which closes tonight, June 16), directed by Jamey Green and featuring a cast that includes Megan Murphy Chambers, Mike Baum, Kevin Mead, Paige Brouillette, Jordan Ravellette and Ben Van Diepen.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the theater once again, we welcome you to the debut installment of Music City Confidential, all the news that's fit to print (or not-depending on your perspective) from Nashville's ever-growing, ever-fascinating (okay, so we obviously don't have enough to occupy ourselves) live theater industry (we're trying that out-does it work? Let us know, theaterati!) Here amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you'll find all the stories that don't quite fit elsewhere, some of 'em kind of gossipy, some of 'em stone-cold serious, some of 'em just lists of names you need to know. You'll also find photos from our new "Intermission@" series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae-the veritable flotsam and jetsam-from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

In fact, in the retrospect afforded me by twelve hours, I have to admit that the production's most revelatory performance is delivered by Mike Baum, as the long-suffering and beleaguered Dan Goodman, Diana's stalwart and steadfast husband. That doesn't mean Chambers' performance is anything less than the spectacular onstage turn that it is-but, truth be told, it was expected from her. When word of her casting became publicly known, it is safe to say that 99% of the theater-going public (and actors themselves) agreed that Chambers' casting was indeed perfect. And she delivers exactly what we all hoped for, showing off the versatility, the confidence and the presence that has long identified her as one of the very best to be found onstage.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, presents Next to Normal. This, the third offering of the BRT's 12th Season, opens tonight, May 25th and runs through June 16th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn.