Nancy Allen News

In anticipation of the gala 30th anniversary celebration of The First Night Awards, Tennessee's best and brightest in live theater were revealed tonight as First Night's Top Ten of 2018 - reviewer and critic Jeffrey Ellis' annual recognition for theater in the Volunteer State - were announced during a Facebook Live presentation from Nashville.

Macy Medford and Arden Guice may only be college students, but their performances as Violet and Daisy Hilton, the heroines of Side Show - the iconic musical by Bill Russell, Henry Krieger and Bill Condon that debuted on Broadway some 20 years ago - in Belmont University Musical Theatre's production that runs for just one weekend, are nothing less than a professional triumph for each young woman. Thoroughly committed and startlingly focused, Medford and Guice perform an oftentimes tricky, always challenging, task in order that the two young women effectively become their characters, ensuring the musical packs an emotional wallop delivered straight to the collective heart of its audience, while showcasing the evolution of a musical theatre program at the Nashville university, which over the years has gained a national reputation as the training ground of the next generations of Broadway stars yet to be.

Another in the long line of impressive talents who are part of the legacy of musical theater at Nashville's Belmont University, Maggie Hutchison claims the spotlight once more in this semester's eagerly anticipated production of Side Show, in which she is one of two actresses cast in the role of Daisy Hilton.

The Murder Room will begin Clague Playhouse's 91st Season. In this crime thriller spoof, Mavis and her lover plan to rub out her wealthy husband, and they seem to have succeeded all too easily. But have they? A sophisticated and witty gem of a play. The play is written by Jack Sharkey and is directed by Ron Newell and our cast features Nancy Allen as Mrs. Lottie Molloy, Caitlin Halstead as Susan Hollister, Debbie Jenkins as Mavis Templeton Hollister, Simon Sedmak as Barry Draper, Terry Smith as James Crandall and Lou Will as Edgar Hollister and Abel Howard.

The Murder Room will begin Clague Playhouse's 91st Season. In this crime thriller spoof, Mavis and her lover plan to rub out her wealthy husband, and they seem to have succeeded all too easily. But have they? A sophisticated and witty gem of a play. The play is written by Jack Sharkey and is directed by Ron Newell and our cast features Nancy Allen as Mrs. Lottie Molloy, Caitlin Halstead as Susan Hollister, Debbie Jenkins as Mavis Templeton Hollister, Simon Sedmak as Barry Draper, Terry Smith as James Crandall and Lou Will as Edgar Hollister and Abel Howard.

The new opera Florida with music by Randall Eng and libretto by Donna Di Novelli, premiered last week at Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street. With its heavy handed melodrama and awkwardly balanced narrative, Sunday's matinee plodded along (well over Urban Arias' usual 90-minute-or-less promise) before concluding rather lukewarmly. This said, the production was not without its merits.

There's really nothing better than a musical theater-inspired epiphany: On opening night of Belmont University Musical Theatre's altogether invigorating and exhilarating On The Town (which plays Belmont's Troutt Theatre through this Sunday, March 25) I was struck by the similarities - both structurally and musically - to the Gershwin masterpiece An American in Paris.

This April, Lincoln Center Launches Big Umbrella Festival, the first Month-long Festival Dedicated to Creation and Presentation of Arts Programs for Young Audiences on Autism Spectrum

In film, television and theatre, a hero prop is any item intended to be held or used by one of the main actors. Examples of hero props might include Shylock's money box, as used by Al Pacino in The Merchant of Veniceat New York's Public Theater; the Red Apple Tobacco tin used in Quentin Tarantino's film Hateful Eight; or the Mendl's chocolate box from the film The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The New York Philharmonic will return to Bravo! Vail in Colorado for the Orchestra's 16th annual summer residency there, performing six orchestral concerts July 20-27, 2018.

The 34th season of the New York Philharmonic Ensembles series chamber concerts showcasing Musicians from the Orchestra performing classical masterpieces and modern compositions in the intimate setting of Merkin Concert Hall will continue on Sunday, February 18, 2018. The concert will include Beethoven's String Trio, Op. 9, No. 1; Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp; and Fibich's Quintet, Op. 42.

Street Theatre Company, in its twelfth year in Nashville, announces three upcoming events to ring in the new year and stay cozy with friends this winter. The first, a soiree announcing the 2018 season, Street Theatre Company's Glitz Gala will feature live cabaret style performances by some of Nashville's best musical theatre artists.

The Palisades Virtuosi flute, clarinet and piano trio presents their annual Holiday Gala Concert today, December 9 at 7:30 PM at the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place in Ridgewood, NJ.

George Bailey's story is a universal one, so much so that some 70 years after the film treatment of It's A Wonderful Life debuted, the tale of an upstanding citizen faced with failure and ruin, has become one of the most beloved holiday-season tales of all time. But the initial reaction of movie-goers to the film, although not nearly so dire as some cinema historians would have you believe, is considered one of the best-reviewed movies of all time.

The Palisades Virtuosi flute, clarinet and piano trio presents their annual Holiday Gala Concert on Saturday, December 9 at 7:30 PM at the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place in Ridgewood, NJ.

It should come as absolutely no surprise that the current production onstage at Massey Performing Arts Center in Nashville, courtesy of the astonishing Belmont University Musical Theatre program, is possibly as good or even better than any show we've seen put on over the years by the venerated musical theater training school. In fact, BUMT has produced so many remarkable performers over the years that we may all rest assured that musical theater in America (if not the world) will continue to grow and prosper, thanks to the continued supply of new blood from Belmont.

Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House, in partnership with The Millay Colony for the Arts, marks the centenary of Women's Suffrage and the reopening of New York State's oldest surviving theater with a new production of Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's 1947 opera, THE MOTHER OF US ALL - a comic and profound musical pageant of 19th Century American social and political life.

The New York Philharmonic String Quartet will make its New York recital debut at 92nd Street Y performing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 4; Dvo? k's String Quartet in F major, American; and Mendelssohn's String Quartet in F minor on Sunday, November 12, 2017, at 3:00 p.m. The performance will be co-presented by the New York Philharmonic and 92nd Street Y. Formed in January 2017, the New York Philharmonic String Quartet comprises Concertmaster Frank Huang, Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples, Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps, and Principal Cello Carter Brey.

From the first notes of Christopher Martin's clarion call trumpet intro, it was clear the audience was in for something quite special. In no time at all Maestro Van Zweden put his own definitive signature on the mammoth five-movement excursion from the deepest darkest recesses to the most reflective music ever written, and back to the sunlight light.

Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House, in partnership with The Millay Colony for the Arts, marks the centenary of Women's Suffrage and the reopening of New York State's oldest surviving theater with a new production of Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's 1947 opera, THE MOTHER OF US ALL - a comic and profound musical pageant of 19th Century American social and political life.