Shelean Newman News

Broadway star Eden Espinosa joins the cast of Show Hope's second annual spring celebration production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Enchanted Edition, on Friday, April 15, at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Espinosa, who gained critical acclaim for her performances in Wicked and Rent, will play the role of The Fairy Godmother in the second annual staging of the musical.

Broadway star Eden Espinosa joins the cast of Show Hope's second annual spring celebration production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Enchanted Edition, on Friday, April 15, at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Espinosa, who gained critical acclaim for her performances in Wicked and Rent, will play the role of The Fairy Godmother in the second annual staging of the musical.

If theater audiences in Nashville and Middle Tennessee owe a huge debt of gratitude to the directors who helm the year's finest productions, you can only imagine how the actors lucky enough to work with those insightful, creative men and women must be! The Top Ten Directors of 2010 have resumes anyone would be proud to claim as their own and when you consider that they - year after year - excel at what they do, then you cannot help but be impressed by the breadth and depth of their abilities. Frankly, it boggles the mind. These are Nashville's best directors of 2010...

'There are no small parts, only small actors,' goes the old theatrical saw that's tossed about willy-nilly to encourage budding thespians to take on roles they suspect might be beneath them and their lofty stature. But, of course, there's much truth to be found in the axiom and you will certainly see it brought to life in the efforts of the members of many acting ensembles, particularly those considered among the best in Nashville's 2010 theater season:

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has extended its production of To Kill a Mockingbird adapted by Christopher Sergel from the classic novel by Harper Lee.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will kick off its 26th season with its production of To Kill a Mockingbird adapted by Christopher Sergel from the classic novel by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird runs October 2 - 23 at TPAC's Johnson Theater.

Nashville theater audiences owe a huge debt of gratitude to Tennessee Repertory Theatre's creative team - led by producing artistic director Rene Dunshee Copeland, scenic and properties designer Gary Hoff, costume designer Trish Clark, lighting designer Phillip Franck and technical director Tyler Axt - for the exceptional production of To Kill A Mockingbird, now onstage at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre, extended through October 30.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has extended its production of To Kill a Mockingbird adapted by Christopher Sergel from the classic novel by Harper Lee.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will kick off its 26th season with its production of To Kill a Mockingbird adapted by Christopher Sergel from the classic novel by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird runs October 2 - 23 at TPAC's Johnson Theater.

A cast of more than 125 performers took to the stage of the Troutt Theatre at Belmont University to fete the eight members of the 2010 Class of First Night Honorees in a production that featured the best of the best of Nashville theater and included a surprise appearance by Joseph Mahowald, winner of a 1989 First Night Award, now playing the role of Franklin Hart Jr. in the national tour of 9 to 5: The Musical, which opened in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, September 21.

Photographer Stacy Battles, one of Nashville's best known celebrity photographers, was on hand to shoot the red carpet arrivals that heralded the return of First Night, after an absence of some 14 years. First Night is presented by Jeffrey Ellis, who covers Nashville theater for BroadwayWorld.com, and who is the founder of the awards celebration that was first held on September 17, 1989.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre will kick off its 26th season with its production of To Kill a Mockingbird adapted by Christopher Sergel from the classic novel by Harper Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird runs October 2 - 23 at TPAC's Johnson Theater.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

What with all the star power of the assembled cast - featuring such theatre luminaries as Heather Headley, Alli Mauzey, Jodi Benson and Anthony Fedorov - it should come as something of a surprise that showHOPE's concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella was very nearly stolen out from under them by some homegrown Nashville talent. No matter how you look at it, Cinderella was a completely magical and enchanting success, but had it not been for Nashville's very own Nan Gurley, Bonnie Keen and Carolyn German as Cinderella's nefarious stepfamily, the show wouldn't have been anywhere near as good as it actually was.

Heather Headley, Alli Mauzey, Jodi Benson and Anthony Federov will headline a special concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, set for Friday, May 14, at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. They will be joined by a cast of Nashville theatre luminaries - and featuring BeBe Winans and Nashville native Jake Speck, currently on Broadway in Jersey Boys - Cinderella is the spring celebration of the locally based showHOPE organization, which hopes to bring both attention and awareness to its efforts across the globe.

Heather Headley, Alli Mauzey, Jodi Benson and Anthony Federov will headline a special concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, set for Friday, May 14, at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. They will be joined by a cast of Nashville theatre luminaries - and featuring BeBe Winans and Nashville native Jake Speck, currently on Broadway in Jersey Boys - Cinderella is the spring celebration of the locally based showHOPE organization, which hopes to bring both attention and awareness to its efforts across the globe.

David Alford, former artistic director of Tennessee Repertory Theatre, will emcee the event that will feature the entire roster of GrandVista's artists, including the 30-piece Orchestra Mastrangelo, Perry Danos, Marty Raybon, Shelean Newman and the GrandVista Kids. The Extravaganza will also feature the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers in a special guest appearance, and the only Nashville performance this year of David Alford and Paul Carrol Binkley's nostalgic treatment of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory.

Shelean Newman, known to Nashville audiences from her storied performances on area stages in productions of such musicals as The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Evita and more, has recently released her second CD for GrandVista Music entitled Snowfall, a collection of some of the season's most apropos songs, along with some surprising selections that fit perfectly into our idea of what the winter holiday season is all about. Snowfall is a follow-up, if you will, to Newman's exquisitely sung first collection for the record label, titled appropriately enough Anything Goes, a collection of standards and showtunes from such composers as Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer and George and Ira Gershwins.

The great American songbook will get an injection of sass this summer when acclaimed musical theater actress and vocalist Shelean Newman reinterprets twelve classics on her new album ANYTHING GOES, out June 9 on GrandVista Music