Jeffrey Ellis - Page 131

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 35 years. In 1989, Ellis and his partner launched Dare, Tennessee's Lesbian and Gay Newsweekly which later became known as Query. Ellis is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theater in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors - the history of which can be traced to 1989 and the first presentation of The First Night Awards - which honor outstanding theater artisans from Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and also includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors recognition. Midwinter's First Night honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. An accomplished director, Ellis helmed productions of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, all in their Nashville premieres, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show. Ellis was recognized by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror. Since 2015, Ellis has been increasingly in demand as a director by a variety of Tennessee theater companies and he has helmed productions of Picnic (Circle Players), The Last Five Years (VWA Theatricals), The Miss Firecracker Contest, Cabaret, My Fair Lady, Daddy's Dyin'...Who's Got the Will?, South Pacific, Winter Wonderettes and The Wizard of Oz (The Larry Keeton Theatre), The Little Foxes (ACT 1), The Boys in the Band (Jeffey Ellis Presents), Singin' in the Rain (Arts Center of Cannon County) and The Secret Garden (Center for the Arts, Murfreesboro) and, in 2020, the 70th anniversary season production of La Cage Aux Folles for Circle Players. Later this year, he will be directing Beautiful: The Carole King Musical for Center for the Arts.

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First Show

EVITA, starring Patti LuPone

Favorite Stories

Tony Award-Winning Revival of Rodgers and HAMMERSTEIN’s Oklahoma Plays Nashville This Week - I loved writing this review of one of the seminal titles in the history of musical theater in America, and it has proven to be one of the most polarizing pieces I’ve ever written.
Nashville’s ‘Own’ Kristin Chenoweth Sings Her Way into the Hearts of All Her Fans - This review of a 2012 Concert in Nashville — which KC now calls home — resulted in a phone call from her thanking me! I was thrilled, of course, and we subsequently have shared some great conversations during interviews.
Tony Award-winning GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY review - Because it’s my most recent one, that’s why!
Oh, Brother! MAY WE ALL: A NEW COUNTRY MUSICAL Cast and Characters Deserve a New Book - Within minutes of going live, I received a call from the writers of this new musical, with its sights on Broadway, who thanked me for writing the truth about the show.

Street Theatre's Youth Company Present O. HENRY Tales for the Holiday

November 15, 2010

Street Theatre Company presents its original production of classic O.

Lakewood Theatre ushers in the holidays with Mark Thomas' HELLO, CHRISTMAS!

November 15, 2010

Amid all the hoopla of the approaching holiday season, Lakewood Theatre Company promises that Hello Christmas! An Evening in December with Mark J Thomas and Friends is the perfect show to inspire the holiday mood.

Barbara Rucker stars in THE HALLELUJAH GIRLS opening at Towne Centre for 11/19-12/11 run

November 15, 2010

Barbara Rucker, who enjoyed a successful career as an actress in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles before making her way to Tennessee, leads the cast in Towne Centre Theatre's holiday season production of the latest Southern-bred comedy from Jones/Hope/Wooten, The Hallelujah Girls, which opens at th

BWW Reviews: SANDERS FAMILY CHRISTMAS at Cumberland County Playhouse

November 15, 2010

Now onstage at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse is Sanders Family Christmas, the second part of the trilogy, in which the gospel-singing family returns to Mt.

BWW Reviews: BRIGADOON at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse

November 15, 2010

Brigadoon, onstage at Cumberland County Playhouse through November 21, could well be one of the closest-to-sheer-perfection musical theater experiences I've ever had, beautifully played and exquisitely staged, performed by a phenomenally gifted cast led by the multi-talented Britt Hancock (who sings

BWW Reviews: SEUSSICAL at Nashville Children's Theatre

November 10, 2010

Directed with his customary flair and oh-so-obvious affection for the material by NCT producing artistic director Scot Copeland, it's one of the sweetest shows you'll ever witness.

Fernandez stages RAGTIME for November run at Lipscomb

October 31, 2010

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS next up on Keeton Theatre's slate of shows

October 31, 2010

Donelson's Larry Keeton Theatre will present the turn-of-the-century classic Meet Me in St.

Staged reading of AN AMERICAN COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CAROL set for December

October 31, 2010

Casting is complete for the world premiere of An American Country Christmas Carol, a new musical that will be presented in a staged reading at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre on December 5, 6 and 12 at 8 p.

BWW Reviews: JEKYLL & HYDE from Circle Players

October 28, 2010

There's no doubt about it: Circle Players' Tim Larson is fearless.

BWW Reviews: DREAMGIRLS at Tennessee Performing Arts Center

October 28, 2010

Now, in a sumptuously mounted revival touring the country, director/choreographer Robert Longbottom - who made his Broadway debut with Side Show, a musical of similar themes (again with music by Henry Krieger) that had the same visceral impact on me - has re-fashioned Dreamgirls for the new millenni

BWW Reviews: HELLO, DOLLY! from Studio Tenn

October 22, 2010

With an imaginative staging and details-oriented direction by Matt Logan, with the superb musical direction of Nathan Burbank and the spirited choreography of Ashley Anderson McCarthy (who does double duty as 'Minnie Fay' in the cast - and has never looked lovelier onstage), Studio Tenn's first offi

BWW Reviews: Street Theatre Company's MACABARET

October 18, 2010

If you've a hankering for some wickedly good fun this Halloween season, you need look no further than Street Theatre Company's wonderfully staged Macabaret, a musical send-up of all things ghostly, that features a terrific cast under the direction of one of Nashville's most beloved director/choreogr

BWW Reviews: Nashville Children's Theatre's BUD, NOT BUDDY

October 18, 2010

Clearly, Bud, Not Buddy is a promising opening to NCT's 2010-11 season and it sets the bar high for what is to follow in the coming year.

Christ Church Cathedral Closes THE EXONERATED, 10/16

October 15, 2010

Following the reversal of their convictions and their release from prison, six Death Row inmates tell their harrowing stories in their own words in the drama, The Exonerated by Jessica Blank and Erik Jenson.

Photo Coverage: Gary Morris mentors Hume-Fogg High's LES MISERABLES cast

October 15, 2010

One of the best things about living in Nashville - known throughout the world as Music City USA - is that even when you're mounting a high school production, you have the opportunity to draw inspiration from the wealth of talent found in the city.

BWW Reviews: TWTP's U.S. professional premiere of UNRAVELLING THE RIBBON

October 14, 2010

Director Maryanna Clarke's intelligent choice to retain the play's original setting instead of transplanting the playwrights' characters to some American hamlet helps to underscore the play's universality and to further illustrate how women all over the world must confront the cold reality of a canc

Just in time for Halloween, Circle Players does JEKYLL & HYDE

October 13, 2010

Opening just in time for the Halloween season, Circle Players continues its 2010-11 season with a production of Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse's rarely performed musical thriller Jekyll and Hyde, running October 15-31 at Donelson's Keeton Theatre.

SQUABBLES Opens at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, 10/14

October 13, 2010

Jennifer Richmond, Dietz Osborne, Ben Dawson, Debbie Kraski and Charlie Winton star in Squabbles, the next show opening at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre in Nashville on Thursday, October 14.

Mohnani's CARMEN Opens Inaugural Season for Dance Theatre of Tennessee

October 13, 2010

DTT artistic director Christopher Mohnani offers his adaptation of Carmen based on the famous opera of the same title.

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