Jeffrey Ellis - Page 134

In what could well be the most talked-about theatrical event of the new year, Street Theatre Company presents Chess in Concert February 24-27, featuring some of Nashville's best known stage talents and including a chorus of more than 40 voices. And it seems, in talking to some of the artists most intimately involved in the creative process that will culminate in this weekend's five performances, that it is a process they'd definitely sign-up for again - and it's clear that Nashville audiences will be talking about it for a long time after the curtain rings down Sunday night.

Faith Kelm, clearly, is one of Nashville's most versatile dancers, able to take on any role and make it her own. That much was obvious the very first time I saw her onstage, playing Carmen in Circle Players' production of Fame, The Musical during the summer of 2009. She's only gotten better since then. Now in college, pursuing her education (she's a musical theater major at Pittsburgh's Point Park University) as she pursues her dreams, she still makes time for visits home, to see friends, to perform in shows and, of course, to dance.

In an exhilarating and exciting journey that was at once joyful and provocative, dazzling and erotic, the artists of Dance Theatre of Tennessee took audiences through all the differing Aspects of Love with the company's latest series - a late-arriving Valentine for lovers of the dance. Staged artfully and confidently, DTT's latest offerings demonstrate beautifully how far the company has come during its short history, firmly and exuberantly claiming its place among the most daring companies to be found.

Funny Girl, the classic 1964 Broadway musical that helped cement Barbra Streisand's place in theatrical history, will be the first show featured in Keeping Scores, a new series of Broadway musicals in concert, to be presented at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre. Concerts in the series will be directed by Scott Logsdon (writer/director of the recent staged reading of An American Country Christmas Carol at the Boiler Room) with music direction by Jamey Green, a co-founder of BRT, and will be produced by Sondra Morton, director of operations for the professional theater located at The Factory in Franklin.

Laura Thomas Sonn and Tyson Laemmel are two of the most talented, engaging, charming and capable musical theater stars to be found in Nashville and they bring such joy and life to their characters in The Wedding Singer that it's easy to overlook the problems with the show. Now onstage in a buoyant production from Circle Players, directed with style by Paul J. Cook, The Wedding Singer is only one of the latest examples in the current trend of movies made into stage musicals - and that's one trend I am so ready to be over.

Dance Theatre of Tennessee presents a mid-winter series of Nashville premieres - and invites audiences to the 'hottest post-Valentine ticket in town,' according to company artistic director Christopher Mohnani - in Aspects of Love, 'a celebration of dance, music and love. Led by Mohnani, DTT presents an evening of several premieres promising 'an evening of wonderful dancing and choreography together with memorable and familiar music that will have you wanting for more.'

Playwright Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, her vibrant and provocative re-imagining of the classic Greek myth, is one of the most poignant theatrical treatises on love and loss, grief and redemption, that you're likely to witness. Brought to the stage of Belmont University's Troutt Theatre by the luminously gifted Jessika Malone - through a collaboration between Actors Bridge Ensemble and Belmont's Department of Theatre and Dance - Eurydice is certainly one of the most technically challenging productions we've seen of late on a Nashville stage.

Dance Theatre of Tennessee presents a mid-winter series of Nashville premieres - and invites audiences to the 'hottest post-Valentine ticket in town,' according to company artistic director Christopher Mohnani - in Aspects of Love, 'a celebration of dance, music and love. Led by Mohnani, DTT presents an evening of several premieres promising 'an evening of wonderful dancing and choreography together with memorable and familiar music that will have you wanting for more.'

Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, a magical tale based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, continues Actors Bridge Ensemble's 2010-11 season, running February 18-27 at Belmont University's Troutt Theater.

In a production brought to life by a talented quartet of seasoned players, Studio Tenn's The Glass Menagerie is the perfect tribute to the Southern Gothic playwright, mere weeks before the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth in Columbus, Mississippi, on March 26, 1911. Bringing Williams' archetypal and semi-autobiographical play to the stage with style and wit, Studio Tenn rings down the curtain on its inaugural season, scoring yet another artistic hit in the process, following its hugely successful productions of Hello, Dolly! and A Christmas Carol.

Holly Allen and Jeremy Childs lead the cast of Tennessee Women's Theater Project's production of Michael Jacobs' Impressionism, opening Friday, February 25 and running for 13 performances at Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater. TWTP's production marks the regional premiere of Impressionism.

Jonathan Larson's Rent is coming to downtown Nashville March 18-May 14 and producers are looking for the best singers in Music City USA to fill the show's colorful roles. Auditions are one-night only - Friday, February 18 - from 8 p.m.-midnight at the Printer's Alley venue, located in the former Boots Randolph Theatre (with parking available in the adjacent parking garage).

Belles on Their Toes, the sequel to the classic stage comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, opens the 2011 season at Lakewood Theatre Company in Old Hickory, running February 18-March 5. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. for Friday and Saturday performances, with 2:30 matinees slated for Sunday, February 20 and 27.

Nashville favorite Tyson Laemmel stars as Robbie, 'a cheesy, but lovable New Jersey rocker' in Circle Players' upcoming production of The Wedding Singer, the upbeat romantic musical comedy that debuted on Broadway in 2006 and is based on the 1998 Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore movie. Starring opposite Laemmel is Laura Thomas Sonn as 'a hopelessly romantic waitress.'

Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice, a magical tale based on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, continues Actors Bridge Ensemble's 2010-11 season, running February 18-27 at Belmont University's Troutt Theater. Directed by Jessika Malone, in Ruhl's critically acclaimed play, 'Eurydice is to marry her true love, a misstep sends her to the surreal depths of the Underworld, where she has a surprising reunion and ultimately must decide whether to follow Orpheus back to the land of the living.'

That Melodie Madden Adams, the actress and singer in question, gave a wonderful performance is unquestionable - and not unexpected - and her ease in becoming Margaret is a very good example of actress and character being perfectly in-sync: 'I have an insane love for anything vintage,' she explains, making the role perfect for her. In fact, when she's not onstage (she'll start rehearsals very soon for her role as Lenny in Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart at Boiler Room Theatre), she's busily attending to the affairs of her online company, www.pinkcupcakevintage.com. And she thinks 'one of the most underestimated talents in this town is Billy Ditty.'

At first blush, Beth Bailey - the anti-heroine of 'Til Beth Do Us Part, the new comedy from the crackerjack writing triumvirate otherwise known as Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten - is a Southern-bred, country-fried rube with questionable fashion taste and amazing organizational skills. Delve a little bit deeper and you'll find that she's a manipulative, conniving bitch of a 100% cotton barracuda. And played by Kim Thornton Nygren, she's one heck of looker with a flair for over-the-top pratfalls and expert timing.

Nashville's Studio Tenn theatre company concludes its inaugural season with Tennessee Williams' classic play The Glass Menagerie, running February 17-27 at Belmont University's Black Box Theatre. Williams' play is an award-winning portrayal of a disintegrating family during the depression and is the play that introduced him as one of the preeminent American playwrights of the 20th century.

Nan Gurley stars as Amanda Wingfield in Studio Tenn's upcoming production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, presented at Belmont University's Black Box Theatre Feburary 17-27. The Glass Menagerie will conclude Studio Tenn's inaugural season, which has also included critically acclaimed productions of Hello, Dolly! and A Christmas Carol. Williams' enduring classic is an award-winning portrayal of a disintegrating family during the depression of the 1930's and introduced him as one of the preeminent American playwrights of the 20th century.

Nashville's Blackbird Theater Company presents its latest video trailer for the upcoming production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, directed by Ted Swindley, and opening Friday, February 25, at David Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre.