Jeffrey Ellis - Page 134

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.

Circle Players opens '10-'11 season with Galati's THE GRAPES OF WRATH

August 1, 2010

Circle Players opens its 2010-2011 season at The Keeton Theatre with Frank Galati's adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, running August 13-29.

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY opens at Lakewood Village Theatre 8/6

August 1, 2010

Lakewood Village Theatre's Texas-sized summer comedy, Southern Hospitality, opens at the theatre in Old Hickory on Friday, August 6, continuing through August 21.

2010 First Night Honorees Will Be Announced at Hard Rock Cafe 8/2

August 2, 2010

Eight of the best-known names in Nashville theater will be announced next Monday, August 2, as the Class of 2010 for The First Night Nashville Theatre Honors.

Actors Bridge's RECKLESS Ends Run

August 1, 2010

Craig Lucas' Reckless, directed by Jessika Malone, is next up in Actors Bridge Ensemble's 2010 season, opening Friday, July 23 at Belmont University's Black Box Theater.

BWW Reviews: Craig Lucas' RECKLESS from Actors Bridge

July 30, 2010

Reckless - Craig Lucas' skewed vision of suburban life in contemporary America - is brought to life in an engaging and entertaining new production from Actors Bridge Ensemble.

BWW Reviews: Trish Crist's '41' from Rhubarb Theater Company

July 29, 2010

Nashville playwright and director Trish Crist has brought her latest project to the stage of Darkhorse Theatre, a heartfelt consideration of the journey taken by Americans since 1969 - the summer in which the modern lesbian and gay civil rights movement was finally galvanized at the Stonewall Inn in

2010 First Night Honorees Will Be Announced at Hard Rock Cafe 8/2

July 28, 2010

Eight of the best-known names in Nashville theater will be announced next Monday, August 2, as the Class of 2010 for The First Night Nashville Theatre Honors.

Actors Bridge Presents Craig Lucas' RECKLESS, 7/23-8/1

July 22, 2010

Craig Lucas' Reckless, directed by Jessika Malone, is next up in Actors Bridge Ensemble's 2010 season, opening Friday, July 23 at Belmont University's Black Box Theater.

Trish Crist's 41 Plays at Darkhorse, 7/23-8/7

July 22, 2010

Rhubarb Theater Company presents 41, Trish Crist's comedy/drama opens at the Darkhorse Theater, Friday, July 23, continuing through August 7.

SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING Plays Chaffin's Barn, 7/22-8/28

July 21, 2010

Martha Wilkinson directs a cast of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre favorites in the upcoming Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, the latest installment of the Sanders Family trilogy, conceived by Alan Bailey and written by Connie Ray.

BWW Reviews: INTO THE WOODS at Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre

July 19, 2010

Some 20-plus years after its Broadway debut - and about 15 or more years since I last saw the musical's first production at The Roxy - Into the Woods retains its powerful storytelling technique, made all the more memorable by Sondheim's beautiful score, and presents a plethora of characters from chi

Actors Bridge preps Craig Lucas' RECKLESS for two-week run

July 19, 2010

Trish Crist's 41 opens at Darkhorse for 7/23-8/7 run

July 19, 2010

Rhubarb Theater Company presents 41, Trish Crist's comedy/drama opens at the Darkhorse Theater, Friday, July 23, continuing through August 7.

Wilkinson directs SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING at Chaffin's Barn

July 19, 2010

BWW Reviews: FUNNY MONEY at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre

July 14, 2010

This confluence of events and elements has resulted in the perfect summer diversion at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, Nashville's venerable theatrical venue, with their production of Ray Cooney's Funny Money.

BWW Interviews: Barry Honold, A Life in the Theater

July 12, 2010

Most recently the audience development intern at Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Arkansas-born Barry Honold's next theatrical adventure is as production dramaturg for Nashville Shakespeare Festival's upcoming production of Love's Labour's Lost, the company's 2010 Shakespeare-in-the-Park presentation.

Amun Ra's THE COLORED MUSEUM Closes 7/4

July 4, 2010

George C.

Excitement Grows for First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, 9/19

June 22, 2010

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.

BWW Reviews: NINE at Boiler Room Theatre

June 21, 2010

Ciaran McCarthy gives such a stunningly raw and beautifully nuanced performance as film director Guido Contini in Boiler Room Theatre's production of Nine that it would be easy to lavish praise on him and leave it at that.

AAPEX stages reading of Parks' new play PAWNSHOP

June 20, 2010

Pawnshop, a new play by Atlanta playwright Tiffany Parks, will be given a staged reading in Nashville Monday night, June 21, by The African American Playwrights Exchange.

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