Jeffrey Ellis - Page 147

Nashville Ballet promises to unveil 'magical surprises' in one of Shakespeare's favorite comedies with the world premiere of Paul Vasterling's original adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, April 23-25, in Andrew Jackson Hall at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Bringing the written word to life through Mendelssohn's music and the narrative of dance, audiences will watch as Puck plays tricks on the ill-fated lovers in the enchanted forest and as the antics of the midsummer's night become resolved by the light of the day.

Hot on the heels of the Nashville premiere of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Amun Ra Theatre shows no sign of slowing down its pace this season as it prepares to tackle Samuel Beckett's absurdist classic Waiting For Godot, directed by guest artist Robert Kiefer and starring a virtual 'who's who' of ART Ensemble members. Waiting For Godot, the second show in ART's 2010 'The Future Is Now Season,' opens April 22 and runs through May 9 at the Amun Ra Theatre Playhouse, 2508 Clifton Avenue.

Thanks to Street Theatre Company's stellar production of the William Finn-Rachel Sheinkin-Rebecca Feldman musical comedy, I'll be wallowing in self-pity (or maybe I'll be just a little melancholy and sanguine) until I find better ways to occupy my time and better memories to fill my mind - or a bright, shiny object catches my eye. But for now I am happy to reflect on the joyous and frivolous fun that is director Lauren Shouse's superb and sparkling staging of the musical that somehow manages to be both completely contemporary and gloriously traditional in a musical-comedy-sort-of-way. Shouse's exceptional cast of actors, accompanied by music director Rollie Mains' talented musicians and featuring the sprightly choreography of Paul Cook, are sheer perfection as The Bee's crew of over-achieving - sometimes cringeworthy, yet always lovable - middle school spelling phenoms. You'd be hard-pressed to experience a more satisfying night at the theatre.

Laura Thomas Sonn and Ciaran McCarthy lead the cast as Luisa and Matt, the star-crossed lovers in Boiler Room Theatre's production of The Fantasticks, opening Friday, March 19 and running through Saturday, April 17, at the theatre located in The Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Road, Building Six. Will Sevier stars as El Gallo.

Over the past few seasons, Alice Raver has gained a reputation as one of the 'go-to actresses' for Actors Bridge Ensemble, appearing in some of the company's most compelling new works, including this season's production of Judevine and my personal favorite, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, in which she played the tart-tongued Hermia. It was clearly a case of going against type: You would be hard-pressed to meet anyone, onstage or off, who's nicer than Alice Raver. Perhaps that's why her performance in Dead Man's Cell Phone was so exhilaratingly fun - both for audiences and Raver, herself: 'I loved playing Hermia in Dead Man Cell Phone because the ensemble was so wonderful and the play was both funny and thought-provoking.'

But the week before the show, cast members from the production of Titanic, the Musical took part in the opening ceremonies for the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The cast performed the opening number from the show which introduces many of the people who were on the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic and ends with the stirring anthem 'Godspeed, Titanic.'

For women in the audience (and both women and men came out in droves this past weekend for the opening of Potty Talk at the Darkhorse; making reservations for this week's upcoming performances is a very good idea), I suspect that the shared camaraderie of the ladies' room is a given. For men in the seats, however, it's a new experience, given our penchant for staring straight ahead and saying nothing (unless, of course, you have the 'wide stance' of a right-wing senator and his ilk). Regardless of your gender, you'll find a lot to laugh about and think about in Crist's play.

Rife with corruption and intrigue, teeming with forbidden love and deception, Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto is among the most often performed operas in America - and Nashville Opera closes out its 2009-2010 season with a beautifully designed and sumptuously mounted production of the Italian masterpiece in Andrew Jackson Hall at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Yet, as exquisite as its physical trappings are, Nashville Opera's Rigoletto may be even more impressive in its artful musicality: it is rapturously sung by a deft blending of talented newcomers to the Nashville stage.

Boiler Room Theatre alumna and American Idol Season 6 finalist Melinda Doolittle returns to Franklin for a one-night-only concert event with all proceeds going to the Boiler Room Theatre on Monday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in Liberty Hall at The Factory. Acclaimed contemporary gospel performers Point of Grace will share the stage for the fundraising concert for Williamson County's only professional theatre company.

Circle Players presents the production Friday, March 26, through Saturday, April 10, at the Z. Alexander Looby Theatre. The script closely follows Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

The musical version of Mark Twain's classic tale sweeps audiences down the mighty Mississippi as the irrepressible Huck Finn helps his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom at the mouth of the Ohio River. Their adventures along the way are propelled by an award-winning score from Roger Miller, which provides a theatrical celebration of pure Americana.

Flynt Foster, a Franklin-based actor seen recently in the world premiere of Southern Fried Funeral, stars as Michael Caldwell, a shy, aspiring writer from the Midwest who comes to New York in search of fame and fortune. His life becomes a series of hilarious encounters with the unpredictable residents of his dilapidated apartment house including a commercial actor who specializes in portraying inanimate objects, a Russian ballerina on the lam from the KGB, and a wisecracking actress. To maintain his own sanity, Michael retreats to his fantasies, only to find that the world of his imagination is even more nerve-racking than the reality surrounding him.

William Shakespeare's 446th birthday will be celebrated in grand and proper style in Nashville this month - Friday, April 23 - as Nashville Shakepeare Festival calls on would-be Romeos and Juliets to take part in 'The Biggest Balcony Scene Ever!' at 6 p.m. on the south steps of The Parthenon in Centennial Park.

Opening Friday, April 9 - and continuing for nine performances through April 17 - Potty Talk is the latest play from Crist's fertile imagination. 'A 'royal flush' of Nashville comediennes polish the nuggets of wisdom that women discuss in the ladies' room,' is how Crist herself describes the play.

Described a 'a sweet and endearing look at the American dream for all types during any era in our nation's history,' I Remember Mama features Paula Higgins as the headstrong Mama, while Annaliese Higgins plays her daughter Katrin. Recently transplanted to Tennessee, the two actresses have been looking for an opportunity to share the limelight and, at the same time, that would allow them to become more involved with the Brentwood community.

Despite a few glimmers of hope and the promise of a transformative evening of theatre, the current Circle Players production of To Kill a Mockingbird is a thoroughly passionless and completely uninspired staging of Harper Lee's classic Southern tale and, clearly, is one of the biggest disappointments of the Nashville theatre season.

Opening Friday, April 9 - and continuing for nine performances through April 17 - Potty Talk is the latest play from Crist's fertile imagination. 'A 'royal flush' of Nashville comediennes polish the nuggets of wisdom that women discuss in the ladies' room,' is how Crist herself describes the play.

Jason Robert Brown's musical about a young Jewish boy making the move from New York to Indiana, 13, is among the highlights of Circle Players' 61st Season as one of Tennessee's oldest community theatre companies. Circle board president Jim Manning made the announcement of the new season's offerings prior to curtain of the 60th Season's To Kill a Mockingbird last week.

The East Tennessee native has called Nashville home for the past several years, following her graduation from nearby Middle Tennessee State University, and earlier this season she won great critical acclaim (which means I absolutely raved about her performance) in GroundWorks Theatre's production of Neil LaBute's Fat Pig, a show perfectly tailored for her talents. And I wasn't the only person - or critic, for that matter - to be totally enraptured by her courageously drawn portrayal of the play's plus-sized heroine Helen. After her appearances as the matriarch in A Sanders Family Christmas at Chaffin's Backstage at the Barn, the role of Helen gave Amanda Lamb the opportunity to show another side of her immense talent.

Nashville Ballet promises to unveil 'magical surprises' in one of Shakespeare's favorite comedies with the world premiere of Paul Vasterling's original adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, April 23-25, in Andrew Jackson Hall at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Bringing the written word to life through Mendelssohn's music and the narrative of dance, audiences will watch as Puck plays tricks on the ill-fated lovers in the enchanted forest and as the antics of the midsummer's night become resolved by the light of the day.