Jeffrey Ellis - Page 28

With the excitement of opening night and the histrionics of tech week to fuel them, Kristina Nichole James (who plays Deloris) and her castmates Susan Walsworth and Stephanie Hale Williams managed to find time in their hectic schedules to answer our questions and to offer some background information on themselves - along with some compelling reasons you should make your reservations for the show - in today's version of the Friday 5 (+1)...

Multi-talented young theater artists and technicians from 28 Tennessee high schools will put their skills on display this year in hopes of claiming their place in the spotlight as the sixth annual Nashville High School Musical Theatre Awards – aka The Spotlight Awards – are presented in Nashville on May 11.

Larry Shue's The Nerd, called by some "one of the funniest plays ever written, opens this Friday, March 29 at The Arts Center of Cannon County in a new production directed by Cyndie Verbeten and running through April 13.

Never one to let any moss grow under her feet, Western Kentucky University's Hilarie Spangler is crazy-busy leading up to her college graduation in a couple of months, with the near-future mapped out for the young woman who started her theater career as a youngster in community productions in Middleboro, Kentucky.

Celebrating an opening night is always exciting, if exhausting, nerve-wracking and exhilarating, but when it's the very first production of a new theater company you've co-founded, odds are it's even more so. Just ask Emily Faith who is directing the premiere production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Dallas-based Lily & Joan theater company she co-founded in 2018 with Erika Larsen.

'Celebrating a season of unforgettable women,' Studio Tenn commemorates its tenth season with the announcement of the 2019-20 slate of shows that will honor female artists and entertainers who have shaped the industry.

Puccini's Madame Butterfly will launch Nashville Opera's 2019-20 season, which is described as "a compelling mix of beloved favorites and important 20th century works."

Relive an era when doo-wop was king, big hairdos were in, cars had enormous fins, and the harmonizing boy bands of the 1950s were all the rage as Forever Plaid opens at Cumberland County Playhouse this Friday night, March 29, running through May 24.

Happy New Year, Nashville! Tennessee Performing Arts Center this morning announces that the Broadway musical juggernaut Hamilton will land in Music City for its premiere engagement December 31, 2019 through January 19, 2020 at Andrew Jackson Hall.

Oh, those wacky Brits: They love their comedy dry, broad and often rather lowbrow, they adore mistaken identities, hijinks in the bedchamber and a bit with a dog. And that, gentle readers, is exactly what is delivered in the deliciously irreverent, surprisingly heartfelt Shakespeare in Love - Lee Hall's stage adaptation of the 1999 Oscar-winning best film of the same name - now onstage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Johnson Theatre in a sparkling new production from Nashville Repertory Theatre.

Provocative and gut-wrenching, Citizen: An American Lyric - Stephen Sachs' dramatization of Claudia Rankine's acclaimed book of poetry and prose that focuses unflinchingly on the subject of race in America - holds up a mirror to every person in the audience at Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel, compelling them to look deep into their own selves, their own lives, to identify their own prejudices and biases. The takeaway? We must do so much better.

Nothing fills a critic's heart and soul with as much glee as the premiere of a brand-spanking-new musical, heretofore unseen by mortal men (and women). Thus, I'm happy to report that Esther, a new musical that premiered Thursday at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre in an abbreviated four performance run, has some exceptional elements to be found in its two hours of performance time, although clearly there's a lot of work to be done if the show is to have a future outside The Barn.

Circle Players' presentation of If/Then continues through April 7, but today three cast members - Bryan Royals, Taylor Simon and Emily Summers - talk about their theatrical backgrounds and share with audiences why they should make reservations to see If/Then (for tickets, go to www.circleplayers.net) in the latest incarnation of Friday 5 (+1)...

Mel Brooks' The Producers - the Broadway smash hit musical that cleaned up at the Tony Awards in 2001 - is presented by Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts starting tonight, March 22, and running through April 7. Directed by Chris McLaurin and Natalie Quinn (who last teamed up for the First Night Award-winning Pirates of Penzance at CFTA), the zany comedy features a cast led by John Frost Jr. and Tucker Young and Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom.

Today, in anticipation of their opening weekend, three members of Copeland's cast - Cailen Fu, Joseph Leitess and Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva - offer some background information on what shapes them as actors (including their most memorable "the show must go on" moments) and offer suggestions for why you shouldn't miss Shakespeare in Love in our latest Friday 5 (+1):

Four members of Jon Royal's ensemble of actors - Breanna Booker, Alicia Haymer, DeYonte Jenkins and Shawn Whitsell - made time this week, amid the hustle and bustle and general bedlam of technical rehearsals to give us some insight into the factors and events that led them to the theater and to share with readers the reasons why they think you should see Citizen: An American Lyric.

In 2017, the Broadway musical version of Anastasia (which opened at Hartford Stage nice months earlier), based on the 1997 film, featuring music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and a book by Terrence McNally debuted to much fanfare, and now Nashville audiences are in the thrall of the cast and crew of the national touring company, onstage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall through Sunday, March 24.

Circle Players, one of Tennessee's oldest community theater organizations, has announced the slate of shows for its 70th anniversary season, including some of the most requested shows in the company's history which will be 'revisited' for the special season. Circle Players revealed the shows to be included in its upcoming 70th season during a party last night on the 30th floor of Nashville's L&C Tower.

Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts presents the Tony Award-winning musical theater version of Mel Brooks' classic movie The Producers, starring John Frost Jr. and Tucker Young and co-directed by Chris McLaurin and Natalie Quinn, running March 22 to April 7.

Shakespeare in Love - the final show of Nashville Repertory Theatre's 2018-19 season - opens Saturday night, March 23, at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, running through April 13. Replete with comedy, a secret romance, live music, a play-within-a-play, stunning costumes, swordfights, a hefty wager and Queen Elizabeth I herself, there's also the promise of a very cute dog to entice audiences to the theatre.