Skip to main content
My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Jeffrey Ellis - Page 55

Jeffrey Ellis

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.

Get an Alert Each Time Jeffrey Ellis Writes

Contact Jeffrey Ellis

Learn More About Jeffrey Ellis

First Show

EVITA, starring Patti LuPone

Favorite Stories



TWTP Launches 2016 With Lauren Gunderson's EMILIE...

TWTP Launches 2016 With Lauren Gunderson's EMILIE...

February 8, 2016

Evelyn O'Neal Brush stars in the title role of Lauren Gunderson's Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, as Tennessee Women's Theater Project continues its ninth season of provocative professional theater with the Tennessee premiere of Gunderson's play.

BWW Review: Towne Centre's BLACK TIE BROADWAY

BWW Review: Towne Centre's BLACK TIE BROADWAY

February 6, 2016

Luckily, for audiences of Towne Centre Theatre's 2016 season-opening Black Tie Broadway, an original revue conceived by director/arranger John Ray, they are offered two hours of entertainment given a luxe treatment by a 13-member cast who are having a swell time singing the best of musical theater.

BWW Review: The Gaslight's IF THE SHOE FITS

BWW Review: The Gaslight's IF THE SHOE FITS

February 5, 2016

No matter how hackneyed and corny the script, if you have an experienced ensemble of actors who are adept at physical comedy, who have perfected their timing through years onstage and who are relatively fearless in their approach to a script (any script, most likely), chances are you can deliver a s

Collegiate Theatrics: USC's ADAM LEBOWITZ-LOCKARD

Collegiate Theatrics: USC's ADAM LEBOWITZ-LOCKARD

February 4, 2016

Theater's next generation of actors will come from all over the globe, to be certain, but one might find an impressive concentration of artists on the campus of the University of Southern California, where the list of candidates for the Master of Fine Arts in acting rivals any group to be found anyw

'Awkward Conversation' with SOMETHING ROTTEN's Wayne Kirkpatrick

'Awkward Conversation' with SOMETHING ROTTEN's Wayne Kirkpatrick

February 3, 2016

Wayne Kirkpatrick - the award-winning, chart-topping songwriter, one of the co-creators of the Tony Award-winning Something Rotten on Broadway, and the recipient of a special 2015 First Night Honor - will be in the spotlight today night, February 4, at Lipscomb University during An Awkward Conversat

Baker Leads Blackbird/LU Production of THE CRUCIBLE

Baker Leads Blackbird/LU Production of THE CRUCIBLE

February 3, 2016

The Crucible, Arthur Miller's incisive drama about the Salem Witchcraft Trials - written during the turbulent times of the Hollywood Red Scare and the oppression of the McCarthy era in American politics - premieres at Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre for a February 19-28 run in a joint product

FROG & TOAD Debuts at Arts Center of Cannon County

FROG & TOAD Debuts at Arts Center of Cannon County

February 3, 2016

Arnold Lobel's beloved characters hop from page to stage February 13 and 20 as The Arts Center of Cannon County presented A Year With Frog and Toad, the Tony Award-nominated musical with book and lyrics by Willie Reale and music by Robert Reale.

Nottage's LAS MENINAS Opens 2/19 At Troutt Theatre

Nottage's LAS MENINAS Opens 2/19 At Troutt Theatre

February 3, 2016

Jaclynn Jutting directs Belmont University's Department of Theatre and Dance's spring semester-opening production of Lynn Nottage's Las Meninas, a play they contend will 'grab the attention of any audience member, of any background, opening February 19 at Belmont's Troutt Theatre.

Ginger Newman Stars in SUNSET BOULEVARD

Ginger Newman Stars in SUNSET BOULEVARD

February 3, 2016

2014 First Night Honoree – and one of Nashville's most acclaimed actresses, cabaret artists and music directors – Ginger Newman is “ready for [her] close-up,” as Norma Desmond in The Larry Keeton Theatre puts the finishing touches on their upcoming production of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Sunset B

Theater Family Mourns the Passing of 'BROTHER RON'

Theater Family Mourns the Passing of 'BROTHER RON'

February 1, 2016

Members of the theater family flung far and wide - or at least as far as trains, planes, ships and automobiles can take them - are mourning the sudden passing last Friday of Ron McIntyre Fender, the man known as the "Saint of Chattanooga" for his efforts on behalf of the homeless and beloved by thea

Nashville Theater Calendar 2/1/16

Nashville Theater Calendar 2/1/16

February 1, 2016

Thus, we are happy to present one of our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2015/16 season.

BWW Review: The Collective's SHOWSTOPPERS

BWW Review: The Collective's SHOWSTOPPERS

January 30, 2016

There's nothing like a good musical revue - replete with well-chosen songs, performed by a talented coterie of professional performers who are ably supported by a cast of fresh-faced youngsters showing off their burgeoning talents in concert with their more seasoned counterparts - and The Collective

BWW Review: Theater Bug's 7 WAYS TO SUNDAY

BWW Review: Theater Bug's 7 WAYS TO SUNDAY

January 29, 2016

Dealing with the heretofore difficult to discuss subjects of teenaged depression and suicide, 7 Ways to Sunday opens up a necessary dialogue that is sure to save lives (regardless of how melodramatic that sounds, could one come to any other realization after experiencing the altogether life-changing

BWW Review: MATILDA THE MUSICAL Dazzles in Nashville

BWW Review: MATILDA THE MUSICAL Dazzles in Nashville

January 28, 2016

Can there be a better way to capture Matilda's spirit so evocatively than in a sparkling new work for the musical theater? A musical journey through which we can chart her soulful, heartfelt ascent into a literary hierarchy in which readers can live vicariously? Matilda's forays into a fictional wor

Music City Theatre Collective Launches With SHOWSTOPPERS

Music City Theatre Collective Launches With SHOWSTOPPERS

January 26, 2016

Music City Theatre Collective - the brainchild of Nashville artists Curtis Reed, Jenny Norris-Light, Chase Miller and Martha Wilkinson, among others - will launch its highly anticipated and rather unique company this weekend with a series of performances designed to highlight the Collective's upcomi

Collegiate Theatrics: Vanderbilt's SADIE ANDROS

Collegiate Theatrics: Vanderbilt's SADIE ANDROS

January 26, 2016

Vanderbilt University's Sadie Andros, one of the region's busiest and most acclaimed young actors - she was Psyche and Aphrodite in last fall's production of Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses and takes on the role of Olivia in this spring's Vanderbilt Players' production of Twelfth Night - is among tho

Nashville Theater Calendar 1/25/16

Nashville Theater Calendar 1/25/16

January 25, 2016

Thus, we are happy to present one of our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2016 season.




BroadwayWorld TV


Ticket Central
Hot Show
Tickets From $59
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $71
Hot Show
Tickets From $95