Jeffrey Ellis - Page 66

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Wednesday, June 7, 2017! Kathie Lee and Hoda are in town today to show their Today show audience what's happening in Nashville, which prompts the musical question: What's sights are on your list of places to go when newbies turn to you for advice? Let us know and we'll feature you in an upcoming story!

Feeling the urge to let your imagination run wild, your spirit to soar or to just leave the world in which you live and go on an adventure? Sounds like a trip to the theater is in order! Luckily, companies all over the Volunteer State have been hard at work, creating new productions to transform and to transport, shows that will entertain you this summer. That's where THE NASHVILLE THEATER CALENDAR comes in handy: Peruse our listings every week to find out what shows you should see!

Shawn Knight's stunning and transformative performance as the 600-pound protagonist in Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale - now onstage in a new production from Verge Theater Company to launch its third season - elevates the script beyond its stage-bound limitations, guaranteeing two hours of reflection and thought while the story is told onstage and engendering far more time given over to the consideration of the script's themes once the show's final curtain has fallen.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Tuesday, June 6, 2017 - and we know what you're thinking: Where the hell was my favorite early morning theater news and gossip yesterday? Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to raise ourselves up from the bed and make our way to our desk in order to start writing. After a particularly challenging weekend, we were a bit under the weather and, truth be told, exhausted. We offer our abject apologies and request your indulgences, although we were just as disappointed as we hope you were because we were unable to live life dramatically with any sense of style on Monday.

Among such actors is Annabelle Fox, a graduate of the Belmont University Musical Theatre program, now living in Inwood, New York City, with her husband Douglas Waterbury-Tieman (also a Belmont grad), whom she met in school.

Thank You, Places… is our opportunity to edify the theater-goer by introducing you to some of the best production stage managers to be found on the planet. Today, we introduce you to PSM Daniel DeVault, whose latest project - Sister Act, The Musical - opens Thursday at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. Clearly, he is one of Tennessee's finest.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI: Welcome to Friday, June 2, 2017! The weekend is upon us (thank you, very much) and we cannot conceive of a better way to live life dramatically than by catching a first night performance of a show? It's opening night for several new shows and we send out warm wishes of "break a leg"...

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Thursday, June 1, 2017 - or, as we like to call it #TheaterThursday, 'June is busting out all over…' as a song from Carousel reminds us, and there's no better way to kick off a new month than by planning our theater outings for the weekend! Tomorrow night at Cumberland County Playhouse, the company, cast and crew unveil the 2017 model of Smoke on the Mountain, which marks the 24th year of the musical playing in Crossville. Weslie Webster directs and her cast includes Daniel W. Black and Lauren Marshall as Sanders family father and mother Burl and Vera.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! According to the non-clock thing hanging on the wall - what's it called? Oh, yeah, a calendar (yeah, like we'd ever allow a calendar to hang on any wall under our control - today is May 31, 2017! It's another day to allow yourself to live life dramatically and to gain ownership of your own schedule for the rest of the week so you can be certain to get to the theater. Yesterday, in our never-ending quest to enlist all of you to write our daily column for us, we posted TODAY'S QUERY on Facebook, asking our gentle readers to weigh in or whether or not 'dressing for the theater' is de rigueur or is it more of a 'come as you are' nature. Little did we know that such a question could engender such passionate responses and we daresay rather passionate defenses of the wear-whatever-the-hell-you-want school of thought.

Feeling the urge to let your imagination run wild, your spirit to soar or to just leave the world in which you live and go on an adventure? Sounds like a trip to the theater is in order! Luckily, companies all over the Volunteer State have been hard at work, creating new productions to transform and to transport, shows that will entertain you this summer. That's where THE NASHVILLE THEATER CALENDAR comes in handy: Peruse our listings every week to find out what shows you should see!

Among those students feted for their outstanding performances was Tullahoma High School's William Kuebitz, a top three finalist for his performance as Bert in Mary Poppins. Performing 'Step in Time' from the show, William gained a thunderous ovation from his fellow actors and other supporters in the audience that night, which was the culmination of his high school career.

With this - our latest regular feature - we hope to rectify that and shine the spotlight on the individuals who make the shows run with the precision of a Swiss timepiece. Thank You, Places… is our opportunity to edify the theater-goer by introducing you to some of the best production stage managers to be found on the planet. Today, we introduce you to PSM Suzanne Spooner-Faulk, known as "Spoonie" to her friends, family and legions of admirers, one of Tennessee's finest...

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Tuesday, May 30, 2017 - and we hope you've sufficiently recovered from Memorial Day Weekend so that you're able to face the rest of the week with the necessary intent to achieve all that's possible in a world where white pants and white shoes are acceptable (it's summer, after all…well, unofficially, from a social standpoint)! All of this prompts us to ask the musical question: What did you do this holiday weekend? Social media was fairly abuzz with all manner of outings and adventures perpetrated by the theaterati, including both Amy Prough Stumpfl and Nancy Allen attending a performance of Hamilton in Chicago, where Belmont University Musical Theatre alumni Candace Quarrels and Chris Lee are starring!

Tara Winton directs, as Woodbury's Arts Center of Cannon County presents Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice, based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, with music by Wayne Barker. Opening Friday night, June 2, it runs through June 11.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! Welcome to the start of Memorial Day Weekend: It's Friday, May 26, 2017 and time to live life dramatically! It really sounds like we should be cutting a ribbon somewhere to herald the start of the long weekend that kicks off summer, but instead we sit here in front of a computer screen, remembering and reminiscing, in hopes of providing you with something to read while you sit by the pool, waiting for the SPF37 to kick in!

Feeling the urge to let your imagination run wild, your spirit to soar or to just leave the world in which you live and go on an adventure? Sounds like a trip to the theater is in order! Luckily, companies all over the Volunteer State have been hard at work, creating new productions to transform and to transport, shows that will entertain you this summer. That's where THE NASHVILLE THEATER CALENDAR comes in handy: Peruse our listings every week to find out what shows you should see!

Jason Lewis directs the regional premiere of Reefer Madness the Musical to close out ACT 1's 2016-17 season, opening June 9. A musical satire based on the 1936 cult film classic, Reefer Madness the Musical opened in Los Angeles in 1998. The book and lyrics were written by Kevin Murphy with music by Dan Studney.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! Welcome to Thursday, May 25, 2017! So, here's the thing: We're up far earlier every morning than we'd actually choose to be, given the choice, and today we were lost in slumber, having a really terrific and very intriguing dream - I was in Louisville with my best pal Patrick Wilson.

Carole King is an American treasure: a singer/songwriter of much renown, she possesses the showbiz bona fides that place her among the highest echelons of creative endeavor and for more than 50 years, she has provided the soundtrack for the lives of so many of us that you can't help but be caught up in an emotional fervor of remembrance and revelry when you hear one of her hit songs.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Wednesday, May 24, 2017! How do we know this, you might ask? Well, we spent last evening at TPAC'S Andrew Jackson Hall, soaking up every possible bit of Carole King: The Beautiful Musical - wait, it's the other way around - Beautiful: The Carole King Musical and despite the earworm known as 'One Fine Day,' we are still floating on the inspiration and memories of opening night.