Jeffrey Ellis - Page 74

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! We wish you a wonderful start to your work week while posing the musical question: Are you as water-logged as we are? The rains in Tennessee over the weekend are, according to the Weather Channel, on their way out of the area and sunshine is just around the corner…just in time, we say! There's a lot of theater coming up this week and we've got shows to see and people to watch! Greetings to today's cover model Jordan Tudor Haggard who may or may not be enjoying a butterscotch sundae to kick off her day while she catches up on today's news of a theatrical bent.

Playwright Tori Keenan-Zelt takes over BWW­_Nashville's Twitter account today as she goes on a Playwright's Adventure in Music City, including the first rehearsal for Actors' Bridge's upcoming workshop production of her new play Seph, she mingles with the playwrights taking part in the Ingram New Works Project at Nashville Repertory Theatre and she sees the Actors Bridge/Belmont University Theatre collaboration on Jessica Dickey's The Amish Project.

The calendar is fast approaching commencement season all over the country and seniors in high school theater programs are preparing for their final shows on their familiar stomping grounds - like Nashville's Franklin Road Academy senior Micah Frizzell. As he prepares to open tonight in director/educator Ross Bolen's musical update of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (he plays Don John), he's already looking ahead to next fall when he enrolls at Syracuse University as part of their group of 24 incoming freshmen for the BFA Musical Theater program.

A big GOOD MORNING shout-out to today's eye-poppingly gorgeous cover models - the beautiful and talented Tosha Pendergrast and her equally dreamy husband Benjamin Pendergrast, who start off their morning by catching up on the latest theatrical dish while listening to the score of Legally Blonde, Tosha's next choreographic assignment for Pull-Tight Players before she heads off to teach dance, among other things, at Christ Presbyterian Academy.

Those wacky denizens of Lowake, Texas - members of the Turnover clan - return to the stage tonight in search of their daddy's last will and testament in The Larry Keeton Theatre's production of Del Shore's chicken-fried comedy Daddy's Dyin'…Who's Got the Will? Running through May 6, the raucous, downhome comedy features a cast of Nashville favorites including Tonya Pewitt, Memory Strong-Smith, Natalie Royal Herb, Jonathan Hunter, Benny Jones, Linda Speir, Drew Dunlop and Natalie Lewis.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's a glorious new day - #TheatreThursday, in fact - there's a bright golden haze on the meadow and today we're posing this question: What's your favorite stage comedy? And why does it tickle your funny bone (and we don't mean that in a dirty way, so get your freakin' minds outta the gutter!)? Greetings to our two cover models: the always entertaining and intriguing Daron Bruce and Jennifer Richmond, all dressed up in their Easter finery to get their daily dose of theater chatter!

Broadway star Analisa Leaming returns to her hometown of Murfreesboro next Monday night for a concert at First United Methodist Church to benefit the Ethos Youth Ensembles, a non-profit youth music education organization based in Rutherford County.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! And a gracious good morning to Kate Adams Kramer, our very first Theaterati cover girl! Today we are pondering the theatrical question of 'Kevin Spacey...Tony Awards host...what the hell?' Perhaps you might opine about that bit of news and share your impressions with us: we promise not to tell a soul!

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! Welcome to my new daily whatever-the-hell you want to call it in which we consider the musical question: 'What's happening this week?'

During the 2017-18 season reveal gala at TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall last week, Nicole Van Giesen, a member of the show's original Broadway cast, was on hand to perform 'Telephone Wire' from the score by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron. The response to the announcement that Fun Home will play Nashville October 10-15 was enthusiastic - some might even have called it 'thunderous' - and the audience filled with theater lovers rewarded Van Giesen with warm, generous applause.

Carrie Brewer's fiery portrayal of the man who would ultimately become King Henry IV is certain to resonate with audiences for the compelling production of William Shakespeare's Richard II - onstage at Shamblin Theatre through April 23 in a joint production from Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Lipscomb University Theatre - especially in contrast to Caroline Amos' highly theatrical portrayal of the eponymous king whose indecision and lack of personal gravitas results in his ultimate demise.

Strong performances from a quartet of Nashville actors and capable writing and direction by Jeff Swafford should be enough to create a compelling and engaging stage play. Unfortunately, those elements don't add up to what we'd hoped for in Woodland Entertainment's production of Crazy All These Years, onstage at Nashville's Darkhorse Theatre through next weekend.

Nashville Children's Theatre (NCT) yesterday revealed its 2017-18 Season - its 86th season and its first under new executive artistic director Ernie Nolan - featuring three regional premieres and the return of a holiday season favorite by the late Scot Copeland, NCT's longtime producing artistic director, who led the company's rise to national prominence during his tenure.

Opening day is here: Everybody's favorite bedtime book is magically transformed into an imaginative, unforgettable theatrical experience as Goodnight Moon takes the stage at Nashville Children's Theatre April 13 through May 14.

Opening tonight at Nashville's iconic Darkhorse Theater is multi-hyphenate Jeff Swafford's (he's a playwright-producer-filmmaker-director, among other things) play Crazy All These Years, which stars a cast of Nashville's best-known actors, including Jennifer Richmond, Michael Adock, Cinda McCain and Daniel Hackman.

Nashville Shakespeare Festival continues its 2017 season with Richard II, a co-production with Lipscomb University, which will run from Thursday, April 13, through Sunday, April 23. The rarely-produced play features an all-female cast and will be performed at Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre. Photographer Kenn Stilger captured Tuesday night's dress rehearsal in the accompanying photographs.

Spring is here! Why doesn't my heart go dancing? Well, Mr. Lorenz Hart, personally, we are too damn busy with creating the magic of live theater: We're directing a show (Daddy's Dyin'…Who's Got the Will? opens next week - April 20 - at The Larry Keeton Theatre in Donelson, thank you very much) and trying to make it out to see as much theater in Nashville as possible before old age takes its toll - it's tough out there for a theater critic!

In spring of 2016, Cathy and JJ Street pulled up roots in Nashville - a place they called home for 13 years - and moved eastward to Wilmington, North Carolina, leaving behind scores of friends who'd become like family to them and relinquishing the reins to Street Theatre Company to Jason Tucker, under whom the acclaimed theater company continues to thrive in Music City.

Fun Home, Waitress and An American in Paris headline the 2017-18 HCA/TriStar Health Broadway at TPAC Series, which leads off with the world premiere of a new musical in development - Part of the Plan, an original musical written by Kate Atkinson and Karen Harris and featuring songs from the catalog of famed singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg.

Actors Bridge Ensemble - Nashville's most forward-thinking and cutting-edge professional theater company - teams up once again with Belmont University Department of Theatre and Dance to celebrate their tenth anniversary as artistic collaborators with Jessica Dickey's The Amish Project, a moving and provocative presentation that allows the two companies' strengths to be fully on display, giving audiences much to consider in the post-show haze of introspection and remembrance.