Jeffrey Ellis - Page 76

Oozing charm, exuding confidence and with a sense of effortless style, Broadway's song-and-dance man Matthew Morrison makes his Music City debut in a three-night stand at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, backed by the Grammy Award-winning musicians of the Nashville Symphony under the baton of conductor Steven Jarvi.

Writer/producer/director Jeff Swafford debuts Crazy All These Years, the stage version of his screenplay which he made into a film last year, at Nashville's Darkhorse Theatre next week for an April 13-22 run. Starring Cinda McCain, Michael Adcock, Jennifer Richmond and Daniel Hackman, Swafford's play is one of Spring 2017's most eagerly anticipated productions.

Nashville Ballet boldly steps into the future with a 2017-2018 performance season that promises to showcase the full spectrum of the art, from the pinnacle of classical ballet to fearless contemporary works. The upcoming season will be rounded out by the return of highly anticipated fan favorites and the 10th year of Nashville's Nutcracker.

Katie Callaway is the real deal. She's passionate about her pursuit of art - as an actress in Nashville she made a name for herself on local stages and now that she's living in Los Angeles, she's becoming a much sought-after name for film and TV projects - but she's just as serious about, as corny as it may sound, just being a good human being.

Led by a trio of veteran Nashville-area actors - Dan Zeigler, Pat Street and Lynn Yates - the quartet of eponymous characters is completed by Ryan Chavez Richmond, who is quickly making a name for himself (and gaining more than a little notoriety along the way) on local stages. The four of them are joined by Jeanne Valcarcel Drone as Cassandra and Nikki Gavin as Nina in Durang's rollicking comedy that is sure to make you laugh uproariously one moment and bring tears to your eyes in the next.

No matter how you go about it - regardless of the circuitous route you take to divine an answer - Matthew Morrison just won't give any details away about his upcoming stint on the TV behemoth Grey's Anatomy. Forget that it's been the subject of pop culture buzz and an internet frenzy earlier in the week, the actor, who refers to himself as 'a song and dance man,' won't give up any spoilers to satisfy clamoring fans and inquisitive reporters.

Miles and Erica Aubrey, Nashville-based performers with a broad range of Broadway, TV, film, and music credits, will lead a full day of performance workshops and serve as celebrity co-hosts for the Nashville High School Musical Theatre Awards, or 'Spotlight Awards,' presented in partnership between the nonprofit Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) and Lipscomb University on May 13.

For the fifth year running, Opera Memphis will be in midtown for ten days of opera, concerts, parties, and more, including the reading of a first-of-its-kind collaboration with the US Army. Midtown Opera Festival takes place March 31-April 9 at Playhouse on the Square.  

Just in case you are unaware, heed this advice: There is perhaps no better place on earth to catch some future Broadway stars (and, no doubt, some Tony Award winners-to-be) than in Nashville. If there is any other more fertile breeding ground for musical theater stars than what you may find among the assemblage of burgeoning talents at Belmont University - particularly among the students enrolled in the school's musical theatre program, now celebrating its 19th season - we implore you to supply directions for our edification.

Jackie Welch, Tamiko Robinson Steele and Lauren Frances Jones together onstage are like the royalty of Nashville theater: three formidable actresses who bring a wealth of experience to any role they play as individuals. Yet, collectively, the three women are more than mere forces of nature, they are nature itself, their remarkable talents combining to create a theatrical experience that will long be remembered, venerated and discussed among those people fortunate enough to see them in Nashville Repertory Theatre's stunning production of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.

Larry Shue's The Nerd brings with it a fairly healthy and reasonably impressive theater pedigree: more than 400 performances on Broadway, critical acclaim and audience adulation for its West End run (in fact, it was the most successful American play running there in 1986), scores of regional and community theater productions and it was the follow-up to his wonderfully funny and politically prescient The Foreigner. But like so many things that were popular during the 1980s - the "abdominizer," Cabbage Patch kids and friendship bracelets, Jelly shoes and Jordache jeans - time hasn't been so great to The Nerd and we're left wondering, incredulously and imploringly, "What the hell?"

We managed to corner Vickie and three of her actors - Drew Sanford, Tabby Ragland and Mandy Ray-Jones - and convince them to answer our famous Friday 5 (+1) questions, giving us some insight into why they do what they do (and how they do it), as well as to offer up some suggestions about why you should make certain you don't miss their show…

Today, in our latest Friday 5 (+1), we introduce you to a group of Belmont University Musical Theatre leading ladies - Katie Bays, Emily Anne Ludwig, Lizzy Hinton, Cassie Donegan, Mary Kate Hughes and Katie Grogg - and their leading man, the Franklin Hart Jr. of this particular revival, Graham Trout! Remember their names, gentle readers, they are sure to impress you now over on Belmont Boulevard just as much as they are destined to dazzle critics and audiences (in theaters along other notable streets) alike in the years to come…

Actor James David West, who takes on the role of the Southern lawyer at the center of the play, took time from his hectic tech week schedule to answer our Friday 5 (+1) questions to give us an idea why booking reservations to see the show should be something to do right this minute - or at least after reading this interview. Get to it!

Erin Parker, Laura Matula, Cori Anne Laemelle, Melodie Madden Adams and Megan Murphy Chambers - collectively known as MAS Nashville - return to the stage for their tenth cabaret performance appropriately entitled MAS X, playing the Belcourt Theatre on Monday, April 17. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m.

Hell week or no, Natalie Risk somehow found the time in a crazy week of technical rehearsals, dress rehearsals and classes to sit down and answer our slate of six Friday 5 (yes, we know the name is confusing - not to mention it's Thursday) in order to give you some insight into what makes her tick, theatrically speaking, and to explain why she thinks you need to come see her new show…

Deborah Cox, the Grammy Award-nominated R&B and pop music star now headlining the national tour of The Bodyguard - the stage musical based upon the 1992 film - proves herself to be every inch the star. From the very first moment she appears onstage, clad in Tim Hatley's eye-popping costume as 'Queen of the Night,' Cox carries with her that unmistakable, but hard to define, quality that sets her apart from mere mortals.

Casey Gill Summar, executive director of Nashville's Arts & Business Council's (ABC), has announced that she will be leaving the arts nonprofit this summer after more than a decade with the organization. She and her husband, Trent, are moving to Santa Barbara, California in June.

After some 2,200 performances as the legendary Bob Crewe in the Broadway company of Jersey Boys, Jonathan Hadley is more than happy - maybe even contented - to update his resume with the words "journeyman actor," as he adds the role of Sy Spector in The Bodyguard to the list of roles for which he is justifiably well-known.

The hilarity of the Futrelle clan and their own special brand of Southern Hospitality opens Friday night, March 24, running through April 8 at The Arts Center of Cannon County.