Jeffrey Ellis - Page 98

Shows are opening, shows are closing and Fiddler on the Roof is back onstage for Actors Pointe Theatre Company while Tom Sawyer takes a bow at Springhouse Theatre in Smyrna! Obviously, the 2016 theater season continues to reveal itself at a breakneck pace, giving audiences a veritable buffet of offerings from which to choose.

To whet your appetite, today our Friday 5 spotlight falls upon Jonathan Whitney, who plays Petruchio, and Roxy veteran Jackie Ostick, who takes on the role of Grumio. Frankly, after hearing their responses to our question, the real show might be in the dressing room before curtain.

Britt Byrd takes on the challenging role of Carnelle Scott - and Nashville photographer Jenny Petit Steiner has the pictures to prove it - in The Larry Keeton Theatre's upcoming production of Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest, running at the Donelson theater April 14-30 - the first presentation of a non-musical at The Keeton in quite some time, according to producer Jamie London.

Roxy Regional Theater, in a multimedia partnership with CDE Lightband, will combine the music from a multi-platinum album turned into one of the most notable Broadway musicals of recent vintage, brought to life via the creativity of artists from Austin Peay State University and a dozen high-energy performers from around the USA for an eagerly anticipated production of Green Day's American Idiot, opening April 29 in Clarksville.

Terryl Hallquist directs Moliere's The Misanthrope, with a setting in modern-day Nashville, as Vanderbilt University Theatre takes a creative leap with its April 7-10 production.

When you're talking about dance and dancers in Nashville, one name immediately rises to the top of the list: Billy Ditty. No matter the genre, no matter the venue, no matter the project, he exemplifies dance in Music City for many people.

Tech week is under way for Lipscomb University's theatre students as they find themselves coming down to the wire for Friday night's opening of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown and there is perhaps no cast member more anxious to perform the popular musical in front of a living, breathing audience than Scott Patrick Wilson, one of the most notable LDoT students on campus.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Lori Fischer's The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers does what so many shows before it have attempted: To create a completely new world out of whole cloth and set it down amid the already existing world (in which we mere mortals ply our collective trade), peopled by characters who are easy to love or at least accessible enough to be engaging and fun to watch. Where Fischer's new musical - now onstage at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse - succeeds so impressively is in its refreshing storytelling structure that invites audiences into the fictionalized version of Ashland City, Tennessee, where people care deeply about their neighbors and are likely to sing songs displaying their affection and which are bound to make you guffaw (probably more than once).

Ken Ludwig created one of theater's best-loved and critically acclaimed farces with Lend Me A Tenor, then updated the book of one of musical theater's most revered Gershwin titles (Girl Crazy) with the long-running and equally beloved Crazy For You. Since those two mega-hits, however, he's been less successful (although, inarguably, he's kept busy churning out scripts and cashing royalty checks) and perhaps no new script has proved that point more than Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

As adept as he is on the drums - and make no mistake about it, Danny Young is headbangingly assertive and confident on the aforementioned drum kit - it might surprise you to know that at the ripe old age of eight, he actually started out as a singer in his family's quartet. And, to top it all off, he got his start in the business of show as a boy soprano.

There's a new show premiering at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse: The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers by Lori Fischer, the author of last year's Barbara's Blue Kitchen. Fischer's latest musical follows the adventures of two singing sisters from Ashland City, Tennessee, and the people who love them. Our question: Does Stratton's Diner (arguably the best burger joint ever in the history of the world) still exist in Fischer's depiction of the Cheatham County town? Director Bryce McDonald is being tight-lipped about it.

Bradley Moore's Music City Theatre Company debuts its 12th production tonight - Amy Herzog's 4,000 Miles - starring Taylor Novak, Terry Occhiogrosso, Britt Byrd and Cate Eunyoung Jo. Playing Nashville's iconic Darkhorse Theater through April 9, the show is an eagerly anticipated part of the 2016 theatrical season.

Here's your opportunity to get to know two Katies and an Isaac in The Friday 5: Katie Bays (who shares the role Morticia with Lissa de Guzman), Katie Davis (who's playing Wednesday, along with Caitlyn Poryako) and Isaac Brotzman (cast with Zachary Martin Waters as Uncle Fester). Read on - and then sang your tickets as quickly as possible!

Britt Byrd takes on the challenging role of Carnelle Scott in The Larry Keeton Theatre's upcoming production of Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest, running at the Donelson theater April 14-30 – the first presentation of a non-musical at The Keeton in quite some time, according to producer Jamie London.

Today, in a preview of what's to come on the Scottish moors (where mayhem and hijinks reportedly ensue), Brett Cantrell and Evan Taylor Williams take their places in The Friday 5 spotlight, giving us some insight into their theatrical lives and sharing why they think Baskerville is a perfect show for you. But, be forewarned: the altogether too-brief run is close to selling out, so securing your reservations for the rollicking mystery should be at the top of your "to-do" list.

In Robert and Willie Reale's whimsical show, Frog and Toad wake from hibernation in the Spring, plant gardens, swim, rake leaves, eat cookies, go sledding, and learn life lessons along the way. The two best friends celebrate and rejoice in their differences that make them unique and special. The jazzy, upbeat score bubbles with melody and wit, making A Year With Frog and Toad a musical sure to entertain the whole family.

Racing headlong toward graduation from Belmont University's acclaimed musical theater program, Zachary Waters (scion of the Calhoun, Georgia, Waterses) has a jam-packed week ahead even before he can take a breath and consider the gravity of his impending college commencement. This weekend, he opens in the role of Uncle Fester in BUMT's production of The Addams Family (running April 1-10 at The Troutt Theatre, with Waters' cast performing April 2, 8 and 10).

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Should you ask Bryce McDonald to point out the year of his life in which it was changed - irrevocably, but most certainly, for the better - chances are he would have difficulty in pinning down the most significant time in his life. He might select 1984, the year he first attended a show at Cumberland County Playhouse (it was Annie), or 1996 when he first stepped onto the CCP stage as a young man (in Oliver!) or it might be 1999, when he first began to train as a stage manager at the iconic Crossville theater (again, it was Annie) that has become 'home' for countless theater artists over the years.