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BWW Reviews: DeSoto Family Theatre Storms the Barricades With LES MIS
There were several reasons that I almost denied myself the pleasure of attending DeSoto Family Theatre's new production of Boublil and Schonberg's LES MISERABLES, the epic (and enduring) musical version of Victor Hugo's massive nineteenth century novel. I hereby state my preconceived notions - and h...
BWW Reviews: The Orpheum Proselytizes - Sort of - With THE BOOK OF MORMON
I see them occasionally - white shirts (usually with pockets), black trousers, clean-shaven, and cradling folders and totes. They often are on a corner; at times, they are walking through the parking lots of apartment complexes. They are unfailingly polite; more often than not, they respect our 'Puh...
BWW Reviews: Playhouse on the Square Teases Its Beehives in HAIRSPRAY
When Playhouse on the Square first showcased the musical version of the giddy John Waters' romp HAIRSPRAY a few seasons back, terpsichorean dynamo Courtney Oliver (as 'Tracy Turnblad') and theatre veteran Ken Zimmerman ('Miss Edna') left the stage each night with clamorous standing ovations for them...
BWW Reviews: Theatre Memphis Toots Its Horns in THE MUSIC MAN
A number of years ago, I was ordering breakfast at the Dogwood Cabin in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and before the food arrived, a barbershop quartet began to harmonize. 'How delightful,' I thought - and then there was another song, followed by yet another: A barbershop quartet convention was in town, an...
BWW Reviews: Circuit Invites the Audience into THE LYONS Den
There's a moment in the first act of Nicky Silver's THE LYONS when dying patriarch 'Ben' is asked whether he is in pain; his response, a monosyllabic 'Yes,' hardly ranks with any of the brilliantly barbed lines scattered throughout the play, but as intoned by veteran actor Ron Gephart, it acquires a...
BWW Reviews: New Moon Theatre Ghost Hunts with HAINT
For some months, I had been hearing strong, positive comments about a previous stage reading of actor/singer Justin Asher's original HAINT, and finally, tonight, after mounting publicity (including a spot on WKNO's Checking on the Arts and an article in The Commercial Appeal's GO MEMPHIS), I was abl...
BWW Reviews: BEST OF BROADWAY 2 Proves You Don't 'Gotta Have a Gimmick'
Stage Door Productions BEST OF BROADWAY 2 Proves You Don't 'Gotta Have a Gimmick'...
BWW Reviews: Playhouse's GYPSY Offers Rose Her Turn
The collaboration of Jules Stein and Stephen Sondheim on GYPSY provided the late Ethel Merman with a career boost into immortality. What isn't familiar about this material? Everyone knows the general outline of the play itself - 'Mama' Rose is 'Mommie Dearest' without the wire hangers; at the beginn...
BWW Blog: The Narrator and the Amazing Technicolor Projector - Memphis Orpheum
I have a special place in my heart for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. As a child this musical introduced me to shows beyond the world of Rogers and Hammerstein. Sadly over the years I have seen multiple versions of the show where directors pushed inside jokes and actors chewed the sce...
BWW Reiews: Circuit Playhouse in Memphis Offers Moments of GRACE
Don't Put Your Faith in HIMmelman...
BWW Reviews: GRACE Shines at Circuit Playhouse
Grace is making its shining regional debut at The Circuit Playhouse.
This tragicomedy centers on a naive, evangelical couple, Sam (Joel Onken) and Sara (Morgan Howard) who move from Minnesota to Florida to pursue Steve's dream of opening a chain of gospel-themed motels....
BWW Interviews: TSC Interviews Paul Kiernan
Tennessee Shakespeare Company asked our actor playing Petruchio, Paul Kiernan?, five questions now that he's been through the first week of rehearsal with us for The Taming of the Shrew....
BWW Review: WAR HORSE Takes Memphis Orpheum by Storm
The National Theatre of Great Britain's epic WAR HORSE opened at The Memphis Orpheum on March 25th. The story is based on Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel of the same name. The play premiered in London in 2007, opened on Broadway in 2011, and embarked on a National Tour in 2012. It is also the inspirat...
REVIEW: GUILT, LIES AND LUST Brings Fresh Energy to Evergreen Theatre
In Shakespeare's day, actors performed for boistrous crowds that ate, drank, cheered heroes, booed the villains and shouted occasional quips at the stage; poetic soliloquies moved the dramas forward. To my astonishment and delight, I found a modern day urban equivalent in Guilt Lies & Lust 2....
BWW Reviews: Big Voices, Big Laughs Define THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL at The Circuit Playhouse
This was my first journey to Armadillo Acres and I find the community and its residents hard to aptly describe. Suffice it to say, Betsy Kelso and David Nehls wrote a campy musical melodrama with comedy broader than a double-wide, a plot lighter than an aluminum lawn chair, and stereotypes bolder th...
Wicked Brings Down the House at Orpheum
I used to believe the cyclone that dropped Dorothy's house on Munchinkland was a random disaster. Thanks to novelist Gregory Maguire, I now know better. Last night, when Director Joe Mantello brought this splendidly-imagined backstory to life on stage at the Orpheum, it once again brought down the h...
BWW Reviews: SPAMALOT Finds Holy Grail at POTS
In addition to being a sacred chalice, the Holy Grail is a metaphor for an ultimate ideal or reward. If hilarity is Spamalot's Holy Grail, the current production at Playhouse on the Square most certainly found it....
BWW Reviews: OTHER DESERT CITIES Makes Radiant Regional Debut at Circuit Playhouse
Tolstoy wrote that, 'Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Playwright Jon Robin Baitz extrapolated on that theory in his drama, Other Desert Cities, a 2012 Tony Award nominee for Best Play. It's an intricate script and the regional premiere at The Circuit Pla...
BWW Reviews: ONE MONKEY DON'T STOP NO SHOW at Hatiloo
In this context, 'monkey' is slang for an obstacle. Where obstacles are, collisions follow. City collides with country, middle class collides with working class, age collides with youth, and women collide with men....
BWW Reviews: ALMOST, MAINE Will Charm Your Thermal Socks Off.
'You're in unorganized territory . . .It's not an actual town, technically . . . .See, to be in a town you gotta get organized . . . .'
The New York Post aptly described 'Almost, Maine' as 'The Twilight Zone meets Thornton Wilder.'...
BWW Reviews: A CHRISTMAS CAROL Marks 36th Consecutive Year at Theatre Memphis
Charles Dickens' sentimental story of a miser's reform feels particularly bittersweet this year because 85-year-old stage veteran stage veteran Barry Fuller, who portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge when the show debuted at the old Theatre Memphis in 1978, has announced that this will be his final season in t...
Sister Act Brings Soulful Fun to Orpheum.
In the beginning, Touchstone released a 1992 comedy starring Whoopi Goldberg. And Touchstone saw the profits and they were good . And Touchstone said, 'Let there be a sequel,' and there was a sequel. And Touchstone called the sequel 'Back in the Habit' . . . and so on.
Now, twenty-one years later...
BWW Reviews: PETER PAN Soars at Playhouse on the Square
The musical version of the tale of the boy who wouldn't grow up is once again alive on the Memphis stage. Lindsey Roberts reprises the title role with aplomb....
BWW Reviews: Duo Delights in A TUNA CHRISTMAS at Circuit Playhouse
Greater Tuna plays have been a Memphis tradition since the 1990's. A Tuna Christmas, Directed by Ann Marie Hall (Singin' in the Rain), the second in this series, is a wild yuletide caper that introduces us to the eccentric residents of Tuna--Texas' third-smallest town....
Videos
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Primary Trust Circuit Playhouse (5/08-5/31) |
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Rent Department of Theatre and Dance, University of Memphis (10/29-11/01) |
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Edwin McCain and Five For Fighting Graceland Soundstage (6/05-6/05) |
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Sweeney Todd Playhouse on the Square (6/12-7/12) |
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Leanne Morgan Thompson Boling Arena (12/12-12/12) |
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THE FACTORY AT FRANKLIN PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH NASHVILLE BALLET 2, JUNE 5-7 2026 The Factory at Franklin (6/05-6/05) |
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Gladys Knight Graceland Soundstage (6/19-6/19) |
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The Wallflowers Graceland Soundstage (6/04-6/04) |
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The Dreamboats Graceland Soundstage (7/03-7/03) |
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Suffs The Orpheum Theatre Memphis (7/28-8/02) |
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