GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for April 26, 2017

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! We hope you are feeling hale and hearty this morning as we pose the musical question: Do you have tickets to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (running at TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall through Sunday)? If not, make every effort to get downtown to see the show. It's truly remarkable and you will be moved more than you could possibly imagine. So there! Get to it! By the way, it's not a musical (or as the guy we saw flinging his playbill into the trash at intermission: "Not everything can be a musical, I guess!" he hissed.). People can be rather touchy about such things.

Meanwhile, cast your eyes to the right and say a gracious good morning to today's cover models - my pals Vickie Bailey and Jessie, who love to galavant around town while discussing today's dose of theater news and gossip. Jessie's a big star now since her turn in My Fair Lady and Vickie has been tearing up Interstate 24 bringing theater to audiences in Woodbury and Murfreesboro! Vickie would like to point out that she's been friends with Jessie even before they both hit the bigtime.

Speaking of Woodbury, our friend and 2015 First Night Honoree Darryl Deason is effusive about his upcoming production of Million Dollar Quartet at Arts Center of Cannon County and recently told us his auditions were indeed eye-opening. Like the famous Hollywood tale of Lana Turner being discovered at the soda fountain of Schwab's drugstore, Darryl found his "Elvis" one night while dining out with his lovely wife Terry at a Nashville eatery: the guy bussing tables looked so much like a young Elvis Presley, Darryl asked if he sings or acts. The answer? "Of course, I sing and act; I live in Nashville and work in a restaurant...what the hell do you think I do?" Or words to that effect. Proof once again that actors and directors should always pay attention...the next big star might be right in front of you!

Meanwhile, in Crossville, where Million Dollar Quartet opens Friday night at Cumberland County Playhouse (that makes two Million, just so's you know)...they're planning a takeover of our Twitter feed (@BWW­_Nashville) today, so be sure and follow us (and them) as actress Molly Dobbs (who plays Elvis' girlfriend Dyanne in the show and is a CCP favorite, thanks to her previous roles in A Chorus Line and Mary Poppins) tweets up a storm. Ryan Bowie and his team at the Roxy Regional Theatre and [title of show] did a bang-up job of keeping the Twitterverse filled with their Tuesday adventures and we have more takeovers planned moving forward this week, including the recently added cast and crew of John and Jen at Street Theatre Company taking the reins on Sunday, April 30!

The job of a journeyman actor in the 21st Century isn't an easy one (well, now that we think about it, it's probably easier now than it was in the 19th Century - just ask John Wilkes Booth), but recently Jacob York (star of Nashville Rep's Noises Off) had a whirlwind weekend that typifies the life of an actor in 2017 - here's what he reports: "It's been a long few days. Here's what happened: Saturday: Drove from Atlanta to Raleigh to audition for PlayMakers Repertory Company. It was lovely. Everyone should do it. Immediately got back in the car and drove to Knoxville to stay with The Morrisons. Held a crying baby and went to bed. Sunday: Hung out with The Morrison Family. Ate some delicious homemade pizza and had a super in depth discussion about faith. Which is always cool. Drove to Lexington. Or tried. I mean, I eventually got there, but there was a wreck I was stuck behind for a long time, and getting into town was kinda slow, but whatever. Had dinner with Amanda Kohn and Heather Thompson Tucker (and Caroline) which was SO lovely. Then, I stayed the night at Macy Andrews Reed's parents house (which was also great). Watched hoops (Get 'em Jazz!) and Forged in Fire (the best show on television) and went to bed. Monday: Got up. Drove to Louisville. Ran into Seth Lieber (!) and took a selfie for Galen [his gorgeous and talented wife who starred in Nashville Rep's The Last Five Years]. Auditioned for Actors Theatre of Louisville, which was a huge deal for a Kentuckian like myself. Texted with Jessica Wortham Newman a lot about how sad it was that we couldn't see one another. Walked down to the touristy section of Louisville. Immediately turned around and walked back to my car. Drove to Nashville and went to NPT [location of Nashville Rep offices]. Talked with Rene Dunshee Copeland for a while about everything. Ran into Santiago Sosa and Morgan Davis, which was the cherry on top of the stop in Nashville. Stopped by Fat Mo's and got a burger. Drove to Atlanta. Arrive. Collapse.

"I never want to get into a car again, (Like, 22 hours of solo driving when your earbuds are broken will do that to you...) but it was an amazing, lovely trip, made even more beautiful by the wonderful people who let me (or offered to let me) invade their homes / guest rooms / routines," he says. "I said it felt like I was a particularly well-liked hobo. But the fact that so many people are willing to disrupt their days in order to save me some cash when I'm out on these auditions trips is so meaningful to me."

Wow. We're tired just from bolding names and italicizing shows - and we didn't have to do the traveling. Thanks Jacob for sharing!

Sending out wishes of Happy Birthday! to, among others: Heather Anderson, Santayana Harris (who opens in Little Shop later this week), Mindy Scott, Ginny Cavin and Anderson Dodd, who share their birth date with Anita Loos and Carol Burnett! Today in theatre history: Mae West's Sex opened in 1926; Hallelujah Baby! opened on Broadway in 1967; the iconic Company made its Broadway bow in 1970; Jelly's Last Jam debuted in 1992; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Ken Ludwig and Don Schlitz, premiered in 2001; Leap of Faith played only 19 performances after it debuted in 2012; and in 2016, Tuck Everlasting had its Broadway opening night.

And that should tide you over until next time. Remember: No matter where in the world you find yourself today, CELEBRATE THE MAGIC OF LIVE THEATER! We hope you'll live life dramatically and don't forget, tomorrow is #TheatreThursday!