It's Back! MUSIC CITY CONFIDENTIAL Number 8

You will not believe it! The last time we gave you a Music City Confidential (number seven), the London Olympics were winding up, LaToya Gardner and Kevin Mead were starring in Circle Players' Aida, Maggie Richardson and Cody Rutledge were headlining Xanadu at the Arts Center of Cannon County, and Music City was caught up in Nutty Professor fever! Today marks the return of Music City Confidential and we hope you'll be feeling particularly thankful for edition number 8 by the time we're done with you!

So, how have you been? Great to see you again and thanks for squeezing MCC8 onto your harried pre-holiday calendar...

How weird is it to have two of our favorite actors both in Omaha, both preparing to tour in A Christmas Carol, but not working together? Proving what a small world this one is, Jordan Tudor Haggard and Andy Brown (both of whom are veterans of the Gaslight Dinner Theatre at Dickson's Renaissance Center) are ready to roll in Nebraska Theatre Caravan's holiday season spectacle. Jordan's headed to the East Coast for NTC, while Andy's staking claim to the Midwest.

"I am the awesome and amazing Chestnut Vendor known as Tessie in this show. I work outside Scrooge's door and get crap from him daily," Jordan explains. "The tour is going up and down the east coast! We start in New Haven, Connecticut and end in Jacksonville, Florida. There is one random stop in Michigan at the beginning of December. We will have lots of shows in the New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania area. My last show is Christmas Eve night so I actually get to spend Christmas in Nashville! I'm so excited! I have two more previews and then we hit the road on Wednesday."

Andy reports, "I'm playing the character of Jake Hawkins in the Midwest Tour. We travel through various parts of Minnesota, Michigan, Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Missouri. My character is part of the ensemble and weaves throughout the present past and future. I also understudy Bob Cratchitt.

"I'll be back at the Gaslight in Dickson to do I Do, I Do in January/February with Jenny Norris Light."

The enormously talented and absolutely beautiful Katherine Sandoval Taylor is back home in Middle Tennessee today after a spectacular, sold out run in her hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, in Forte at The Altamont Theatre Friday and Saturday, November 21 and 22. Kaat, billed as "the prima donna," was joined in the concert by Liz Aiello, "the country legend," Beverly Todd, "the Broadway Belter," and Carol Duermit, "the Rocker Chick."

"We had sold out crowds and had a wonderful reception from Asheville," Kaat says. "The other three women are professional singers/actresses now residing in Asheville. Liz Aiello (our resident country legend famous around the country for her years of touring Always, Patsy Cline and her NYC career-Broadway tours, off-Broadway and cabaret work), Carol Duermit (our resident rocker, with a lifetime of rockband credits under her belt as well as tours and theatre work), and Beverly Todd (our Broadway Belter, who is an Asheville native who left after college to live the dream in NYC and eventually LA where she did tours and other professional theatre, television and modeling.) You know me, I'm the classically trained Prima Donna (and I'm surprised how many people don't realize the theatrical definition of this term) who does opera, concert and cabaret work, and theater throughout country and I've worked with almost every professional company in Western North Carolina: Flat Rock Playhouse, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre, The Asheville Symphony Orchestra, The Asheville Lyric Opera, Asheville Bravo and more."

Good news for us? The quartet are currently planning a Middle Tennessee concert in 2015!

The Runyeons-Linda Sue, Ron and Alyssa-will be onstage together for the first time in the Renaissance Players' production of Irving Berlln's White Christmas.

"We are all together in this one," Linda Sue exclaims, excitedly and proudly. "Alyssa talked Ron into auditioning for his first role since he did summer stock over 40 years ago. She is excited to be playing Susan, I'm Martha and Ron is Ezekial. Don't miss your chance to see Alyssa and Ron sing and tap dance Yes, Ron can tap!" Linda Sue claims she will be loud and silly, and promises audiences will leave in the Christmas spirit.

White Christmas, directed by Jon Kopischke, is the story of two showbiz buddies who put on a show in a picturesque Vermont inn and stumble upon love along the way. Filled with dancing, romance, laughter and some of the best holiday songs ever written, White Christmas is sure to delight audience members of all ages. The show includes seventeen songs from Irving Berlin and includes classics like "Count Your Blessings," "Sisters," "Blue Skies," "Happy Holiday," and the title song, "White Christmas." Performances will be December 5-7 and 12-14,, with curtain on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. and 2 p.m. matinees on Sundays at The Renaissance Center at Freed-Hardeman University in Dickson. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors, and $5 for kids under six. For more information or for tickets, call (615) 740-5600 or go to www.renplayers.com.

Ah, the exuberance of youth! Kaila Brooke Wooten and her brother, Adam Wooten (they're the totally theatrical children of Holly Goldman Wooten and Victor Wooten, two of the nicest and most gifted people you could ever meet-and don't even get me started on their amazingly talented kids!) just couldn't contain themselves during intermission at The Book of Mormon at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Sunday, November 23, when they recreated the famous Elder Price pose from the nine-time Tony Award-winning musical's poster.

"I haven't laughed this much in years," 2014 First Night Honoree Daron Bruce proclaimed after seeing the show.

First Night Award winner Amy Greenwell Warren called the show "brilliant!"

Which brings us to this: Nashville audiences took to The Book of Mormon like so many ducks to water (or like so many frogs to f'ing) during the second national touring company's eight performances in Andrew Jackson Hall. The show was sold-out for its entire run, meaning anywhere from 16,000 to 20,000 theater-goers filled the seats to revel in the Trey Parker-Matt Stone-Robert Lopez musical, paying off in spades for TPAC. Congratulations to Christi Dortch, Kathleen O'Brien and all the lovely folks at TPAC for their huge gamble, which proves edgy material will sell in Nashville if it's superb!

Black Friday got you down already (and it's only Monday!)? The Arts Center of Cannon County has just what the doctor ordered for post-Thanksgiving let-down: Skip the mall and join the fine folks in Woodbury on Saturday, November 29, for their Annual Holiday Bazaar! This indoor event takes place at The Arts Center of Cannon County and features handmade, unique gifts and Christmas collectibles from over 30 local craft artists. The bazaar takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and The Blue Porch Restaurant will be open all day beginning at 8 a.m. (reason enough to make the drive to Woodbury, I assure you). Naturally, admission and parking are free.

You can always tell you're among family when you return to reviewing after a two-year respite and get to attend an opening night at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, the venerable venue that's provided a living and tons of roast beef for scores of actors and theater technicians and artists for 47 years. Last Thursday night's opening of Lydia Bushfield's adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was just such a reunion. Not only did we get to see the lovely, titian-tressed Ms. Bushfield, but we also were welcomed warmly by the hostess-with-the-mostest Janie Chaffin, director Kim Thornton Nygren, the always delightful Debbie Kraski, charming Daron Bruce, smiling Robin Daugherty, the jovial Bryce Conner and stage manager extraordinaire Jack French as well as cast members Mallory Mundy, Andy Riggs, Devon Buchanan, Warren Gore and Charlie Winton! Thomas Wolfe notwithstanding, you certainly can go home again!

Fresh off his critically acclaimed (which means I loved it!) performance in the Hedwig and the Angry Inch at theotherspace at Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre, Ryan Bowie takes on another massive line-load in David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries. In Joe Mantello's adaptation of Sedaris' acclaimed satirical essay, Ryan plays an out-of-work actor who decides to become a Macy's elf during the holiday crunch (which hits just a little bit close to home for us, truth be told). At first the job is simply humiliating, but once the thousands of visitors start pouring through Santa's workshop, he becomes battle weary and cynical, occasionally taking out his frustrations on the children and parents alike. In time, however, his bitterness turns to bliss as he experiences the miracle called Christmas.

The Santaland Diaries is presented in the 50-seat black-box theatre located upstairs at the Roxy, and plays at 7 p.m. on December 8, 9, 15 and 16. Tickets are $15 and may be reserved online at www.roxyregionaltheatre.org or by phone at (931) 645-7699.

Finally, be sure to save the date of Sunday, January 11, 2015 for the return of Midwinter's First Night, the irreverent, decadent and slightly off-kilter and naughty younger brother of The First Night Honors (or you might think of it as a drunken bacchanalian orgy of theater love). Details will be forthcoming soon. You certainly won't want to miss this one!