NASHVILLE THEATER REVIEWS

You don't necessarily have to be a fan of Johnny Cash or his music to enjoy Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash now onstage at Dickson's Renaissance Center in a professional production from The Gaslight Theatre. But you can be certain that when you leave the theater you will be a Johnny Cash fan ...

There's nobody who loves a tautly written thriller more than I - you know, the type of mystery where there's much conniving going on, one's baser desires are satiated, intelligence triumphs over the dull and commonplace. Unfortunately, despite having the requisite components, Writer's Block (the new...

Street Theatre Company scores yet another great big hit with its inspired production of Altar Boyz - the musical tale of four devout young Catholics and one very talented Jew, on a divine path toward pop music superstardom. Impressively sung and acted, STC's Altar Boyz is great fun from start to fin...

Bonnie Keen, apparently, can do anything. Heretofore known for having one of the most memorable voices in the music business, she's also left her mark in theatrical circles as one of the most fearless comedic actresses to ever take the stage. But who knew she could also twirl the baton - and do the ...

Directed by Buddy R. Jones, Jeffrey is like a nostalgic trip to the 1990s for older audience members, many of whom remember the tenor of those times intimately. Intelligently, Jones approaches Jeffrey as a period piece, ensuring that the design aesthetic for the show helps to capture the underlying ...

Studio Tenn launches its eagerly anticipated sophomore season in its new home at the Franklin Theatre, kicking off the company's second act with a sparkling revival of one of musical theater's best-loved shows: Guys and Dolls, the 'musical fable of Bradway' based on a story and characters of Damon R...

Directed with a palpable sense of style and tongue-in-cheek respect for the musical's unique cast of characters by Brandy Austin, with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Boiler Room Theatre delivers yet another musical theater classic to the stage, reaffirming the company's dominance in tha...

So, this is how it all started: Cori Laemmel, who despite her many flaws (she's too sweet, too talented and too pretty, not to mention that she is, well, just darling) is one of my favorite theatrical types, calls me up and asks me to come see The Most Amazing Anything of Evertime, the new show she ...

Directed by Trish Crist in a confidently acted and well-paced production from Rhubarb Theater Company at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater, Rising & Falling offers a fictionalized account of a controversy that swirled among members of the public and throughout the tony New York City art world about an ...

Wes Driver directs a thoroughly charming and beautifully acted revival of G.K. Chesterton's first play, Magic, now onstage at the Shamblin Theatre on the David Lipscomb University campus in a sumptuously appointed production from Blackbird Theatre Company. Featuring a stellar cast of Nashville stage...

Make no mistake about it: The leading men (aka Britt Hancock and Daniel W. Black) in Cumberland County Playhouse's production of the Kander and Ebb musical Chicago very nearly steal the show right out from under their leading ladies. In fact, it is safe to say that Hancock and Black deliver two of t...

Annie, that spunky, optimistic and determined orphan who first appeared in the 'funny papers' of the nation's newspapers in 1924 - only to become one of the most beloved musical theater heroines ever to express her hope for 'Tomorrow' in song on Broadway - returns to that magical levitating stage of...

Directed by the company's producing artistic director Vali Forrister, Becky's New Car is a perfect choice for Actors Bridge, providing a showcase for a group of talented actors so charming and so engaging that you might find yourself falling a little bit in love with the whole lot. In fact, I'd prob...

That all-too-personal journey taken by two upper middle-class parents, grieving the accidental death of their four-year-old son, gives structure and form to Rabbit Hole, now onstage at Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main theater in a compellingly acted and tautly directed production staged by George W....

You might want to take note that Kathy Griffin will be making a guest appearance on Joan Rivers' Fashion Police on E! tonight (Friday, July 22), promising to be inappropriately funny and bitingly incisive while hanging out with Joan, George and either Kelly or Giuliana. Griffin reminded her audience...

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music could very well be the most-often viewed of the legendary duo's iconic works for the musical theatre, what with the seemingly endless parade of televised airings of the acclaimed 1965 film version, the frequent professional revivals of the stage show and,...

When Mandy Barnett takes to the stage of Nashville's revered Ryman Auditorium for a performance of Ted Swindley's 'musical play,' Always...Patsy Cline, she doesn't so much create a characterization of the legendary country superstar. Rather, she channels her. When Barnett sets foot on that stage, sh...

Let's face it: We all know people in our own lives who mirror pretty closely the denizens of the Armadillo Acres trailer park - the setting for The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Sure, maybe it's just from standing behind them at the Wal-Mart or trying to avoid their gaze when they're ordering...

Kinda wacky, definitely campy and darker than you might expect, Little Shop of Horrors - the musical about the flesh-eating plant and the denizens of Skid Row who bask in the glow of reflected celebrity - is brought to fun, frivolous and colorful life at Cumberland County Playhouse's Adventure Theat...

Could there possibly be a showtune more rousing than the eponymous 'Oklahoma!' from Rodgers and Hammerstein's historic musical - or an opening number more iconic or more easily identifiable than 'Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'? With lyrics and melodies so memorable that you're likely to find yourself ...

Directed with confidence by Corbin Green (who telegraphs his focused vision for the piece throughout the production) and acted with grace, style and alacrity by a superb ensemble of actors, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, now onstage at Boiler Room Theatre, may well be the most satisfy...

It was one of those moments in life when inspiration, like so much lightening, struck and thereafter nothing would ever be the same...When Vali Forrister's niece Haviland was 12, she shared with her aunt some of her poetry: 'I told her it was good,' Vali remembers. But shockingly, Haviland's respons...

Nashville theater-goers may have experienced the second coming on Monday night - what with the return of those FIVE divas with their Encore performance - and while it might not have been part of that much-discussed rapture we've heard so much about of late, they certainly responded rapturously to th...

Led by the charming Debbie Kraski, who commands the stage with grace and wit as the show's wacky protagonist, director Jenny Noel's talented cast delivers a pleasant and amusing summer diversion by way of John Patrick's Everybody Loves Opal, now onstage at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre....

While critics and fans alike justifiably lament the paucity of female leads in Broadway musicals this season just past, you need look no further than the current tour of The Color Purple for a musical filled to overflowing with noteworthy women characters. The beautiful and moving reimagination of A...