NASHVILLE THEATER REVIEWS

It was a part of life only understood completely, if experienced, and its impact continues to be felt today in ways you can sometimes predict, although oftentimes it invokes unexpected memories that take you completely unaware. That explains why I’ve taken so long to compose this review of Falsett...

One of musical theater’s most beloved offerings, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music is again brought to life by Studio Tenn in a lovely – and certainly crowd-pleasing – production through July 16 at Christ Presbyterian Academy’s Soli Deo Center, which marks the welcome return to ...

Imagine walking into Jackson Hall on opening night, as I did, thinking, “Why did the directors reimagine this pleasant, if somewhat plodding, old-school musical with an ensemble of multi-ethnic women, trans and non-binary actors cast in the roles of America’s founding fathers?” Then leaving th...

Truth be told, this may be the most impressive assemblage of talent we’ve ever encountered on the Jackson Hall stage in our 30-some years of reviewing Broadway at TPAC. Seriously....

For years – for decades, really – I have advocated that Music City tourism would benefit from a sit-down production of a country music-themed musical, one that would appeal to a wide range of aficionados and would showcase the musical library of a beloved figure in the pantheon of Nashville musi...

With noteworthy performances across the board, Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production of Violet – with a lovely, haunting and emotional score by Jeanine Tesori and a sometimes meandering, oftentimes difficult to follow, libretto by Brian Crawley, based upon Doris Betts’ short story “The Ug...

Colorful and campy, fast-paced and royally entertaining – and about as much fun as current Tennessee laws may allow (our state legislature’s supermajority, however, might be clutching their pearls and wailing about “who’ll protect the children?” even as the youngsters surrounding me on ope...

We’ve been thinking about that 2012 legislation as we prepared to see Roxy Regional Theatre's 2023 production of Spring Awakening, the Tony Award-winning musical by Duncan Sheik and Stephen Sater, which is based on the play of the same name written in the late 19th century by playwright Frank Wed...

Among attributes audience members have come to expect from a Nashville Children’s Theatre production – fired by significant amounts of imagination and enough creativity to empower the minds of every youngster who has ever been introduced to the transformative power of live theater by the artists...

When the history of live theater performance in Nashville, post-pandemic, is written sometime in the future, it’s highly likely there will be a chapter dedicated to and inspired by the significance of the artistry of Alicia Haymer, the actor/director/playwright who grew up in Nashville and whose i...

To be certain, Cabaret (in every iteration I have ever seen), represents the awesome power of live theater to challenge preconceived notions while creating a world audiences can only visit when in the thrall of a talented cast of actors inspired to indulge in fantasy while maintaining an earthbound ...

Confidently directed by Beki Baker, in a stylish and rather sophisticated production led by two of Lipscomb Theatre’s finest – Victoria Griffin as Lizzy Bennet and Bryce Dunn as Mr. Darcy – Pride and Prejudice is clearly one of the most entertaining and quite joyful productions we’ve seen si...

The power of theater to transform lives and to transport audiences to worlds perhaps unknown to them is no more profoundly felt than in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the play by Simon Stephens based upon the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. Now concluding its run at the An...

Can you recall way, way back to 1991 when the Disney animated film version of Beauty and the Beast was first released? Well, even if you can’t, I certainly can remember how every theater aficionado I knew was exulting about the wondrous work and how it should be made into a live stage musical. In ...

It was in Fall 1995 that I first was introduced to the gospel singing Sanders Family of “up near Siler City, North Carolina,” in a production of Smoke on the Mountain at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. In 2023, the family returns again, as if by magic or perhaps accompanied...

Street Theatre Company makes its long awaited and eagerly anticipated debut as a resident company at Nashville’s Barbershop Theatre with its thoroughly entertaining production of Ordinary Days, the sung-through 2008-2009 work with music and lyrics by Adam Gwon....

Sometimes, even imperceptibly and when you least expect it, you may find yourself in search of something that helps to take you away from the rigors of the real world, to transport you to a long-dreamed-of land of fantasy which exists in your heart of hearts. Perhaps that journey is spurred on by a ...

Make no mistake about it: SIX, the Tony Award-winning musical about six women historically tethered to one another by a common – but not “a commoner” – ex-husband, is raucously funny one moment, remarkably heartfelt the next, with plenty of history punctuating the moments in between. SIX,...

There’s really nothing better for what ails you – particularly on a cold, wet and dreary Sunday afternoon – than a stroll down memory lane, thanks to a tuneful trip to the 1950s and ‘60s with The Marvelous Wonderettes, a nostalgic and enormously entertaining musical revue by Roger Bean....

Mesmerizing and captivating are just two of the words that might best describe Hadestown, the Tony Award-winning best musical of the truncated 2019-20 Broadway season, which is now commanding ovations of rapturous applause from adoring fans at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center during an...

Lauren Shouse’s directorial resume is quite the impressive one and over the years she’s helmed productions for Nashville Repertory Theatre that have been justifiably acclaimed both by audiences and critics alike. But despite the notoriety that seems to always accompany a “Lauren Shouse-directe...

Since his death in 2021, Stephen Sondheim and his canon of work have justifiably been on the hearts and minds of theater people from around the world, with revivals, retrospectives and remembrances filling the calendars of an amazing range of companies paying homage to the master of contemporary mus...

With a stellar cast under the direction of Cammy Harris, Watershed Public Theatre’s version of Little Women The Musical ends its two-weekend run at Columbia State Community College’s Cherry Theatre on Sunday, October 9, with an endearing production that proves once more the timelessness of Alcot...

Studio Tenn – the Franklin-based professional theater company – launches its 2022-23 season in collaboration with Tennessee Performing Arts Center for a concert staging of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, playing for just two nights at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theatre September 30 and October 1. ...

In 2010, the Clarksville-based Roxy Regional Theatre staged a production of Stephen Sondheim and James LaPine’s “exquisitely off-kilter and melodiously rapturous musical Into the Woods” which remains firmly ensconced in my memory for its many attributes, not the least of which were the actors ...