Beki Baker

Baker’s superb direction brings all the various moving parts of this huge production together to deliver a gratifyingly heartfelt paean to the millions of working women (and men) who inspired the screenplay and musical book by Patricia Resnick. Baker’s vision for the piece, in concert with her team of collaborators, delivers a production of 9 to 5: The Musical that is delightfully fresh and new, eschewing the tendency of some directors to offer a rehash of what’s already been seen on Broadway, on tour or in regional theater.

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 since the pandemic has loosened its grip on theater and allowed a return to near-normalcy stagewise.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 19th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 12th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

In October 2001, Mamma Mia! opened on Broadway, just weeks after the horrific events of 9/11, and most pundits had little inkling that the show – a jukebox musical comprised of ABBA hits and the story of a young girl trying to divine the identity of her father from among three of her mother’s suitors some 21 years earlier – would go on to become the ninth longest running musical in the history of the New York theatrical enclave. But Mamma Mia! was exactly what the theater-going public needed in the aftermath of an epoch-shattering and historic event: an enormously entertaining, fast-paced show set to an eminently hummable, danceable score of songs that could whisk them away to another time and place.

Though hard to believe it may be, Studio Tenn artistic director Patrick Cassidy and his wife Melissa Hurley Cassidy have been Tennesseans for well over a year now – he took the reins at Studio Tenn, the Franklin-based professional theater company that has gained critical acclaim and national notoriety during its existence for its unique blend of musicals and original plays – but only now, as theater re-emerges from the dark days of a pandemic-related shutdown, have we managed to get the peripatetic Mr. Cassidy to take time out from his hectic schedule to answer our questions and give BroadwayWorld readers a chance to get to know him better.

There is something about Hatty Ryan King a?" the young woman playing Alice Murphy in Lipscomb University Theatre's superb production of Bright Star (the recent Broadway musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell) now onstage at Collins Alumni Auditorium through November 10 a?" that sets her apart from her peers, that makes her seem destined for greatness and which ensures that every role she takes on is elevated by her unerring instincts, her palpable presence and her inestimable talent.

Celebrating an opening night is always exciting, if exhausting, nerve-wracking and exhilarating, but when it's the very first production of a new theater company you've co-founded, odds are it's even more so. Just ask Emily Faith who is directing the premiere production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Dallas-based Lily & Joan theater company she co-founded in 2018 with Erika Larsen.

Here's hoping you had a splendid Thanksgiving holiday weekend and that you're settling in for another action-packed season of events and shows to make Christmas 2018 sparkle even more! Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 26, 2018, to help you plot your course through the end of the year...

Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap, including a whole slew of holiday favorites, for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 12, 2018, to help you plot your course through next February...

Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 5, 2018, to help you plot your course through the end of the year...

Lipscomb University Theatre has only just announced its 2018-19 season and Beki Baker, chair of the Lipscomb University theatre department, says student response already has shown “an overwhelming amount of excitement.”

Lipscomb University Theatre kicks off its spring semester this February with Eric Overmyer's On the Verge, running February 16-25 in Shamblin Theatre.

Based on Hungarian playwright Miklos Lazlo's Parfumerie (which has also served as the inspiration for the movies The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Ole Summertime and You've Got Mail), She Loves Me is, for most musical theater aficionados, one of those infrequently-produced theatrical gems venerated by fans with much-played cast albums in their collections and beloved by audiences lucky enough to actually see the show onstage.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Tuesday, May 16, 2017, and while the whole worlds goes to hell in a handbasket, what with the latest news coming out of Washington about highly classified secrets being passed on to the Russians, Nashville theater companies are still striving to prevent people from finding out what shows they plan to do next season…

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Monday, May 15, 2017, which begs the question: What's on your theatrical agenda this week? There's plenty to see and do, so we simply won't allow any excuses: Get thee to a darkened auditorium, settle into your seats and allow yourself to be transported and, in the process, transformed - all thanks to the magic of live theater!

Carrie Brewer's fiery portrayal of the man who would ultimately become King Henry IV is certain to resonate with audiences for the compelling production of William Shakespeare's Richard II - onstage at Shamblin Theatre through April 23 in a joint production from Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Lipscomb University Theatre - especially in contrast to Caroline Amos' highly theatrical portrayal of the eponymous king whose indecision and lack of personal gravitas results in his ultimate demise.

Nashville Shakespeare Festival continues its 2017 season with Richard II, a co-production with Lipscomb University, which will run from Thursday, April 13, through Sunday, April 23. The rarely-produced play features an all-female cast and will be performed at Lipscomb University's Shamblin Theatre. Photographer Kenn Stilger captured Tuesday night's dress rehearsal in the accompanying photographs.

Spring is here! Why doesn't my heart go dancing? Well, Mr. Lorenz Hart, personally, we are too damn busy with creating the magic of live theater: We're directing a show (Daddy's Dyin'…Who's Got the Will? opens next week - April 20 - at The Larry Keeton Theatre in Donelson, thank you very much) and trying to make it out to see as much theater in Nashville as possible before old age takes its toll - it's tough out there for a theater critic!