Scott Leathers

Captivating, heartwarming, colorful, imaginative and down-right magical, Nashville Children’s Theatre’s world premiere production – it’s 19th in the past few years since executive artistic director Ernie Nolan’s arrival – of the theatre for young audiences version of Disney-Pixar’s Finding Nemo is just the latest theatrical hit from the venerable Nashville institution.

Should you feel the sudden urge to go home and bake some gingerbread upon leaving a performance of Nashville Children’s Theatre’s world premiere production of The Gingerbread Kid, rest assured it’s not a sign that you’ve developed cannibalistic tendencies. Rather, it’s part of a clever plot by director/choreographer/librettist Abe Reybold and executive artistic director Ernie Nolan (and their gang of creative artists) to ensure you’re immersed in the sweet-smelling world of confectionery treats while enjoying the brand-new musical that presents all manner of childhood tales in “bakery-fresh” packaging.

While the debate rages on about the proper time to start celebrating the holidays, Nashville Children’s Theatre may have devised the ideal plan with their current onstage offering – the world premiere of the theater-for-younger-audiences version of the recent Broadway musical Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

Nashville Ballet presents Nashville's Nutcracker, Music City's favorite holiday tradition, returning to TPAC from Dec. 8-24.

Thanks to Andrew Maraniss’ best-selling book Strong Inside – adapted for the stage by Tyrone L. Robinson – Wallace’s storied basketball career in the Southeastern Conference and the details of his upbringing in the segregated South are now brought vividly to life onstage in a history-making production from NCT, the third-oldest theater for younger audiences in the United States. Founded in 1931 by members of the Junior League of Nashville, there can be no denying that NCT, like its hometown itself and one of its favorite sons (Wallace), has been reflective of the growing diversity of its people and the evolution of its cultural and educational institutions.

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 of NCT – are unique approaches to live performance, replete with stunning visuals, the casting of actors who look like their young audiences, and refreshingly new and exciting concepts that breathe new life in ages-old tales.

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.

Wendy Kesselman’s new adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank – which is based upon the acclaimed 1955 play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and is an update of her 1997 script which has been widely produced since – is given a superb world premiere production by Nashville Children’s Theatre, which adds luster to the original work and makes it more accessible to contemporary audiences in director Ernie Nolan’s new iteration onstage through October 2.

Leave it to Ernie Nolan and his creative gang at Nashville Children’s Theatre to take audiences on a much-appreciated holiday under the sea with their riotous, rollicking and altogether joyful production of The Spongebob Musical – featuring some of Nashville’s most beloved stage performers – now onstage through July 17.

There is no place more magical – no art form more transformative – than the theater and now, thanks to the continued creativity and sense of wonder shared by Ernie Nolan and David Weinstein (given an assist from a timeless tale by J.M. Barrie), audiences are treated to an exhilarating flight of fancy via the award-winning pair’s sprightly and sparkling new musical take on the story of Peter Pan: Wendy’s Adventure to Neverland.  

This is the last chance to vote for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Time is running out to vote for for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Our readers set the nominees, and now voting is open for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

What better way then to kick off your own seasonal schedule of happenings and events than a return – for a timely reminder about what the holiday season should be about – to Nashville Children’s Theatre for their colorful and entertaining adaptation of The Elves and the Shoemaker?

Our readers set the nominees, and now voting is open for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Throughout its long, venerated history, Nashville Children’s Theatre has broken barriers and set the standard for excellence in theater for younger audiences and its latest production – The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical – proves no less challenging than anything that has come before it.

Welcoming audiences to an NCT production for the first time in 16 months – albeit outside and away from its traditional theater space in downtown Nashville and relocated to a working farm west of Nashville – Nolan and his team have crafted the best possible production to herald the company’s reemergence. Presented just in time to celebrate its 90th season, Charlotte’s Web exemplifies the best of NCT (which has a much-deserved and altogether stellar reputation the world over) with a sustained sense of creativity and unbridled imagination.

Winners have been announced for the 2020 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards - which were back bigger than ever, celebrating the best in local theatre of the past decade!