Richard Davis

With its silver anniversary year within sight, Belmont University Musical Theatre concludes its 24th season with what is perhaps its best show yet: Legally Blonde, The Musical. Featuring a remarkable cast of student performers, including most of the Class of 2024, which is arguably the most accomplished and most promising group of students assembled in the program’s quarter-century of musical theatre pedagogy and preparation, this Legally Blonde could easily hold its own against other productions of the tremendously entertaining show, whether on tour or even on Broadway.

It only takes a moment whenconductor Jo Lynn Burks raises her baton and the first notes of the overture are heard to remember that Herman’s score includes a treasure trove of Broadway chestnuts, including “So Long, Dearie,” “Before the Parade Passes By,” “Elegance,” “It Only Takes A Moment,” “Put On Your Sunday Clothes,” as well as the title tune.

Over the past three-and-a-half decades, I have had the privilege of seeing some remarkably talented and gifted young actors on every stage on the Belmont campus and never have I ever left a performance there without feeling inspired, absolutely certain that the future of theater as we know it is pre-ordained and so very hopeful.

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 fact, it appeared that every film and theater critic worth his or her salt was noting the worthiness of such a transfer from film to stage.

The full company for the star-studded company has been confirmed for the West End Gala charity concert new musical AT LAST, IT’S SUMMER. See performance dates, and learn how to purchase tickets!

A star-studded company will appear on stage at the London Palladium in a West End Gala charity concert of a new musical, AT LAST, IT'S SUMMER by Clive Richard Davis.

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 passing thought, a barely realized memory of something lost long ago to the past, or you hear a snippet of a song, a melody that instantly makes your heart fill with emotion, and you are swept away…

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 musical theater. Just in time for a new season of productions highlighting the Nashville theater calendar, Belmont University Musical Theatre has chosen the aptly named musical revue Sondheim on Sondheim to launch a two-show semester that honors the genius of the master while showcasing the talents of its roster of musical theater majors who continue to add luster to the program’s reputation.

In much the same way that a piece of evocative music can suddenly whisk you away to another time and place, there are moments in Cynthia Harris’ beautifully written The Calling Is In The Body that can take one just as swiftly to the Nashville of the early 1990s. Almost imperceptibly, Harris’ heartfelt reminiscence – a tribute styled as a “choreopoem” – of a young woman who inspired her to believe in herself and to aspire to more than she might have believed possible at the time, becomes a universal treatise on how every life has meaning far beyond any expectation.

Anyone who’s been even the least bit concerned about the future of musical theater, in general, or the status of Belmont University Musical Theatre, in particular, need worry no more. The multi-talented triple threats studying on the Nashville campus, under the tutelage of program coordinator Nancy Allen and her team of top-flight educators, are proof that musical theater as we know it continues to flourish even in the darkest and most difficult of times.

Known as one of the nation's leading bass-harp ensembles, River Town Duo today announced the release of its debut album: River Town Duo: For Claire & Philip. The album is the latest addition to what has historically been a limited repertoire for bass-harp instrumentation.

The Atlanta Homicide Unit consistently has one of the highest clearance rates in the country, but no one solves a murder by themselves - it takes a skilled and devoted team to identify, catch, and prosecute killers.

The 50th Annual Pitt Jazz Seminar and Concert will be held November 2-7, 2020 represents the vision of Nicole Mitchell Gantt, who has been Director of Jazz Studies in the Dietrich School's Department of Music since July 2019.

There's nobody quite like Roger Kellaway. In a career that has stretched over the last 60 years, while performing with many of the legendary jazz musicians of his time he has also written memorable film and television scores, composed classical works for major symphony orchestras, inspired what came to be known as “new age” music, and provided essential accompaniment and musical direction for iconic figures of American popular music like Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell. Although Kellaway's soundtrack for the Streisand film “A Star is Born” received an Oscar nomination, and his compositions have been performed at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere by the likes of the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and National Symphony orchestras, he still may be most widely recognized for the closing theme (“Remembering You”) of the 1970s mega-hit TV series, All in The Family.

Life, as we know it, happens all around us in an amazing cavalcade of events that at once might seem inconsequential yet their importance becomes evident with time and experience. That's the message of Kodachrome, Adam Szymkowicz's lovely and elegiac play now onstage at the Actors Bridge Studio through July 28, in a warmly sentimental and sweet, yet unmistakably moving and impactful, production under the direction of Rachel Agee, who makes her professional directorial debut in the process.

A cast of 32 local actors directed by eight local directors will present 'Sauk Shorts,' an evening of 12 short plays at The Sauk, Hillsdale County's community theatre. Performances are this weekend only, April 25-28.

A cast of 32 local actors directed by eight local directors will present 'Sauk Shorts,' an evening of 12 short plays at The Sauk, Hillsdale County's community theatre. Performances are this weekend only, April 25-28.

Provocative and gut-wrenching, Citizen: An American Lyric - Stephen Sachs' dramatization of Claudia Rankine's acclaimed book of poetry and prose that focuses unflinchingly on the subject of race in America - holds up a mirror to every person in the audience at Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel, compelling them to look deep into their own selves, their own lives, to identify their own prejudices and biases. The takeaway? We must do so much better.

Four members of Jon Royal's ensemble of actors - Breanna Booker, Alicia Haymer, DeYonte Jenkins and Shawn Whitsell - made time this week, amid the hustle and bustle and general bedlam of technical rehearsals to give us some insight into the factors and events that led them to the theater and to share with readers the reasons why they think you should see Citizen: An American Lyric.

A cast of 32 local actors directed by nine local directors will present 'Sauk Shorts,' an evening of 12 short plays at The Sauk, Hillsdale County's community theatre, April 25-28.