Bryce McDonald News

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! According to my iPhone today is Monday, 22 May 2017 - the weekend, busy as it was, is over and we're left hankering for a few days off in order to relax and rejuvenate…which makes us ponder this musical question: What are your plans for next weekend? In our mind, of course, our mama is warning us that such queries are symptomatic of us 'wishing [our] life away,' as she would always admonish us to live in the now instead of trying to leap-frog over the next five days. So sayeth my beloved mama: 'Live life dramatically.' Therefore, a nap might have to suffice…

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's May 17, 2017, and summer - or a reasonable facsimile thereof - has arrived in Nashville, with temperatures already climbing toward the 90s! When prompts the musical question: What's on your agenda for the summer of 2017? Anything we should know about and, more importantly, write about?

Directed by Bryce McDonald and featuring a cast that includes Ross Griffin (as Jerry Lee Lewis), Daniel W. Black (Carl Perkins), Edward LaCardo (Elvis Presley) and Steven Horst (Johnny Cash) as the titular quartet, Million Dollar Quartet is sure to set box office records in Crossville where you are likely to find the very best musical theater this side of Broadway.

Look up the term "multi-hyphenate" in the dictionary and right beside it you will see a photograph of young Ryan Bowie (go ahead, look it up, we've got all the time in the world for you to question our veracity), the actor-director-artistic director-arts administrator-all-around-good-guy, who through no fault of our own has seized control of @BWW_Nashville's Twitter account.

Cumberland County Playhouse will present Million Dollar Quartet, the Tony Award-winning musical that electrified Broadway, on the Mainstage in Crossville, running April 28-June 9.

The world premiere production of the latest comedy from Lori Fischer - Greener Pastures - opens in Crossville at Cumberland County Playhouse on Friday, March 10, running through April 21.

A capacity crowd filled The Keeton to witness the no-holds-barred evening, hosted by Julia Marie Nettles, Jenna Pryor, Austin Jeffrey Smith and Taylor Tracey. Arron Holman worked the crowd during the evening to provide insight for the coming theatrical season in Nashville.

Votes are cast; polls are closed; and results have been tabulated! This was our biggest year yet! After a record number of voters in more than 75 regions worldwide, BroadwayWorld is very excited to announce the 2016 Nashville winners! Thanks to all who voted, and huge congratulations to all the winners!

'Something that's sure to please everyone in 2017,' is the promise of Cumberland County Playhouse producing director Bryce McDonald while announcing the upcoming season at the award-winning theatrical venue located in the hill of Tennessee.

Just in time for the Halloween season, Cumberland County Playhouse presents its version of the recent Broadway hit The Addams Family - starring Playhouse favorite Jason Ross and newcomer Audrey Moore as Gomez and Morticia Addams - onstage in Crossville beginning tonight (Friday, September 30) and running through November 12.

Cumberland County Playhouse starts the summer with a splash as Disney's The Little Mermaid opens on tonight! Based on Hans Christian Andersen's timeless tale, Disney's The Little Mermaid is a family musical that features classic songs: "Part of Your World," "Kiss the Girl," and the Academy Award-winning "Under the Sea."  

Is it just me or is everyone else amazed by how quickly 2016 seems to be moving - in a theatrical sense, at least - and what with Memorial Day Weekend upon us, we're gobsmacked (gobsmacked, I tell ya!) by the wide range of productions offered up by Tennessee theater companies this weekend. Included are Street Theatre Company's Assassins, Center for the Arts' 42nd Street down in Murfreesboro, Rumors out at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre and the final performance of The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers at Cumberland County Playhouse.

They're dishing up some tasty Rumors at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre - along with the bountiful buffet of Southern delicacies - while at Donelson's The Larry Keeton Theatre, the last two performances of Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest are served up this weekend, and the national touring company of Mamma Mia! winds up its weeklong stand at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall. And the intrepid Nashville Repertory Theatre Professional Interns present their very own production of Gruesome Playground Injuries.

Lori Fischer's The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers does what so many shows before it have attempted: To create a completely new world out of whole cloth and set it down amid the already existing world (in which we mere mortals ply our collective trade), peopled by characters who are easy to love or at least accessible enough to be engaging and fun to watch. Where Fischer's new musical - now onstage at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse - succeeds so impressively is in its refreshing storytelling structure that invites audiences into the fictionalized version of Ashland City, Tennessee, where people care deeply about their neighbors and are likely to sing songs displaying their affection and which are bound to make you guffaw (probably more than once).

There's a new show premiering at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse: The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers by Lori Fischer, the author of last year's Barbara's Blue Kitchen. Fischer's latest musical follows the adventures of two singing sisters from Ashland City, Tennessee, and the people who love them. Our question: Does Stratton's Diner (arguably the best burger joint ever in the history of the world) still exist in Fischer's depiction of the Cheatham County town? Director Bryce McDonald is being tight-lipped about it.

Should you ask Bryce McDonald to point out the year of his life in which it was changed - irrevocably, but most certainly, for the better - chances are he would have difficulty in pinning down the most significant time in his life. He might select 1984, the year he first attended a show at Cumberland County Playhouse (it was Annie), or 1996 when he first stepped onto the CCP stage as a young man (in Oliver!) or it might be 1999, when he first began to train as a stage manager at the iconic Crossville theater (again, it was Annie) that has become 'home' for countless theater artists over the years.

On Friday, April 1, Cumberland County Playhouse presents the Southern Premiere of a new musical comedy by Lori Fischer (Barbara's Blue Kitchen) and Don Chaffer, The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers! CCP's producing director Bryce McDonald will direct the show, which had its world premiere at the Capital Repertory Theatre in 2013.

Recent Broadway hits Mamma Mia! and The Little Mermaid - along with the 23rd year of the downhome-flavored Smoke on the Mountain - are among the highlights of the 2016 season at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse, which was announced during a Wednesday morning press conference at the Playhouse in the midst of its 50th anniversary season.

Whatever type of entertainment escape audiences are looking for, Cumberland County Playhouse's 2016 Season offers something for everyone. From a magical chocolate factory to an underwater kingdom, to a romantic Greek island - and a dozen other locales - the Playhouse's new season promises to be its most exciting yet. 'We're thrilled to announce next year's lineup,' said Associate Producing Director Bryce McDonald. 'It's filled with some of the biggest titles to have appeared on Broadway in recent years. We've also secured the rights to new titles by the authors of some of the Playhouse's biggest hits, along with bringing back the perennial favorites, Smoke on the Mountain and A Sanders Family Christmas.'

With almost 400 people in the audience, the leading lights of Tennessee theater were heralded with the presentation of the 2015 First Night Honors Gala, Sunday night at the iconic and historic Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre in Nashville. Hosted by Geoff Davin, Stephanie Jones-Benton and Erica Patterson, the event featured musical numbers by more than 100 performers in tribute to the Class of 2015 Honorees.