Cathy Street News

Street Theatre Company presents the beloved story, The Secret Garden, this summer, featuring nearly 30 area youth, directed by Elaina McKnight Shaver and musical directed by Erica Haines.

Street Theatre Company presents the beloved story, The Secret Garden, this summer, featuring nearly 30 area youth, directed by Elaina McKnight Shaver and musical directed by Erica Haines.

Based on the classic book by Tennessee-born Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden tells the story of Mary Lennox, a 10-year-old spoiled and sickly girl who, after the death of her parents from cholera, is sent to live with her uncle, Archibald Craven. There she meets Martha, a maid on the grounds, her brother Dickon, who can talk to animals and is able to grow anything with a little bit of soil and Colin, a boy who has given up the will to live, believing he is doomed to be a hunchback like his father.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the theater once again, we welcome you to the debut installment of Music City Confidential, all the news that's fit to print (or not-depending on your perspective) from Nashville's ever-growing, ever-fascinating (okay, so we obviously don't have enough to occupy ourselves) live theater industry (we're trying that out-does it work? Let us know, theaterati!) Here amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you'll find all the stories that don't quite fit elsewhere, some of 'em kind of gossipy, some of 'em stone-cold serious, some of 'em just lists of names you need to know. You'll also find photos from our new "Intermission@" series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae-the veritable flotsam and jetsam-from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE by Ralph Pape tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

So, when it was announced that the almost obscenely talented duo of Holly Allen and Cathy Street would be reviving their performances for a summer 2012 run, I knew that I, fueled by a nostalgic bent and wistful sentimentality of a sort, should give it another once-over, as much for the winning portrayals from Allen and Street, as for the opportunity to doff my fedora (as a man with a hat-head, I've often worn a fedora, just not to the theater-I have a hard and fast set of the rules that keep me on the fashion straight-and-narrow, as it were) to director Lauren Shouse, a woman of honor and skill who will be leaving Nashville by summer's end to pursue education of a higher sort at Northwestern University.

According to the weather forecasters, it's going to be a long, hot summer in Tennessee and if you're looking to cool off at the theatre, you could probably use some help in making the right selections, right? Here are our top five picks for the theater offerings that are sure to satisfy your hankering for good entertainment...ranging from the revival of a comedy hit from Street Theatre Company's 2009 season, new takes on two classic Broadway musicals, the 25th annual Shakespeare in the Park presentation of the internationally known Nashville Shakespeare Festival and the Broadway-bound debut of a new musical comedy based on a classic film comedy, directed by the legendary Jerry Lewis and featuring the music of Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics of Rupert Holmes...

As part of its 2012 "Street Corner Show" series, featuring shows that are returning by popular demand, Street Theatre Company is excited to bring back the two-woman comedic tour de force that is Parallel Lives, running Tuesday nights from tonight, May 22 through July 3 at Street Theatre.

Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE by Ralph Pape tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

The Last Five Years runs through May 27. Tickets are only $16 for adults and $14 for students and seniors, with specials including Talk-Back nights, Student nights, and Starving Artist nights. For specific show information, and to purchase tickets, visitwww.streettheatrecompany.org. Performances are at Street Theatre, 1933 Elm Hill Pike, just off the Briley Parkway. For more information, call 615-554-7414.

THE LAST FIVE YEARS is a contemporary musical that chronicles the five year life of a marriage, from meeting to break-up. As the story begins, Cathy is at the beginning of the relationship and Jamie is at the end. With inter-cutting scenes, the audience watches Jamie move forward in time as Cathy moves backward throughout the show. THE LAST FIVE YEARS is a look at the relationship between a writer and an actress told from both points of view.

As part of its 2012 "Street Corner Show" series, featuring shows that are returning by popular demand, Street Theatre Company is excited to bring back the two-woman comedic tour de force that is Parallel Lives, running Tuesday nights from May 22 through July 3 at Street Theatre.

THE LAST FIVE YEARS is a contemporary musical that chronicles the five year life of a marriage, from meeting to break-up. As the story begins, Cathy is at the beginning of the relationship and Jamie is at the end. With inter-cutting scenes, the audience watches Jamie move forward in time as Cathy moves backward throughout the show. THE LAST FIVE YEARS is a look at the relationship between a writer and an actress told from both points of view.

Outrageously funny, wonderfully engaging and, at times, even heartfelt and sentimental, Avenue Q serves up a full buffet for the discerning theater-goer lucky enough to find himself in the audience of Street Theatre Company's production of the multiple Tony Award-winning musical, directed with flash and sass by Martha Wilkinson and featuring a cast of amazingly adept actors-turned-puppeteers who bring the show to life.

Led by an ensemble that includes the always superb Michael Holder in the titular role of Tommy, the "deaf, dumb and blind kid" who becomes a "pinball wizard," setting off widespread public acclaim and becoming a cause celebre in the process, Tommy in Concert also features the inspired pairing of Holly Shepherd and Ben Van Diepen as Mrs. Walker and Captain Walker. Despite the age difference of the two actors-not to mention their youthfulness in relation to Holder's casting as their onstage son-Shepherd and Van Diepen are believably cast as young lovers who marry in the early days of World War II only to find that first blush of romantic dreaminess devolve into the nightmarish consequences that set the show's plot in motion.

The Who's Tommy in Concert is the next offering from Street Theatre Company, continuing the sold-out success of its In Concert series, playing for six performances February 22-26. STC's 2011 In Concert offerings-Chess in Concert and Ragtime in Concert-were both included in First Night's Top 11 of 2011 Outstanding Theatrical Events.