Corrie Miller News

ROCK OF AGES is unlike any other musical, taking Toronto by a storm with amazing eighties rock music and mind-blowing performances night after night. The party continues every Sunday from October 3 until December 19, with Sunday Night Parties, where all tickets, all seats to the 7pm performances are only $50.

Due to high demand and audiences' continued desire to rock out, ROCK OF AGES, is extending its stay in Toronto once again. A new block of tickets is now on sale through December 19. ROCK OF AGES had its Canadian Premiere on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, almost blowing the roof off the historic Royal Alexandra Theatre.

With an imaginative staging and details-oriented direction by Matt Logan, with the superb musical direction of Nathan Burbank and the spirited choreography of Ashley Anderson McCarthy (who does double duty as 'Minnie Fay' in the cast - and has never looked lovelier onstage), Studio Tenn's first official season kicks off in high style with this charming production that is as colorful and heartwarming as any we've seen.

Director Maryanna Clarke's intelligent choice to retain the play's original setting instead of transplanting the playwrights' characters to some American hamlet helps to underscore the play's universality and to further illustrate how women all over the world must confront the cold reality of a cancer diagnosis. With the tremendous guidance of dialect coach Jill Massie, the three actresses in the piece (Corrie Miller, Kristin James and Linda Sue Simmons) display a remarkable gift of actually sounding as if they come from the Emerald Isle, instead of sounding like a bunch of Tennessee actresses mimicking the Lucky Charms leprechaun.

ROCK OF AGES is unlike any other musical, taking Toronto by a storm with amazing eighties rock music and mind-blowing performances night after night. The party continues every Sunday from October 3 until December 19, with Sunday Night Parties, where all tickets, all seats to the 7pm performances are only $50.

The play is described as 'a tender, often hilarious exploration of the lives of three women: 34 year-old hairdresser Rose lives on a farm with her husband and two children, wondering if she married too young. Lola, in her 50s, has withdrawn from the world. Nobody ever visits, unopened mail piles up, and she's trying to face the job of selling, packing and moving on. Lyndsey, at 11, is worried that her best friend has stopped sitting beside her in art class. When breast cancer intrudes, everything begins to come undone.'

ROCK OF AGES is unlike any other musical, taking Toronto by a storm with amazing eighties rock music and mind-blowing performances night after night. The party continues every Sunday from October 3 until December 19, with Sunday Night Parties, where all tickets, all seats to the 7pm performances are only $50.

The play is described as 'a tender, often hilarious exploration of the lives of three women: 34 year-old hairdresser Rose lives on a farm with her husband and two children, wondering if she married too young. Lola, in her 50s, has withdrawn from the world. Nobody ever visits, unopened mail piles up, and she's trying to face the job of selling, packing and moving on. Lyndsey, at 11, is worried that her best friend has stopped sitting beside her in art class. When breast cancer intrudes, everything begins to come undone.'

With a cast of 125 performers, a seven-member band, the show's running crew and a smattering of other people holding forth, the backstage scene at last Sunday night's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors was a virtual stage show in itself with all the hustle and bustle amid the hushed tones associated with the backstage area of a huge theatrical production.

Photographer Stacy Battles, one of Nashville's best known celebrity photographers, was on hand to shoot the red carpet arrivals that heralded the return of First Night, after an absence of some 14 years. First Night is presented by Jeffrey Ellis, who covers Nashville theater for BroadwayWorld.com, and who is the founder of the awards celebration that was first held on September 17, 1989.

The glitterati of Nashville's theater community took to the red carpet Sunday night, September 19, prior to the start of the First Night Nashville Theatre Honors. Held at the Troutt Theatre at Belmont University, the First Night Honors recognized eight leaders of the Nashville theater community for their lifetime achievements and contributions to the art form.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

Due to high demand and audiences' continued desire to rock out, ROCK OF AGES, is extending its stay in Toronto once again. A new block of tickets is now on sale through December 19. ROCK OF AGES had its Canadian Premiere on Tuesday, May 11, 2010, almost blowing the roof off the historic Royal Alexandra Theatre.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

Ciaran McCarthy gives such a stunningly raw and beautifully nuanced performance as film director Guido Contini in Boiler Room Theatre's production of Nine that it would be easy to lavish praise on him and leave it at that. But he is surrounded by a cast of women (and one very talented young man) who are wonderfully cast and who deliver performances that match McCarthy's in intensity and artistry. In other words: Don't even think of missing this show!

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's resident professional theatre company, continues its 10th season with NINE - The Musical opening June 18 at the theatre, located in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn. for a run through July 10.

The Boiler Room Theatre (in The Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Road, Bldg Six, Franklin) continues its 10th Anniversary season with the Williamson County premiere of the rarely produced musical NINE, a musical version of the Casanova story based on the life and loves of celebrated Italian film director Guido Contini.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's resident professional theatre company, continues its 10th season with NINE - The Musical opening June 18 at the theatre, located in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn. for a run through July 10.

The Boiler Room Theatre (in The Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Road, Bldg Six, Franklin) continues its 10th Anniversary season with the Williamson County premiere of the rarely produced musical NINE, a musical version of the Casanova story based on the life and loves of celebrated Italian film director Guido Contini.

Thanks to Street Theatre Company's stellar production of the William Finn-Rachel Sheinkin-Rebecca Feldman musical comedy, I'll be wallowing in self-pity (or maybe I'll be just a little melancholy and sanguine) until I find better ways to occupy my time and better memories to fill my mind - or a bright, shiny object catches my eye. But for now I am happy to reflect on the joyous and frivolous fun that is director Lauren Shouse's superb and sparkling staging of the musical that somehow manages to be both completely contemporary and gloriously traditional in a musical-comedy-sort-of-way. Shouse's exceptional cast of actors, accompanied by music director Rollie Mains' talented musicians and featuring the sprightly choreography of Paul Cook, are sheer perfection as The Bee's crew of over-achieving - sometimes cringeworthy, yet always lovable - middle school spelling phenoms. You'd be hard-pressed to experience a more satisfying night at the theatre.