Daniel Black News

Feeling the urge to let your imagination run wild, your spirit to soar or to just leave the world in which you live and go on an adventure? Sounds like a trip to the theater is in order! Luckily, companies all over the Volunteer State have been hard at work, creating new productions to transform and to transport, shows that will entertain you this summer. That's where THE NASHVILLE THEATER CALENDAR comes in handy: Peruse our listings every week to find out what shows you should see!

Feeling the urge to let your imagination run wild, your spirit to soar or to just leave the world in which you live and go on an adventure? Sounds like a trip to the theater is in order! Luckily, companies all over the Volunteer State have been hard at work, creating new productions to transform and to transport, shows that will entertain you this summer. That's where THE NASHVILLE THEATER CALENDAR comes in handy: Peruse our listings every week to find out what shows you should see!

Celebrating the third season of its successful Opera Residency Program, The Solti Foundation U.S. continues to offer young conductors hands-on opera experience with distinguished opera companies throughout the United States. Penny Van Horn, Chair of the Solti Foundation's Board of Directors announced that the organization will have completed 10 residencies by the end of this season, with more to take place in 2017-18.

Celebrating the third season of its successful Opera Residency Program, The Solti Foundation U.S. continues to offer young conductors hands-on opera experience with distinguished opera companies throughout the United States.

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.

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.

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.

A/C Theatre Company takes the reigns from creators Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner, and Alan Stevens Hewitt, and depicts LIZZIE: The Musical, a phenomenon with head-banging rock music, haunting four-part harmonies, and refreshing feminist motifs. Directed by Kim Richard and Tim Shawver, A/CTC's production of LIZZIE evades the risk of falling into standard rock concert format, transcends typical musical theatre, and perfectly presents a jarring portrayal of a normal girl groomed into an axe-wielding murderess.

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."  

Summertime is here, what with Memorial Day and all that it encompasses, and we can think of no better seasonal activity than taking in some local theater. No matter where you are in the Volunteer State, Tennessee theater companies are ready and willing to help transport you to a different world, another time and place where your life can be is transformed magically on a stage very near you!

Summertime is here, what with Memorial Day and all that it encompasses, and we can think of no better seasonal activity than taking in some local theater. No matter where you are in the Volunteer State, Tennessee theater companies are ready and willing to help transport you to a different world, another time and place where your life can be is transformed magically on a stage very near you!

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.

'Spring is here! Why doesn't my heart go dancing?' - or at least to the theater to be transported to a different world, another time and place where life is transformed and magic happens before your very eyes...

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

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.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.