Ernie Nolan News

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

Wendy Kesselman’s new adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank – which is based upon the acclaimed 1955 play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and is an update of her 1997 script which has been widely produced since – is given a superb world premiere production by Nashville Children’s Theatre, which adds luster to the original work and makes it more accessible to contemporary audiences in director Ernie Nolan’s new iteration onstage through October 2.

Leave it to Ernie Nolan and his creative gang at Nashville Children’s Theatre to take audiences on a much-appreciated holiday under the sea with their riotous, rollicking and altogether joyful production of The Spongebob Musical – featuring some of Nashville’s most beloved stage performers – now onstage through July 17.

There is no place more magical – no art form more transformative – than the theater and now, thanks to the continued creativity and sense of wonder shared by Ernie Nolan and David Weinstein (given an assist from a timeless tale by J.M. Barrie), audiences are treated to an exhilarating flight of fancy via the award-winning pair’s sprightly and sparkling new musical take on the story of Peter Pan: Wendy’s Adventure to Neverland.  

This is the last chance to vote for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

Time is running out to vote for for the 2021 BroadwayWorld Nashville Awards! The 2021 Regional Awards honor productions which had their first performance between October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021.

What better way then to kick off your own seasonal schedule of happenings and events than a return – for a timely reminder about what the holiday season should be about – to Nashville Children’s Theatre for their colorful and entertaining adaptation of The Elves and the Shoemaker?

Throughout its long, venerated history, Nashville Children’s Theatre has broken barriers and set the standard for excellence in theater for younger audiences and its latest production – The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical – proves no less challenging than anything that has come before it.

After a year of primarily virtual performances, Dallas Children's Theater (DCT) is planning to open its doors to in-person audiences once more. As the world continues to work its way through the many COVID challenges, DCT hopes to offer some reprieve in the form of a family-friendly season focused on Brighter Days. The 2021-2022 season of plays is filled with heartwarming, hopeful tales, and lots of laughter. Warmth and energy sit at the core of each play in this streamlined season beginning with a hearty welcome-back experience titled CIRCO METROPOLIS on September 18.

After a year of primarily virtual performances, Dallas Children’s Theater is planning to open its doors to in-person audiences once more. As the world continues to work its way through the many COVID challenges, DCT hopes to offer some reprieve in the form of a family-friendly season focused on Brighter Days.

A favorite Orlando REP actor, Stephen Pugh, takes on multiple characters as he vividly takes us back to the quaint village of Sleepy Hollow, where stories of wonder and spookiness surround the legend of a headless horseman and schoolmaster Ichabod Crane. Derek G. Martin and Jesse M. Sullivan adapted this Washington Irving classic for the stage. 

Welcoming audiences to an NCT production for the first time in 16 months – albeit outside and away from its traditional theater space in downtown Nashville and relocated to a working farm west of Nashville – Nolan and his team have crafted the best possible production to herald the company’s reemergence. Presented just in time to celebrate its 90th season, Charlotte’s Web exemplifies the best of NCT (which has a much-deserved and altogether stellar reputation the world over) with a sustained sense of creativity and unbridled imagination.

Though hard to believe it may be, Studio Tenn artistic director Patrick Cassidy and his wife Melissa Hurley Cassidy have been Tennesseans for well over a year now – he took the reins at Studio Tenn, the Franklin-based professional theater company that has gained critical acclaim and national notoriety during its existence for its unique blend of musicals and original plays – but only now, as theater re-emerges from the dark days of a pandemic-related shutdown, have we managed to get the peripatetic Mr. Cassidy to take time out from his hectic schedule to answer our questions and give BroadwayWorld readers a chance to get to know him better.

MST’s MainStage season will open with the wildly whimsical and equally intelligent Darwin in Malibu by Crispin Whittell, directed by Udden. It’s a meeting of the minds when Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, and the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, meet on the beach in Malibu a century after their deaths!

The Magik Theatre has announced a new approach to how it produces and presents theatre this fall, calling it Digitize, Mobilize, and Revitalize offering digital and mobile options to local families. 

Main Street Theater (MST)'s 45th Season will include six (6) productions on its MainStage and seven (7) at its Theater for Youth for 2020-2021.

The #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon by Adam Rubin, Dragons Love Tacos, will come to life onstage this spring at The Magik Theatre. The production will feature the iconic characters, salsa dancing, high paced antics, and of course, tacos. Dragons Love Tacos will run from March 6 and continue through April 11, 2020 at The Magik Theatre. Families of all ages will enjoy this sizzling story just in time for San Antonio's very own Taco Fest: Music y Más and FIESTA.

Each year, in the decade since the Lythgoe Family first introduced Panto to American audiences, stars of TV, film and Broadway come together at the holidays-many returning year after year-to perform alongside local talent in cities across the U.S. This year's offerings include the beloved tales of Snow White, Aladdin and Peter Pan, featuring Richard Karn, Garrett Clayton, Neil Patrick Harris and many others. Past productions have featured the star power of Ariana Grande, Jordan Fisher, Morgan Fairchild, Lucy Lawless, John O'Hurley, Tamyra Gray and Alex Newell, among others.

Since arriving in our midst in early 2017, Ernie Nolan justifiably has gained a reputation as an innovator, a creative genius (Hyperbole? The answer is a resounding a?oeno,a?? judging from his artistic achievements of the past two-plus years) and a master of challenging the status quo. As executive artistic director at Nashville Children's Theatre a?" one of the leading theater companies in America, dedicated to serving young audiences through challenging, elucidating offerings certain to appeal to their varied sensibilities a?" he's given us a plethora of productions that have been both unexpected and exhilarating, elevating the local theater scene immeasurably in the process.

From the family behind TV's American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, Lythgoe Family Panto produces live, interactive musical theater for the whole family. Panto is a uniquely British holiday theatrical tradition dating back to the 1700s, taking classic fairy tales and blending them with pop culture and music, with comedic scripts, improvised moments and local references. Panto creates a raucus, interactive environment where everyone participates in the fun.