Greg Frey News

Perhaps no singing group more aptly captures the spirit of America during World War II than the glorious Andrews Sisters: the sound of Patty, Maxene and Laverne somehow encapsulates the romantic notions of a world at war that still delights audiences and conjures up visions of all-American spirit and spunk. With songs like 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,' 'Hold Tight,' 'Three Little Sisters,' and 'Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree,' audiences are immediately taken away to wartime - well, actually, the war's in its waning days (the time is March 1945), but young men are still risking their lives to ensure our liberties while saving the world from the Axis powers.

Looking for something fun to do in Nashville this week? Have no fear, gentle BWW Nashville readers, our team of writers have done the necessary legwork - we're all about saving you time and helping you make informed decisions about how to spend your entertainment dollar, after all - and we are delighted to present you with our very first Critic's Choice column, filled to the veritable brim with suggestions for great stuff going on around our fair state. Now, get out there and have some fun, y'all! And while you're at it, you'll be doing some good for the community by supporting the arts in the Volunteer State!

Arriving at Dickson's Gaslight Dinner Theatre just in time for Valentine's Day and all those accompanying celebrations of love and marriage is I Do! I Do!, the other Tom Jones/Harvey Schmidt musical (with The Fantasticks being the other other one - my apologies to fans of 110 in the Shade), that details 50 years in the lives of Agnes and Michael Snow, played with almost impossible charm by Jenny Norris-Light and Andy Brown.

Two Guys and a Christmas Tree brings the holiday season to Dickson in the persons of Nick Fair, Michael J. Parker, Marilyn Whitehead Fair and Jenny Norris-Light, a quartet of capable actors and wonderful singers who provide a soundtrack for your seasonal celebrations in a sprightly holiday diversion directed by Greg Frey.

Flying cows, killer rabbits, beautiful show girls and rude Frenchmen are just some of the oddities and marvels which will be on hand to usher in the Roxy Regional Theatre's 31st season with the opening of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy sensation Monty Python's SPAMALOT tonight, September 13, at 8pm.

Flying cows, killer rabbits, beautiful show girls and rude Frenchmen are just some of the oddities and marvels which will be on hand to usher in the Roxy Regional Theatre's 31st season with the opening of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy sensation Monty Python's SPAMALOT on Friday, September 13, at 8pm.

Flying cows, killer rabbits, beautiful show girls and rude Frenchmen are just some of the oddities and marvels which will be on hand to usher in the Roxy Regional Theatre's 31st season with the opening of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy sensation Monty Python's SPAMALOT on Friday, September 13, at 8pm.

Set sail for SOUTH PACIFIC this summer with the Roxy Regional Theatre, Clarksville's oldest live theatre and only professional theatre. Starring powerhouse vocalists John Boehr and Alicia Kelly as Emile de Becque and Nellie Forbush, the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic will close out the Roxy's 30th Anniversary Season, beginning Friday, July 12, at 8pm.

Dickson's Renaissance Players usher in the holiday season with an encore production of the musical extravaganza, A Christmas Carol, The Musical, running November 30 - December 18 in the Anne Deason Performance Hall at The Renaissance Center.

What really happens "happily ever after"? That is among the questions answered in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, to be presented by the Renaissance Players at Dickson's Renaissance Center, tonight, October 19-28 in the Anne Deason Performance Hall. The award-winning and critically acclaimed musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them further to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests.

What really happens "happily ever after"? That is among the questions answered in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, to be presented by the Renaissance Players at Dickson's Renaissance Center, October 19-28 in the Anne Deason Performance Hall. The award-winning and critically acclaimed musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales and follows them further to explore the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests.

Now onstage at Dickson's Renaissance Center, in a professional production at The Gaslight Dinner Theatre helmed by Pacer Harp, and featuring a cast of winning performers, 9 to 5: The Musical has Dolly's unmistakably sunny outlook-exemplified by her tuneful score for the show-and Patricia Resnick's sharply drawn characters and situations which are sure to please even the film's most ardent admirers.

Dolly Parton's "in the house," in spirit and in song, at Dickson's Renaissance Center with the debut of 9 to 5: The Musical at The Gaslight Dinner Theatre, running through October 13. The show, based on the hit 1980 movie starring Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, features a score by seven-time Grammy Award-winner Parton that includes the blockbuster title song plus 18 original numbers that mix Broadway with pop and Parton's signature witty lyrics.

Who's who in Tennessee theater? Sometimes, without a program in your hand, it's difficult to know who's playing whom-hence, our newest feature: Hey, Jef, Here's My Headshot...featuring some of the Volunteer State's best-known-or soon-to-be-known all over the freakin' world-thespians. And have you ever wondered who the amazing photographers are who make them look damn good? We're gonna tell ya…Today's actor/subject/model is the handsome and talented Greg Frey.

Ever wonder how those other Cratchit kids must have felt cast in the shadow of their younger brother Tiny Tim's star-making turn in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol? Let's face it, the kid's a ringer: he's lovable, cute and wise beyond his years and his health, or lack thereof, make him a sentimental favorite of audiences - and clearly, a favorite of his parents. While poor Martha is off being apprenticed to a milliner (who, granted, gives her a day off for Christmas), Tiny Tim is treated tenderly and attentively by dear ol' mum and dad (who fairly dotes on his youngest offspring-now even I can understand why my older siblings dislike me so).

Featuring a cast of actors from throughout Middle Tennessee, The Renaissance Players will present the musicalized version of a holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, The Musical, December 2- 18 in the Anne Deason Performance Hall at The Renaissance Center in Dickson. The Charles Dickens classic gets the full Broadway treatment with music by Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid) and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (Ragtime, Seussical).

Remind me someday to tell you my Connie Francis story - although, in retrospect, it probably veers dangerously close to the realm of 'you had to be there,' but then again, who among you has a Connie Francis story to tell? The Italian-American songstress, who was such a presence in American pop culture in the middle of the last century, has been on my mind a lot since seeing Breaking Up is Hard to Do, an appealing, if slight, musical revue featuring the hits of Neil Sedaka, now onstage at The Gaslight Dinner Theatre at The Renaissance Center in Dickson.

Neil Sedaka's music is featured in Breaking Up is Hard to Do, now onstage through March 19 at the Gaslight Dinner Theatre at The Renaissance Center in Dickson, kicking off the theater's 2011 season with the Tennessee premiere of the musical revue.