Heather Alexander News

The Winter Park Playhouse pays tribute to the masterful wit and ravishing melody of the incomparable Noel Coward in A Marvelous Party : The Noel Coward Celebration November 11 - December 11.   

Nationally acclaimed vocalist, Alex Mansoori, will premiere his new solo cabaret, Here's To The Ladies: A Celebration of Women in Song, in The Winter Park Playhouse's popular Spotlight Cabaret Series on October 19 and 20.  The evening will feature an assortment of opera and musical theatre selections originally performed by women. Playhouse Music Director, Christopher Leavy, will accompany on piano. 

In honor of the lives lost, in support of the families and friends of the victims, and in union with our great community, The Winter Park Playhouse stands as one with Orlando as we continue to uplift, inspire and help heal by offering our gift of musical theatre. 

Turkeys are on-sale at your local supermarket, so there's no better way to know Thanksgiving is just around the corner - yep, less than two weeks away! - which means that local theater companies will be unleashing their holiday season productions with enough productions of A Christmas Story (both the musical and the play), It's A Wonderful Life and Ebenezer Scrooge-led shows that you could shake a stick at!

Thus, we are happy to present the return of one our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2015/16 season. We'll update the calendar every Monday, clearing out the shows that have closed and adding additional information on the shows still to come. Something's missing? That's an easy fix: just send us a message here, on Facebook, or by email at jeffreyellis37215@att.com.

Halloween's all done in, there are still three weeks ahead before we officially give thanks, and Christmas - and all its accompanying frenzy and frivolity - is about seven weeks away! So what's there to do for all the theatrical types jonesing for a trip to make believe? Plenty! Theater companies all over middle Tennessee are showing off their best and brightest, with a number of eagerly anticipated shows opening this weekend and/or continuing from their earlier opening nights and next Tuesday there's a sparkling new Broadway musical swinging through Music City to entertain you…

In Of Mice and Men, writer John Steinbeck relates the tale of two lifelong friends whose hard-scrabble lives are played out against the backdrop of the Great Depression: two men whose bleak existence is made even more challenging by the cruel realities of the world at that time. Since its publication in 1937, Steinbeck's slim novella has inspired artists to offer different interpretations of the story - to varying degrees of success, to be certain - including numerous film versions, a Carlisle Floyd opera, ballets and stage productions, including a recent Broadway run and, closer to home, a production now onstage from Middle Tennessee's oldest community theater organization.

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.

This holiday season will certainly be more cheerful with The Winter Park Playhouse production of Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings running November 13-22 and then again December 3-19.

It's Halloween weekend and every dramatic personage and theatrical type we've ever encountered is caught up in the annual rush to find just the right costume for their holiday revelries (we confess we've never had the knack for coming up with Halloween get-ups - not since we went in drag to a party at the First Baptist Church as the age of 12…tongues were wagging, we are certain, but we lived to tell about it, so it couldn't have been that bad). In the meantime, there are all sorts of onstage happenings this weekend to keep you otherwise engaged should the difficulty of selecting your costume prove to be too much.

Today, Eric Butler (who plays Curlie) and Tony Nappo take on our Friday Five questions, to give you some insight into the two actors. Here's your chance to get to know them before seeing the show which runs for three weekends, through November 15.

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.

Local celebrity Marina Jurica blows into The Winter Park Playhouse this Fall showing off more than her television skills as she performs her solo cabaret ' Love and The Weather' in the theatre's popular Spotlight Cabaret Series, tonight and tomorrow, October 7 and 8, 2015. Playhouse Music Director Christopher Leavy will accompany on piano.

Local celebrity Marina Jurica blows into The Winter Park Playhouse this Fall showing off more than her television skills as she performs her solo cabaret " Love and The Weather" in the theatre's popular Spotlight Cabaret Series, October 7 and 8, 2015. Playhouse Music Director Christopher Leavy will accompany on piano.

The Winter Park Playhouse jumps into the Fall with the smash Off-Broadway hit The Marvelous Wonderettes tonight, September 11, through October 10 2015.

The Winter Park Playhouse jumps into the Fall with the smash Off-Broadway hit The Marvelous Wonderettes September 11 - October 10 2015. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30p.m., Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2p.m. and select Wednesday, Friday and Sunday matinees at 2p.m.  The preview performance is Thursday, September 10 at 7:30p.m.

The Winter Park Playhouse sets sail with the well-loved tap dancing musical comedy Dames At Sea July 24 - August 22, 2015. This is the first production in a series of six professional musicals the Playhouse is offering through June 2016. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30p.m., Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2p.m. and select Wednesday, Friday and Sunday matinees at 2p.m.  Check out a first look below!

I silently shuffle ball-changed under my seat as I waited for the show to begin. Opening night of the 2015/2016 season in the Winter Park Playhouse, with its intimate setting and alluring lounge, promised to be a delight.