Jamey Green News

Over the course of three nights-Thursday, September 20 through Saturday, September 22-Boiler Room presents three musicals that will be rated by the audience and a panel of media/industry professionals. Immediately following each presentation, a 10-minute talkback session will allow judges to offer ideas and suggestions and ask questions of the authors/composers. The musical which emerges from The Boiler Room Pressure Cooker Round 2 will emerge with the grand prize: a full production at the Boiler Room Theatre as part of its Lucky 13 Season. Show dates will be March 21-23, 2013.

Led by the maniacally perfect Billy Ditty as the appropriately named "Leading Player," the 14-member ensemble deliver a thoroughly focused performance, never straying from the job at hand to endanger the success of the production. That focus is necessary, of course, given the intimate confines of the playing space and the amount of action that transpires on that postage stamp-sized stage. The action, in fact, never stops and choreographer Shepherd-obviously channeling the spirit and the nature of the master Fosse himself-gives the actors a lot to do. Quite frankly, this may be one of the best choreographed musicals ever mounted at the Boiler Room, so evocative is every movement and so expertly performed is every number.

Shows are opening and closing all over Tennessee this summer and theater companies are offering up all manner of fun and games, which means there's all sorts of foolishness going on backstage during intermission. Among the best attended and best reviewed productions of 2012 is Boiler Room Theatre's next to normal (which closes tonight, June 16), directed by Jamey Green and featuring a cast that includes Megan Murphy Chambers, Mike Baum, Kevin Mead, Paige Brouillette, Jordan Ravellette and Ben Van Diepen.

In fact, in the retrospect afforded me by twelve hours, I have to admit that the production's most revelatory performance is delivered by Mike Baum, as the long-suffering and beleaguered Dan Goodman, Diana's stalwart and steadfast husband. That doesn't mean Chambers' performance is anything less than the spectacular onstage turn that it is-but, truth be told, it was expected from her. When word of her casting became publicly known, it is safe to say that 99% of the theater-going public (and actors themselves) agreed that Chambers' casting was indeed perfect. And she delivers exactly what we all hoped for, showing off the versatility, the confidence and the presence that has long identified her as one of the very best to be found onstage.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, presents Next to Normal. This, the third offering of the BRT's 12th Season, opens tonight, May 25th and runs through June 16th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn.

Boiler Room Theatre debuts its most eagerly anticipated production of the 2012 season next week with Next To Normal, the groundbreaking 2009 Tony Award-winning musical, starring Nashville stage favorite Megan Murphy Chambers as Diana, a suburban wife and mother who contends with her worsening bipolar disorder while her family struggles to take care of one another.

Today's spotlight falls upon Sondra Morton, who heads up the ACT Too Players-a fertile training ground for up-and-coming actors in the region-and she's operations manager of Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre, a typically harried and busy mom, a critically acclaimed actress and director, and a friend, confidante and supporter of just about everyone she brushes up against. In short, Sondra's just the best and today, you're given the opportunity to learn more about what makes her tick, so to speak, onstage.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, will next present Next to Normal. This, the third offering of the BRT's 12th Season, opens May 25th and runs through June 16th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn. for a run through May 5.

Since its publication in 1937, John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men has inspired artists-there have been multiple film treatments, a Carlisle Floyd opera, ballets and stage productions based upon the tragic tale of migrant workers George Milton and Lennie Small-and it is now given a superb production at Boiler Room Theatre featuring stunning performances from the entire cast of actors under the confident and focused direction of Travis Brazil, who makes his area directing debut with this electrifying rendition of the timeless tale.

The Boiler Room Theatre's Youth Education Program, YEP!, will be performing CHARLOTTE'S WEB on Saturdays in March at 10:00am.

The Boiler Room Theatre's Youth Education Program, YEP!, will be performing CHARLOTTE'S WEB on Saturdays in March at 10:00am.

It might not be great art, but Xanadu-the new musical onstage through March 3 at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre-sure is great fun! Pure, unadulterated escapism, Xanadu is laugh-out-loud funny, thanks primarily to the book by Douglas Carter Beane, but you have to give props to director Corbin Green and his talented cast who bring the completely ridiculous musical (featuring the music of Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne and John Farrar) to life onstage.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, skates into its 12th season with the Broadway musical Xanadu opening February 10th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn. for a run through March 3.

The hilarious, roller-skating, musical adventure about following your dreams rolls along to the original hit score composed by pop-rock legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, including "Magic," "All Over the World," "Suddenly," "I'm Alive," "Evil Woman," "Have You Never Been Mellow" and "Xanadu," to name a few, and is based on the cult-classic movie that starred Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta and Gene Kelly.

The hilarious, roller-skating, musical adventure about following your dreams rolls along to the original hit score composed by pop-rock legends Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, including "Magic," "All Over the World," "Suddenly," "I'm Alive," "Evil Woman," "Have You Never Been Mellow" and "Xanadu," to name a few, and is based on the cult-classic movie that starred Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta and Gene Kelly.

With the start of a new year, things are really heating up for the Franklin-based Act Too Players, the training program for younger actors that's affiliated with Boiler Room Theatre, the First Night Award-winning Outstanding Theatre Company of 2011, and run by Sondra Morton (who does double duty as operations manager at BRT). Already, Morton and her team of actors, artisans, designers and all manner of creative types are hard at work on a trio of productions that usher in 2012 and looking ahead to so much more on the horizon in the new year.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, skates into its 12th season with the Broadway musical Xanadu opening February 10th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn. for a run through March 3.

After an intense internal auditing process, the results are in for the 2011 Nashville Awards! This year's awards broke traffic records and we couldn't be more excited to announce the 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award winners!

It's almost over! There's just FIVE days of voting remaining for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday December 26, 2011. Voting ends at midnight on 12/31 so time is running out.

There's just TWO short weeks left to go in voting for the 2011 Nashville Awards and here is the latest update! Have you voted yet, and helped to spread the word to support your favorites in the hopes that they will be the recipients of a 2011 BroadwayWorld Nashville Award? There is no time to waste, click on the voting link and make your opinion count! Below are the stats so far as of Monday December 19, 2011. Voting ends at midnight on 12/31 so time is running out.