Laura Matula News

Laura Matula sings 'Can You Unbreak a Heart' from Punchinello, music by Christopher Davis, lyrics by Frederick Richardson.

What is described as 'an incredible slice of Broadway' comes to Franklin for the sixth annual Broadway at Bethlehem - Divas & Desserts benefit on Saturday, February 18 with an array of talented performers including Broadwayworld.com award-winning actors Dietz Osborne and Martha Wilkinson co-hosting and featuring singers Megan Murphy Chambers, Melodie Madden Adams, Laura Matula, Kandace Williams and Maggie McNulty at the Bethlehem United Methodist Church, Performing Arts Center, 2419 Bethlehem Loop Road in Franklin, Tennessee.

In a town where everyone from your next-door neighbor to your favorite barista - from your dental hygienist to your manicurist, your seatmate on the bus, your friendly neighborhood bartender and maybe even the guy who does your taxes - is a songwriter, you'll find that there's never a shortage of opinions on the topic of favorite songs. Ask a cross-section of Nashville theater-types what their favorite love song is from the annals of musical theater and you're going to get a barrage of answers.

What is described as 'an incredible slice of Broadway' comes to Franklin for the sixth annual Broadway at Bethlehem - Divas & Desserts benefit on Saturday, February 18 with an array of talented performers including Broadwayworld.com award-winning actors Dietz Osborne and Martha Wilkinson co-hosting and featuring singers Megan Murphy Chambers, Melodie Madden Adams, Laura Matula, Kandace Williams and Maggie McNulty at the Bethlehem United Methodist Church, Performing Arts Center, 2419 Bethlehem Loop Road in Franklin, Tennessee.

With a capacity crowd of 200 people on hand at The Keeton Theatre, First Night founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis, who covers theater, opera and dance throughout Tennessee for BroadwayWorld.com, unveiled his choices via First Night's Top 11 of 2011, while the winners of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville and Tennessee Theatre Awards were announced by co-hosts Britt Byrd, Jamie Free, Katherine Sandoval Taylor and Lar'Juanette Williams.

Playwright Nate Eppler, Mas Nashville's FIVE, the Boiler Room Theatre, Lipscomb University's Hairspray, ACT 1's American Buffalo and the national touring company of Memphis, the Musical were the top winners at Sunday night's Midwinter's First Night at Nashville's Keeton Theatre, which also featured the presentation of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville and Tennessee theatre awards.

Nashville audiences can relax about one particular holiday detail: Those five wonderful women of Mas Nashville are plotting their comeback. Erin Parker, Laura Matula, Melodie Madden Adams, Cori Laemmel and Megan Murphy Chambers return to the stage of the historic Belcourt Theatre on Wednesday, December 28, for A ChristMAS Holiday Hangover, the latest cabaret conquest from the multi-talented quintet of Nashville performers.

Melodie Madden Adams takes to the stage as her fictional alter ego in The Linda Lane Show: Pageants, Prayers & Pianos, presented by MAS Nashville on Monday, September 19 at The Basement. In her new one-woman cabaret show, Madden Adams takes her audience back to the 1960s to embody the fictional Linda Lane - described as 'a journey of song and storytelling' - a simple girl with a simple dream.

Melodie Madden Adams takes to the stage as her fictional alter ego in The Linda Lane Show: Pageants, Prayers & Pianos, presented by MAS Nashville on Monday, September 19 at The Basement. In her new one-woman cabaret show, Madden Adams takes her audience back to the 1960s to embody the fictional Linda Lane - described as 'a journey of song and storytelling' - a simple girl with a simple dream.

With almost 150 performers taking to the stage of Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday night, September 4, members of the theater community throughout Tennessee joined together to fete the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees.

Studio Tenn launches its eagerly anticipated sophomore season in its new home at the Franklin Theatre, kicking off the company's second act with a sparkling revival of one of musical theater's best-loved shows: Guys and Dolls, the 'musical fable of Bradway' based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows.

Jersey Boys veterans Jared Bradshaw and John Hickman join Nashville's own Carrie Tillis and Laura Matula to head the cast of Studio Tenn's production of Guys & Dolls, opening August 18-28 at the Franklin Theatare, kicking off the company's second season - their first in their new venue.

Jersey Boys veterans Jared Bradshaw and John Hickman will join Nashville's own Carrie Tillis and Laura Matula to head the cast of Studio Tenn's production of Guys & Dolls, running August 18-28 at the Franklin Theatare, kicking off the company's second season - their first in their new venue.

The quintet of captivating, sexy, sultry, uber talented women of FIVE return to the stage on Monday, June 27, with Five: An Encore Performance, hot on the heels of their near-legendary debut performance in March, this time presented onstage at Nashville's historic Belcourt Theatre in Hillsboro Village.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has announced plans for REPaloud, the popular play reading series which highlights contemporary plays.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has announced plans for REPaloud, the popular play reading series which highlights contemporary plays.

Nashville theatre-goers are a pretty lucky lot, with a great deal to be thankful for actually, what with the wealth of talent you can find in our little burg. We may be known around the world as Music City USA, but those of us in the know can rightfully and justifiably attest to the fact that you could refer to us just easily as 'Theater City USA.' Certainly, you'd be hard-pressed to find any city around the globe with more musical talent than you'll find in Nashville, which means, of course, that musical theater here is really good - even when it's bad (and do you really need me to list examples? I think not, but I can if called upon to do so...), it's far better than you'd find anywhere else. Nashville is packed with talented people - it's that simple.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre has announced plans for REPaloud, the popular play reading series which highlights contemporary plays.

So far as I can tell, the best way to handle the situation - on Monday night, March 28, five of Nashville's most talented young divas aka Cori Laemmel, Erin Parker, Laura Matula, Megan Murphy Chambers and Melodie Madden Adams will be performing a cabaret entitled FIVE - is to send five other young divas (I'd suggest sequestering Laura Thomas Sonn, Heather Trabucco, Stacie Riggs, Jennifer Richmond and Erica Haines Cantrell, just off the top of my head) to an undisclosed location - there's got to be a bunker around here somewhere, what with Oak Ridge so close by - just in case someone drops a bomb on Street Theatre Company

FIVE features the talents of Erin Parker, Melodie Madden Adams, Megan Murphy Chambers, Cori Laemmel and Laura Matula. Born as the brainchild of Parker, FIVE is the culmination of her desire to showcase local Nashville talent and creativity and grew from her aims at putting on her own one-woman show.