Megan Murphy News

The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) today revealed all nominations for the 46th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards. This year’s Doras celebrate 221 nominations across 44 gender-inclusive award categories.

What did our critic think of BLOOD SUCKING LEECH at Noah Lift Opera Center?

Nashville Repertory Theatre will present the world premiere of BLOODSUCKINGLEECH, a dark comedy by Amy Tofte developed through the Ingram New Works Project, exploring caregiving, paranoia, and family tension at the Noah Liff Opera Center.

What did our critic think of SISTER ACT at TPAC'S James K Polk Theater?

What did our critic think of BOEING BOEING at Turner Theater?

Nashville Repertory Theatre will present the feel-good Broadway musical Sister Act, running at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Polk Theater, featuring original music by Tony Award and eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken,

I grew up with Robert Munsch stories. If you grew up in Canada, it’s likely you did, too—or you’ve read them to your children, or grandchildren.

What did our critic think of WHITE CHRISTMAS at Turner Theater?

Studio Tenn brings yet another delightful production to their stage in Mischief Theatre’s, The Play That Goes Wrong, a masterclass in comedic chaos, blending slapstick humor, impeccable timing, and rapid delivery of theatrical mayhem.

Paul Vasterling, the longtime CEO and artistic director of Nashville Ballet, makes his debut as a director of musical theater with his revival of Cabaret – which he also choreographs – in a much-heralded and eagerly anticipated production for Franklin-based Studio Tenn. The timely and sumptuous revival allows audiences an opportunity to consider the prescience of the classic Broadway musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb that debuted in 1966 and which has continued to fascinate and challenge artists of the theater the world over almost 60 years later.

Should you feel the sudden urge to go home and bake some gingerbread upon leaving a performance of Nashville Children’s Theatre’s world premiere production of The Gingerbread Kid, rest assured it’s not a sign that you’ve developed cannibalistic tendencies. Rather, it’s part of a clever plot by director/choreographer/librettist Abe Reybold and executive artistic director Ernie Nolan (and their gang of creative artists) to ensure you’re immersed in the sweet-smelling world of confectionery treats while enjoying the brand-new musical that presents all manner of childhood tales in “bakery-fresh” packaging.

While the debate rages on about the proper time to start celebrating the holidays, Nashville Children’s Theatre may have devised the ideal plan with their current onstage offering – the world premiere of the theater-for-younger-audiences version of the recent Broadway musical Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

Baker’s superb direction brings all the various moving parts of this huge production together to deliver a gratifyingly heartfelt paean to the millions of working women (and men) who inspired the screenplay and musical book by Patricia Resnick. Baker’s vision for the piece, in concert with her team of collaborators, delivers a production of 9 to 5: The Musical that is delightfully fresh and new, eschewing the tendency of some directors to offer a rehash of what’s already been seen on Broadway, on tour or in regional theater.

It was in Fall 1995 that I first was introduced to the gospel singing Sanders Family of “up near Siler City, North Carolina,” in a production of Smoke on the Mountain at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. In 2023, the family returns again, as if by magic or perhaps accompanied by flights of angels, in a warmly nostalgic, sweetly sentimental and altogether lovely production from Studio Tenn -- playing through April 2 -- at the historic sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Franklin, which stands in quite nicely for the First Baptist Church of Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, on a Saturday night in 1938.

Lauren Shouse’s directorial resume is quite the impressive one and over the years she’s helmed productions for Nashville Repertory Theatre that have been justifiably acclaimed both by audiences and critics alike. But despite the notoriety that seems to always accompany a “Lauren Shouse-directed production,” perhaps none is more deserved than the accolades that follow in the wake of The Cake, the latest entry on her already stellar list of shows.

Nothing engages the theaterati in Nashville and the surrounding provinces as the production of an eagerly anticipated new play no one’s done before in these parts, but about which we’ve read glowing reviews. The very promise of something new to energize the cultural zeitgeist – particularly under the aegis of Nashville Story Garden (a creative collective whose work always generates major buzz); something new and unseen from across the pond which will provide a showcase for the remarkable talents of some of the region’s most respected actors – is virtually guaranteed to be a “must-see” for a theater-going public more accustomed to titles with which they are already quite often overly familiar.

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.

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.  

Ragtime opened last night, featuring a cast of Nashville stage veterans and a sizable coterie of performers, heretofore unknown to local audiences, who are certain to become fast favorites. Taking a brief respite from their hectic schedules of rehearsals, fittings, photo calls, more rehearsals and getting to know one another, four of those newcomers – Shelby Denise Smith, Wood Van Meter, Kortney Ballenger and Steven McCoy – took the time to answer our questions to tell you why you need to score those tickets for Ragtime now if you haven’t already.

Ragtime, the Tony Award-winning musical about life in these United States during the very early years of the 20th century, is a richly drawn and evocatively told rumination on the pursuit of the American dream seen from the perspective of a diverse, multi-ethnic cast of characters. Now onstage through Sunday at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s James K. Polk Theatre, in a glittering and sumptuous revival from Nashville Repertory Theatre, Ragtime proves an ambitious choice for the company’s return to live performance after more than 18 months of darkness due to the Covid-19 pandemic.