Melissa Silengo News

Music City Theatre Collective - the brainchild of Nashville artists Curtis Reed, Jenny Norris-Light, Chase Miller and Martha Wilkinson, among others - will launch its highly anticipated and rather unique company this weekend with a series of performances designed to highlight the Collective's upcoming endeavors.

Thus, we are happy to present one of 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 2016 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.

It's that thematic power of hope and reconciliation that plays out so evocatively on theater stages throughout the world at this time of year, urging each of us on to our revelry during this hectic, oftentimes trying and crazy time of the year. Nashville's Larry Keeton Theatre presents just such an evocative story of Christmastime during wartime with A 1940s Radio Christmas Carol, the sequel to The 1940s Radio Hour, one of regional theater's most-often performed musical revues.

Voting is now underway for the Nashville Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January.

Voting is now underway for the Nashville Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January.

Voting is now underway for the Nashville Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below.

Voting is now underway for the Nashville Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below.

Voting is now underway for the Nashville Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below.

Voting is now underway for the Nashville Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below!

Voting is now underway for the Nashville Awards and continues until December 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. Check out the live standings below!

Set in 1976, Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie deftly blends wistful nostalgia with tinges of regret that always tend to surface when you're faced with a high school reunion. And smoking pot; smoking pot makes anything seem more complex and redolent with hidden meaning and deeper regret than when you're thinking about them straight. I say this from personal experience. I did not, however, inhale.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the theater once again, we welcome you to the debut installment of Music City Confidential, all the news that's fit to print (or not-depending on your perspective) from Nashville's ever-growing, ever-fascinating (okay, so we obviously don't have enough to occupy ourselves) live theater industry (we're trying that out-does it work? Let us know, theaterati!) Here amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you'll find all the stories that don't quite fit elsewhere, some of 'em kind of gossipy, some of 'em stone-cold serious, some of 'em just lists of names you need to know. You'll also find photos from our new "Intermission@" series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae-the veritable flotsam and jetsam-from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE by Ralph Pape tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE by Ralph Pape tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

Circle Players, one of the first resident companies at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, makes a triumphant return to that cultural edifice in downtown Nashville to mount its latest revival of Titanic the Musical just in time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic.

With a score filled with so many Cole Porter tunes that you're fairly drunk with delight after hearing them, the expert direction and choreography of musical theatre aficionado Kate Adams-Johnson, and a cast of extraordinarily gifted performers breathing vigorous life into the time-honored text, the new production of Kiss Me, Kate at The Keeton Theatre should be atop your list of must-see theatrical events in this very busy month of February. Sam and Bella Spewack's witty, sparkling script is brought to life with flourish, proving this period piece-which was named winner of the very first Tony Award for best musical-to be, in fact, a timeless classic, a musical theatre masterpiece that deserves to be seen over and over again.

Named as First Night's Outstanding Musical of 2011 was Lipscomb University Theatre's production of Hairspray, directed and choreographed by Justin Boccitto. ACT 1's production of American Buffalo, directed by Ryan Williams, claimed top honors as First Night's Oustanding Play of 2011, and the national touring company's Memphis, the Musical, which played Andrew Jackson Hall at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, was named as First Night's Outstanding Touring Production of 2011, besting productions of Spring Awakening, In The Heights, Wicked and Les Miserables.