Michael Holmes News

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.

Elvis Presley – aka “The King,” Tupelo's most famous favorite son and Memphis' most revered musical icon – sure had a lot of music in his catalogue of hits, and it seems that almost  all of it is included in the score of All Shook Up, the jukebox musical now onstage at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre through August 30. There are so many songs, in fact, that opening night may have run longer than anticipated, yet those songs are so entertainingly performed and the show is so full of heart that you can't help but stick around until the end.

Theater in Tennessee has never been busier nor has it been more diverse than what you'll find onstage this weekend throughout the Volunteer State. From frothy and fun summer musicals that are sure to make you think - like All Shook Up at Chaffin's Barn and A Chorus Line at Cumberland County Playhouse - to new plays from Shawn Whitsell (his latest, Songs For Our Sons, premieres at Darkhorse Theatre on Friday night) and emerging playwright Che Pieper (his new script based on the book The Man With the Light in His Window debuts at The Theater Bug this weekend)…the magic of live theater is all around you…even in this heat and humidity! So pull your seersucker suits and sundresses out of the closet, get all gussied up and make your way to the relative cool of a darkened theater for some midsummer magic!

Rehearsals  are drawing to a close as the bright lights of opening night begin to heat up at Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, where the cast and crew of the company's big summer musical, All Shook Up, get ready for their big debut on Thursday. With a cast of Nashville theater veterans – joined by some of the region's brightest up-and-comers – it promises to be a grand theatrical affair. We've been sharing some of the backstage gossip for the past couple of weeks and as our preview coverage concludes, we share a special “by the numbers” look at the show, courtesy of Christen Heilman Runyon…

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.

Rehearsals got under way last week for Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's big musical for the summer of 2015: All Shook Up. With a cast of Nashville theater veterans - joined by some of the region's brightest up-and-comers - you can rest assured that the rehearsal process will be just as much fun as the show itself. Throughout the next couple of weeks we'll be sharing 'diaries' from members of the cast and crew in anticipation of opening night on July 23.

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.

Rehearsals got under way this week for Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's big musical for the summer of 2015: All Shook Up. With a cast of Nashville theater veterans -- joined by some of the region's brightest up-and-comers -- you can rest assured that the rehearsal process will be just as much fun as the show itself. Throughout the next couple of weeks we'll be sharing 'diaries' from members of the cast and crew in anticipation of opening night on July 23. Today, 2015 First Night Most Promising Actor Harley Seger (a rising senior at Christ Presbyterian Academy) and 2014 First Night Honoree Daron Bruce bring us up to speed...

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.

Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre - Nashville's venerable entertainment center, which for 49 years has been the theater home to thousands of actors, directors, technicians and artists - has announced the creative team and cast for this summer's eagerly anticipated production of All Shook Up, slated to run July 23-August 30.

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. Thus, we are happy to present a new feature: 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.

Desert Ensemble Theatre concludes its fourth season beginning on April 17 with a two-weekend run of Miss Gulch Returns!, Fred Barton's cabaret cult classic about the feisty Kansas spinster from The Wizard of Oz.

What do you get when you mix an internationally-acclaimed impersonator, outrageous comedy, great standards, and a bevy of icons? The hysterical parody of Judy Garland and her guests found in Michael Holmes' riotous The Judy Show!

Fresh off of eight Desert Theatre League Award nominations for last season, Desert Ensemble Theatre Company has revealed its 2014-15 season. Producing Artistic Director Tony Padilla and Artistic Director Rosemary Mallett have announced an eclectic range of world premieres, regional premieres, concert-readings and cabaret for the company's fourth season. All performances will take place in the Pearl McManus Theater at the Palm Springs Women's Club, 314 S. Cahuilla Road in Palm Springs.

It's Saturday, and that means it's time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' roundup!

CNN today announced changes to its weekday programming lineup. Starting Monday, February 10, 2014, John Berman and Michaela Pereira will co-anchor CNN's 11 a.m. (ET) hour of dayside programming.

Desert favorites: Francesca Amari, Joel Baker, and Michael Holmes have put together a sure-fire hit with 'Tin Pans and Rags' and it will be presented tonight, June 17, 2012 at the Life Is A Cabaret's Sundays In Summer Series presented by Les Michaels at the Arthur Newman Theatre at The Joslyn Center in Palm Desert." It is their tribute to the Tin Pan Alley and Ragtime Music made popular by such composers as Scott Joplin, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and even the impressionistic Claude Debussy.

Desert favorites: Francesca Amari, Joel Baker, and Michael Holmes have put together a sure-fire hit with 'Tin Pans and Rags' and it will be presented Sunday, June 17, 2012 at the Life Is A Cabaret's Sundays In Summer Series presented by Les Michaels at the Arthur Newman Theatre at The Joslyn Center in Palm Desert." It is their tribute to the Tin Pan Alley and Ragtime Music made popular by such composers as Scott Joplin, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and even the impressionistic Claude Debussy.

Toy Box Theatre Company is set to present The Empress and El Diablo: A Modern Adaption of Oedipus Rex, a world premiere play written and directed by Jonathan Barsness with a live garage rock score by Colonna Sonora.