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BWW Review: Post-Pandemic DRIVING MISS DAISY at Cumberland County Playhouse Gains Renewed Vigor

One of the most glorious attributes of the theater is the experience of seeing a play you know quite well due to multiple productions over the years and to somehow find it fresh and invigorating, as if it is the first time all over again. Such is the case with Alfred Uhry’s seemingly ubiquitous Driving Miss Daisy, which has been presented in countless productions of varying degrees of professionalism since its 1987 debut.

BWW Review: Cumberland County Playhouse's DUCK HUNTER SHOOTS ANGELS Makes You Laugh, Makes You Think

ou have to hand it to Mitch Albom (the well-known sportswriter turned memoirist turned playwright turned heartland media mogul): the man knows how to craft a tale certain to appeal to a wide swath of his audience, manipulating and cajoling them along the way with good humor and sometimes incisive wit before going for the jugular of the sentimental with a dramatic payoff that’s sure to wring tears, sell tissues and send the aforementioned audiences into the real world with something to think about.

BWW Review: ELF THE MUSICAL Brings Holiday Magic and Fun to Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse

Luckily, for audiences at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse (where Elf, The Musical runs through December 21 in a delightful and sparkling production helmed by producing director Bryce McDonald), the role of Buddy is entrusted to Chris Hallowes, who has proven himself the personification of the term a?oesong-and-dance mana?? during his tenure at the Playhouse, and who once again proves his mettle with his latest onstage assignment. Were it not for the fact we've always considered Hallowes a star, we'd say Buddy is a starmaking performance for him.

BWW Review: Cumberland County Playhouse's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is a Monster Hit With Hancock at the Helm

Who'd have ever thought a seven-foot-tall, dark, handsome and green chap a?' crafted from the bits and pieces of various fellows gone home to meet their maker, as it were a?' could prove to be so likable, charming and, we daresay, sexy? But leave it to Mel Brooks (and Gene Wilder, his co-writer on the 1974 film) to create such a protagonist and to surround him with memorable characters in a story set to music that's a wonderful homage to the very best of classic Broadway and silver screen musicals!

BWW Review: Lazzaro and Donegan Lead Dazzling JOSEPH... Revival at Cumberland County Playhouse

Powerhouse vocals from its two leading players (Anthony Lazzaro and Cassie Donegan), along with focused direction, spirited choreography, effusive music coming from the pit and an eye-popping visual design aesthetic combine to make Cumberland County Playhouse's most recent iteration of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat another in a long line of onstage hits sure to attract audiences eager to escape the sultry heat of a Tennessee summer.

Amanda McBroom In LADY MACBETH SINGS THE BLUES At Rubicon This Weekend

Rubicon Theatre Company announces two performances of an intimate concert featuring Golden Globe Award-Winner and Grammy nominee Amanda McBroom, presented as part of the 2018-2019 Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Concert Series. Amanda McBroom, a Rubicon favorite both as a singer and actress, returns to Rubicon with a concert version of her hit play Lady Macbeth Sings the Blues on Saturday June 8 at 8p.m. and Sunday June 9 at 2 p.m.

BWW Review: IRVING BERLIN'S HOLIDAY INN Kicks Off The Holiday Season With Style at Cumberland County Playhouse

What better way to leave behind the turmoil of the modern world than by indulging in a bright, shiny new musical burnished with the warm glow of nostalgia and featuring a score by the inimitable Irving Berlin? We can't imagine anything more fun - or more timely, for that matter - than a couple of hours or more spent in the audience of Cumberland County Playhouse to experience the company's latest musical treat: Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn.

BWW Review: Director McDonald Raises the Bar With CCP's Remarkable SWEENEY TODD

Fog comes billowing out over the footlights, bringing with it a pervasive sense of foreboding that sets the tone for the next three hours of what is - without any fear of exaggeration - the most satisfying theatrical experience of 2018. Eye-poppingly gorgeous, with a design aesthetic that's perfectly wedded to the source material provided by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Hugh Wheeler, and featuring some of the most electrifying performances we've ever witnessed at Cumberland County Playhouse (where they know a thing or 100 about staging musicals), Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is spectacular.

ADDAMS FAMILY Opens Tonight at Cumberland County Playhouse

Just in time for the Halloween season, Cumberland County Playhouse presents its version of the recent Broadway hit The Addams Family - starring Playhouse favorite Jason Ross and newcomer Audrey Moore as Gomez and Morticia Addams - onstage in Crossville beginning tonight (Friday, September 30) and running through November 12.

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