Paul Cook News

This week, UK tropical pop artist Hollie Cook made her North American live debut and kicked off her tour, performing to a sold out crowd in Brooklyn.

Z2 Entertainment presents Hollie Cook + Tatanka - Colorado CD Release Party at the Fox Theatre on Sunday, October 19th, 2014.

Colya & Co., Cookin'Marsh, and A Box Full of Kittens LLC put their noodles to work on three separate comedic adventures this September at Gorilla Tango Bucktown (1919 N Milwaukee). "Monday Night Guffaw," produced by Colya & Co., performs Monday, September 2 at 7:30 pm; tickets are $5. "I'm New Here: A Variety Hour," produced by Cookin'Marsh, performs Monday, September 16 and Tuesday, September 17 at 7:30 pm; tickets are $12. "A Box Full of Kittens," produced by Second City alums A Box Full of Kittens LLC, performs Friday, September 20 at 7:30 pm; tickets are $10. All tickets can be purchased at www.gorillatango.com or by calling 773-598-4549.

The Met's spring 2013 Costume Institute exhibition, PUNK: Chaos to Couture, runs from May 9, 2013 to August 14, 2013. It will examine punk's impact on high fashion from the movement's birth in the early 1970s through its continuing influence today. Featuring approximately one hundred designs for men and women, the exhibition will include original punk garments and recent, directional fashion to illustrate how haute couture and ready-to-wear borrow punk's visual symbols.

It's been a busy year in Nashville theater in 2012, with audiences treated to a whole slate of theatrical offerings spanning multiple genres-from productions of time-honored classics to new and original contemporary works, from dramas to comedies, from straight plays to musicals-and giving local theater-goers more opportunities than ever before to be challenged by the onstage magic created by some of Tennessee's most talented and gifted artists.

There are some lovely moments to be found in Birds in Church, the latest production from Nashville's Rhubarb Theatre-a refashioning of the company's first production almost ten years ago, both of which feature vignettes selected from among playwright and former priest Joe Pintauro's Metropolitan Operas. There are lovely moments, to be certain, along with some that are almost riotously funny, genuinely moving and clearly provocative.

On September 2, 2012-during the presentation of The First Night Honors-a new Nashville and Tennessee theater tradition was unveiled with the presentation of the First Night Robe. Fashioned after and inspired by the legendary Broadway Gypsy Robe, the First Night counterpart is presented to someone who is making their first appearance on a Nashville-area stage.

Now onstage in a thoroughly effective production directed by Sondra Morton at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre, Parade is not your mama's or your granddaddy's musical comedy, to be certain.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, follows its successful run of STEEL MAGNOLIAS with Jason Robert Brown's Tony Award Winning PARADE. The production will run from tonight, October 5th through the 20th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory.

For Tennessee theater audiences, this weekend presents a bounty of theatrical riches, with six shows opening: Blackbird Theatre's Red, Sideshow's Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's Spreading it Around, Boiler Room Theatre's Parade, Tennessee Women's Theater Project's Shooting Star and Street Theatre Company's latest incarnation of Macabaret.

Today, we bring you a list of the most-read stories in our regional markets for the week of September 10 in another edition of 'Around BWW: Regional Highlights of the Week'. Browse over to your favorite far-away city/country to see what's making news, see what productions are playing around the country and overseas and get to know new performers! Enjoy this virtual trek around the globe and stay tuned for next week's recap of regional not-to-be-missed news!

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, follows its successful run of STEEL MAGNOLIAS with Jason Robert Brown's Tony Award Winning PARADE. The production will run from October 5th through the 20th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory.

Parade, the acclaimed musical by Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry, will finally be given its Nashville area premiere-starring Megan Murphy Chambers and Paul Cook, under the direction of Sondra Morton-as Boiler Room Theatre presents the show October 5-20 at its venue at the historic Factory at Franklin.

Led by the maniacally perfect Billy Ditty as the appropriately named "Leading Player," the 14-member ensemble deliver a thoroughly focused performance, never straying from the job at hand to endanger the success of the production. That focus is necessary, of course, given the intimate confines of the playing space and the amount of action that transpires on that postage stamp-sized stage. The action, in fact, never stops and choreographer Shepherd-obviously channeling the spirit and the nature of the master Fosse himself-gives the actors a lot to do. Quite frankly, this may be one of the best choreographed musicals ever mounted at the Boiler Room, so evocative is every movement and so expertly performed is every number.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, follows its successful run of Next to Normal with an imaginative take on the Stephen Schwartz/Bob Fosse extravaganza, Pippin. The production will run from July 6th through the 28th at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn.

Boiler Room Theatre continues its 2012 season with an imaginative take on the Stephen Schwartz/Bob Fosse extravaganza, Pippin, running July 6-28 at the theater in the historic Factory at Franklin.

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.

Nashville productions of Aida and The Color Purple highlight the 63rd season announced today by Circle Players, the community theatre that's been treating audiences to award-winning shows since 1949. In addition, the company will mount a production of The Piano Lesson, the August Wilson classic that was first produced by Circle Players in its 1993-94 season, the acclaimed musical Next to Normal (which is currently running in Memphis in its Tennessee premiere starring Belmont University graduate Ben Laxton and will be produced later this season by Boiler Room Theatre), and the regional premiere of Band Geeks, an all-youth production directed by Catherine McTamaney.

When director Paul Cook held auditions for Circle Players' production of Stephen Sondheim's Company, he had no trouble finding a devoted and enthusiastic cast for the show, which opens January 6 at the Keeton Theatre.