Quinn Cason News

Weslie Webster and Ron Murphy will combine efforts once again to bring a special benefit cabaret for the Shanks Center for the Arts-Art Isn't Easy, set for Saturday, April 28-featuring some of Cumberland County Playhouse's finest performers for an evening of music, dance and more. Art Isn't Easy: A Celebration of the Joys and Challenges of the Creative Life (the cabaret's title is taken from a lyric in the score of Stephen Sondheim's 1983 musical Sunday in the Park With George) will feature such Playhouse favorites Daniel Black, Lauren Marshall Murphy, Leila Nelson, Lindy Pendzick, Greg Pendzick, Austin Price, Michael Ruff and more.

Weslie Webster and Ron Murphy combine efforts once again to bring a special benefit cabaret for the Shanks Center for the Arts-Art Isn't Easy, set for tonight, April 28-featuring some of Cumberland County Playhouse's finest performers for an evening of music, dance and more.

Weslie Webster and Ron Murphy will combine efforts once again to bring a special benefit cabaret for the Shanks Center for the Arts-Art Isn't Easy, set for Saturday, April 28-featuring some of Cumberland County Playhouse's finest performers for an evening of music, dance and more.

Dreamgirls, now onstage at Cumberland County Playhouse, is musical theater at its best, telling a universal story of a group of tremendously talented girls who grow into internationally known musical superstars, brought vividly to life onstage, filled with enough fiery theatrics and backstage drama to completely engage audiences and to deliver an emotional experience that is second to none.

When the last performers had sung the final song and the late honoree had been feted, the crowds at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre for the presentation of First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors' 2011 Gala Concert, headed downtown to Cummins Station for the After-Party at The Listening Room Cafe.

A stellar group of theater artists from throughout Tennessee and the rest of the American South will join members of Cumberland County Playhouse's resident company for Dreamgirls, the Tony Award-winning stage musical that inspired the Academy Award-winning movie starring starring Beyonce, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson.

On Friday, August 12, Nicole Begue Hackmann and Nathaniel Hackmann bring their amazing vocal prowess to the stage with Songs of Faith & Freedom, followed a week later by a concert on August 19 by the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. On Sunday, August 21, Artists of the Cumberland (featuring Mike Stone and The Dark Side Band, Melissa Ellis, D.J. Garrison, Regina Stevens, Marley Wyatt, and Steve Boyce) will take the stage.

'There are no small parts, only small actors,' goes the old theatrical saw that's tossed about willy-nilly to encourage budding thespians to take on roles they suspect might be beneath them and their lofty stature. But, of course, there's much truth to be found in the axiom and you will certainly see it brought to life in the efforts of the members of many acting ensembles, particularly those considered among the best in Nashville's 2010 theater season:

Forget the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or schlepping to the mall to shop 'til you drop on Black Friday, the best - and definitely the most joyous - way to welcome the holiday season is a trip to Crossville for Cumberland County Playhouse's gloriously rapturous production of She Loves Me, the lovely and lyrical musical from Joe Masteroff, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick.