Robert Allen News

It's supposed to be 108 degrees in the Nashville area by week's end, which means stepping outside will likely leave you melted, quite literally and figuratively. But if you do have to venture out of doors, perhaps a trip to the theater is a good idea…it'll be dark and cool (with any luck, the AC will be working-and you know which theaters we're talking about) and you'll be entertained, perhaps even transported to another world. Or not. In the meantime, we present you with installment number four of Music City Confidential-our continuing effort to create a sense of community and build up some enthusiasm and excitement for the live theater industry here in our alarmingly sweaty region. So, press on, gentle readers and catch up on the latest adventures of the theaterati…

Silly, fun and farcical, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum is a delightful musical theater diversion, certain to entertain and delight. Brought to the stage in a Keeton Theatre production directed by Kate Adams, with music direction by Ginger Newman, the Stephen Sondheim- Burt Shevelove-Larry Gelbart confection packs as much of a laugh-filled wallop in 2012 as it did when it first premiered on Broadway almost 50 years ago, proving that a well-written and conceived show just never grows old.

Whether she's putting a coffee-house spin on David Guetta's hit song 'Without You' or singing an impromptu duet with Wyclef Jean, Rachel Brown's shows are just as unpredictable as her unique sound. A soulful gumbo of folk, afro-Caribbean, country, pop, and Hawaiian influences, Brown's music has won her prestigious songwriting awards-such as the ASCAP Foundation Robert Allen Award for songwriting-as well as recognition from celebrity blogger Perez Hilton. This month, the self-taught musician will be playing three upcoming shows in New York City: two at the Darby and one at Rockwood Music Hall. Learn more at www.RachelBrownMusic.com.

Luckily (for me and for you, the rest of the audience who may or may not have seen the show in any of its multiple onstage incarnations), director Patrick Kramer, choreographer Kate Adams-Johnson and musical director Randy Craft have fashioned a rendition of Hairspray-that indomitable musical about one determined and ambitious Baltimore teenager in 1962-that fairly snaps, crackles and pops with its fresh delivery, its clever staging and the laudable and thoroughly committed performances of a cast of thousands.

With the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening making its Tennessee premiere tonight in Tullahoma in a sparkling new production directed by Robert Allen, we present dueling "Friday Fives," featuring the show's two leads. The focus of this interview? None other than Michael Adcock, winner in January of a BroadwayWorld.com Tennessee Theatre Award for his performance in Anything Goes at Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts.

Today's spotlight falls upon Blair Allison, who in January was recognized as one of First Night's Top 11 of 2011 Actors We'd Invest In For the Biggest Payoff (If We Had The Money). Tonight she opens in the Tennessee premiere of Spring Awakening, playing Wendla Bergman at Alpine Chateau, February 24 and 25, directed by Robert Allen (and playing opposite Michael Adcock, who stars in today's second installment of The Friday Five). After rolling in the hay as Wendla, Allison will focus on her next onstage assignment: The Ugly Duckling, running March 16-18 in the Belmont Little Theatre.

Tullahoma's Alpine Chateau Restaurant will present Tennessee's community theatre premiere of 2007's Tony Award-winning best musical Spring Awakening on February 25 at 9:30 p.m. and February 25 at 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. at The Historic Coker Building, 401 Wilson Avenue.

Let's face it, nobody produces a song and sketch revue based on the plays of Ionesco in a theatre on the western outskirts of 55th Street expecting a commercial smash.  During the ten days in 1974 when the original production of Ionescopade ran Off-Broadway, lovers of musical theatre were lining up at box offices to see stars like Carol Channing in Lorelei, Debbie Reynolds in Irene, and Patty and Maxene Andrews in Over Here!  Younger playgoers were discovering themselves with Pippin and rocking out to Grease, while those who go for intellectual snob hits had their choice of the revival of Candide or the new Sondheim/Prince romance A Little Night Music.  Those venturing to Off-Broadway were still flocking to that fresh new musical, The Fantasticks, then in only its fifteenth year.

Tullahoma's Alpine Chateau Restaurant will present Tennessee's community theatre premiere of 2007's Tony Award-winning best musical Spring Awakening on February 25 at 9:30 p.m. and February 25 at 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. at The Historic Coker Building, 401 Wilson Avenue.

The Bennett Agency presents It's a Wonderful Life, adapted for the stage by James W. Rodgers and based on the film by Frank Capra.

The ASCAP Foundation honored composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz for his lifetime contributions to the Musical Theater with The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award.

The Bennett Agency presents It's a Wonderful Life, adapted for the stage by James W. Rodgers and based on the film by Frank Capra.

If you were asked to name Nashville's Top Ten Favorite Musicals, what show would you name as number one? Perhaps surprisingly, when that question was posed to a group of Nashville theater folk, the number one-ranked show is Les Miserables (but perhaps it's not that surprising, since Victor Hugo's book was a huge hit in the American South upon its initial publication in this country), followed by A Chorus Line, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods claiming the remaining slots in the Top Five.

Cate Caplin is directing and choreographing an updated version of the musical BABY at Group Repertory Theatre opening June 4, 2010.

From Ain't Misbehavin' and Big, prolific team Maltby & Shire produce a Tony nominated Baby - in which three couples at various stages of life find themselves expecting a child. Sound simple? Well, in Baby 's revised, West Coast premiere, it's pretty damn complicated as life's unexpected changes do not always work smoothly. The GROUP rep has a first-class production on its hands that will surely appeal to a wide audience, especially to marrieds and those planning for the patter of little feet.

Cate Caplin is directing and choreographing an updated version of the musical BABY at Group Repertory Theatre opening June 4, 2010.

Cate Caplin is directing and choreographing an updated version of the musical BABY at Group Repertory Theatre opening June 4, 2010.

The Group Rep will end its production of SWEET SUE, by A.R. Gurney, directed by Ernest A. Figueroa, April 25, at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood.