BWW Review: A SECOND HELPING at Cumberland County Playhouse
by Jeffrey Ellis
- May 23, 2017
You might be surprised by this, but A Second Helping, the musical now onstage through the weekend at Cumberland County Playhouse' Adventure Theatre, has more in common with The Godfather, Part II than you might expect. Both of them, as sequels to the original material that spawned them, do something sequels usually are incapable of: They're better than their precursors.
BWW Review: Cumberland County Playhouse's Magnificent MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET
by Jeffrey Ellis
- May 22, 2017
Ross Griffin's dramatically flamboyant portrayal of Jerry Lee Lewis in Cumberland County Playhouse's magnificent production of the Tony Award-winning Million Dollar Quartet would be reason enough to buy a ticket to see the fast-moving, tune-filled salute to one of music's most legendary nights that didn't end up with some star dying in a plane crash or surviving a car wreck.
GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for May 22, 2017
by Jeffrey Ellis
- May 22, 2017
GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! According to my iPhone today is Monday, 22 May 2017 - the weekend, busy as it was, is over and we're left hankering for a few days off in order to relax and rejuvenate…which makes us ponder this musical question: What are your plans for next weekend? In our mind, of course, our mama is warning us that such queries are symptomatic of us 'wishing [our] life away,' as she would always admonish us to live in the now instead of trying to leap-frog over the next five days. So sayeth my beloved mama: 'Live life dramatically.' Therefore, a nap might have to suffice…
GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for May 17, 2017
by Jeffrey Ellis
- May 17, 2017
GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's May 17, 2017, and summer - or a reasonable facsimile thereof - has arrived in Nashville, with temperatures already climbing toward the 90s! When prompts the musical question: What's on your agenda for the summer of 2017? Anything we should know about and, more importantly, write about?
GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for May 10, 2017
by Jeffrey Ellis
- May 10, 2017
GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! Welcome to Wednesday, May 10, 2017…which prompts us to ask the musical question: Who remembers the Saturday Night Massacre back in the 1970s, during which Richard Nixon fired the special Watergate prosecutor and all hell seemed to break loose (even more than it had already) in Washington, D.C.?
FRIDAY 5 (+1): Griffin, LaCardo and Horst from CCP's MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Apr 28, 2017
Directed by Bryce McDonald and featuring a cast that includes Ross Griffin (as Jerry Lee Lewis), Daniel W. Black (Carl Perkins), Edward LaCardo (Elvis Presley) and Steven Horst (Johnny Cash) as the titular quartet, Million Dollar Quartet is sure to set box office records in Crossville where you are likely to find the very best musical theater this side of Broadway.
The Friday 5: CCP's THE LITTLE MERMAID's Ruff, Cooper & Graham
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Jun 17, 2016
Cumberland County Playhouse starts the summer with a splash as Disney's The Little Mermaid opens on tonight! Based on Hans Christian Andersen's timeless tale, Disney's The Little Mermaid is a family musical that features classic songs: "Part of Your World," "Kiss the Girl," and the Academy Award-winning "Under the Sea."
Nashville's Theater Calendar 5/10/16
by Jeffrey Ellis
- May 10, 2016
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.
BWW Review: CCP's SPARKLEY CLEAN FUNERAL SINGERS
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Apr 2, 2016
Lori Fischer's The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers does what so many shows before it have attempted: To create a completely new world out of whole cloth and set it down amid the already existing world (in which we mere mortals ply our collective trade), peopled by characters who are easy to love or at least accessible enough to be engaging and fun to watch. Where Fischer's new musical - now onstage at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse - succeeds so impressively is in its refreshing storytelling structure that invites audiences into the fictionalized version of Ashland City, Tennessee, where people care deeply about their neighbors and are likely to sing songs displaying their affection and which are bound to make you guffaw (probably more than once).
Friday 5: SPARKLEY CLEAN's Hancock and Webster
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Apr 1, 2016
There's a new show premiering at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse: The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers by Lori Fischer, the author of last year's Barbara's Blue Kitchen. Fischer's latest musical follows the adventures of two singing sisters from Ashland City, Tennessee, and the people who love them. Our question: Does Stratton's Diner (arguably the best burger joint ever in the history of the world) still exist in Fischer's depiction of the Cheatham County town? Director Bryce McDonald is being tight-lipped about it.
SPARKLEY CLEAN FUNERAL SINGERS Next at CCP
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Mar 24, 2016
On Friday, April 1, Cumberland County Playhouse presents the Southern Premiere of a new musical comedy by Lori Fischer (Barbara's Blue Kitchen) and Don Chaffer, The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers! CCP's producing director Bryce McDonald will direct the show, which had its world premiere at the Capital Repertory Theatre in 2013.
Nashville's Theater Calendar 3/14/16
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Mar 14, 2016
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 notebooks, datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.
Nashville's Theater Calendar 2/29/16
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Feb 29, 2016
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.
Nashville Theater Calendar 2/22/16
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Feb 22, 2016
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.
Nashville Theater Calendar 2/15/16
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Feb 15, 2016
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.
Nashville Theater Calendar 2/8/16
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Feb 8, 2016
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.
Wilkinson 'Goes Home Again' for CHURCH BASEMENT LADIES
by Jeffrey Ellis
- Jan 21, 2016
After 30 years away from her first professional theater home, Tennessee theater icon Martha Wilkinson proves that you can go home again as she directs Cumberland County Playhouse's first show of the 2016 season: Church Basement Ladies, which opened at the Crossville theater last Saturday, January 16.
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