Stephanie Jones Benton News

SAVE THE DATE: The 2012 First Night Honorees, Most Promising Actors and the First Night Star Award winners will be revealed on Monday, July 23, at the First Night Preview Party...details to follow.

What better way to kick off Sunday-and to celebrate Father's Day!-than with the latest installment of Music City Confidential! Here's where you'll find all the news that's fit to print (or not-depending on your perspective) from Nashville's ever-growing, ever-fascinating live theater industry. Amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you'll find all the stories that don't quite fit anywhere else, some of 'em kind of gossipy, some of 'em stone-cold serious, some of 'em just lists of names you need to know. You'll also find photos from our new "Intermission@" series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae-the veritable flotsam and jetsam-from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

City of Light, a new and original light opera set in the Spiritualist community of Lily Dale, New Yor-written by Michael McFaden, set to the music of Gilbert and Sullivan-will make its bow to the public in two staged readings on March 30 and 31 at Nashville's Global Education Center.

Ginger Newman and Kate Adams-Johnson have perfected the recipe for musical success: Take three ginger-haired beauties, pair them with three dark and handsome young men and add a musical score that includes some of the best-known and most-beloved songs of the 1930s and '40s. That's the winning formula the talented duo have mixed together to grand effect in The Keeton Theatre's production of The All Night Strut, the winning musical revue that is as effervescent as a glass of champagne and as entertaining as a Manhattan Transfer concert.

After that huge success, BroadwayWorld.com announces two awards presentations for Tennessee theater this year, with awards to be presented for Nashville productions and for Tennessee productions outside Music City USA. You may make nominations throughout the month of October, with voting for the awards starting in November, and the announcement of winners set for Sunday, January 8, during Midwinter's First Night at The Keeton Theatre in Donelson. Details about that event will be announced in the coming weeks.

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.

With almost 150 performers taking to the stage of Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday night, September 4, members of the theater community throughout Tennessee joined together to fete the six members of the 2011 Class of First Night Honorees.

Directed with a palpable sense of style and tongue-in-cheek respect for the musical's unique cast of characters by Brandy Austin, with The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Boiler Room Theatre delivers yet another musical theater classic to the stage, reaffirming the company's dominance in that particular theatrical genre. You have a musical you want to see onstage? Tell the BRT folks and they'll deliver the kind of production you have dreamed about and longed for - and they'll do it with a cast of local performers who are guaranteed to knock your socks off! And with music direction by Jamey Green and choreography by Lauri Gregoire, both of whom are BRT resident artists, you'll be assured of a huge hit.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, continues its 11th season with the recent Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opening August 12

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's original and longest-running professional theatre company, continues its 11th season with the recent Tony Award-winning Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opening August 12

Of course, one way around that theatrical conundrum is to take the route that director Scott Logsdon and Keeping Scores Concerts at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre have embarked upon for three performances this weekend: Cast 12 different actresses as Fanny Brice, each one well-qualified to take on a particular song, allowing her to interpret, both musically and dramatically, the character of Fanny. And for support of the 12 actresses taking up the Fanny challenge, you'll need an amazingly gifted ensemble. The result? A wonderfully entertaining night at the theater, replete with outstanding performances from some of your favorite Nashville actors - and the chance to hear a beautiful, memorable score brought to life as it was meant to be heard by the team of composer Jule Styne, lyricist Bob Merrill and librettist Isobel Lennart.

In the upcoming concert version of Funny Girl, set for April 29-May 1 at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre, director Scott Logsdon has cast 12 very different, very funny and somehow uniquely qualified women to take on the iconic role of Fanny Brice, first brought to national, then worldwide, acclaim by the inimitable Barbra Streisand. For the past year or so, we've been giving you a chance to get to know each of Nashville's Funny Fannys, one by one, starting with Alex Maddox, and continuing through the whole list of Fannys, including Cori Laemmel, Corrie Miller, Bonnie Keen, Erica Haines Cantrell, Lindsay Terrizzi Hess, Catherine Mai Holder, Nancy Allen, Sondra Morton, Heather Trabucco and Laura Thomas Sonn. But today, gentle readers, with the curtain about to go up on Keeping Scores' Funny Girl in Concert, I'm delighted to introduce you to the most wonderful Fanny of them all...the one and only Stephanie Jones Benton. She's bright, beautiful and, I daresay, brilliant, particularly when it comes to sucking up to the guy at the keyboard. Read about her and you will understand exactly what I mean...

In the upcoming Keeping Scores' concert version of Funny Girl, set for April 29-May 1 at Boiler Room Theatre, director Scott Logsdon has cast 12 different, yet very funny and somehow uniquely qualified actresses to take on the iconic role of Fanny Brice. First brought to national, then international, acclaim by the legendary Barbra Streisand, the role of Fanny Brice is a coveted role among musical theater performers. The buzz from rehearsals tells us that things are going swimmingly, egos are being kept at-bay and all the cast members gather around the campfire to toast marshmallows and sing 'People' at the end of the evening (thus proving untrue my contention they were singing 'Kumbaya' every night). The dozen Fannys, of course, are my current 12 favorite singing actresses (I remind you, gentle reader, that I am contractually required to make that statement at least 12 times a day), and as you've gotten to know each Fanny one-by-one, we continue that tradition, today offering up the case of one, Ms. Bonnie Keen (who really is my favorite, but please don't tell Cori, Corrie, Sondra, Laura, Heather, Joann, Catherine, Alex, Nancy, Lindsay or Erica, they'll take it personally). So, here is today's interview with a Funny Fanny who, interestingly enough, has a funny fanny...read on to find out what I mean...

The dozen Fannys are, of course, my current 12 favorite singing actresses (I remind you, gentle reader, that I am contractually required to make that statement at least 12 times a day), and as you've gotten to know each Fanny one-by-one, we continue the series with a Q&A with one Heather Trabucco (who really is my favorite, but please don't tell Cori, Corrie, Sondra, Laura, Heather, Stephanie [Jones-Benton, the newest Fanny of them all], Catherine, Alex, Nancy, Lindsay or Erica, they'll take it personally). So, here's our latest Funny Fanny...read on and you'll love her as much as I do (maybe I need to re-visit this whole gay thing)...

In the upcoming Keeping Scores' concert version of Funny Girl, set for April 29-May 1 at Boiler Room Theatre, director Scott Logsdon has cast 12 different, yet very funny and somehow uniquely qualified actresses to take on the iconic role of Fanny Brice. First brought to national, then international, acclaim by the legendary Barbra Streisand, the role of Fanny Brice is a coveted role among musical theater performers. The buzz from rehearsals tells us that things are going swimmingly, egos are being kept at-bay and all the cast members gather around the campfire to toast marshmallows and sing 'People' at the end of the evening (thus proving untrue my contention they were singing 'Kumbaya' every night). The dozen Fannys, of course, are my current 12 favorite singing actresses (I remind you, gentle reader, that I am contractually required to make that statement at least 12 times a day), and as you've gotten to know each Fanny one-by-one, we continue that tradition, today offering up the case of one, Ms. Bonnie Keen (who really is my favorite, but please don't tell Cori, Corrie, Sondra, Laura, Heather, Joann, Catherine, Alex, Nancy, Lindsay or Erica, they'll take it personally). So, here is today's interview with a Funny Fanny who, interestingly enough, has a funny fanny...read on to find out what I mean...

Nashville's divas proved their mettle and showed their immense talents in 2010 while assaying some of the most challenging and best loved roles in all of musical theater. Ranging from classic musical comedy heroines that any actress would love to play to newer, more contemporary characters, Music City's women were given the opportunity to showcase their multitude of talents on various stages while again proving they are capable of virtually anything - and everything. Here are our choices for the top ten musical performances by an actress in 2010...

'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:

Not all of the Top Ten Lists announced at Winter's First Night on Sunday, January 9, were serious, high-toned salutes to all that is special and spectacular about live theater in Nashville. Sure, most of them were heartfelt and memorable, but some were (how shall I put this?) off-kilter, tongue-in-cheek and just plain fun. And not all the lists were limited to only ten entries; in fact, some had many more than that. But, for your reading pleasure, we present them to you without any real explanation. You'll have to figure that all out for yourself!

Despite portentous warnings of an approaching snowmageddon across the South, more than 150 members of the Nashville and Middle Tennessee theater community gathered at Street Theatre Company in Nashville Sunday night, January 9, for the announcement of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville Theatre Award winners and the presentation of First Night's Top Ten of Twenty-Ten.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's resident professional theatre company, continues its 10 th season with Les Miz!