Tim Fudge News

Martha Wilkinson directs a cast of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre favorites in the upcoming Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, the latest installment of the Sanders Family trilogy, conceived by Alan Bailey and written by Connie Ray. With Tim Fudge (who directed the last installment - Sanders Family Christmas - during the holiday season) as music director, the show runs July 22-August 28.

Martha Wilkinson directs a cast of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre favorites in the upcoming Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, the latest installment of the Sanders Family trilogy, conceived by Alan Bailey and written by Connie Ray. With Tim Fudge (who directed the last installment - Sanders Family Christmas - during the holiday season) as music director, the show runs July 22-August 28.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

There may be actors who could give better performances as john and jen than Patrick Waller and Martha Wilkinson but they would have to be some sort of imaginary, dream-like apparitions to even come close to the stunningly brave and thoroughly focused interpretations given by these two exemplary Nashville artists. Consider it an ideal marriage of actors and characters, the perfect confluence of artists at their creative best coming together to breathe life and renewed vitality into their fictional counterparts, who are so richly drawn and evocatively written by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald in their chamber musical now onstage at Chaffin's Backstage at the Barn in the debut production of Johnny Peppers' 3Ps Productions.

'Martha' is Martha Wilkinson, an actress who's been on the scene for more than 20 years, performing on stages all over town, racking up glowing notices other actresses would kill for, carting off nine - count 'em, nine! - First Night Awards, being named the Nashville Scene's best actress, ranking atop Nashville.BroadwayWorld.com's year-end review for 2009, and winning hearts every time she walks onstage.

Good naturedly, Waller takes the ribbing from Wilkinson and Fudge in stride, which is quite a good thing considering they are masters of the game. Longtime friends and professional collaborators, the worldly wise and experienced pair have welcomed Waller into their charmed inner circle with open arms - and the easy camaraderie among the three is by turns compelling, rollicking and, quite frankly, amazing. In conversation (particularly in an interview about their current project) , where one starts, another takes off and the third continues, with punch-lines abounding, self-deprecation the rule of the day and laughter at every turn. It's an easy give-and-take that promises a particularly entertaining production of the Andrew Lippa-Tom Greenwald chamber musical, john and jen.

Poor Tim Fudge! Could we all just join hands, figuratively speaking, and lift our voices in prayer (to whomever or whatever you feel like praying) for this multi-talented man who is faced with a most daunting task: He's the musical director for john & jen, the Andrew Lippa-Tom Greenwald musical being mounted by Johnny Peppers' 3Ps Productions and starring Martha Wilkinson and Patrick Waller, for a three week run at Backstage at the Barn.

Martha Wilkinson and Patrick Waller, lauded by both the Nashville Scene and Nashville.BroadwayWorld.com as the best actress and actor in Nashville, will team up to star in a production of the Andrew Lippa musical john & jen, playing the Backstage at the Barn venue for a limited run February 4-20. Tim Fudge will music direct the production. Waller and Wilkinson have shared the stage together on several occasions, most recently in Tennessee Rep's award-winnng production of Sweeney Todd, in which they played Toby and Mrs. Lovett respectively. They've also appeared onstage together in Johnny Guitar at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre and in The Underpants at Tennessee Rep.

In this musical sequel to Smoke on the Mountain, the Sanders family returns to Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, home of the Mount Pleasant Pickle Factory for Christmas Eve in 1941. Reverend Oglethorpe, of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Chruch, has invited them to sing and witness, getting his congregation into the down-home holiday spirit before the boys, including one of the Sanders' own, are shipped off to serve in World War II. The show's score features more than two dozen Christmas carols - many of them vintage hymns - and hilarious yuletide stories from the Sanders family keep the audience laughing, clapping and singing along with some bluegrass Christmas favorites.

Directed by the multi-talented Tim Fudge, who does double duty as music director of the piece, Sanders Family Christmas is an affectionately drawn tribute to simpler times that is sure to evoke memories of home and hearth - and if you're country-born, as am I, you'll find yourself missing family members who are no longer with you. That alone makes the show an ideal pick for this sentimental season of the year, but it's Fudge's direction and the commendable efforts of his very talented cast that make it one of the year's strongest productions.

In this musical sequel to Smoke on the Mountain, the Sanders family returns to Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, home of the Mount Pleasant Pickle Factory for Christmas Eve in 1941. Reverend Oglethorpe, of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Chruch, has invited them to sing and witness, getting his congregation into the down-home holiday spirit before the boys, including one of the Sanders' own, are shipped off to serve in World War II. The show's score features more than two dozen Christmas carols - many of them vintage hymns - and hilarious yuletide stories from the Sanders family keep the audience laughing, clapping and singing along with some bluegrass Christmas favorites.

In this musical sequel to Smoke on the Mountain, the Sanders family returns to Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, home of the Mount Pleasant Pickle Factory for Christmas Eve in 1941. Reverend Oglethorpe, of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Chruch, has invited them to sing and witness, getting his congregation into the down-home holiday spirit before the boys, including one of the Sanders' own, are shipped off to serve in World War II. The show's score features more than two dozen Christmas carols - many of them vintage hymns - and hilarious yuletide stories from the Sanders family keep the audience laughing, clapping and singing along with some bluegrass Christmas favorites.

Since returning to the world of theatre via BroadwayWorld.com about a month ago, after an almost seven year absence, I've had the invaluable opportunity of reconnecting with a number of old acquaintances and renewing long-dormant friendships and relationships with people connected to the theatre scene in Nashville and throughout Tennesseee.