Jeffrey Ellis - Page 7

Now onstage through June 18 at Clarksville’s Roxy Regional Theatre, Cry-Baby: The Musical (which played a brief 2008 Broadway run) is a riff on Romeo and Juliet that takes place during the age of polio vaccinations, Pinko Commie malcontents and the overzealous construction of flimsy, at-home shelters that promised protection from atomic blasts and somehow typified the Eisenhower era of the post-war 1950s.

Set in 1950s Baltimore, the conservative squares face off against the leather-clad delinquents in this rockabilly musical from the creative team behind Hairspray – Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell – featuring a score from Fountains of Wayne co-founder Adam Schlesinger and The Daily Show executive producer David Javerbaum.  

Sam is holding on to the past. He’s had the same job, lived in the same house, even ordered the same coffee for a decade now. This one weekend could change all of that. Come see the world premiere of Ten Year – a new musical by Wesley King and Jacob Henz, running through June 4 at Nashville’s Darkhorse Theater.

Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot, the 1960 musical based on the legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table and adapted from the T.H. White novel The Once and Future King, is now onstage in Franklin, in an entertaining, sparkling and winningly fast-paced rendition from Studio Tenn. Under the direction of Broadway veteran Phillip William McKinley (The Boy From Oz, Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark) who, with his creative team, brings to life the show’s 2010 update by multiple Emmy Award-winning, multi-hyphenate television producer David Lee (Frasier, Wings, The Jeffersons).

Yet perhaps at no time during its vaunted and venerated history has Oklahoma! been so polarizing as it has become now, thanks to the 2019 Broadway revival directed by Daniel Fish which is touring the provinces. Read our critic's review.

Single tickets go on sale on Thursday, May 5, at 10 a.m. at TPAC.org and in person at the TPAC Box Office, 505 Deaderick St., in downtown Nashville. For groups of 10 or more, call 615-782-4060. Patrons are encouraged to have tickets delivered to TPAC Concierge App when possible.

After more than two years since its original opening night was set in 2020, Nashville Repertory Theatre’s eagerly anticipated production of Disney’s Mary Poppins – the stage musicalization of P.L. Travers’ tales of the acerbic British nanny and her oft-misbehaving charges – has finally landed on the stage of the James K. Polk Theatre at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Contemporary arts center OZ Arts Nashville today announced the line-up for its inaugural Brave New Works Lab, which transforms the organization’s expansive warehouse into a laboratory for local artists to experiment with new forms as they create new works for the stage. The program features four unique performance pieces from local artists working across multiple disciplines, including dance, theater, multimedia, performance art, and music. Performances will be held nightly from May 19-21, and OZ Arts will also host a cutting-edge visual art exhibit and poetic film screenings presented with local partner organizations in conjunction with the Brave New Works Lab.

Rabbit Room Theatre and Matt Logan Productions are partnering on Nashville’s theatrical premiere of The Hiding Place at the Soli Deo Center on Christ Presbyterian Academy’s campus from June 30-July 17. Adapted for the stage by The Rabbit Room’s A. S. “Pete” Peterson, The Hiding Place is based on the memoir of the same name by Corrie Ten Boom, recounting how the Ten Boom family hid Jews from the Nazis via the Dutch Underground during WWII.  

Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) today announces its non-Broadway programming lineup for 2022-23, including the launch of new series for dance, theater, and family presentations as well as the return of its Cabaret On Stage series, co-presented with Studio Tenn.

After two years in real time – which seems like more than two decades in these weird pandemic times in which we’ve been living most recently – Nashville’s critically and audience-acclaimed theater company Actors Bridge Ensemble is back in the business of producing live theater. And may we say, on behalf of the company’s legions of fans: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You have been missed.

If it were at all possible – say, if I were rich or something akin to being rich – I would buy huge blocks of tickets to Heidi Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me so that everyone could see it and be as affected by it as I was. For to be quite honest, What the Constitution Means to Me is one of the best theatrical experiences of my career and one of the most edifying experiences of my entire life.

And while that is one of the true musical highlights of Summer – The Donna Summer Musical, it also focuses attention on the fact that the musical itself – or, rather, its problematic book – often seems unable to figure out how to focus the spotlight on its heroine. Taking a non-linear pathway through the story of the diva’s life, Summer – The Donna Summer Musical is oftentimes confusing and sometimes perplexing, despite the fact that the musical score (attributed to Summer, Giorgio Moroder, Paul Jabara and “others” in the playbill) is wonderfully entertaining and certain to unleash a flood of memories for audience members of a certain vintage.

As poignant and as moving – and certainly just as emotionally draining – as you may remember from its first run at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center in September 2019, Dear Evan Hansen has settled into TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Hall for a limited engagement through Sunday, featuring a stellar performance from Stephen Anthony Christopher in the title role, given superb support from director Michael Greif’s seven-person ensemble.

There is no place more magical – no art form more transformative – than the theater and now, thanks to the continued creativity and sense of wonder shared by Ernie Nolan and David Weinstein (given an assist from a timeless tale by J.M. Barrie), audiences are treated to an exhilarating flight of fancy via the award-winning pair’s sprightly and sparkling new musical take on the story of Peter Pan: Wendy’s Adventure to Neverland.  

Cassidy has very cleverly reconfigured the piece to be presented as a radio play, presented in 1947 on local Franklin radio station, WAKM, adding some dialogue that rings authentic of the era and certain to gain a reaction from the play’s audience. In less capable hands, this new conceit could be considered too cute by half, yet Cassidy and his ensemble very confidently bring the show to life with a spirit heretofore unrealized.

Nothing can put you in the holiday spirit quite so quickly – or so successfully – as being treated to a musical presentation filled with Christmastide tunes, performed by a swell ensemble of uber-talented performers (with some comedy bits thrown in for good measure, along with a generous dollop of onstage magic)! And when it is preceded by a delicious dinner shared with a whole slew of folks seeking to capture the warmth and camaraderie of a holiday-themed spectacle…well, can it get any better?

What better way then to kick off your own seasonal schedule of happenings and events than a return – for a timely reminder about what the holiday season should be about – to Nashville Children’s Theatre for their colorful and entertaining adaptation of The Elves and the Shoemaker?

Anyone who’s been even the least bit concerned about the future of musical theater, in general, or the status of Belmont University Musical Theatre, in particular, need worry no more. The multi-talented triple threats studying on the Nashville campus, under the tutelage of program coordinator Nancy Allen and her team of top-flight educators, are proof that musical theater as we know it continues to flourish even in the darkest and most difficult of times.

Ragtime opened last night, featuring a cast of Nashville stage veterans and a sizable coterie of performers, heretofore unknown to local audiences, who are certain to become fast favorites. Taking a brief respite from their hectic schedules of rehearsals, fittings, photo calls, more rehearsals and getting to know one another, four of those newcomers – Shelby Denise Smith, Wood Van Meter, Kortney Ballenger and Steven McCoy – took the time to answer our questions to tell you why you need to score those tickets for Ragtime now if you haven’t already.