Jeffrey Ellis - Page 14

What with all the creativity being expressed onstage at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre during the run of the Tony Award-winning Jersey Boys, it should come as no surprise that imaginations were just as active - and as fertile - backstage. Take for example, the creation of The Doo Wop Project, the six-member enclave of performers that was borne of offstage conversations and considerations among some cast members of the long-running show.

Craig Lucas' evocative libretto and Adam Guettel's lushly romantic (and Tony Award-winning) score, notwithstanding - and putting aside the momentous occasion of Street Theatre Company inaugurating a new theater venue - perhaps the most notable attribute of the Ernie Nolan-directed version of The Light in the Piazza debuting tonight is its stellar cast of artists who bring the show to life with such apparent ardor. Continuing through April 20, STC's The Light in the Piazza is beautifully sung and impressively acted by Nolan's impeccably cast ensemble in a production fairly redolent of mid-century Florence and it serves as the perfect introduction to STC's new home.

Today, we invite you to get to know Briar Moroschak and Lindsay Hess, who play the daughter and mother at the heart of the story, who graciously answered our questions for the latest in our continuing series of Friday 5 (+1) in order to gain some insight into the two women and to suggest why you might want to make reservations now to see the acclaimed musical at Street Theatre Company.

Lindsey Reynolds (who plays the title character) and Anna McRae (The Cheshire Cat) shared some of their own theatrical backgrounds and interests, as well as offering some compelling reasons for you to join them and their castmates at the show this weekend in today's edition of High School Drama.

Jack and the Giant is described as "a joyous, heartfelt, and family-friendly new folk musical." This new spin on the classic fairy tale 'Jack and the Beanstalk' has a dynamic score and intriguing new characters. Directed by Jacob Heinz, the world premiere production features Dwayne Benn, Ryan Harrelson, Brett Myers, Caroline Nelson and Alaina Smith who found time this week to answer our questions for the latest Friday 5 (+1) on Thursday...

What if? For many, their lives are filled with the search for answers to the questions that tend to keep people awake in the middle of the night, wondering if they'd made another choice how their lives would have been impacted and, more importantly, where they might find themselves instead of lying awake in a cloistered apartment, cut off from adventure and intrigue, living a life largely unexamined until 3 a.m.

Can there be a better way to capture Matilda's spirit so evocatively than in musical theater (the musical debuted on the West End in 2010 and made its subsequent New York transfer in 2013) - a journey through which her soulful, heartfelt ascent into a literary hierarchy (in which readers can live vicariously) be charted? Matilda's forays into her fictional world of devil-may-care adventure, oftentimes aided by her gift for telekinesis or her penchant for clever tricks (like switching her father's hair oil with her mother's peroxide is just one of her intriguingly contrived comeuppances) - which is at once darker than other offerings of similar ilk, yet somehow rather more confectionary than even the fluffiest of musical comedies that have come before or since - lend themselves exquisitely to Matilda the Musical, the stage version of the tale that makes an impact due to its somehow hopeful outlook, despite everything that exists to crush the spirit of its young protagonist.

Anna Perry's energetic and period-perfect choreography - along with impressive performances from a cadre of university students destined for Broadway stardom - ensures that Belmont University Musical Theatre's Thoroughly Modern Millie is a complete and utter delight, featuring a memorable score wrapped up in a rather daft but engaging storyline that earns every bit of the resounding applause in a standing ovation that comes at show's end.

Director Cyndie Verbeten unveils her latest theater project tonight as Larry Shue's The Nerd continues the 2019 season at Woodbury's Arts Center of Cannon County, brought to life by some of the area's favorite actors.

CCP artistic director Britt Hancock directs the cast of four, which includes Justin Burr, Paul Gary, Ross Griffin and Chris Hallowes, who found time this week during the hustle and bustle of tech week to respond to our queries and to tell us why they think you should come see their show in the latest installment of our Friday 5 (+1)…

With the excitement of opening night and the histrionics of tech week to fuel them, Kristina Nichole James (who plays Deloris) and her castmates Susan Walsworth and Stephanie Hale Williams managed to find time in their hectic schedules to answer our questions and to offer some background information on themselves - along with some compelling reasons you should make your reservations for the show - in today's version of the Friday 5 (+1)...

Multi-talented young theater artists and technicians from 28 Tennessee high schools will put their skills on display this year in hopes of claiming their place in the spotlight as the sixth annual Nashville High School Musical Theatre Awards – aka The Spotlight Awards – are presented in Nashville on May 11.

Larry Shue's The Nerd, called by some "one of the funniest plays ever written, opens this Friday, March 29 at The Arts Center of Cannon County in a new production directed by Cyndie Verbeten and running through April 13.

Never one to let any moss grow under her feet, Western Kentucky University's Hilarie Spangler is crazy-busy leading up to her college graduation in a couple of months, with the near-future mapped out for the young woman who started her theater career as a youngster in community productions in Middleboro, Kentucky.

Celebrating an opening night is always exciting, if exhausting, nerve-wracking and exhilarating, but when it's the very first production of a new theater company you've co-founded, odds are it's even more so. Just ask Emily Faith who is directing the premiere production of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Dallas-based Lily & Joan theater company she co-founded in 2018 with Erika Larsen.

'Celebrating a season of unforgettable women,' Studio Tenn commemorates its tenth season with the announcement of the 2019-20 slate of shows that will honor female artists and entertainers who have shaped the industry.

Puccini's Madame Butterfly will launch Nashville Opera's 2019-20 season, which is described as "a compelling mix of beloved favorites and important 20th century works."

Relive an era when doo-wop was king, big hairdos were in, cars had enormous fins, and the harmonizing boy bands of the 1950s were all the rage as Forever Plaid opens at Cumberland County Playhouse this Friday night, March 29, running through May 24.

Happy New Year, Nashville! Tennessee Performing Arts Center this morning announces that the Broadway musical juggernaut Hamilton will land in Music City for its premiere engagement December 31, 2019 through January 19, 2020 at Andrew Jackson Hall.

Oh, those wacky Brits: They love their comedy dry, broad and often rather lowbrow, they adore mistaken identities, hijinks in the bedchamber and a bit with a dog. And that, gentle readers, is exactly what is delivered in the deliciously irreverent, surprisingly heartfelt Shakespeare in Love - Lee Hall's stage adaptation of the 1999 Oscar-winning best film of the same name - now onstage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Johnson Theatre in a sparkling new production from Nashville Repertory Theatre.