Jeffrey Ellis - Page 123

Circle Players' upcoming production of Jason Robert Brown's new musical 13 presents quite the challenge for everyone involved in bringing the show to the stage of the Larry Keeton Theatre for its upcoming Nashville run. It is a new musical that has never been performed in Nashville. What's more, there are no adults in this show. Every performer is between the ages of 11 and 17. It is a story about teens, but a story that promises to get laughs (and a few tears) out of all audience members, no matter what age.

The theatrical legacy of playwright Lanford Wilson will commemorated at Murfreesboro's Out Front on Main with the company's production of Burn This, running April 14-May 1, with shows Thursdays-Sundays at 7:30 p.m.

Something tells me Nashville Ballet's Chris Stuart is having a particularly good Tuesday. After a dark and stormy Monday in Music City, the sun is brightly shining, his team claimed the NCAA championship last night and, well, today (Tuesday, April 5) is his birthday. So if you should run into the talented dancer and choreographer, you might wish him many happy returns of the day and offer up some congratulations.

Broadway star Eden Espinosa joins the cast of Show Hope's second annual spring celebration production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Enchanted Edition, on Friday, April 15, at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Espinosa, who gained critical acclaim for her performances in Wicked and Rent, will play the role of The Fairy Godmother in the second annual staging of the musical.

A perfect dozen of Nashville's favorite - and best-singing - actresses will claim the role of the iconic Fanny Brice in Keeping Scores Concert's upcoming Funny Girl in Concert, the inaugural production of the continuing concert series to be staged at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre. The twelve women portraying Fanny Brice at different times in her life - and in the musical's various scenes -include (in alphabetical order): Nancy Allen, Erica Haines Cantrell, Joann Coleman, Lindsay Terrizzi Hess, Catherine Mai Holder, Bonnie Keen, Cori Laemmel, Alex Maddox, Corrie Miller, Sondra Morton, Laura Thomas-Sonn and Heather Trabucco. Funny Girl in Concert will be presented for three performances at Boiler Room Theatre on April 29-30 and May 1. Joining Nashville's Funny Girls onstage for the concerts are Bakari King as Nicky Arnstein, Annette de la Torre as Mrs. Brice and Bryan Wlas as Eddie Ryan.

Lauren Shouse directs 3Ps Productions' upcoming workshop production of award-winning playwright Nate Eppler's Long Way Down, described as 'a new dark comedy'starring Rachel Agee, David Compton, Rebekah Durham and Jennifer Richmond, running May 6-28 at Street Theatre Company, 1933 Elm Hill Pike. Set just outside Nashville, Long Way Down tells the story of Maybelline and Karen, two southern women who decide to kidnap babies from undeserving parents. When they run out of room for all of the babies, one of the women decides there is enough room for all of the babies in Heaven.

Beginning Friday, April 8, the search is on for CMT's Next Superstar as five men and five women vie for the title in CMT's latest competition series, premiering this Friday at 9 p.m (EDT/PDT). Hosted by Thea Andrews (Top Chef Canada, ESPN, Entertainment Tonight), in each episode of the ten episode series, CMT will search to find America's next great country star and will open the door for undiscovered singer/songwriters who think they have what it takes to make it in the country music industry.

Newman - whom we hereby crown 'the doyenne of Nashville cabaret' - hints that more be on our artistic horizon, telling her audience Saturday night that she hopes to spread the gospel of cabaret to a larger audience on a more regular basis. Clearly, if anyone can do it, it is she: Ginger Newman (whom I've famously said I would 'drink her bathwater' on numerous occasions) has the charm, the verve, the vitality and no-holds-barred stage presence to make cabaret as ubiquitous and as much a part of this city's entertainment scene as running into Keith and Nicole at Starbucks. And as good as those five women in FIVE were (and they were fabulous, make no mistake about it), they'd do themselves a favor by taking advantage of the opportunity to study the song stylings - and song selection - of Ginger Newman.

Cats is best viewed through fresh eyes, probably, when the wonder of the spectacle is first encountered. The show's technical wizardry, in its time mind-boggling and perhaps even revolutionary, is now old hat (although I can certainly let go of my own cynicism long enough to appreciate the very theatricality of the show) and expected. But, imagine if you will, if you know nothing about the show at all and you settle into your seat and give yourself over to the experience. Chances are - no matter how worldly or sophisticated you are - you'll find yourself just a little awestruck by Cats. It remains an important milestone in musical theater history, despite the derision of theater snobs the world over.

Nancy Allen's calendar has been rather full, of late, much to the delight of Nashville theater audiences who've been immensely entertained by her most recent performances - she recently starred (along with Jennifer Richmond and Melodie Madden Adams) in Lydia Bushfield's World War II-era musical revue I'll Be Seeing You at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre and now she's holding forth as the mad, bad and dangerous (with apologies to Lord Byron) to know Velma Von Tussle in Street Theatre Company's production of Hairspray. Later this month, she'll take to the stage of Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre as one of the assembled Fanny Brices in director Scott Logsdon's concert staging of Funny Girl, the first offering in the Keeping Scores concert series.

Don't tell the evangelical theater folks in Pigeon Forge, but Kathy Griffin's headed back to Tennessee and, this time, who knows whom she'll be telling to 'suck it'? Just a simple girl with a simple dream: the outspoken and outrageous comedy legend (surely, that will get me the exclusive and private interview I covet) brings her unique brand of comedy back to Nashville this summer for the first time since her last sold-out performance at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

In recognition of the centennial of Williams' birth, I conducted a very unscientific survey among Nashville theater folk to determine which of his plays are the most popular and the best loved. Perhaps surprisingly, the top vote-getters in our informal survey were A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof and Summer and Smoke, shows that have been given memorable (so memorable, in fact, that people continue to talk about them) productions in Music City in the last century. Members of the Nashville theaterati have definite ideas where Williams' plays are concerned.

For Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart to be successful it's vital that you cast three actresses who can convincingly and effectively play the roles of the three McGrath sisters of Hazelhurst, Mississippi. Director Pat Street probably heaved a huge sigh of relief when she saw Melodie Madden Adams, Evelyn Brush and Laura Thomas Sonn walk into auditions, knowing those three were more than equal to the task - but Sondra Morton would be well-advised to watch her back (you'll find out why later).

Back home in Abingdon, Virgnia after a three-month tour across the Southeastern United States, The Barter Players - Barter Theatre's company of actors dedicated to performing for young audiences - will open their season with The Ugly Duckling running April 6-30.

Paul Cook directs four of Nashville's favorites actors in the upcoming Rhubarb Theater Company production of Terrence McNally's A Perfect Ganesh, April 8-23, at The Darkhorse Theater.

Bringing more than 20 years of professional experience to back her up, Grammy Award-winning country music recording artist Linda Davis will lead two Stage Performance 101 Workshops for aspiring entertainers at The Renaissance Center in Dickson on Thursday, April 28.

Nashville theatre-goers are a pretty lucky lot, with a great deal to be thankful for actually, what with the wealth of talent you can find in our little burg. We may be known around the world as Music City USA, but those of us in the know can rightfully and justifiably attest to the fact that you could refer to us just easily as 'Theater City USA.' Certainly, you'd be hard-pressed to find any city around the globe with more musical talent than you'll find in Nashville, which means, of course, that musical theater here is really good - even when it's bad (and do you really need me to list examples? I think not, but I can if called upon to do so...), it's far better than you'd find anywhere else. Nashville is packed with talented people - it's that simple.