Jeffrey Ellis - Page 124

Directed by David Shamburger, with musical direction by Jo Lynn Burks, The Drowsy Chaperone is an unmistakably top-flight production, performed with stylish glee by the cast of student actors who bring the 'musical within a comedy' to such vibrantly mesmerizing life. Shamburger's focused direction and confident staging is seen throughout the production, which features the worky of six choreographers (Debbie Belue, Alyssa Maddox, Emily Tello, Emma Carpenter, Meghan Glogower and the director himself). That many choreographers could well lead to confusion (what's the old axiom about too many cooks spoiling the broth?) and a serious lack of onstage cohesion, but instead they come together on The Drowsy Chaperone to create a wonderfully danced musical comedy that flows seamlessly from one scene to the next.

Clint Jefferies' The Three Musketeers, a musical retelling of the classic Alexandre Dumas tale of the young D'Artagnan, who leaves home to seek for adventure and glory in Paris with the King's Musketeers, will be presented by Donelson's Larry Keeton Theatre, March 11-27.

There is so much energy, enthusiasm and heart found in Street Theatre Company's Hairspray that it's certain to keep your spirits buoyed for a long time after leaving the theater. Brought to the stage by a competent creative team and a huge cast of committed performers, the Scott Wittman-Marc Shaiman musical - featuring a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan based on John Waters' wholly original film - Hairspray is great big fun, featuring some lovable characters and one of the most infectious musical theatre scores around.

Cori Laemmel is one of those actresses you're instantly drawn to onstage: When she comes on, there's an indefinable quality about her that rivets your attention to her, regardless of the role she's playing. Offstage? Well, you find yourself in that same, almost indefinable, realm of being unable to stop watching her: She's charming, as sweet and disingenuous as anyone could possibly be, funny and slightly goofy - and absolutely, completely, no-doubt-about it a star-in-the-making. Seriously, she's got mad talent and remarkable skill. The fact that she is pursuing her theatrical dreams in Nashville is just so much luck for those of us fortunate enough to revel in the spectacle that is she.

Chaffin's Barn, the venerable Nashville theatrical venue where you get top-flight productions served up alongside some mighty tasty roast beef, is on a roll this year. Coming off the success of its excellent production of 'Til Beth Do Us Part, Chaffin's mines their estimable comedy vault to bring back Larry Shue's Southern-fried and Georgia-bred classic The Foreigner - and audiences will be flocking to the Barn for a thoroughly delightful experience.

There is so much heart and soul to be found in In The Heights, the Tony Award-winning musical now onstage at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, that you cannot help but fall in love with every character in the piece, so vibrantly created by Lin-Manuel Miranda (who did the music and lyrics; with a book by Quiara Alegria Hudes).

So far as I can tell, the best way to handle the situation - on Monday night, March 28, five of Nashville's most talented young divas aka Cori Laemmel, Erin Parker, Laura Matula, Megan Murphy Chambers and Melodie Madden Adams will be performing a cabaret entitled FIVE - is to send five other young divas (I'd suggest sequestering Laura Thomas Sonn, Heather Trabucco, Stacie Riggs, Jennifer Richmond and Erica Haines Cantrell, just off the top of my head) to an undisclosed location - there's got to be a bunker around here somewhere, what with Oak Ridge so close by - just in case someone drops a bomb on Street Theatre Company

Do the names 'Joe Shepherd' or 'Corey Caldwell' ring a bell? No? Well, I just bet their voices would: Both men have been featured in numerous radio and television commercials, whether as the voice of Brentwood Jewelers (in the case of Corey Caldwell) or as the creator of a Peabody Award-winning program in Washington, D.C. (as Joe Shepherd was).

In his tenth season with Nashville ballet, Jon Upleger is the very epitome of grace, class and talent, thrilling audiences with his artistry and complete devotion to his craft. 'I can't play a musical instrument so dance is my way to visually express music,' he says.

There is an embarrassment of riches on display in Tennessee Repertory Theatre's production of The 39 Steps - not the least of which is the cumulative effort of four of Nashville's finest actors showing off everything in their estimable bag of tricks to bring this enormously entertaining play to life. Add to those efforts another stunning set by Gary Hoff, Trish Clark's period-perfect costumes, Michael Barnett's gorgeous lighting and Paul Carrol Binkley's stellar sound design and you clearly have one of the season's most successful offerings, technically and artistically delivered.

The Renaissance Center in Dickson presents a unique production of Annie, Jr., a Broadway Junior version of one of the most beloved musicals of all time, closing March 20.

Derek Whittaker stars in the title role in the latest incarnation of The Foreigner, Larry Shue's classic stage comedy, opening at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre March 24, running through April 30. The production is helmed by director Dietz Osborne.

Ginger Newman and Russell Davis will present Fool's Games - an evening of cabaret entertainment April 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Keeton Theatre. Fools Games will feature a unique arrangements of a wide array musical styles from Jazz to Swing to Broadway as well as '60s, 7'0s and '80s pop tunes all woven into a musical exploration celebrating April Fools Day.

Raised in Florida and a graduate of Ole Miss (aka The University of Mississippi) and now based in New York City, actor Britt Hancock (you can find his photograph next to the dictionary entry for 'versatility') calls Tennessee 'home,' thanks to his long tenure at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse, where last year he starred in, among other shows, Camelot, Brigadoon and She Loves Me. In fact, he claimed the BroadwayWorld Nashville theater award for outstanding actor in a musical (professional) for his stellar performance in Brigadoon.

Kandace Christian plays Margaret Mitchell - who created one of the biggest and best novels of the 20th Century with Gone With the Wind - in a one-actor play called Mrs. John Marsh, to be performed Thursday, March 17, at the public library in Franklin, Tennessee.

There is a huge difference between unbridled enthusiasm and the completely undisciplined free-for-all on display in Encore Theatre Company's production of Philip King's classic stage comedy See How They Run. Clearly, the cast's overzealous approach to the show was warmly received by a large part of the audience (many of whom leapt to their feet at curtain to give the actors an ovation), but there is no doubt many people left the theater, scratching their heads and wondering, 'what the hell was that all about?'

In the past year-and-a-half of interviewing actors and dancers for our 'A Life in the Theater' and 'This Dancer's Life' series, I've been struck by something very interesting: While actors love to talk about themselves and what makes them do what they do, dancers tend to be more circumspect and to the point. This week's featured dancer, for example, the beautiful, ethereal, other-worldly Sadie Bo Harris - one of the prima ballerinas of Nashville Ballet - answers our questions with a disarming brevity, cutting to the chase and giving us a sharply focused view of her life as a dancer.

First created by writer William March in his 1954 book The Bad Seed, then recreated by playwright Maxwell Anderson for his hugely successful Broadway play of the same name (which was filmed for the screen by Mervyn LeRoy, starring the Broadway duo of Patty McCormick and Nancy Kelly as Rhoda and her mother), the character of Rhoda Penmark has inspired (Tina Denmark in the musical Ruthless is clearly a doppelganger for Rhoda) and sent chills up the spines of audiences for more than 50 years - and now Nashville's Street Theatre Company plans a revival - with a contemporary twist - of the melodrama for presentation in June.

FIVE features the talents of Erin Parker, Melodie Madden Adams, Megan Murphy Chambers, Cori Laemmel and Laura Matula. Born as the brainchild of Parker, FIVE is the culmination of her desire to showcase local Nashville talent and creativity and grew from her aims at putting on her own one-woman show.

First-time director Anne-Geri Fann acquits herself admirably with her production of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana which, like so many of Williams' characters, is flawed and imperfect yet somehow compelling, provocative and imminently watchable. With a stunning triad of Nashville actors taking on the leading characters in the play - Cinda McCain, Jack Chambers and Robyn Berg - your rapt attention to the stage proceedings is demanded and the three never disappoint, delivering performances that are stunningly raw yet somehow refined, callous yet heartfelt.