Jeffrey Ellis - Page 136

Perhaps best known to the general public for her performance as Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid (the animated blockbuster that is credited with reaffirming the Disney brand as the ultimate in film animation), Benson has delighted legions of fans over the years with her ageless vocal abilities, even while delighting Broadway audiences who know her as far more than the voice of Ariel. In fact, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her critically acclaimed performance as Polly in Ken Ludwig's Crazy for You, the updated version of Girl Crazy, the 1930s musical that features a score of iconic songs by George and Ira Gershwin.

For Matt Logan, staging a special concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is the culmination of a long-held dream of his to bring just such a production to his hometown of Nashville, perhaps best known as Music City USA. Now, with Nashville rebuilding after devastating floods in early May, the benefit performance for Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman's showHOPE organization is perhaps even more timely -- and it has certainly taken on a deeper meaning and a more compelling resonance.

During that time, the talented Ms. Street-Kavanaugh has performed in musicals, plays, commercials, movies and videos and she's done voice-overs, choreography, cabaret, cruise ships and concerts. Furthermore, she's directed and produced, and was nominated for an Irene Ryan national acting award, a First Night Award (for the original production of The Bop She Bops at Chaffin's Backstage at the Barn Theatre in which I compared her to a young Ann Margret) and she won a best actress award as Mama Rose in Circle Players' production of Gypsy.

Former NFL great Eddie George and Amun Ra Theatre founder and artistic director jeff obafemi carr -star in a special one-night-only production of Suzan Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre on Friday, May 21. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m., with the show followed by a special fundraising gala afterward.

Wright's play focuses on the time that Vincent Van Gogh spent in London and Brixton in the 1870s - a period before he drew his first sketch and one that changed him completely. The play depicts Van Gogh as a young man, someone full of life yet struggling to find his way and to walk the artist's path. Vincent develops a rapport with a widow twice his age, which blossoms into a full-blown love affair, only to be cruelly curtailed by the arrival of his fiercely puritan younger sister.

Although the aftermath of devastating floods in the Nashville area resulted in a one-night postponement for the opening of 3Ps Production's Mixed Nuts, directed by Johnny Peppers, the cast will host a fundraiser at Friday night's performance -- Friday, May 7, the show's new opening night -- to benefit those people directly affected by the tragic events of the week.

Tennessee Women's Theater Project returns to the Nashville's Z. Alexander Looby Theater on Friday, May 7, with its fourth annual Women's Work showcase of performing and visual arts created by women. Running through Sunday, May 23, the festival cuts across typical borders of style, medium and genre, offering 11 completely different programs: poetry and essays; one-woman shows; staged readings of new plays; dance, and even a clown performance combining the Pochinko and Commedia dell' Arte Bouffon styles.

Many members of the Middle Tennessee theatre community were displaced by floodwaters, with many experiencing loss of homes and belongings. Volunteer opportunities across the city are being coordinated by Hands-On Nashville (www.HON.org), while social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are being used by individuals to marshal support and help for friends who are victims of the devastation.

With a smile as big as the great outdoors - and with a heart to match - Megan Murphy Chambers is one of Nashville's most sought-after actors. She's also gaining acclaim as a details-oriented producer, making her a multi-hyphenate in the world of Nashville theatre. And, chances are, she knows all the words to 'Tomorrow,' in case some director is interested in some alternative casting.

Heather Headley, Alli Mauzey, Jodi Benson and Anthony Federov will headline a special concert version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, set for Friday, May 14, at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. They will be joined by a cast of Nashville theatre luminaries - and featuring BeBe Winans and Nashville native Jake Speck, currently on Broadway in Jersey Boys - Cinderella is the spring celebration of the locally based showHOPE organization, which hopes to bring both attention and awareness to its efforts across the globe.

In Chaffin's comedy, an inept private detective (whose car breaks down on a lonely stretch of country road late at night in a rain storm) seeks shelter in a secluded country mansion, only to be greeted at the door by a beautiful yet strange young woman - and a corpse lying on the foyer floor. It's the butler and hes been stabbed to death!

A revival of Circle Players' 2008 production, which was staged at the company's then-home at the Z. Alexander Looby Theatre, this 'new and improved' mounting (a collaboration between Circle and SCA) is astounding in its sheer chutzpah. Who'd have ever thought a community theatre could take on such a daunting task and be so imminently successful in doing so? Frankly, it boggles the mind.

Keifer's superbly cast five-member ensemble delivers a performance that is compelling and provocative, bringing Beckett's rather nonsensical, although altogether shocking and introspective, premise to vivid life. Since its 1953 premiere, Waiting for Godot has left many of the world's greatest writers and thinkers pondering the meaning of Beckett's work; the significance - or perhaps insignificance - of the five characters; and the meaning behind the characters and their situation. Every word has been parsed, every exchange debated and still we are left to question and to wonder.

The resulting production that comes from Vasterling's unerringly skillful choreography and his clearly developed vision for the piece - exquisitely expressed through Baird's costume and scenic design, Scott Leathers' stunningly evocative lighting design and the beautiful music of Felix Mendelssohn performed by members of the Nashville Symphony under the baton of Nashville Ballet music director Paul Gambill - is a rousing and fitting conclusion to the company's 24th season, clearly paving the way to a stellar silver anniversary season that will open next fall with a full production of Swan Lake.

As talented as Nate Eppler is as an actor (and he's got the reviews to prove that he is, indeed, just that), it may be his writing talents that will ensure his place in theatre history (and he has a growing file of reviews to prove that, as well). Of course, only time will tell on that score, but for now Nate Eppler is keeping busy, adding to the opus of work to be delivered from his imaginative brain.

The Nashville premiere of Michael Murphy's The Conscientious Objector is next up for GroundWorks Theatre, running April 30-May 8 at the Darkhorse Theater. A joint production with Destiny Theatre Experience, the play is directed by Shawn Whitsell.

Hot on the heels of the Nashville premiere of Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Amun Ra Theatre shows no sign of slowing down its pace this season as it prepares to tackle Samuel Beckett's absurdist classic Waiting For Godot, directed by guest artist Robert Kiefer and starring a virtual 'who's who' of ART Ensemble members. Waiting For Godot, the second show in ART's 2010 'The Future Is Now Season,' opens April 22 and runs through May 9 at the Amun Ra Theatre Playhouse, 2508 Clifton Avenue.

Thanks to Street Theatre Company's stellar production of the William Finn-Rachel Sheinkin-Rebecca Feldman musical comedy, I'll be wallowing in self-pity (or maybe I'll be just a little melancholy and sanguine) until I find better ways to occupy my time and better memories to fill my mind - or a bright, shiny object catches my eye. But for now I am happy to reflect on the joyous and frivolous fun that is director Lauren Shouse's superb and sparkling staging of the musical that somehow manages to be both completely contemporary and gloriously traditional in a musical-comedy-sort-of-way. Shouse's exceptional cast of actors, accompanied by music director Rollie Mains' talented musicians and featuring the sprightly choreography of Paul Cook, are sheer perfection as The Bee's crew of over-achieving - sometimes cringeworthy, yet always lovable - middle school spelling phenoms. You'd be hard-pressed to experience a more satisfying night at the theatre.

Laura Thomas Sonn and Ciaran McCarthy lead the cast as Luisa and Matt, the star-crossed lovers in Boiler Room Theatre's production of The Fantasticks, opening Friday, March 19 and running through Saturday, April 17, at the theatre located in The Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Road, Building Six. Will Sevier stars as El Gallo.

Over the past few seasons, Alice Raver has gained a reputation as one of the 'go-to actresses' for Actors Bridge Ensemble, appearing in some of the company's most compelling new works, including this season's production of Judevine and my personal favorite, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, in which she played the tart-tongued Hermia. It was clearly a case of going against type: You would be hard-pressed to meet anyone, onstage or off, who's nicer than Alice Raver. Perhaps that's why her performance in Dead Man's Cell Phone was so exhilaratingly fun - both for audiences and Raver, herself: 'I loved playing Hermia in Dead Man Cell Phone because the ensemble was so wonderful and the play was both funny and thought-provoking.'