Jeffrey Ellis - Page 145

Directed by Tennessee Rep's singularly accomplished producing artistic director Rene Dunshee Copeland, this fine production is so much more than a mere revival of the company's 1989 production, although it once again stars Mary Jane Harvill in the role of M'Lynn. This staging is perhaps most newsworthy because it pairs Harvill onstage for the first time with her daughter, Marin Miller, who plays the doomed Shelby in Steel Magnolias. As the launch of this silver anniversary season, perhaps no one could come up with a more apropos project: Harvill was one of the founding actors of the company in the mid-1980s, while Miller has left her own sizable imprint on the company in more recent years. Copeland is to be commended for her decision to cast the mother-and-daughter team and for her lovingly felt and richly etched production.

See How They Run is described as a 'hilarious 1940s slapstick farce that takes place in a quaint English vicarage.' The vicar's wife is a former actress--vicar plus stage diva can only equal hijinks and mayhem, of course--and she's joined by four men dressed like priests (two of whom are imposters). The vicar's wife is pretending to be married to one who not her real husband, there's a bishop clad in pajamas, a nosy neighbor hiding in the coat closet and a silent maid, all of whom are being interrogated by a British army sergeant who's looking for an escaped POW.

After a week spent camping out on the roof of Amun Ra Theatre, enduring thunderstorms and the whims of Mother Nature, jeff obafemi carr achieved his goal Monday afternoon with $30,000 raised to keep the theatre afloat for the remainder of 2009, entering the new year on a firm financial footing. Last week, carr climbed a ladder to the roof of the ART Playhouse at 2508 Clifton Avenue in north Nashville with the intention of remaining there until he met his goal: 'If you haven't heard already, I'm headed up to the roof of the theater I--along with many other volunteers and contributors--helped build last year. It is the first African-American theater facility in Nashville in over 100 years,' carr told supporters last week.

Clarksville's Roxy Theatre continues its production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the two-time Tony Award-winning musical that has left audiences across American 'breathless with laughter,' through October 10. Six youthful over-achievers aspire to become the next Spelling Bee Champion, all the while comically lamenting the woes of adolescence. Four volunteers from the audience participate as spelling bee contestants, and get pulled into various scenes and musical numbers.

Tennessee Repertory Theatre kicks off its season of workshops with two 'opportunities for the growth of your artistic minds and bodies.' Robert Kiefer and Carol Ponder will be the instructors for 'Tableaux: Artful Specificity,' while Pam Atha, Rod Reiner and Bruce Stegmann will teach a 'Musical Theatre Dance Series in Jazz and Tap.'

Michael Frayn's Noises Off is the next production of Circle Players' 2009-2010 season, running October 16 through November 1. Frayn's comedy is a play with a play, filled with door slams and physical gags as a dysfunctional cast and crew attempt to open a new theatre production to tour the British provinces.

Ken Davenport's My First Time, a collection of monologues about experiencing sex for the first time, is next on the season for Actor's Bridge Ensemble, opening Friday night, October 2 and continuing through October 10 at Darkhorse Theatre, 4610 Charlotte Avenue. Starring Jaclyn Johnson, Joy Tilley Perryman, Emily Fleming, Brandon Hirsch, Will McKinney and Chris Basso and directed by Jessika Malone, My First Time was described by The Village Voice as 'funny and touching to sweet, sexy and silly.'

Those auditioning will be asked to read from the script. This is an original stage adaptation of the story and the role of Ebenezer Scrooge is not available for audition. All other roles are available. Women will portray all of the ghosts. Three young women speaking sequentially and moving in dance portray the Ghost of Christmas Past. Classical dance training is a plus for these roles. This is a non-musical version of the story.

One of the most memorable shows in musical theatre history, Annie Get Your Gun is Irving Berlin's masterpiece, including some of the best songs ever written for the stage; unfortunately, it also has one of the creakiest books ever written to accompany those wonderful tunes. Although that script was updated and re-tooled for the 1999 Broadway revival, SCA decided to go with the older (probably from the 1966 revival), lamer and (we hate to say it) more racist version. It was not a good choice, particularly when the 1999 revival script is available; its judicious editing resulted in a tighter script and a quicker pace to make the show more palatable to contemporary audiences-especially in 2009.

Dearly Beloved is the wonderfully funny, shockingly true-to-life and on-target skewering of a Texas family on the occasion of the wedding of one of its favorite daughters. While it may not be set in West Tennessee (where I grew up) and the family in question may be the Futrelles, it's certainly a universal story of Southern families-so much so that those three wacky Futrelle sisters (Frankie, Honey Raye and Twink) could very well be my three sisters (Charlotte, Stella Mae and Bobbye). Seriously, folks, there's so much comedy in this rollicking play that no matter where you grew up, you're likely to recognize your own family members.

Nashville Children's Theatre opens its 2009-2010 season in high style with its production of the Ken Ludwig-Don Schlitz musical, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. With the mischievously appealing Patrick Waller in the title role, backed up by an ensemble of some of the most talented actors to be found in Nashville, NCT's staging is far more successful than the Broadway version mounted in 2001, thanks in large part to the skillful editing that was necessary to create a more accessible work for younger audiences.

Beginning Monday, September 21, 'at high noon,' carr said he 'will stay there until we have collected the funds needed for us to close out 2009 and enter 2010 ahead of the game, with our Youth Performing ARTs Academy leading the way. Iwant to expand the Academy into a YEAR-ROUND program, and to do that, I need your help, from wherever you might be in this world.'

Featuring a veritable 'greatest hits' list of Berlin's music-including 'There's No Business Like Show Business,' 'Moonshine Lullaby,' and 'Old-Fashioned Wedding'--Annie Get Your Gun is loosely based on the life story of sharpshooting star Annie Oakley and her husband, crack shot Frank Bulter. Debuting on Broadway in 1946, Annie Get Your Gun enjoyed long-running success in New York City and London and most recently was revived on Broadway with Bernadette Peters and Tom Wopat in the lead roles.

'The Laramie Project is a play with tremendous historical and cultural impact,' said Vali Forrister, producing artistic director of Actors Bridge Ensemble. 'Actors Bridge was pleased to be the first theater company to bring this important work to Nashville back in 2002. And now, to be part of this nationwide unveiling of its epilogue is an honor, but also a reminder to ourselves, our audience and our community that Matthew Shepard's story still reverberates. Unfortunately, many of the issues the murder brought up are unresolved both at a local and national level.'

In just over an hour, Steele takes her rapt audience on an informative and entertaining, if too heart-breakingly real, tour through the 1957-58 school year at Little Rock's Central High School. As she becomes Melba Pattillo, one of nine African-American students chosen to challenge entrenched racial roles by integrating the public school 'where the wealthiest of Little Rock's citizens sent their children to be educated,' Steele ably educates her audience about our country's darker days. It's a moving experience that elicits both tears and laughter and results in new pictures of bravery and heroism etched upon your heart.

Melissa Gilbert, Steve Blanchard and Kara Lindsey star in Little House on the Prairie, a new musical based on the classic Laura Ingalls Wilder series of beloved American books, which opens at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall October 27, as part of the HCA/TriStar Broadway at TPAC series.

With Tennessee Repertory Theatre celebrating its 25th year as one of the nation's premier regional theatres, it's only appropriate that the season kicks off with a revival of Robert Harling's iconic Southern comedy Steel Magnolias, running October 3-24 at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Violinist Karen Clarke and pianist Mark Wait will present An Evening of Duo Sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms on Monday, September 21, in the Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music.

SchoolHouse Rock Live!, the Emmy Award-winning 1970s Saturday morning cartoon series that taught history, grammar, math, science and politics through clever, tuneful songs, is now instructing a whole new generation to 'Unpack Your Adjectives' and 'Do the Circulations' in the theatre production now onstage at Hendersonville' Steeple Players Theatre through September 27.

Towne Centre Theatre of Brentwood continues its 2009 season with its upcoming production of Dearly Beloved, by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. The comedy is set in a small Texas town and centers around a catastrophe-stricken wedding day.