Jeffrey Ellis - Page 15

Provocative and gut-wrenching, Citizen: An American Lyric - Stephen Sachs' dramatization of Claudia Rankine's acclaimed book of poetry and prose that focuses unflinchingly on the subject of race in America - holds up a mirror to every person in the audience at Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel, compelling them to look deep into their own selves, their own lives, to identify their own prejudices and biases. The takeaway? We must do so much better.

Nothing fills a critic's heart and soul with as much glee as the premiere of a brand-spanking-new musical, heretofore unseen by mortal men (and women). Thus, I'm happy to report that Esther, a new musical that premiered Thursday at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre in an abbreviated four performance run, has some exceptional elements to be found in its two hours of performance time, although clearly there's a lot of work to be done if the show is to have a future outside The Barn.

Circle Players' presentation of If/Then continues through April 7, but today three cast members - Bryan Royals, Taylor Simon and Emily Summers - talk about their theatrical backgrounds and share with audiences why they should make reservations to see If/Then (for tickets, go to www.circleplayers.net) in the latest incarnation of Friday 5 (+1)...

Mel Brooks' The Producers - the Broadway smash hit musical that cleaned up at the Tony Awards in 2001 - is presented by Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts starting tonight, March 22, and running through April 7. Directed by Chris McLaurin and Natalie Quinn (who last teamed up for the First Night Award-winning Pirates of Penzance at CFTA), the zany comedy features a cast led by John Frost Jr. and Tucker Young and Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom.

Today, in anticipation of their opening weekend, three members of Copeland's cast - Cailen Fu, Joseph Leitess and Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva - offer some background information on what shapes them as actors (including their most memorable "the show must go on" moments) and offer suggestions for why you shouldn't miss Shakespeare in Love in our latest Friday 5 (+1):

Four members of Jon Royal's ensemble of actors - Breanna Booker, Alicia Haymer, DeYonte Jenkins and Shawn Whitsell - made time this week, amid the hustle and bustle and general bedlam of technical rehearsals to give us some insight into the factors and events that led them to the theater and to share with readers the reasons why they think you should see Citizen: An American Lyric.

In 2017, the Broadway musical version of Anastasia (which opened at Hartford Stage nice months earlier), based on the 1997 film, featuring music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and a book by Terrence McNally debuted to much fanfare, and now Nashville audiences are in the thrall of the cast and crew of the national touring company, onstage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall through Sunday, March 24.

Circle Players, one of Tennessee's oldest community theater organizations, has announced the slate of shows for its 70th anniversary season, including some of the most requested shows in the company's history which will be 'revisited' for the special season. Circle Players revealed the shows to be included in its upcoming 70th season during a party last night on the 30th floor of Nashville's L&C Tower.

Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts presents the Tony Award-winning musical theater version of Mel Brooks' classic movie The Producers, starring John Frost Jr. and Tucker Young and co-directed by Chris McLaurin and Natalie Quinn, running March 22 to April 7.

Shakespeare in Love - the final show of Nashville Repertory Theatre's 2018-19 season - opens Saturday night, March 23, at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, running through April 13. Replete with comedy, a secret romance, live music, a play-within-a-play, stunning costumes, swordfights, a hefty wager and Queen Elizabeth I herself, there's also the promise of a very cute dog to entice audiences to the theatre.

Even on its third stand at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall, The Book of Mormon - that irreverent yet heartfelt musical from Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone - remains just as profound and profane as you remember. And it's still so thoroughly delightful and awesomely entertaining that you might even feel as if you're seeing it for the first time.

Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird has been much in the news of late, what with a brand spanking new Broadway production (written by Aaron Sorkin and which opened this past December) and reports of dozens of productions around the world of the stage adaptation written by Christopher Sergel being shuttered due to threats of legal action from Scott Rudin, producer of the new Broadway version, and attorneys for the Harper Lee estate.

Sweat - Lynn Nottage's 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning play - is one of the most trenchant and evocative contemporary dramas to come down the theatrical turnpike since the advent of the so-called Trump Era and, as presented by Humanity Theatre Project (in its first-ever full production of its two years of existence), is one of the most compelling plays to be presented in recent memory. Focusing on the down-at-heels habitues of a working class neighborhood tavern in Reading, Pennsylvania at the turn of this century, the story told by the brilliant and prolific Ms. Nottage is universal, its topicality as potent today as it was when the play first debuted at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2015.

By turns wonderfully funny and achingly poignant, Every Brilliant Thing - Tennessee Women's Theater Project's mounting of Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahue's one-actor play about dealing with the suicide of one's mother - offers Nashville audiences a unique method by which to examine the effects of depression and surviving the loss of a loved one. Starring notable local actor Becky Wahlstrom, what ensues is not quite a monologue, nor is it (for all intents and purposes) a one-woman show (or what one expects from such an offering) due to its clever and imaginative structure that ensures every audience member becomes intimately involved in what transpires in a scant one-hour of stage time.

Michael Frayn's Noises Off, considered by many as the greatest farce ever written, opens Friday, March 8, at Cumberland County Playhouse, featuring a cast of CCP favorites bringing all the onstage/offstage/backstage hilarity to life in Crossville.

Santiago Sosa directs the eagerly anticipated Theater Bug production of Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, opening March 23 and running through March 30.

Nashville Children's Theatre (NCT) this week revealed its 2019-20 season replete with rock and roll, history, holiday magic, current events, interactivity, musicals, classics and more. NCT, the nation's oldest professional theatre for young audiences and the largest theatre in Tennessee will perform seven shows during its 2019-20 season, including both world and regional premieres.

Actors Bridge Ensemble presents the Nashville premiere of Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, adapted for the stage by Stephen Sachs and directed by Jon Royal, March 22-31, at the Actors Bridge Studio at Darkhorse Chapel.

A drug addicted abuse victim and a war veteran with severe PTSD in a seedy Oklahoma hotel doesn't sound like an ideal set of circumstances, but it makes for a fascinating study in humanity from playwright Tracy Letts in Bug, the next production from Way Off Broadway Productions.

The return of the iconic Shakespearean tragedy Romeo & Juliet, as well as Nashville premieres of Christopher Bruce's Rolling Stones-inspired ballet Rooster and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's A Streetcar Named Desire are among the highlights of Nashville Ballet's 2019-20 season, announced today.