Jeffrey Ellis - Page 18

Throughout the past year, I've written quite often about Nashville's Chase Miller and his tremendous talents, remarkable stage presence and startling ability to successfully morph from one character to another completely unlike the first (or any to follow). Miller is rather insanely talented and any director worth her or his salt would be deliriously happy to have the serious triple threat in any show on their drawing board.

What might you expect if you find yourself caught up in the spectacle of the Broadway Princess Party's festivities at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre today, November 16? A theatrical concert like none other, predicts Laura Osnes, one of the three aforementioned princesses of the Great White Way who will bring their magical blend of entertainment, theatrical revelry, onstage magic - and pure, unadulterated pleasure (and boatloads of fun, we suspect) - to Music City for a one-night stand that promises to leave audiences feeling 'transported, enchanted, empowered and inspired.'

If there is a musical theater moment more joyous that what occurs at the top of Act Two in Irving Berlin's White Christmas, then we must respectfully demand it be performed in front of us as quickly as possible. Certainly, we recognize there is much joy to be found in musical theater, but sitting in the audience at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall - six years to the day we last found ourselves awash in the nostalgia and sentimentality so abundant in this particular holiday favorite - we simply couldn't recall anything more engaging or more entertaining than watching Jeremy Benton and Kelly Sheehan, backed by a cadre of 12 other fleet-footed dancers, tapping their hearts out to "I Love a Piano.'

Not often does it happen that a young actor walks away with a show lock, stock and barrel - especially if he's in the company of some of the most experienced veteran actors to be found on local stages. But that is exactly what happens in Arts Center of Cannon County's current 2108 mainstage season finale of Hello, Dolly!, the Jerry Herman classic now onstage in Woodbury through November 18.

It's been a typically hectic semester for Belmont University senior Bobby Hogan: he completed his run as Davey in Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre's production of Newsies, started rehearsal on his next show, began preparations for his own senior show next semester and continued as a varsity cheerleader at the school.

Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap, including a whole slew of holiday favorites, for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 12, 2018, to help you plot your course through next February...

It should come as no surprise whatsoever that the opening night audience for NCT's holiday season offering of Disney's The Little Mermaid rewarded the cast and crew with loud cheers, sustained applause and, more importantly, their rapt attention - were it not for the fact that last night's audience was comprised primarily of (how will we say it without offending?) more experienced theater-goers.

This week finds Jeremy Benton - Broadway's favorite tap-dancing man - in Paducah, Kentucky, with the rest of the cast and crew of Irving Berlin's White Christmas, preparing for tonight's opening performance of the quintessential holiday season musical. He's spent so many holiday seasons performing in White Christmas, in fact (he joined the show back in 2005 and has been a part of the company off and on ever since) that it's become second nature to him now.

What might you expect if you find yourself caught up in the spectacle of the Broadway Princess Party's festivities at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre on Friday, November 16? A theatrical concert like none other, predicts Laura Osnes, one of the three aforementioned princesses of the Great White Way who will bring their magical blend of entertainment, theatrical revelry, onstage magic - and pure, unadulterated pleasure (and boatloads of fun, we suspect) - to Music City for a one-night stand that promises to leave audiences feeling 'transported, enchanted, empowered and inspired.'

Performance dates and a change in venue are in order for the Actors Bridge Ensemble's production of The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe. Originally scheduled to open this Friday night at Belmont's Black Box Theatre, the Nashville premiere of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about a girls' indoor soccer team will now run November 30-December 2 and December 6-8 at the Darkhorse Theater, 4610 Charlotte Avenue, according to ABE artistic director Vali Forrister.

Molly Yeo began dancing at four years old, while living in North Carolina - moving overseas with her family as an adolescent, where she trained in traditional Indonesian dance, subsequently studying internationally in Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. Returning to the states for high school, she trained at the Ballet School of Chapel Hill and with Duke University's dance department, ultimately performing with the Chapel Hill Dance Theater and appearing in Carolina Ballet's production of Giselle.

Looking ahead, you'll find a number of new productions on tap for your entertainment pleasure, thanks to the efforts of theater companies all over Middle Tennessee. Here's our calendar for November 5, 2018, to help you plot your course through the end of the year...

Macy Medford's had a pretty remarkable time while studying at Belmont University. A graduate of Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas, she came to Nashville as part of the Class of 2019 of the school's renowned musical theatre program at Belmont, where she continues to grow as a performer, but perhaps more importantly as an individual with her sights firmly focused on the future.

Michael Dunaway's senior year at Nashville's Hume-Fogg Academic High School's has indeed been a busy one for the young song-and-dance man who this week opens in his school's staging of Disney's Newsies, one of the most-often produced shows of the 2018-19 season. Playing the musical's iconic leading man Jack Kelly, Dunaway leads off his final year as HFA's leading man with one of the most coveted roles in contemporary musical theater.

What better way to leave behind the turmoil of the modern world than by indulging in a bright, shiny new musical burnished with the warm glow of nostalgia and featuring a score by the inimitable Irving Berlin? We can't imagine anything more fun - or more timely, for that matter - than a couple of hours or more spent in the audience of Cumberland County Playhouse to experience the company's latest musical treat: Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn.

Patriq James' graceful portrayal of Jesus Christ in Lipscomb University Theatre's production of Godspell - now onstage in Collins Alumni Auditorium on the school's Nashville campus - shines like a beacon in the very center of the show, providing the very heart of every story told by director Scott Baker's 17-person cast. But if James provides the show's heart, it is perhaps the members of Baker's ensemble, which includes a deft blending of experienced student actors with an assortment of newcomers to their company, who provide its soul.

For Catherine Birdsong, the animated film version of The Little Mermaid - the 1989 Disney musical fantasy based on the story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen - was the first movie she remembers ever seeing in a darkened cinema and it continues to elicit memories, to reverberate in her heart, particularly now that she finds herself in rehearsal for the debut of the stage musical at Nashville Children's Theatre.

Bradley Brown has been named managing editor of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival and will be responsible for the administrative and operational management of NSF and will oversee the its marketing, development and accounting.

Lipscomb University Theatre unveils its latest production - a play that started out as a college senior project - which depicts the life and teachings of Jesus Christ in a fun-filled, creative new staging of John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz's Godspell. Coinciding with homecoming festivities on the Nashville campus, Godspell stars Nashville professional actor Patriq James as Jesus in performances November 2-11, along with an ensemble of Lipscomb University student actors.

Hillsboro High School's Tim Russell is deep into tech week with his castmates for their upcoming production of Bertolt Brecht's The Causasian Chalk Circle, which opens Thursday night, November 1, and is presented by The Hillsboro Players under the direction of Will Butler and Kristin Moon.