Jeffrey Ellis - Page 81

Dance Theatre of Tennessee launches its Ballet in the Park performance series September 28-October 1, with performances of Carmen at the Centennial Park Bandshell, in partnership with Metro Parks and Recreation.

Ronnie Meek and Justin Boccitto star in John Logan's Red, to be presented by Blackbird Theater October 18-November 3 at the Shamblin Theatre on the Lipscomb University campus.

Thanks to the sparkling, imaginative Studio Tenn revival of Smokey Joe's Cafe-the Tony Award-nominated musical revue that collects some 39 (although a couple were cut, so we'll place the number at 37 for this production) of those terrific Leiber and Stoller songs into one smooth, entertaining package- you can revel in the music and set your feet to tapping out the rhythms of your life...

In the wake of The Nutty Professor's successful premiere run at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville remains "Musical City" for the upcoming season as touring shows come to town to entertain theater fans, with the companies of Anything Goes, Catch Me If You Can and Disney's The Lion King headed to the Volunteer State. And we're wondering what show you're most eagerly anticipating this season?

That notion is borne home stunningly by Katori Hall's acclaimed play The Mountaintop, now presented in its Nashville premiere-just 12 months after its critically lauded Broadway premiere with Samauel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett-in an astonishingly crafted production directed by Jackie Welch Schlicher and starring Mary McCallum and Rashad "thaPoet" Rayford.

Starring Amanda Morgan, Lital Abrahamson and Broadway veteran Bailey Hanks in the roles originated by Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Parton herself in the 1980 film, 9 to 5: The Musical provides the perfect vehicle for a musical score composed by Dolly herself, who may well be the most successful woman ever in country music.

Dolly Parton's "in the house," in spirit and in song, at Dickson's Renaissance Center with the debut of 9 to 5: The Musical at The Gaslight Dinner Theatre, running through October 13. The show, based on the hit 1980 movie starring Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, features a score by seven-time Grammy Award-winner Parton that includes the blockbuster title song plus 18 original numbers that mix Broadway with pop and Parton's signature witty lyrics.

The Servant of Two Masters, Carlo Goldoni's classic 1743 comedy-which provides the inspiration for Richard Bean's 2012 Tony Award-winning farce One Man, Two Guvnors-will be presented by Lipscomb University's theatre department, running September 21-23 and 27-29 at 7 p.m. each evening (with a matinee on Sunday, September 30 at 2:30 p.m.) at the university's Flatt Amphitheatre, adjacent to the Bennett Campus Center.

Starring Beth Woodruff, Amy Warren, Judy Tamble, Bob Buchholz and Pat Street, The Cemetary Club is described as a "bittersweet comedy that follows three good friends who meet once a month to pay their respects to their husbands, who are all buried in the same cemetery. Each handles grief in her own way. Doris holds desperately to memories of her husband and lives in the past; Lucille hits the dating scene with gusto; and Ida, who has a new suitor, struggles to decide if she is ready to open her heart to love once again."

Legally Blonde, the Musical is as tuneful and entertaining as any musical could ever hope to be, and while the story seems lighthearted and fun, there's a definite message to be found in Heather Hach's book and the music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Neil Benjamin. Under Adams' laser-sharp direction-that is filled with a lot of heart and her unerring attention to detail-The Keeton Theatre's cast offers up a production of the show that's as good as it gets.

Compellingly dramatic and musically inspiring, Caroline, Or Change-the musical now onstage at Street Theatre Company through the end of the month-might very well be the most startling and thoroughly extraordinary production from the company in its rather brief existence in Nashville.

Parade, the acclaimed musical by Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry, will finally be given its Nashville area premiere-starring Megan Murphy Chambers and Paul Cook, under the direction of Sondra Morton-as Boiler Room Theatre presents the show October 5-20 at its venue at the historic Factory at Franklin.

Over the course of three nights-Thursday, September 20 through Saturday, September 22-Boiler Room presents three musicals that will be rated by the audience and a panel of media/industry professionals. Immediately following each presentation, a 10-minute talkback session will allow judges to offer ideas and suggestions and ask questions of the authors/composers. The musical which emerges from The Boiler Room Pressure Cooker Round 2 will emerge with the grand prize: a full production at the Boiler Room Theatre as part of its Lucky 13 Season. Show dates will be March 21-23, 2013.

Two of Cumberland County Playhouse's favorite actresses and singers-Weslie Webster and Brenda Frye-will be presented in a special 8 p.m. concert performance on Saturday, September 29, entitled interestingly enough An Evening with Brenda Frye and Weslie Webster.

Boldly moving into their second season of challenging audiences with compelling, new and exciting theater, Sideshow @ Actors Bridge will bring sexy back as they present the regional premiere of 13P member Sheila Callaghan's Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake).

Rachel York leads the national tour of Roundabout Theatre Company's Anything Goes (which features some faces familiar to fans of Tennessee theater), the new Broadway revival of Cole Porter's timeless classic musical theatre masterpiece that lays anchor at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall October 23-28.

Growing up as a baby boomer in the South, you carry with you at least a modicum of guilt-regardless of whatever your upbringing actually may have been-about racism and the impact of one's skin color on the society in which you are raised. Here in the South, we're well aware of our history founded upon racist attitudes and built upon the backs of slaves, so we struggle with racism continually and it is never far from our minds-to the point, quite honestly, that we may have come much further in our consideration of the racist conundrum than our Yankee (old habits die hard) counterparts. And in these upwardly mobile times, there is a very good chance you might find yourself struggling anew with racial stereotypes and archetypes if you are among the pioneers of neighborhood gentrification.

Back in the day-1907, actually-when John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World premiered at Dublin's Abbey Theater, it apparently caused riots, its tale of an apparent patricide engendering great public outrage and overt hostilities. Four years later, when the play debuted in New York City, audience members hurled epithets, rotten tomatoes and various other vegetation across the footlights, protesting the play's perceived "immorality."

There is absolutely no doubt about it: The playwriting trio of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten very clearly know the people about whom they write so prolifically. Their affection and respect for the Southern way of life is obvious in every honey-drawled word, as is their abundant understanding of Southern people and folkways themselves. It's something that fairly reverberates through every line, every script, every moment they create for the stage-and it provides a heartbeat that is as real as the smell of honeysuckle hanging heavily on the warm summer winds.

Fun-filled and light-hearted, Much Ado About Nothing-the latest Shakespeare-in-the-Park offering from Nashville Shakespeare Festival-offers its audiences a tuneful, sprightly way to celebrate late summer amid all the trappings of theatrical magic, brought to life by a confident, self-assured cast uttering the Bard's timeless words set to the tuneful music and lyrics of Janet McMahan and David Huntsinger.