CRITICS' CHOICE: What's Happening in Music City This Week?

Looking for something fun to do in Nashville this week? Have no fear, gentle BWW Nashville readers, our team of writers have done the necessary legwork - we're all about saving you time and helping you make informed decisions about how to spend your entertainment dollar, after all - and we are delighted to present you with our newest edition of our official Critic's Choice column, filled to the veritable brim with suggestions for great stuff going on in these parts. Now, get out there and have some fun, y'all! And while you're at it, you'll be doing some good for the community by supporting the arts - and artists - in the Volunteer State!

Tuesday night, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. at The Cave (600 Ninth Avenue South, Nashville): It's the debut performance of Music City's Billy Joel cover band, playing a night filled with the Piano Man's hits and fan favorites. Doors open at 6 p.m. and there's a $5 cover charge.

Show who's in the band? Micah Snow, musical director for The First Night Honors, is on piano and keyboards; he's joined by Chris Smallwood on piano and keys; Tyler Warren on guitar; Zander Wyatt on guitar; Justin Smith on bass guitar; Kevin Gatzke on saxophone; and Zach Minner on drums and percussion. Vocals are handled by Messrs. Snow, Smallwood, Warren and Smith.

Thursday, April 30 through Sunday May, 3: Good Ol' Girls finishes up its run at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, 8204 Highway 100 in Nashville. Described as "a literary musical," Good Ol' Girls blends "laughter, tears, good music and a phenomenal team...of six women."

"If you've never seen this beautiful gem, Chaffin's Barn's production is a fantastic opportunity for you to encounter a unique, artistic, theatrical presentation of good music, and how the women who sing it tick." Nashville music legends Matraca Berg and Marshall Chapman are the creators of the show. The cast includes Jaclyn Lisenby Brown, Pam Atha, Charlynn Carter, Mallory Mundy, Stacy Riggs and Corinne Leidhecker.

Martha Wilkinson directs, with choreography by 2011 First Night Honoree Pam Atha, and music direction by Jaclyn Lisenby Brown, who was 2013 First Night musical director.

Shows are scheduled Thursday (at noon and 8 p.m.), Friday (8 p.m.), Saturday (8 p.m.) and Sunday (2 p.m.) and, of course, the Chaffin's Barn bounteous buffet of scrumptious Southern foods is served prior to showtime for evening and Sunday matinee perfomances.

Call (615) 646-9977 for reservations; for other details, go to www.dinnertheatre.com.

Playing through May 9 at Towne Centre Theatre (136 Frierson Street, Brentwood) is the farcical Not Now, Darling!

Not Now, Darling is a madcap British farce set in an exclusive London fur salon. Gilbert Bodley (played by Art Elrod) plans to sell an expensive mink to a mobster (Jackson Rector) dirt cheap for his wife (Hillary Mead), who happens to be Gilbert's mistress. However, instead of doing his own dirty work, Gilbert gets his reluctant partner, Arnold Crouch (Tim Larson), to do it for him. Things go awry when the mobster plans to buy it for his OWN mistress and soon the whole plan goes out the window along with women's clothing and a few other things. Tony and Lanie Shannon, Maureen Hawks, Annie Rice, Jasmine Rose, Kelly Dutton and Cameron Bortz round out this very talented cast and everything somehow manages to work out as it should.

For ticket information, call (615) 221-1174.

Opening May 1 and continuing through May 9, ACT 1 presents Richard Greenberg's Take Me Out, their fourth show of the 2014-15 season, directed by Joy Tilley Perryman.

"Take Me Out is a modern cautionary tale about the power of words. The power of labels and names. How and what we call each other colors our every perception of every situation. However, it is not always heavy, it is a delicate weave of race, gender, baseball, friendship and America. More relevant today than when it was written even. It moves as deftly as a well-executed double play and will leave you, mouth agape, as you witness the power and majesty of an out-of-the-park homerun."

Take Me Out is directed by Joy Tilley Perryman, and features Joel Diggs, Kurt Jarvis, Bradley Moore, Eric Butler, Connor Hall, Daniel Vincent, Leon Blandon III, Robert Marigzia, Fernando Ochoa, Shawn Whitsell, Cabot Pyle and Dave McGinnis.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. for the May 1st-2nd and 7th-9th evening performances, with a 2:30 p.m. matinee on May 3rd. Tickets are only $15 and can be purchased in advance thru Tickets Nashville at tickets.act1online.com.

May 1 and 2 at The Franklin Theatre (419 Main Street in Franklin): Hilarious and honest, Size Matters is an autobiographical one-man show with fifteen characters, starring Tennessee native Raymond McAnally. The show addresses the topics of bullying, body issues, love, and family responsibility from a refreshing and often unheard male perspective.

In the show, McAnally weaves an emotional and comedic tale of his current life as a plus sized actor, new husband, and uncle to an admiring overweight ten year-old nephew, Morgan. Startled by seeing his past reflected in his unconfident nephew, Raymond and the audience explore his life to find out how much, or how little, Size Matters.

"This is no woe-is-me exercise in public psychotherapy...Self-effacing and witty, you can't help but feel a level sincerity - that gives the show enormous impact." - David Lyman, The Cincinnati Enquirer.

"McAnally's talent for weaving an engrossing tale is impressive...the end result is a feeling of genuine recognition. Empathy, affection, and inspiration all kinda dancing around together. The best kind of heartwarming. Go! It's pretty dang great."- Clay Griffith, iSpyCincy.com.

"A talented stage performer engaged in a very human offstage struggle. In the future - when McAnally is the next John Goodman or Kevin James (and he certainly has that potential) I look forward to catching the show again as the highlight of what will certainly be a career of considerable size. And in show business, size matters." - Michael T. Mooney, Broadwayworld.com.

Artist's Biography: Raymond McAnally is a professional actor who has worked in film, television, voiceover, video games, and won multiple awards for comedic stage performances. Theatre credits include Defending the Caveman, (Broadway Tour, One Man Show); God's Ear, Off Broadway, The Vineyard Theatre; One Man, Two Guvnors, Repertory Theatre of St Louis (*award winning); Mrs. Mannerly, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati & Theaterworks Hartford (*award winning); The Foreigner, Cincinnati Playhouse (*award winning); Mere Mortals, Two River; A Midsummer Night's Dream, Long Wharf.

Television credits include guest starring roles on Modern Family, Law & Order SVU, Royal Pains, and 30 Rock, as well as Boardwalk Empire, Nurse Jackie, Mozart in the Jungle, etc. Film credits include Compliance, I Don't Know How She Does It, Ghost Town, and Gods Behaving Badly.

Born and raised in Franklin, the son of a former Miss Tennessee from Cookeville and an International cattle broker from Hardin County, McAnally's story has deep Tennessee roots. In the show, McAnally credits his drama classes at Franklin High School for sparking his love for acting. Scenes in the show center around locations like Cottonwood, Grassland, a friend's farm in Dickson, and McAnally's wedding in Nashville. Franklin isn't just the backdrop to many of the scenes in Size Matters, it's part of the very fabric of who McAnally is as an actor and storyteller.

As a playwright, Size Matters is Raymond's first full-length play in production. His short plays The Odd Ball and Homeland have been produced at festivals on both coasts. As a screenwriter, Raymond's first television pilot script was a semi-finalist in the 2014 L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival script competition (A Top Ten International Comedy Festival). Raymond has had over fifty original comedy shorts produced by Daily Fiber Films, LLC. His comedies have been featured on FunnyOrDie.com, CNN, New Media Rockstars, and The Food Network.

Raymond holds an MFA in Acting from Rutgers University and a BA in Philosophy from Sewanee: The University of the South. For footage of his performances and writing, log onto www.raymondmcanally.com.

Show History: Size Matters was originally produced by Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati in May 2014, as the final show in the theatre's twenty-seventh season. The production ran for three weeks; garnering outstanding reviews, standing ovations, and sold out performances. In November 2014, Size Matters received an eight show run by at Hamilton Stages Performing Arts Center in Rahway, NJ and was named "One of the Top 5 Shows of the Week of November 11th" by The Star Ledger and NJ.com.

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