GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI for April 28, 2017

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! This morning (which according to our watch is Friday, April 28) we come to you to pose this musical question: What have they done to poor Heather Morris on Dancing With the Stars? Seriously, what did they do? We don't watch that show but have picked up some rumblings on the mean streets of Music City that intrigue is afoot among the over-teased, spray-tanned and body-glittered cast of the ABC Monday night juggernaut - please fill us in, theaterati. Inquiring minds want to know.

Were you on hand yesterday for the double bill of performances for Beau Jest at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre? Opening day and opening night can be exhausting, no doubt, but thanks to today's busiest man in showbiz, the elfin Bradley Moore, the cast was assembled for an "usie" of today's cover models. Let's face it, those people just can't get their day started without checking out our daily dose of theatrical doubles entendre and flat-out newsworthy pieces and bits. Be like the cool kids (Layne Sasser, Charlie Winton, The Hackmans (Joanna and Daniel), Brett Cantrell and Bradley, naturally) in Beau Jest, won't you, and follow our escapades each morning?

Today we're sending out warm "break a leg" wishes to the casts and crews of all the shows opening tonight, among them: Million Dollar Quartet at Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, Little Shop of Horrors at Center for the Arts in Murfreesboro, [title of show] at Roxy Regional Theatre in Clarksville, The Cast List debuts at Lakewood Theatre Company in Old Hickory, and John and Jen at Nashville's Street Theatre Company. Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time continues its spectacular run at Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Daddy's Dyin'...Who's Got the Will? is back for another weekend at The Larry Keeton Theatre, A Murder is Announced returns at Springhouse Theatre Company, and Last of the Red Hot Lovers is at Encore Theatre Company in Mt. Juliet.

Before we go any further with our usual mirth and merriment, let's get serious for a moment: What the fuck is wrong with the journalistic powers-that-be in this country? Everywhere you look, theater critics are getting the shaft, both literally and figuratively it seems, and their work is being denigrated and scoffed at by "reader engagement editors" who don't understand the importance of criticism in the creation of art. No matter where you are, if critics are silenced - and no matter what they are offering comment on, be it art or politics, architecture or theater, literature or public discourse - society suffers. I'm so very lucky, my BroadwayWorld overlords are extremely supportive (that's what's made us the largest online theater resource in the world) and they encourage me to write anything and everything that I can conceive of that is about art, theater and creativity, but I worry about my worthy colleagues in print media whose very life's blood is being cut off by people who have no clue what they are doing. It's all about becoming clickbait these days.

This, people, is why you need to protect your passwords so diligently: Anyone, it would seem, can gain control of your social media accounts and post willy-nilly whatever strikes their fancy! The Takeover of @BWW_Nashville's Twitter account continues unabated. Today, Matthew Hayes Hunter, the 2012 First Night Most Promising Actor who tonight takes to the stage of Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts to play Seymour Krelbourn, the geeky shopboy who brings the monstrous Audrey II to life in the musical Little Shop of Horrors, wrests control from Lipscomb University's Hunter Martin who kept things moving on Thursday in anticipation of LU's Senior Theatre Showcase on Saturday.

It all started last Friday when playwright Tori Keenan-Zelt took control, then Belmont University Musical Theatre senior Katie Bays grabbed her brass ring, as it were, on Monday and took us along with her and her merry band's BUMT Senior Showcase at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in NYC - and since then it's been one artsy-fartsy type after another: On Tuesday, Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre's Ryan Bowie gave us a sneak peek at their upcoming [title of show], which also opens tonight; Molly Dobbs of Cumberland County Playhouse's Million Dollar Quartet commandeered Wednesday to take us backstage in Crossville; and so on and so forth, as you have probably noted. We are sensing a trend.

And our circuitous journey continues tomorrow (which I understand is a Saturday - what's a weekend?) with Sara Kistner, the assistant stage manager of The Larry Keeton Theatre's Daddy's Dyin'...Who's Got the Will? takes over, followed by the cast and crew of Street Theatre Company's John and Jen on Sunday. Traditionally, the theater is dark on Monday so we will allow Twitter to languish in obscurity on that day. Then Nashville Ballet's Julia Eisen takes the reins on Tuesday to give us a tease of what to expect from 7 Deadly Sins, premiering next Friday night. Patrick Kramer, of Wild CaRD Productions and 12,000 local productions of Lucky Stiff since 2008 - wait, you mean there were only two? - takes up the challenge on Wednesday and then the lovely and talented Joanna and Daniel Hackman, two of the stars of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre production of Beau Jest, get behind the wheel just in time for their two-show day next Thursday! Whew! We can hardly keep up and we're writing this stuff down!

We're sending out the happiest of happy birthday wishes to: Lipscomb alum Nick Hogan, Nashville in Harmony singer (who's graced the stage in a number of shows we've directed) Stan Schklar, Nicholas Oldham (who can forget his turn in Crowns?) and singer/vocal coach Jonathan Kasper.

Today in theatrical history: William Luce's The Belle of Amherst opened in 1976. Chess, the Benny Anderson-Bjorn Ulvaeus-Tim Rice musical about the cold war, had its Broadway debut in 1988. After more than 6,000 performances, A Chorus Line closed on Broadway in 1990. Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde opened on Broadway in 1997. And just last year - 2016 - Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed opened at The Music Box Theatre.

We'll be back on Monday with more news and gossip; in the meantime, live life dramatically - and never forget that wherever you are in this great big world, there's never a better time than now to CELEBRATE THE MAGIC OF LIVE THEATER!

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