Nashville Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 7

BWW Review: The Horrific Beauty of MISS SAIGON Returns to Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center
by Jeffrey Ellis - June 05, 2019

Compellingly dramatic and featuring an exquisitely emphatic score performed by a dazzling cadre of triple-threat actors and a 15-person orchestra, Miss Saigon once again lands at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall this week for an eight-performance run that will almos...

BWW Review: Nashville Audiences Get Second SWEAT in Two Months, Thanks to STC Production
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 24, 2019

Lynn Nottage's Sweat - her 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the impact of economics, immigration laws and differing political views and, in turn, their effect on interpersonal relationships - is given its second mounting in two months in Nashville theater, with the Alicia Haymer-directed produ...

BWW Review: Studio Tenn's Deliciously Campy, Fun and Sexy JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 18, 2019

With Joseph, which opened last night at Franklin's Jamison Theater inside The Factory at Franklin, further establishes its brand: presenting exceptional musical theater with production qualities that might rival Broadway, performed by a cast (a dreamcast, if you will) made up of actors from Nashvill...

BWW Review: Way Off Broadway Productions' Disappointing and Over-Designed LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 13, 2019

Now would seem the perfect time for a Nashville revival of Christopher Hampton's Les Liasions Dangereuses - an intriguing play about powerful men subjugating women to their sexual domination, private missives between aristocrats made public in order to cause embarrassment, and any perceptibly well-m...

BWW Review: Nashville Opera's 'Gleefully Subversive' THE CRADLE WILL ROCK: Opera, Musical Theater or Both?
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 11, 2019

Now onstage through Mother's Day (Sunday, May 12) in a much anticipated and gleefully subversive production from Nashville Opera, The Cradle Will Rock remains hard to define: It could be described as a work of art whose meaning, its very raison d'etre, can be bent to suit any conceivable justificati...

BWW Review: Tennessee Women's Theater Project's Stunning Revival of SISTAS THE MUSICAL
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 04, 2019

Directed with grace and wit by Tennessee Women's Theater Project founder Maryanna Clarke, Sistas the Musical is now onstage through May 19 at The Z. Alexander Looby Theatre, located conveniently just off Rosa Parks Boulevard in north Nashville, a historically black enclave that has been central to t...

BWW Review: Wow! Wow! Wow, Fellas! Look at DOLLY Now, Fellas: She's Spectacular!
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 01, 2019

It only takes a moment to realize that composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, aided and abetted by book writer Michael Stewart (with an able assist from Thornton Wilder), knew exactly what he was doing when he created the classic Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!: put together a star vehicle for a quintessent...

BWW Review: Outrageous Comedy of 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE Continues to Delight
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 30, 2019

That fact is proven every time we see a new staging of the Rachel Sheinkin/William Finn show, originally conceived by Rebecca Feldman. Now onstage at Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts, in an immersive production directed by Rachel Jones and brought to life by a stellar cast of promising young actor...

BWW Review: Cumberland County Playhouse's FOREVER PLAID Offers Heavenly Music and Other-worldly Comedy
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 29, 2019

Certainly, if you're lucky enough to spend a scant two hours in the company of Cumberland County Playhouse's Forever Plaid - comprised of Chris Hallowes, Ross Griffin, Paul Gary and Justin Burr - you'll feel like you've been good, thanks to their heavenly harmonies, delightful performances and all-a...

BWW Review: Christine Rowan is a Revelation in Cumberland County Playhouse's BRIGHT STAR
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 28, 2019

'Based on a true incident' seems a phrase best reserved for a hardboiled television detective series, circa 1954 - perhaps followed by a title card reading, 'A Quinn Martin Production' (if you're of a certain vintage, you'll get my meaning) - but in the case of Bright Star, the Tony Award-nominated ...

BWW Review: Chaffin's Barn's Timely and Timeless LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 27, 2019

As the magical floating stage descends from the upper recesses of Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, anticipation grows and attention is directed to the half dozen actors seated upon the stage, their chairs as unique as the performers themselves. Gathered together by director Joy Tilley Perryman, the do...

BWW Review: 'Oh, What A Night!' With UNDER THE STREETLAMP and the Nashville Symphony
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 20, 2019

No matter how you describe them - although granted, 'handsome, charming, engaging and amazingly talented' comes readily to mind - nor how many times you've seen them (whether it's your first or twenty-first time), there's one thing you cannot help but think about Under the Streetlamp: These four guy...

BWW Review: ACT 1's Delightfully Entertaining JACK AND THE GIANT
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 17, 2019

Daring to dream, to allow one's imagination to soar and one's creativity to thrive is at the core of theater and thanks to a clever and engaging retelling of a time-honored fable now onstage at Nashville's Darkhorse Theatre - Jack and the Giant, the latest offering of ACT 1's 2018-19 season - audien...

BWW Review: Center for the Arts' Zany THE PRODUCERS is More Fun Than the Law Allows
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 07, 2019

Bold, brash and totally bonkers - but only in the very best of ways to be found in a big Broadway musical - The Producers scores another hit for Murfreesboro's Center for the Arts (where its run ends this weekend), thanks to strong direction by Chris McLaurin and Natalie Quinn and to a cast of actor...

BWW Review: Lushly Romantic THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA Ushers in New Era for Street Theatre Company
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 05, 2019

Craig Lucas' evocative libretto and Adam Guettel's lushly romantic (and Tony Award-winning) score, notwithstanding - and putting aside the momentous occasion of Street Theatre Company inaugurating a new theater venue - perhaps the most notable attribute of the Ernie Nolan-directed version of The Lig...

BWW Review: Strong Performances Ensure Success of Circle Players' IF/THEN
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 02, 2019

What if? For many, their lives are filled with the search for answers to the questions that tend to keep people awake in the middle of the night, wondering if they'd made another choice how their lives would have been impacted and, more importantly, where they might find themselves instead of lying ...

BWW Review: LeMoine's Miss Trunchbull Steals the Show in Expression City's MATILDA
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 30, 2019

Can there be a better way to capture Matilda's spirit so evocatively than in musical theater (the musical debuted on the West End in 2010 and made its subsequent New York transfer in 2013) - a journey through which her soulful, heartfelt ascent into a literary hierarchy (in which readers can live vi...

BWW Review: Belmont University Musical Theatre's Delightful and Entertaining THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 29, 2019

Anna Perry's energetic and period-perfect choreography - along with impressive performances from a cadre of university students destined for Broadway stardom - ensures that Belmont University Musical Theatre's Thoroughly Modern Millie is a complete and utter delight, featuring a memorable score wrap...

BWW Review: Nashville Rep's Sparkling SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE Caps An Impressive 2018-19 Season
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 24, 2019

Oh, those wacky Brits: They love their comedy dry, broad and often rather lowbrow, they adore mistaken identities, hijinks in the bedchamber and a bit with a dog. And that, gentle readers, is exactly what is delivered in the deliciously irreverent, surprisingly heartfelt Shakespeare in Love - Lee Ha...

BWW Review: Actors Bridge Ensemble's Provocative and Gut-wrenching CITIZEN: AN AMERICAN LYRIC
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 23, 2019

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 Chape...

BWW Review: Chaffin's Barn's Earnest and Uneven New Musical ESTHER Premieres
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 23, 2019

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...

BWW Review: Opulent, Regal and Sumptuous ANASTASIA Captivates Nashville Audiences at Tennessee Performing Arts Center
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 20, 2019

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 cas...

BWW Review: Raucous and Irreverent, THE BOOK OF MORMON Continues to Convert Legions of Musical Theater Fans
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 14, 2019

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 en...

BWW Review: No Matter the Adaptation, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Still Packs a Punch
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 12, 2019

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 shu...

BWW Review: Lynn Nottage's SWEAT Proves a Worthy Debut for Humanity Theatre Project
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 11, 2019

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 ...