Nashville Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 8

BWW Review: Tennessee Women's Theater Project's EVERY BRILLIANT THING Offers Unique Theater Experience
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 08, 2019

By turns wonderfully funny and achingly poignant, Every Brilliant Thing - Tennessee Women's Theater Project's mounting of Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahue's one-actor play about dealing with the suicide of one's mother - offers Nashville audiences a unique method by which to examine the effects of...

BWW Review: KISS ME, KATE Audiences Are 'So In Love' With Chaffin's Barn's Stunning Revival
by Jeffrey Ellis - February 15, 2019

Crafting a musical theater hit is a lot like alchemy - the ancient study focused primarily on creating gold from baser elements - and oftentimes no matter the ingredients, directors never quite achieve the outcome for which they strive. But in the case of director/choreographer Everett Tarlton's pro...

BWW Review: A BRONX TALE Gets A Warm Welcome At Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center
by Jeffrey Ellis - February 13, 2019

No doubt about it, A Bronx Tale - the musical version of Chazz Palminteri's original 1989 one man show (he played some 18 characters in the original work) that ultimately led to a 1993 film directed by Robert DeNiro - is one engaging night of theater, telling an intriguing story of a boy who grows t...

BWW Review: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is making a splash at Arts Center Of Cannon County!
by Kendall Crawford - February 10, 2019

A behind the scenes look of Monumental Pictures was offered as the Arts Center of Cannon County's production of Singin' in the Rain brought audiences back to the golden age of Hollywood with a downpour of iconic songs and lively dancing. Directed by Broadway World's very own, Jeffrey Ellis, this sho...

BWW Review: The WIZARD OF OZ at Tennessee Performing Arts Center Dazzles Audiences with Singing! and Dancing! and FUN! OH MY!
by Kendall Crawford - February 09, 2019

If your family is in need of a visit 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow', the Wizard of Oz at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, with its lively choreography and dazzling special effects, will take you down a yellow-brick journey you're not too soon to forget. The iconic story of Dorothy and her friends...

BWW Review: ABIGAIL'S PARTY is One Drinks Party You Simply Cannot Miss
by Jeffrey Ellis - February 03, 2019

What better way to spend a Saturday night - or any other night of the week, for that matter - than at Abigail's Party, the latest theatrical offering from Verge Theater Company? Featuring a wonderfully engaging ensemble of actors, Abigail's Party is now onstage through February 17 at The Barbershop ...

BWW Review: Haven't you heard the word of SPRING AWAKENING at Second Stage Student Theatre?
by Kendall Crawford - February 02, 2019

If you want foot-stomping, head-banging, heartbreaking art, there's a seat for you at Second Stage Student Theatre's most recent production of Spring Awakening. Directed by Maya Denning, 2SST's stellar cast brought pure energetic angst as they opened Spring Awakening to a packed house at Community B...

BWW Review: Nashville Story Garden's Stunning IRONBOUND Closes All-Too-Brief Run Tonight
by Jeffrey Ellis - February 02, 2019

For Darya, a 42-year-old Polish emigre eking out a meager and bleak existence in New Jersey, life in America seems far less promising than she may have considered at the outset of her journey. But in Martyna Majok's exquisitely crafted and beautifully written play - Ironbound - which ends its all-to...

BWW Review: CFTA's NEWSIES was Swell, But May We Have a Respite Now?
by Jeffrey Ellis - January 30, 2019

In recent years, Center for the Arts has certainly upped the ante with musical productions which have, consistently, been better than the one before, raising the bar for all the shows still to come. Case in point: Disney's Newsies, which closed its sold-out run in Murfreesboro on Sunday....

BWW Review: Nashville Children's Theatre's World Premiere of GHOST Bolts Out of the Blocks
by Jeffrey Ellis - January 29, 2019

During the very first scenes of Ghost - the world premiere of the play by Idris Goodwin, based upon the 2016 book of the same name by Jason Reynolds, now onstage at Nashville Children's Theatre through February 3 - the audience becomes caught up in the emotional turmoil experienced by young Castle C...

BWW Review: Nashville Shakespeare Festival's JULIUS CAESAR Serves Up Political Intrigue at its Best
by Jeffrey Ellis - January 21, 2019

As the century was about to turn when Shakespeare first unveiled his tragic masterpiece, Julius Caesar - it's believed to have been written around 1599 - political turmoil was afoot in Britain as worries mounted about who would succeed the aging virgin queen on the throne upon her demise. Thus, all ...

BWW Review: Renee Elise Goldsberry Revives the Spirit in Concerts with The Nashville Symphony
by Jeffrey Ellis - January 19, 2019

Last week, while talking with Tony Award-winning actress/singer/songwriter Renee Elise Goldsberry - during which we discussed her upcoming series of concerts with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra - she responded to my query about how much of 'Renee' is in each of the myriad characters by which she's...

BWW Review: Circle Players' AVENUE Q Ushers in 2019 With Fast-Paced Hilarity
by Jeffrey Ellis - January 17, 2019

For legions of musical theater fans brought up on daily trips to Sesame Street, thanks to the fine folks at Children's Television Workshop, there is quite possibly no show more beloved than Avenue Q - the grown-up version of the kind of programming directed at children in hopes of helping them navig...

BWW Review: ON YOUR FEET Heats Up A Cold Winter's Night in Music City
by Jeffrey Ellis - January 16, 2019

Looking for the perfect way to ward off winter's chill on a particularly cold and damp Nashville night? Then take our word for it: There's no better way than by immersing oneself in On Your Feet: The Emilio & Gloria Estefan Broadway Musical, now onstage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew J...

BWW Review: Pipeline Collective's WELLESLEY GIRL Offers a Provocative View of the Future
by Jeffrey Ellis - January 11, 2019

Times are tough in the 25th century, judging from the world on view in Brendan Pelsue's Wellesley Girl, now onstage at the Belmont Little Theatre in a superbly acted and staged production from Pipeline-Collective. While our imaginations of how the 25th century will actually play out - what with vari...

BWW Review: PETER PAN AND TINKER BELL: A PIRATE'S CHRISTMAS Brings Panto Tradition to Music City
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 17, 2018

Audiences have until next Sunday - December 23, to be precise - to experience what is likely to become a Music City holiday tradition: Peter Pan and Tinker Bell: A Pirate's Christmas at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre. A somewhat Americanized version of a peculiarly British ...

BWW Review: Studio Tenn's Holiday Season Offering of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 14, 2018

Before Broadway comes calling for Hatty Ryan King, the young Nashville actress with an enviable resume (the Lipscomb University sophomore is a Spotlight Award winner, was a finalist for The Jimmy Award, has worked with theater companies both community-oriented and professional and has proven herself...

BWW Review: Cumberland County Playhouse Sends SANDERS FAMILY Off With Heartfelt Emotion
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 13, 2018

Growing up in a small Southern town with fewer than 1,000 people, the prevalent thoughts tend to be centered on how to get out of that stifling, archly conservative community, in order to search for the proverbial greener pastures and to find like-minded people who will make you feel more "at home" ...

BWW Review: Rice and Sochocki Serve Up Some Holiday Laughs in A TUNA CHRISTMAS
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 13, 2018

You'd be hard pressed to find a seasonal outing quite so much fun, a Christmas party more tantalizingly outrageous or performances more outlandish than in A Tuna Christmas, the holiday-themed comedy that features the denizens of Tuna, the third-smallest town in Texas, in all their Lone Star State fi...

BWW Review: After 10 Years, Nashville Ballet's NASHVILLE'S NUTCRACKER Dazzles and Delights
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 04, 2018

As difficult as it may be to comprehend, Nashville's Nutcracker - Paul Vasterling's beautiful and evocative holiday gift to his adopted hometown - first debuted in 2008 and its return in 2018 only enhances the already stellar reputation of Nashville Ballet as the city's leading arts entity and adds ...

BWW Review: Nashville Rep's Holiday Tradition of A CHRISTMAS STORY Comes to a Fitting Close
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 03, 2018

When the final curtain falls on A Christmas Story at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre on December 22, the cast and crew of Nashville Repertory Theatre's production will pack up all the leg lamps and all the tinsel, Gary Hoff's gorgeous set will go into mothballs, the costumes will be stored away with t...

BWW Review: Tamiko Robinson Steele Sparkles and Shines in TWTP's TWELVE DATES OF CHRISTMAS
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 02, 2018

Tamiko Robinson Steele's bravura performance as Mary, the heroine of Ginna Hoben's delightful The Twelve Dates Of Christmas, is reason enough to spend an hour and a half in a darkened theater amid all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Now onstage in the fourth annual Tennessee Women's The...

BWW Review: Jaclynn Jutting's Direction of a Remarkable Cast Makes Actor's Bridge's THE WOLVES The Show to See
by Jeffrey Ellis - December 02, 2018

In a production that almost didn't happen - it was upended by college administrators' fear of the power of the words found in DeLappe's stunning script - The Wolves is a play about the evolution of a group of nine young women who find themselves together every Saturday morning for a soccer match at ...

BWW Review: MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET at Roxy Regional Theatre is Beautifully Wrapped
by Jeffrey Ellis - November 27, 2018

Now onstage at the Roxy Regional Theatre in Clarksville through December 22, Miracle on 34th Street is among a small number of titles available to theater companies all over the United States looking for seasonal entertainment options for their loyal fans and season ticket holders. In fact, there's ...

BWW Review: Belmont University Musical Theatre's Startling Revival of SIDE SHOW
by Jeffrey Ellis - November 18, 2018

Macy Medford and Arden Guice may only be college students, but their performances as Violet and Daisy Hilton, the heroines of Side Show - the iconic musical by Bill Russell, Henry Krieger and Bill Condon that debuted on Broadway some 20 years ago - in Belmont University Musical Theatre's production ...