Review: Presented in the Perfect Setting, Studio Tenn's SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN Will Revive Your Spirit
by Jeffrey Ellis - Mar 29, 2023
It was in Fall 1995 that I first was introduced to the gospel singing Sanders Family of “up near Siler City, North Carolina,” in a production of Smoke on the Mountain at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. In 2023, the family returns again, as if by magic or perhaps accompanied by flights of angels, in a warmly nostalgic, sweetly sentimental and altogether lovely production from Studio Tenn -- playing through April 2 -- at the historic sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church in downtown Franklin, which stands in quite nicely for the First Baptist Church of Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, on a Saturday night in 1938.
Virginia Repertory Theatre Announces 70th Anniversary Season
by Stephi Wild - Jul 13, 2022
Virginia Repertory Theatre announces its 70th Anniversary Season with a robust roster of dramatic and comedic plays and musicals for the Signature Season at the November Theatre and the Barksdale Season at Hanover Tavern.
Auditions For Piedmont Players Production Lunch At The Piccadilly
by Julie Musbach - Nov 28, 2018
Piedmont Players Theatre is holding open auditions for the Main Stage production of Lunch at the Piccadilly, a musical based on the novel by Clyde Edgerton with music and lyrics by Mike Craver and additional lyrics and music by Clyde Edgerton and developed by Steve Umberger. This production will be directed by Reid Leonard.
BWW Review: SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN's Sentimental Journey at Chaffin's Barn
by Jeffrey Ellis - Aug 8, 2017
Theater's power to transform and transport is astonishing and the capability of artists to create a sense of time and place, with words and music and theatrical wizardry to lend a tangible feeling to the experience can leave you breathless. Who'd have ever thought that such thrilling artistry, the very magic of make believe, could be so vividly expressed, so awesomely felt in two hours spent in a backwoods Southern church on a Saturday night in 1938? But that's exactly what happens in Smoke on the Mountain, Connie Ray and Alan Bailey's evocative, down-home musical that lovingly takes its audiences back home again in ways not even Thomas Wolfe may ever have imagined.
Pioneer Theatre Company to Stage Musical Comedy COWGIRLS
by Tyler Peterson - Mar 9, 2016
Jo has twenty-four hours to save Hiram Hall, her father's once famous country western saloon. She thinks she has booked a country music trio that is sure to save the day, but there's been a little misunderstanding: can the classical Coghill Trio turn themselves into the country Cowgirl Trio in time to put on a rip-roaring show that will save Hiram Hall from foreclosure?
The Millbrook Playhouse Sets 53rd Season
by Tyler Peterson - Jan 27, 2016
The Board of Directors and Producing Artistic Director, David E. Leidholdt, are proud to announce the 2016 Season of extraordinary plays and musicals. The 53rd season will feature five Millbrook premieres, including the sequel to last years sold out run The Marvelous Wonderettes, a classic family musical, Disney's Little Mermaid and for the grown-ups, Rock of Ages. The festivities will commence with a special One Night Only benefit concert Broadway ShowStoppers that will help raise funds for Millbrook's youth programs.
BWW Reviews: Candlelight Pavilion Brings Back Crowd-Pleasing SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN
by Don Grigware - Apr 14, 2015
Satire on religion can be fun to watch. Take The Book of Mormon, for example, with its ferocious attack on innocence and man-made intervention. On a much smaller scale, Smoke on the Mountain is an intimate up close theatrical experience that comes to life via its bluegrass-style gospel musical numbers. Some of the stories as told by the Sanders family, a group of traveling singers/musicians, who perform a one-night gig circa 1938 at the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, North Carolina are wrenchingly funny. In a well-directed and very well-cast revival at Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Smoke on the Mountain becomes a real audience pleasing entertainment.
Trustus Theatre Concludes 28th Season with Collected Stories, Directed by Milena Herring on the Thigpen Main Stage
by Robert Diamond - Jul 28, 2013
Trustus Theatre concludes its 28th Season as it brings Collected Stories, directed by Milena Herring, to the Thigpen Main Stage. Collected Stories opens Thursday August 15th and runs through August 18th, 2013 - with a special "Columbia Theatre Curtain Call" event following the last performance. This event will bring many of Columbia's theatres, theatre artists, and patrons together to celebrate another thrilling year of performances in 2012 and 2013.
Venice Theatre Announces 2013-2014 Season
by TJ Fitzgerald - Jan 30, 2013
Early Monday evening, the Venice Theatre announced their 2013 to 2014 theatre season at a special Kickoff gathering at their theatre located at 140 West Tampa Avenue in Venice, Florida. Hosting the event were Exective/Artisitic Director Murray Chase and Producing Director Allan Kollar. Highlighted by performances from local actors, the duo revealed their exciting upcoming schedule: