Jeffrey Smith News

With noteworthy performances across the board, Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production of Violet – with a lovely, haunting and emotional score by Jeanine Tesori and a sometimes meandering, oftentimes difficult to follow, libretto by Brian Crawley, based upon Doris Betts’ short story “The Ugliest Pilgrim” – closes out the company’s 2022-23 in impressive style that heralds great promise for what is still to come as the Rep moves forward into its 39th season.

In October 2001, Mamma Mia! opened on Broadway, just weeks after the horrific events of 9/11, and most pundits had little inkling that the show – a jukebox musical comprised of ABBA hits and the story of a young girl trying to divine the identity of her father from among three of her mother’s suitors some 21 years earlier – would go on to become the ninth longest running musical in the history of the New York theatrical enclave. But Mamma Mia! was exactly what the theater-going public needed in the aftermath of an epoch-shattering and historic event: an enormously entertaining, fast-paced show set to an eminently hummable, danceable score of songs that could whisk them away to another time and place.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts has announced the online concert screening of Inda Eaton: Shelter In Place on Saturday, March 13, at 7 p.m. The concert screening is a celebration of this special anniversary, which marks one year since the last live performance on the stage at Bay Street Theater.

Discogs, the world's record store, today announced a new Livestream content series launching on Monday, April 13, at 2 pm EST on Facebook Live.  

Discogs, the leading online physical music Marketplace and Database, has launched a weekly interactive chart tracking global music consumption. Released every Wednesday, the Discogs Top 40 Trending Albums chart will aggregate the most collected records of the past week pulling from data of the over 7 million active users in the Discogs database.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the return of singera?"songwriter Inda Eaton in concert for the introduction of her latest album, Shelter In Place, on Saturday, March 7, at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now for $30, $40 day of, and are available online 24/7 at baystreet.org or by calling the Box Office at 631-725-9500, open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Apollo Theater announced today that it will screen the iconic MGM film Shaft (1971), as part of the Apollo Film series, on Saturday February 29th at 8:00 p.m. The screening will be accompanied by a live performance of Isaac Hayes' Academy Award® nominated score by Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, a sprawling band of musicians led by founder and cultural critic Greg Tate.

This Christmas, the Ritz Theatre Company enters a new era, presenting a 'revitalized and reimagined' take on its annual holiday production of Scrooge: The Musical, a celebrated tradition that spans more than two decades.

At it's core, WHAT THE JEWS BELIEVE is a poignant story about the loss of faith and the journey to find it. Moreover, it is about life. The joys, sadness, fears, and many of the overwhelming number of questions that come with it. To his credit, playwright, Mark Harelik, goes to great lengths to pose a plethora of questions most of have, or will have to deal with. It is both notable and admirable that he does so without providing answers. About the choices we make as well as their consequences and impact. Harelik encourages us to think but never tells us how, what, or why we should do so.

Somewhere among the cards and letters, photographs and souvenirs from my misspent youth is a picture (circa 1978) of me clad in a powder blue tuxedo, with a ruffled-front shirt edged in the same hue, all capped off by an impossibly wide bow tie to match a?" my costume to serve as a groomsman in the wedding of two friends. That image has been prominent in my mind for the past 12 hours after experiencing déjà vu of a particular sort, thanks to a rousing, rollicking and downright rocking production of The Wedding Singer, the latest offering at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, which opened last night and continues through October 19 at the venerable Nashville venue.

Currently playing at East Lynne Theater Company is N. Richard Nash's beautiful comedy-drama-Western 'The Rainmaker,' running Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 PM through August 31, at The First Presbyterian Church of Cape May, 500 Hughes Street, where the company has been in residence since 1999. 

The Secret Garden - the Tony Award-winning musical by Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman, based upon the timeless children's novel by Knoxville's own Frances Hodgson Burnett - premieres at the Center for the Arts on Friday, August 23, continuing through Sunday, September 8, in a sumptuous production directed by longtime theater journalist Jeffrey Ellis.

On August 1, N. Richard Nash's daughter, Amanda, who lives in Massachusetts, came to see East Lynne Theater Company's 'The Rainmaker' and brought four cousins, including Lois, the daughter of Nash's sister Mae, who was the inspiration for 'Lizzie' in this comedy-drama. They all loved the play, which again received a standing ovation. Amanda thanked director Gayle Stahlhuth for 'bringing this family back to life' in such 'a wonderful production.' She grew up with this play and the profits from it paid for her college education.

'I tried to tell a simple story about droughts that happen to people, and about faith,' wrote N. Richard Nash (1913-2000) in regards to his own profoundly beautiful play, 'The Rainmaker.'

In celebration of both Gay Pride Month and the 50th anniversary of Noel Coward's knighthood, Robert Rodi looks back on the British icon's legendary career, trailblazing style, enduring influence-and above all his songs. Coward's songs have been covered by artists from Judy Garland to Rufus Wainwright, and rival Cole Porter's for emotional range and irresistible melody.

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 Light in the Piazza debuting tonight is its stellar cast of artists who bring the show to life with such apparent ardor. Continuing through April 20, STC's The Light in the Piazza is beautifully sung and impressively acted by Nolan's impeccably cast ensemble in a production fairly redolent of mid-century Florence and it serves as the perfect introduction to STC's new home.

Today, we invite you to get to know Briar Moroschak and Lindsay Hess, who play the daughter and mother at the heart of the story, who graciously answered our questions for the latest in our continuing series of Friday 5 (+1) in order to gain some insight into the two women and to suggest why you might want to make reservations now to see the acclaimed musical at Street Theatre Company.

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 show left audiences with a desire to stay and join in the dancing on the red carpet.

One of the silver screen's most popular musicals, Singin' in the Rain comes to the stage of Woodbury's Arts Center of Cannon County with all the trappings of a box office smash: memorable score, talented actors and enough technical razzle-dazzle to delight even the most discerning of theater-goers. Opening February 8 (and continuing through February 23) at ACCC, the stage musical stars Austin Jeffrey Smith, Lindsey Mapes Duggin and Daxton Patrick in the film roles immortalized by Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor in the award-winning 1952 film version.

Actors Bridge Ensemble's acclaimed production of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves and Cumberland County Playhouse's rendition of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street were named as the top shows of the year during Midwinter's First Night, the annual tribute to theater in Tennessee, held at Nashville's The Larry Keeton Theatre last Sunday night, January 13. Photographer Rae Lynn Whetzel-Stickney captured many of the night's biggest moments with her camera, which are shared on BroadwayWorld Nashville today.