Nashville Rep Closes Out 2022-23 Season With Rousing Production of Tesori's VIOLETMay 17, 2023With 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.
Joy Tilley Perryman Helms Alabama Premiere of LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER Saturday, 5/13 in GadsdenMay 9, 2023Described as “a story-telling phenomenon,” Listen to Your Mother debuted in 2010 and has been performed in more than 60 cities. This edition is presented by Tilley Perryman’s Joy’s Jubilations LLC, a new performing arts organization she founded to provide educational theater experiences for young people in the Gadsden area, with the goal of brining professional theater to the region within the next few years.
Colorful, Campy and With All The Fun The Law Will Allow, DISNEY'S ALADDIN Thrills Nashville AudiencesMay 5, 2023Colorful and campy, fast-paced and royally entertaining – and about as much fun as current Tennessee laws may allow (our state legislature’s supermajority, however, might be clutching their pearls and wailing about “who’ll protect the children?” even as the youngsters surrounding me on opening night were having the times of their lives) – Disney’s Aladdin has arrived in Music City via magic carpet, bus and truck. And grabbing a ticket to the show’s Nashville run should be among anyone’s three wishes (along with, of course, tickets for Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson and/or Trevor Noah, all of whom are upping the entertainment quotient – and demand for parking spaces – this weekend) for pure escapism!
Annabelle Ochoa Lopez on Bringing Eva Peron To Life in Ballet Hispanico's Doña PerónApril 28, 2023When her boundless imagination was challenged some eight years ago to create Doña Perón, the acclaimed ballet that depicts the life of Eva Perón – known as Santa Evita to her beloved descamisados and for people all over the world who first became intrigued by her via Andrew Lloyd Webber’s award-winning musical Evita – it was up to Ochoa to create a vivid portrait of the legendary, if still-controversial woman who died more than 70 years ago.
Roxy Regional Theatre's Timeless Revival of SPRING AWAKENING Arrives Just When Tennessee Audiences Need ItApril 19, 2023We’ve been thinking about that 2012 legislation as we prepared to see Roxy Regional Theatre's 2023 production of Spring Awakening, the Tony Award-winning musical by Duncan Sheik and Stephen Sater, which is based on the play of the same name written in the late 19th century by playwright Frank Wedekin, in which he crafted an intricately plotted story of youthful suppression and the subsequent rebellion engendered by an appalling lack of open dialogue between “the adults” and “the children” that still today provides a provocative counterpoint to the nature of current social intercourse, proving the musical’s continued relevance, while underscoring its all-too-prescient message.
At Nashville Children's Theatre, Self-Expression Shines, Sparking Young Imaginations in HIP HOP CINDERELLAApril 18, 2023Among attributes audience members have come to expect from a Nashville Children’s Theatre production – fired by significant amounts of imagination and enough creativity to empower the minds of every youngster who has ever been introduced to the transformative power of live theater by the artists of NCT – are unique approaches to live performance, replete with stunning visuals, the casting of actors who look like their young audiences, and refreshingly new and exciting concepts that breathe new life in ages-old tales.
Actors Bridge Ensemble's World Premiere Production of Alicia Haymer's HEAVYApril 15, 2023When the history of live theater performance in Nashville, post-pandemic, is written sometime in the future, it’s highly likely there will be a chapter dedicated to and inspired by the significance of the artistry of Alicia Haymer, the actor/director/playwright who grew up in Nashville and whose impact on local theater goes all the way back to her childhood.
Friday 5(+1): Shelby Anderson and Mike Wargo from THE DATEApril 13, 2023Playhouse 615 hosts a workshop production of Zach Leon’s musical The Date this weekend, April 14-16. Located at 11920 Lebanon Road in Mt. Juliet, Playhouse 615 is the latest theatrical endeavor by Joel Meriwether and Ann Street Kavanaugh. Leon’s The Date stars Shelby Anderson and Mike Wargo. A staged reading of Leon’s Buke’s Island was presented in March at Café Coco.
Review: Superb Performances Highlight Nashville Repertory Theatre's THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIMEApril 2, 2023The power of theater to transform lives and to transport audiences to worlds perhaps unknown to them is no more profoundly felt than in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the play by Simon Stephens based upon the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. Now concluding its run at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center, in a satisfying production directed by Micah-Shane Brewer for Nashville Repertory Theatre, the story’s emotional heft and provocative storyline is representative of theater that audiences can appreciate deeply and from which they can learn the unexpected.
Review: Belmont University Musical Theatre's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Showcases Students' Immense TalentsApril 1, 2023Can you recall way, way back to 1991 when the Disney animated film version of Beauty and the Beast was first released? Well, even if you can’t, I certainly can remember how every theater aficionado I knew was exulting about the wondrous work and how it should be made into a live stage musical. In fact, it appeared that every film and theater critic worth his or her salt was noting the worthiness of such a transfer from film to stage.
Nashville Repertory Theatre Announces 39th Season OfferingsMarch 31, 2023Nashville Repertory Theatre today unveils its 2023-24 Mainstage Season, with a line-up of musicals, plays and a brand-new holiday season spectacle. In celebration of the company’s 39th season, Nashville Rep invites audiences to explore the idea of courage and bravery in everyday life.
Review: Presented in the Perfect Setting, Studio Tenn's SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN Will Revive Your SpiritMarch 29, 2023It 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.
The Friday 5(+1) on Wednesday: The Cast of Street Theatre Company's ORDINARY DAYSMarch 15, 2023Nashville's Street Theatre Company begins its residency at The Barbershop Theatre this weekend with their production of Ordinary Days, running March 17-April 1. Today, the musical's four castmembers - Angela Madaline-Johnson, Sachiko Nicholson, Grant Weathington and Alan Smith - take on our Friday 5(+1) questions to offer you some insight and to tell you why they think you should come see their show.
Review: BUMT's Sparkling and Sophisticated THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND Is Gone Too SoonFebruary 22, 2023Sometimes, even imperceptibly and when you least expect it, you may find yourself in search of something that helps to take you away from the rigors of the real world, to transport you to a long-dreamed-of land of fantasy which exists in your heart of hearts. Perhaps that journey is spurred on by a passing thought, a barely realized memory of something lost long ago to the past, or you hear a snippet of a song, a melody that instantly makes your heart fill with emotion, and you are swept away…
Review: The Queens of SIX The Musical Enchant Their Nashville Audience On Opening NightFebruary 22, 2023Make no mistake about it: SIX, the Tony Award-winning musical about six women historically tethered to one another by a common – but not “a commoner” – ex-husband, is raucously funny one moment, remarkably heartfelt the next, with plenty of history punctuating the moments in between. SIX, the high-spirited and energetic take on the lives of Henry VIII’s half-dozen wives, is also totally unlike any musical theater offering that has come before it.
'Engaging, Inspiring, Fascinating' Irma Herrera Brings Her One-Woman Show to TPAC This WeekendFebruary 6, 2023Engaging in conversation with Irma Herrera – even if it’s via Zoom in the middle of a busy day during which a remodeling project on her San Francisco home is under way, with the sounds of construction in the background as proof – is one of the most delightful ways to spend a scant hour on a sunny afternoon: talking about the importance of showing respect to another human being by pronouncing their name as they do, and discussing the intersectionality of immigrant’s rights, human rights, women’s rights, LGBTQIA rights, worker’s rights and the rights of the poor.