Nashville Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 6

BWW Review: Ammons, Krebs Lead Entertaining SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS at Springhouse
by Jeffrey Ellis - October 04, 2019

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the 1982 stage musical borne of the 1954 film treatment based on a story by Stephen Vincent Benet, doesn't hold up as well in 2019 as many classic musical theater titles a?" what with its sexist storyline, ersatz score that longs to remind us of something by Rodgers ...

BWW Review: Cumberland County Playhouse's YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN is a Monster Hit With Hancock at the Helm
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 22, 2019

Who'd have ever thought a seven-foot-tall, dark, handsome and green chap a?' crafted from the bits and pieces of various fellows gone home to meet their maker, as it were a?' could prove to be so likable, charming and, we daresay, sexy? But leave it to Mel Brooks (and Gene Wilder, his co-writer on t...

BWW Review: Go Back to the 1980s With THE WEDDING SINGER at Chaffin's Barn
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 20, 2019

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 ...

BWW Review: A CHORUS LINE Kicks Off Roxy Regional Theatre's 37th Season In Style
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 19, 2019

Now onstage at Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre, in a production that is respectful of the material and with emotions reverberating through a heart so true that one is likely to be caught up in a very particular moment in theatrical time, A Chorus Line resonates as deeply in 2019 as it did in 197...

BWW Review: Cat Arnold Directs Inspiring CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME for Way Off Broadway
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 18, 2019

Sharply focused direction and an imaginative design concept by Cat Arnold a?" along with stellar leading performances from Tyler Henry, Craig Hartline and Deborah Seidel a?" combine to make Way Off Broadway Productions' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time one of the year's best stage d...

BWW Review: Nashville Rep's 35th Season Celebration Kicks Off With Astonishing URINETOWN THE MUSICAL
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 15, 2019

Brilliant social commentary or sophomoric lowbrow humor? Just what is it that makes Urinetown the Musical such a hit with audiences and theater companies a?' is it the biting satire delivered in Greg Kotis' book and lyrics and in Mark Hollmann's music and lyrics, or is it (in the case of Nashville R...

BWW Review: Profound and Poignant, DEAR EVAN HANSEN Takes Hold of Nashville's Collective Heart at TPAC
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 11, 2019

Profoundly moving and endlessly poignant a?' yet somehow laugh out loud funny at times it is most unexpected a?' Dear Evan Hansen, the Tony Award-winning musical that sharply reflects society's fascination with popularity and a?oefitting ina?? with a decidedly contemporary flavor, has settled into A...

BWW Review: Bennett, Moroschak and Scott Shine in Street Theatre Company's BE MORE CHILL
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 05, 2019

One need venture no further than Street Theatre Company's Be More Chill a?" directed by Sawyer Wallace, it's one of the year's best musicals a?" for just such a theatrical adventure. Starring Seth Bennett, Briar Moroschak and Garett Scott, three up-and-coming performers for whom their futures seem u...

BWW Review: Steven Dietz's SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE FINAL ADVENTURE Given Elegant Interpretation at Chaffin's Barn
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 03, 2019

Director Daniel DeVault has assembled a stellar cast for the latest production onstage at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre a?" Steven Dietz's Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure a?" who bring the tale to life with enthusiasm and vigor that's leavened by enough humor to keep even the most discerning of...

BWW Review: Arts Center of Cannon County's MAMMA MIA! Offers a Gleeful Take on ABBA-inspired Musical
by Jeffrey Ellis - August 29, 2019

Sort of like an extra-special episode of The Golden Girls - ACCC's Mamma Mia!, not to be confused with Studio Tenn's Mamma Mia! which runs through September 8 in Franklin - is given a new lease on life, as it were, thanks to Deason's casting choices: Imagine if Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia were...

BWW Review: Studio Tenn's 19-20 Season Opens With High-Spirited MAMMA MIA!
by Jeffrey Ellis - August 28, 2019

Directed with his signature creative flair, boundless imagination and penchant for fun by Benji Kern, Studio Tenn's interim artistic director, Mamma Mia! features a stellar cast of performers bringing the show to life with the expected verve and energy that the ABBA score virtually demands. Led by E...

BWW Review: DeMarcus, Chambers, Haines and Company Deliver Engaging, Entertaining MATILDA THE MUSICAL for AT Pro
by Jeffrey Ellis - August 05, 2019

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical a?" with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and book by Dennis Kelly a?" plays the historic Franklin Theatre through August 11, with a rollicking production helmed by Sondra Morton, featuring musical direction by Jamey Green and choreography by Everett Tarlton, who scor...

BWW Review: Lazzaro and Donegan Lead Dazzling JOSEPH... Revival at Cumberland County Playhouse
by Jeffrey Ellis - August 02, 2019

Powerhouse vocals from its two leading players (Anthony Lazzaro and Cassie Donegan), along with focused direction, spirited choreography, effusive music coming from the pit and an eye-popping visual design aesthetic combine to make Cumberland County Playhouse's most recent iteration of Joseph and th...

BWW Review: Theater Bug's SHOWMANCE is The Timeless Musical for Theater People of All Ages
by Jeffrey Ellis - August 01, 2019

Cori Anne Laemmel continues to do amazing things at The Theater Bug a?' whether it's creating new and compelling art, engaging in revealing collaborations with other creative individuals, or, more importantly, providing a safe space for a new generation of young theater artists eager to transform th...

BWW Review: Rachel Agee's Noteworthy Directorial Debut with Actors Bridge's KODACHROME
by Jeffrey Ellis - July 24, 2019

Life, as we know it, happens all around us in an amazing cavalcade of events that at once might seem inconsequential yet their importance becomes evident with time and experience. That's the message of Kodachrome, Adam Szymkowicz's lovely and elegiac play now onstage at the Actors Bridge Studio thro...

BWW Review: Imaginations Soar in Pipeline-Collective's Staging of Keith Bunin's THE WORLD OVER
by Jeffrey Ellis - July 23, 2019

Once upon a time, there was a country that only existed for one brief day and there was a man named Adam, who was determined to return to his long-lost homeland who held the key to its ephemeral history. Adam's tale a?" filled with adventure and intrigue, with larger than life-sized characters and o...

BWW Review: ANNIE Is Looking Swell and Spiffy in Sparkling Chaffin's Barn Revival
by Jeffrey Ellis - July 22, 2019

If there is a more perfect pooch to portray Annie's Sandy than Rufus Stewart, then his humans should produce said canine for an upcoming production of the beloved Broadway musical post-haste. Until such time as that occurs, we are simply going to claim Rufus as the quintessential canine co-star for ...

BWW Review: Kenley Smith's MAIDENS Heralds Auspicious Beginnings for Tennessee Playwrights Studio
by Jeffrey Ellis - July 07, 2019

Although an over-arching consideration of evil is perhaps difficult to comprehend even three-quarters of a century after the end of World War II and beyond the scope of a stage-bound drama, playwright Kenley Smith nonetheless focuses his attention on the intertwined stories of two such villains as t...

BWW Review: Fascinating MATILDA Brings Her Magic to Cumberland County Playhouse Through August 18
by Jeffrey Ellis - July 02, 2019

Now, through August 18, audiences at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse have the opportunity to fall in love with Matilda and her ragtag and inspiring band of schoolmates as they take on an adventure that is certain to delight and to engage. Directed by Jess Griffin and featuring a cast of fre...

BWW Review: Roxy Regional Theatre's HAIR Will Knock Your Clothes Off, Thanks to Kinzer and Bowie
by Jeffrey Ellis - June 28, 2019

Any directors planning new productions of Hair - wherever they may be all over this colorful country in which we live - might be advised to follow the lead of Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre and cast Mike Kinzer and Ryan Bowie as Berger and Claude, a pair of actorscharacters who together define ...

BWW Review: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Proves Just as Vital and Engaging in 2019 as When it Debuted in 1964
by Jeffrey Ellis - June 26, 2019

Fiddler on the Roof first debuted on Broadway in 1964 and in the intervening 55 years, it's become a beloved standard in the Broadway musical canon, being revived many times and performed on stages all over the world in productions both professional and amateur. The heartwarming tale of the world-we...

BWW Review: Holliday, Rankin Shine in Street Theatre Company's HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
by Jeffrey Ellis - June 24, 2019

Blake Holliday's jaw-dropping performance as "international song stylist" Hedwig Schmidt is reason enough to book your tickets as soon as possible to witness the actor's transformation in a 90+ minute production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch now ensconced at Nashville's Street Theatre Company through...

BWW Review: Murfreesboro Little Theatre's Heartfelt FUN HOME is Gone Too Soon
by Jeffrey Ellis - June 23, 2019

It should come as no surprise that Fun Home, therefore, that the aforementioned Broadway hit featuring music by Jeanine Tesori, with book and lyrics by Lisa Kron based upon Bechdel's graphic novel, is one of my favorite works in the canon of contemporary American Musical Theater. What some readers m...

BWW Review: GOD'S FAVORITE at Chaffin's Barn is Funny, Irreverent and Sincere
by Jeffrey Ellis - June 21, 2019

American playwright Neil Simon's prolific and wide-ranging contributions to theater range from the sublime (The Odd Couple and Rumors) to the ridiculous (Fools), with God's Favorite - now onstage through tomorrow - falling somewhere in the middle. While it's not one of the master craftsman's best sc...

BWW Review: Verge Theater Scores Another Hit With Post-Apocalyptic MR. BURNS...
by Jeffrey Ellis - June 12, 2019

Over coffee, on the morning after seeing Verge Theater Company's production of Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play - the dark comedy by Anne Washburn, directed by Nashville theater veteran Amanda Card - last weekend, a friend allowed as how he had heard of the play, but had no idea what it was about, as...