Evans Donnell

“The world is violent and mercurial – it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love – love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.” Tennessee Williams to James Grissom (author of “Follies of God: Tennessee Williams and the Women of the Fog”), New Orleans, 1982

“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9, New International Version

There may be nothing new under the sun, but the loving grace of good art creates the welcome illusion of originality. It’s welcome because that illusion encourages us to see and hear in ways we often don’t when confronted with something that feels familiar. (That familiarity simply breeds contempt, according to Geoffrey Chaucer and so many others down the centuries…)

Such loving grace is powerfully present as one watches Nashville Repertory Theatre’s current production of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” That means it’s easy to forget you read the 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play in school, that you’ve seen stage presentations in the past or watched the altered shape it took as a 1951 film, as you watch the vibrant work now on searing display in Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Johnson Theater.

Director Nat McIntyre clearly understands the challenge of bringing such a venerated 20th Century American drama to a 21st Century stage. “The trap that must be avoided is to present a masterpiece from the past as a piece of art hanging in a museum,” he writes in his play program note. “That lets us off the hook. And Tennessee Williams was certainly not interested in letting anyone off the hook.”

First, McIntyre has assembled a team of artisans to make the play’s world come alive in setting, costumes, lighting and more. Gary C. Hoff (in his 20th season at the Rep) gives us a richly detailed set for the humble Elysian Fields apartment where Stanley and Stella Kowalski live, love, laugh and fight; Matt Logan’s costumes are the perfect fit of fabrics, colors and contours from seven decades ago; Phillip Franck’s lighting design (particularly during the play’s climatic scene)  morosely illuminates the action without intruding on it; and Kyle Odum fits the syncopated sounds of “Streetcar” seamlessly into the piece. In mentioning those offering their talents to this show I’d be remiss to leave out Nettie Kraft, who oversees the fine dialect work for this production – good dialect work illuminates and engages, while bad distracts and destroys believability, so it’s vitally importance to the performance – and the very believable fight choreography of Carrie Brewer.

Second, he’s cast well in all roles. James Crawford makes a heartbreakingly sensitive Mitch; Matthew Benenson Cruz’s energy as Pablo is perfect; James Randolph and Merrie Shearer give us complete characterizations as Steve and Eunice, the upstairs neighbors and landlords of the Kowalskis. Connor Weaver and Melinda Sewak ably appear in more than one guise during the proceedings, but most notably as the doctor and nurse in the final scene; and as the Young Collector, Brooks Bennett is the personification of pure youth.

The primary challenge to playing Stella Kowalski is that her husband Stanley and sister Blanche DuBois can easily suck all the air out of the room; to believe she can more than handle breathing that same air, to show the steel behind Stella’s smile, is no easy task. That’s why Tamiko Robinson Steele (no pun intended from that previous sentence) is just what Stella needs – a superb actor that shows every shade of Stella’s humanity and makes us understand why her character not only survives but thrives in a human hothouse.

Eric D. Pasto-Crosby brilliantly conveys the brutishness (down to his walk and stances) and tenderness in Stanley. We don’t condone much of what he says and does – including the abhorrent violence he inflicts on Stella and Blanche – but we understand his tremendously flawed humanity through the lens of Pasto-Crosby’s performance. His pain and rage is palpable, but so is his love and need for Stella.

The highest compliment this one-time actor can give players is that I don’t see them in the role. That is most certainly true of the utterly incredible Pipeline-Collective Co-Producing Artistic Director Karen Sternberg in her Nashville Rep main stage debut as Blanche; she dives so deeply into the troubled, crumbling psyche of her character that I forgot while watching that I’d ever seen her in anything else or even met her anywhere else. There’s so much to praise about her performance, but I think all well-deserved plaudits for her portrayal stem from the way she believably, patiently, excruciatingly builds Blanche’s fantasy-to-lunacy descent. Even those with just a passing “Streetcar” familiarity know what’s coming – “Whoever you are – I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” – and yet, when it comes out of Sternberg’s mouth in a tone of self-aware, fatalistic resignation, the effect is a stunning thunderclap to our collective spirit.

In an essay published in The New York Times four days before “Streetcar” had its 1947 Broadway premiere (headlined “Tennessee Williams on a Streetcar Named Success”), Williams asked, “Then what is good? The obsessive interest in human affairs, plus a certain amount of compassion and moral conviction, that first made the experience of living something that must be translated into pigment or music or bodily movement or poetry or prose or anything that’s dynamic and expressive – that’s what’s good for you if you’re at all serious in your aims.” McIntyre and his Nashville Rep colleagues have made a very dynamic and expressive “Streetcar” that pays proper tribute to the masterful talent that wrote it while gracing us with their good and oh-so-humanely-relevant work.

In addition to those mentioned in the review the following are significant contributors to this production: assistant director Claire Hopkins; stage manager Teresa Driver; assistant stage manager Kristen Goodwin; production director Christopher L. Jones; props master Amanda Creech; scene shop foreman R. Preston Perrin; master carpenter Tucker Steinlage; costume manager Lori Gann-Smith; wardrobe supervisor Lakeland Gordon; costume technician Lauren Elizabeth Terry; rentals manager Emily Irene Peck; artistic associate Erica Jo Lloyd; Maggie Jackson and Karch Abramson, run crew.

Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” continues through Sunday. February 23 in Johnson Theater at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Click here for more information and to buy tickets.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Lincoln Center Theater national tour of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s “loverly” classic “My Fair Lady” is in handsome residence at Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Jackson Hall this week. The revival helmed by acclaimed director Bartlett Sher has quite a bit to recommend it (including Michael Yeargan’s set design of colorful compositions and Catherine Zuber’s Tony Award-winning costumes).

Not every choice or moment is perfect – despite what some have written and said, this is no “perfect musical,” in any incarnation, since no human endeavor (including theater criticism) is without flaws. But those imperfections are not so great as to make Lerner and Loewe’s 1956 musical version of George Bernard Shaw’s brilliant “Pygmalion” Edwardian satire (aided or hindered, depending on one’s taste, by the 1938 Gabriel Pascal-produced film adaption of the play Shaw wrote in 1912) anything less than platinum from Broadway’s Golden Age.

How to handle (a slight nod to another Lerner and Loewe show) this “Lady?” In a recent National Public Radio interview Sher (who among other assignments directed a well-received revival of “South Pacific,” for which he won a Tony, and the recent Aaron Sorkin-adapted smash of “To Kill a Mockingbird”) said, “Whenever you do one of these musicals, you have to look at the immediate significance of the time you’re in and why are you doing it right now.” Sher’s take centers on the strength of Eliza’s character, very fitting for this (or any) age.

And who plays the indomitable Eliza in this tour? Shereen Ahmed, who understudied (and eventually played) the part at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre while working as an ensemble member, stars in that role now. She has a beautiful soprano voice that’s just as capable in pursuit of earthier low notes as it is soaring to hit the high ones. And she’s no one’s flower trod in the mud, conveying the inner strength that shines through Eliza whether she’s a Cockney on fire in “Just You Wait” or when she emerges exultant (“I Could Have Danced All Night”) from her run through Higgins’ tortuous educational gauntlet. I’d like to see what she’d make of a role created in a more modern vein (watching her I wondered what she’d make of Dina in “The Band’s Visit,” for instance – Katrina Lenk was stupendous but I think Ahmed could do that and many other roles justice as well).

Laird Mackintosh makes a decent Henry Higgins, and his voice when singing certainly has much more to recommend it than the “talk on the beat” performance Rex Harrison made famous in the original stage production and the 1964 Warner Bros. film – among other roles he’s been the lead character in the unstoppable “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, which is after all a sung-through experience. He’s quite good conveying Higgins’ passion for “the majesty and grandeur of the English language,” and the shrillness that accompanies petulant man-child moments (such as in “I’m an Ordinary Man” and “A Hymn to Him”) for his character is strong. But there are moments when I wanted to see the aspects of an imperious martinet more clearly in his characterization – among other things, that makes parts of “The Servants’ Chorus” even more ironically entertaining.

Adam Grupper is always believable and utterly entertaining as Alfred P. Doolittle. Whether he’s romping through “With a Little Bit of Luck,” the “Get Me to the Church on Time” number that spotlights Christopher Gattelli’s ingratiating choreography, or providing his character’s oh-so-original morality musings, Grupper’s energy, delivery, gestures and reactions fit every moment like the well-tailored morning suit rags-to-riches Alfie is ultimately doomed to don.

Other standouts in the ensemble include the engaging characterizations offered by Leslie Alexander as Mrs. Higgins and Wade McCollum as Professor Zoltan Karpathy – both obviously relish their roles and reinforce the notion that we’ll embrace characterizations when the actors thoroughly embrace their characters. There’s solid work from other supporting players, including Kevin Pariseau as Colonel Pickering, Sam Simahk as Freddy Eynsford-Hill (a pleasant rendition of “On the Street Where You Live”) and Gayton Scott as Mrs. Pearce. I also salute the ensemble’s delightfully droll “Ascot Gavotte” among their other moments onstage – the program says that ensemble includes Mark Aldrich, Rajeer Alford, Colin Anderson, Polly Baird, Mark Banik, Kaitlyn Frank, Henry Byalikov, Michael Biren, Shavey Brown, Anne Brummel, Mary Callanan, Jennifer Evans, Nicole Ferguson, Juliane Godfrey, Colleen Grate, Patrick Kerr, Brandon Leffler, Nathalie Marrable, William Michals, Rommel Pierre O’Choa, JoAnna Rhinehart, Sarah Quinn Taylor, Fana Tesfagiorgis, Michael Williams and John T. Wolfe.

Music Director John Bell’s orchestra for the Nashville portion of the tour includes local musicians Amy Helman, Avery Bright, Paul Nelson, Patrick Atwater, Matt Davich, Robby Shankle, Randy Ford, Andrew Witherington, Andrew Golden, Garrett Faccone, Harry Ditzel, Tara Johnson, Bill Huber, Phyllis Sparks, Kelsi Fulton and Paul Ross. It’s tough to bring local and out-of-town musicians together for such a short run, but always worth it – “canned” music never sounds as good as actual playing in the pit.

Let’s also send thanks to associate set designer Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, lighting designer Donald Holder, sound designer Marc Salzberg. associate director Sari Ketter, associate choreographer Mark Myars, technical supervisor Larry Morley, company manager Jeff Mensch, production stage manager Donavan Dolan and any others connected to this show. It’s easy to forget that there are many gifted hands needed to present such large-scale productions.

(Warning: A finale spoiler follows. If you don’t want to know, stop reading now.)

There’s been plenty of debate about Lerner and Loewe’s ambiguous ending for “My Fair Lady.” As I’ve said in other reviews, I prefer that audience members make up their own minds whether Eliza stays with Higgins, becoming romantically involved with him, or merely comes to say goodbye, before either starting life with Freddy or on her own.

Over to you, Mr. Sher: “Shaw hated the idea that they will ever, ever end up together,” he told NPR. “He was anti rom-com of any kind. He was an incredible feminist, fought hard for all kinds of equality.”

Okay. I prefer that she doesn’t become Higgins’ lover. But as Sher stages it, after the final lines of the musical (and as Loewe’s score crescendos to its triumphant end), Eliza walks to Higgins, puts her hand on his chest, then turns, steps in front of him, and after a brief stop walks off the turntable set leaving Higgins with a rather “Aw, shucks” look on his face as the stage lights dim.

Sher’s staging of the finale isn’t ambiguous, but that would be alright if it wasn’t also an abandonment of the play’s world. I’m sure Sher and his colleagues have an answer, but watching that moment my instant reaction was “Why not leave the way she came?”

The Lincoln Center Theater national tour of “My Fair Lady” continues through Sunday (Feb. 9) at Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Jackson Hall. For more information on the tour click here; to buy tickets for the Nashville run click here.

The following video offers a look at the cast that’s playing in Nashville:

“What things in our lives tempt us to deny the humanity in others, and by doing so, throw away part of our own? Is what remains, in a post-civilization world where so much of our humanity has been lost, even more precious? What, in such a ravaged wasteland, could lead us to abandon those last cherished scraps of humanity? And what would be the consequences?” – Director David Wilkerson in a program note for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s “Winter Shakespeare” production of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”

David Wilkerson and his Nashville Shakespeare Festival colleagues have stared into the post-apocalyptic abyss of a “Macbeth” where the title character’s “black and deep desires” play out in a ravaged wasteland brilliantly realized by set designer Jim Manning. It’s a world that intrigues, not least because it provokes the unsettling feeling this might possibly become our so-called civilization’s future.

This bleak “cockpit” (to borrow from the Bard’s “Henry V”), first replicated on the Troutt Theater stage through Sunday (Jan. 26) before proceeding to venues in Franklin, Murfreesboro, Tullahoma and Clarksville, is the space where some gifted players remind us of Shakespeare’s imaginative power. In a play like “The Tempest” that imaginative power creates Prospero’s legacy; in “Macbeth” it virtually destroys a society.

When Nashville Shakes visited this work in 2013 under the direction of former Nashvillian Matt Chiorini it was an intoxicating brew of spellbinding imagery, music (including Nine Inch Nails tunes) and movement that stimulated the senses. Those senses still get a workout watching this production, but what was other-worldly then is very, very worldly now. Each age must have its Shakespeare, and other than the obvious light his work casts on unchanging human nature, the fact that such different takes on this familiar play by the same troupe can each succeed within the mere span of seven years reminds us the Bard is basically adaptable anytime, anywhere and in any way.

The Rick Malkin pictures that accompany this review convey a scorched earth set of human “progress”: its centerpiece is a tower of mankind’s cast-off follies, including a doorway of stripped plastic and a satellite dish that long ago ceased to receive any signals. Add Jocelyn Melechinsky’s inspired costumes – most notably the head-to-toe garb and gas masks worn by the witches (Delaney Keith, Natalie Rankin and Kit Bulla) – to that desolate backdrop and the vision of this “Macbeth” is instantly one of dissipation and desolation.

At the heart of this nightmarish vision stands the title character played by Sam Ashdown. Ashdown makes Shakespeare’s verse his own language, and never forgets that audience and actor are on a journey instead of merely meeting at a destination – in his performance the whisper of Macbeth’s tragic flaws clearly and believably builds to a roar by the time he has that fateful encounter with Macduff (every inch a great warrior in the talented hands of Elyse Dawson). Macbeth’s “dagger of the mind” seems all too real when Ashdown delivers it, a suitably startling shock to the system from which he and we never totally recover; his “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…” unfolds with such resigned despair that despite his blood-steeped sins we’re truly touched by its plaintive dispatch.

Mariah Parris is the perfect partner to Ashdown as Lady Macbeth, making her character’s arc from calculating resolve to sorrowful madness seem so palpable that we truly grieve when her husband says, “She should have died hereafter.” According to more than one scholar Lady Macbeth was based on Gruoch ingen Boite, the granddaughter of an ancient king and the mother of another, whose first husband was the King of Moray. That husband and allegedly her offspring, a King of the Scots, were murdered; in this production a scene of Lady Macbeth mourning the loss of an infant serves as a powerful preamble to her words, actions and possible motivations.

In this production’s viewpoint gender is by attributes, not physicality, so male and female actors play roles of different genders. That, as well as multiple roles assumed by several company members (for example, longtime Nashville Shakes performer Brian Russell has four roles, including the ill-fated Duncan), would be confusing without actors capable of committing to clear choices for each of their parts; the aforementioned performers along with others in the ensemble (Jordan Gleaves, Lucy Buchanan, Déyonté Jenkins, Jonathan Contreras, Joy Greenawalt-Lay, Micah Williams and Andrew Johnson) are quite good at making each role distinct. For instance, in addition to playing one of the decidedly disturbing witches, Keith offers us marvelous comic relief as the Porter; her bawdy explanation regarding three things drinking provokes is an hilarious gem.

Among the other highly professional elements in this production are the appropriately off-kilter lighting design of the wonderful Anne Willingham, the excellent fight choreography by Wilkerson and Carrie Brewer, the throbbing sounds supplied by Evan Wilkerson, the wide array of props from Amanda Creech and the expert stage management of Daniel C. Brewer assisted by Kilby Yarbrough.

Harold Bloom, the critic/scholar who died last October after decades of analyzing and writing about Shakespeare’s work, opined that given the hold imagination has over this work, “The motto of Macbeth, both play and person, could well be: ‘And nothing is, but what is not.'” Wilkerson and his NSF colleagues have created and defined a particular world for their “Macbeth,” but their skills and commitment to the text insure this production intrigues us by never ceasing to work on our imaginations.

Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s 2020 Winter Shakespeare production of “Macbeth” continues in various Middle Tennessee locations through Feb. 21. For more information on places, times and tickets please click here.

Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production of Patrick Barlow’s “A Christmas Carol” adaptation is the maximum of minimalism – maximum holiday pleasure from the clear theatrical crucible of a minimalist focus. And the delight of watching five terrific actors caper through this modern version of a classic tale is no humbug.

Patrick Barlow turned Alfred Hitchcock’s film adaption of John Buchan’s novel “The 39 Steps” into a stage smash that the then-Tennessee Repertory Theatre successfully presented in 2011; now Nashville Rep brings us his take on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella that has inspired many adaptations on screen (large and small) and stage. (He’s also written a “Ben Hur” that employs three men and one woman to perform it.)

Barlow’s version began its stage life with Delaware Theatre Company in 2012 and has been widely produced Off-Broadway and elsewhere since. It’s not surprising, given the broad affection for and familiarity with “A Christmas Carol” and the economy of having a handful of actors play 25 named parts (including a very special Tiny Tim); but there’s more to this adaptation than offering a holiday tradition affordably – Barlow’s writing shows a love for the tale coupled with some wry modern winks at its Victorian earnestness.

“While I’m thrilled if a smaller payroll helps you get the play on in these cash-strapped times, I would also suggest the very fact of having a minimal cast offers many exciting theatrical possibilities, not to say a chance to create real innovation and magic,” Barlow wrote to producing theaters in his introduction to the script. “As a dramatist, I am most inspired and liberated by the great periods of simplicity in theatre: the Italian Commedia, the medieval Mystery Play, ancient Greek theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, where the story, the text and the performer are central. This is why I like working with minimalist theatre – the theatre of bare necessities – and using the restraints it imposes.”

This production isn’t shackled by those restraints, starting with a striking Gary C. Hoff scenic design (lit with great mood-enhancing discernment by lighting designer Michael Barnett) that frames “A Christmas Carol” with a look which immediately summons the ghost of 19^th Century wrought-iron creations (check out the Michael Scott Evans photos that accompany this review to take a look at his handiwork). June Kingsbury’s costume design is no less detailed, as the styles, cuts and fabrics combine to quickly take us to another place and age.

Director Beki Baker is the perfect leader of this merry band – she and the actors she directs bring out the humor (including some funny fourth-wall breaks) and humanity in the Barlow adaptation of Dickens’ evergreen tale. Two of those actors are part of the production staff as well – Shawn Knight doubles as music director while Mallory Mundy is the play’s choreographer. Their work on music and movement is as accomplished as their fine acting.

Knight, Mundy, Joy Pointe and Jonah Jackson take off and don multiple characters as easily as many of us take off and don winter cardigans. After watching their performances I have several pleasant memories but I’ll share a few observations – Knight’s paternal tenderness as Scrooge’s long-suffering assistant Bob Cratchit; Mundy’s exuberance as a music hall-tinged Ghost of Christmas Present; Point’s ethereal grace and beauty as the Ghost of Christmas Past; and Jackson’s joy as Scrooge’s kind-hearted nephew Frederick. In these and so many more characters this foursome is awesome.

And what about that miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge? Ah, Brian Russell! Those who’ve watched his work on Nashville stages these past three decades know his energy and comic timing are second to none. They also know he wears the mask of tragedy as well as he wears the mask of comedy. Scrooge makes a startling emotional and psychological journey during “A Christmas Carol” and that progress is both believable and beautiful in Russell’s splendid performance.  He’s had many terrific performances over the years, including such favorites of mine as his Salieri in Blackbird Theater’s 2013 presentation of “Amadeus” and Prospero in Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s 1999 and 2010 productions of “The Tempest.” This turn as Scrooge ranks among the best of his very distinguished career.

Let’s raise a cup of Christmas cheer to the rest of the joyful production’s artisans – assistant director Hendrick Sheldon, artistic associate Erica Jo Lloyd, stage manager Catherine Forman, assistant stage manager Kristen Goodwin, sound designer Kaitlin Barnett, director of production Christopher L. Jones, props master Amanda Creech, scene shop foreman R. Preston Perrin, master carpenter Tucker Steinlage, costume manager Lori Gann-Smith, wardrobe supervisor Lakeland Gordon, costume technician Lauren Elisabeth Terry, run crew members Maggie Jackson and Karch Abramson, and rentals manager Emily Irene Peck. Without the spirit and strengths each bring to this endeavor the Rep’s “A Christmas Carol” would not reach the height it attains.

“A Christmas Story” had a wonderful 10-year holiday run in Johnson Theater. Perhaps “A Christmas Carol” will also become a beloved tradition for Nashville Repertory Theatre. This seasonal light deserves to shine for a long, long time.

Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production of Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” runs through Dec. 22 in TPAC’s Johnson Theater. Please click here for more information and to buy tickets.

You’d have to be a mix of pre-conversion Scrooge and Grinch to not feel your heart warmed by the ecstatic joy of Nashville Children’s Theatre’s world premiere “Auntie Claus” musical.

The acclaimed children’s book character, her family and friends are exuberantly alive on the NCT stage thanks to Marcy Heisler (book and lyrics), Zina Goldrich (music), and show director/choreographer (and NCT Executive Artistic Director) Ernie Nolan, as well as a supremely talented ensemble onstage and off.

“Auntie Claus” author Elise Primavera has described the title character as “a cross between Coco Chanel and Auntie Mame with a little Mary Poppins thrown in.” Good fortune has long smiled on any production with Megan Murphy Chambers in it, and the tremendous triple-threat performer is perfectly cast as the flamboyant doyenne of NYC’s Bing Cherry Hotel.

Before proceeding with more of the review, a little background for the uninitiated is appropriate: the character Chambers plays resides in Penthouse 25C of the aforementioned hotel, and in dress, manner and habits has taken the Dickensian admonition to honor Christmas in her heart and keep it all the year. Her somewhat willful great-niece Sophie Kringle (Rebecca Keeshin) finds her behavior, and that “business trip” she always takes during the holidays, to be (using Sophie’s terminology) “mysterioso.” She decides to uncover the truth…

Court Watson’s enchanting wintry holiday wonderland of a set (see the Reed Hummell pictures that accompany this review) frames this magical musical, where the fun of Heisler’s sweet, smart but never too syrupy lyrics and Goldrich’s shimmering score plant us firmly in the “Auntie Claus” world from the very start with the company explaining “Christmas in New York” and then noting that “There’s Something about the Kringles.” I’m not surprised that among their credits are original songs for The Disney Channel, Disney Interactive and Feature Animation projects as well as Disney Theatricals; the delight I had hearing their songs and music was like listening to Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (“The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast”) at their very best.

Nolan’s blocking, pacing and song-specific choreography make this well-structured piece sail like a fast, sleek clipper ship on a silver sea. There are plenty of highlights in this hour-long extravaganza, but his electric staging of the “Live From New York, It’s Auntie!” number was one giddy experience among many for this boy-at-heart.

From her dazzling entrance to entertaining moments in “It’s Better to Give” and other numbers Chambers is at her Broadway-belting best. Since I first saw her in Boiler Room Theatre’s 2003 production of “Guys and Dolls” I’ve known I’d never see anyone, anywhere, whose timing, singing, movement and acting choices is any better than hers. No matter how many times one’s seen her, every appearance she makes onstage is a great gift.

The breadth and depth of Keeshin’s performance is no less impressive. Her character’s life-lesson arc is completely believable, and the rich emotional palette she paints in such numbers as “What is This Feeling?” and “The Land of the BB and G” along with her rousing work in songs like “We’re All Instrumental” and “Wrap It Up!” makes us root for Sophie as she learns to care about more than herself.

Chambers and Keeshin’s castmates provide plenty of good cheer and terrific performances as well. It’s a great mix of new and familiar faces in the ensemble Nolan has assembled – Jack Tanzi, Meggan Utech, Sawyer Wallace, Darci Wantiez, Abe Reybold, Melissa Tormene, Sarah Michele Bailey, Rona Carter, Hannah Clark, Treston Henderson, Jonathan Killebrew, Alex Pinerio, David Stobbe and Imari Thompson each give us multiple roles that are clearly depicted and entertainingly presented in moments big and small (including, but not limited to, the previously mentioned numbers and “Seventeen Days ‘Til Christmas”).

Nashville Children’s Theatre Orchestra under the direction of David Weinstein plays the score superbly. Along with Weinstein (on one of two keyboards in the pit) and music assistant Nathan Healy kudos go to Kelsi Fulton (keyboard), Zak Kuhn (acoustic and electric guitar) and Daniel Koslowski (drums, percussion).

In addition to the magic of Watson’s set (constructed by Anna Biggerstaff, Joe Mobley and Pete Nugnis along with master electrician/carpenter Taylor Thomas) and his terrific costumes (in concert with wardrobe supervisor Hillary Frame and costume shop manager Alarie Hammock) we have the graceful precision of Scott Leathers’ lighting, David Wright’s crystal-clear sound aided by audio engineer Joshua Bennett and the contributions of charge artist/props master Morgan Major-Pfendler. Rounding out the list of these more-than-proficient professionals are stage manager Teresa Driver, assistant stage manager Preston Perrin, director of production Rachael Silverman, technical director Wes Smith, and production assistant Kate Prosser.

With such a splendid show (to borrow from one of its song titles) I can’t wait for Christmas! The 1999 book upon which it’s based was geared for the very young, but this “Auntie Claus” is a musical for children of all ages. Thanks for the gorgeous, glittering gift, NCT!

“Auntie Claus” continues it world premiere run through Dec. 29 at Nashville Children’s Theatre (located at 25 Middleton St.). Click here for the public performance schedule and to buy tickets. For additional information about this production and its related events click here.

“If you have no tragedy, you have no comedy. Crying and laughing are the same emotion. If you laugh too hard, you cry. And vice versa.” — Sid Caesar

“If you live a long life and get to the end of it without ever once having felt crushingly depressed,” the narrator at the center of “Every Brilliant Thing” tells us, “then you probably haven’t been paying attention.”

How true. And the entertaining and evocative interactive theater experience developed by English writer Duncan Macmillan (from his short story “Sleeve Notes”) and Irish writer/actor/comedian Jonny Donahoe found a lovely localized home (including such references as a feline named “Catsy Cline”) Nov. 7-10 at Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Johnson Theater in a Nashville Repertory Theatre production that was directed by Lauren Shouse and featured Mark Cabus.

Depression and its attendant tragedies are certainly part of the personal tale that unfolds in “Every Brilliant Thing,” but so are hope and its attendant triumphs. Cabus played a man who as a seven-year-old boy began a list he hoped would help his mother; in the end it may have encouraged him much more.

It wasn’t some linear narrative told from a confined proscenium arch under observation from a reactive crowd, though; the Johnson’s black box was a completely proactive playing space of actor and audience, starting when Cabus mingled pre-show to pass out list items for people to call out when he said the corresponding number. (At the Nov. 9 evening performance, I got “25. Wearing a cape.”) Audience members also played some of the roles in the piece, including the father of the narrator.

This show has been widely embraced since it first hit the 2013 Ludlow Fringe Festival; an HBO broadcast of its 2014 Off-Broadway outing went over well, too. It’s been produced by many theatrical troupes, including a critically-lauded presentation by Nashville’s Tennessee Women’s Theatre Project in March.

So what made this Nashville Rep weekend so special? Cabus has graced many stages, offering his wide range to classical and contemporary comedies, dramas and musicals in acting ensembles and by himself for five decades; Shouse’s long-praised directorial gifts have continued to grow during time here and in Chicago. Watching their efforts on this shimmering show was the theatrical equivalent of hearing veteran virtuosos reveal beautiful new note shapes on Stradivarius strings.

Just as the script for “Every Brilliant Thing” built the story Cabus built his character’s emotional life; that life pulsated like the jazz music that accompanied parts of the action. And when his character’s crescendo occurred it was a natural as, well, B over C on the scale. Energy required to focus shifts in a character’s mood and behavior was there in perfect measure; the melodies and harmonies of Cabus and his character merged into a song of sweetness, silliness, seriousness and sorrow that left me euphoric when it ended.

Shouse is like a conductor that never wastes motion with her baton; her command of time and control of a theatrical piece’s ebbs and flows never come with unnecessary flourishes. It was true in the pacing of this piece and in the directorial decisions that made each movement distinct while never losing sight of the overall objective she cited in her note for the play’s program: to lift each other up through story.

In addition to the collaboration between director, actor and audience, there were the brilliant touches added by Nashville Rep’s wonderful artisans. These included scenic designer Gary C. Hoff, adding a comfy-chair ambiance among other grace notes; sound designer Kaitlin Barnett, who insured that the music of Ray Charles, Billie Holiday and others merged so harmoniously with non-amplified sound in the show; and lighting designer Darren Levin and assistant lighting designer Erin Featherston, whose illumination shifts were as natural as the shifting light of day. Rounding out the stellar crew were assistant director Erica Jo Lloyd, Production Director Christopher L. Jones, costume designer Emily Peck, stage manager Zachariah Heil and assistant stage manager Maggie Jackson.

In dialogue and situation the pain and humor of life soared in Nashville Rep’s rendition of “Every Brilliant Thing.” Repeat performances of this beautiful composition — and its engaging dance with the audience — would be music to the soul.

Nashville Repertory Theatre’s next 2019-20 season show is “Patrick Barlow’s A Christmas Carol” which runs Nov. 30-Dec. 22 at TPAC’s Johnson Theater. For more information and tickets click here.

“There can’t be any such thing as civilization unless people have a conscience…” from “The Ox-Bow Incident”

“We’re all born human beings,” one of the characters in Nashville Children’s Theatre’s superb world premiere of “Return to Sender” reminds us. “But we have to earn that e at the end of human with our actions so we can truly call ourselves humane beings.”

Julia Alvarez’s award-winning 2009 novel has inspired a 70-minute stage adaptation by Marisela Treviño Orta commissioned by NCT and Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American Studies. The play successfully captures the love, sorrow, hope and humanity found in the 350 pages of Alvarez’s book, and the actors and artisans under Crystal Manich’s terrific direction bring words on the page into thought-and-heart-provoking life. It’s a play that’s recommended for grades 3-8, but there are plenty beyond those years that would benefit from seeing this show.

The book was inspired by Alvarez’s experiences translating at Vermont schools for the children of Mexican migrant workers and draws its title from the name of a 2006 Department of Homeland Security dragnet operation where undocumented workers were seized in a series of raids. “Sometimes it’s only in the world of story that we understand the human side of political and loaded issues,” she has said.

That story centers on 11-year-old Mari Cruz (Amanda Rodriguez), the Mexican-born daughter of undocumented migrant workers, and 11-year-old Tyler Paquette (Lane Williamson), whose family has been farming in Vermont for generations. As the play opens, Mari is composing a letter to her mother (Claudia Quesada) – Maranda DeBusk’s beautiful projections of that letter’s words grace Scott Leathers’ wonderful farmhouse set – who has been missing following her return to Mexico when Mari’s grandmother died:

“Queridísima mamá [Dearest mom], If you are reading these words, it means you are back in Carolina del Norte [North Carolina]! There would be no greater happiness for Papá, my sisters, and me than to hear this good news. We have missed you terribly the eight months and a day (yes, Mamá, I am keeping count!) that you have been gone.

“By the time you get this letter, we will have moved north. …”

Mari, her U.S.-born sisters Luby (Lilliana Gomez) and Ofie (Erica Lee Haines), her father (Matthew Martinez Hannon) and her Tio [Uncle] Felipe (Matthew Benenson Cruz) arrive at the Paquette farm in Vermont where the two men will work. To Tyler, who has just returned from staying with relatives in Boston in the aftermath of his grandfather’s death, they’re initially viewed as trespassers until his mother (Cheryl White) and father (Christopher Strand) inform him they’re on the dairy farm to help save it – Tyler’s dad was recently injured, and without their help the family will lose its farm.

In the black-and-white way youngsters typically view the world, Tyler is sympathetic to his family’s needs but confused by the situation when he finds out the workers may be undocumented. How can his family do what’s right when they’re breaking the law? There are people in the community like Mr. Rossetti (Galen Fott) who certainly have strong feelings about the subject, and some of his fellow students mercilessly taunt him and the Cruz children about it. His journey of understanding begins with a look at the stars through his telescope and continues with the thoughtful guidance of his grandmother (Denice Hicks), his parents, his teacher Mr. Bicknell (DéYonté Jenkins) and the Cruz family…

As William Shakespeare wrote in “Hamlet,” players should “hold as ’twere the mirror up to nature: to show virtue her feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure.” The entire ensemble does this with naturalistic grace; in gesture, movement, speaking, singing and reactions they infuse each moment in “Return to Sender” with the truth of their characters.

The artisan aspects of this production are just as accomplished as the acting. Leathers’ lighting is a luminous complement to his set design (constructed with care by Pete Nugnis and Joe Mobley as well as Master Electrician/Carpenter Taylor Thomas), David Weinstein’s sound (assisted by Kaitlin Barnett and Audio Engineer Joshua Bennett) is seamless, Patricia Taber’s costumes (aided by the costume shop managed by Alarie Hammock) as always fit the characterizations and story like a glove. Rounding out this great team of pros are Director of Production Rachael Silverman, Stage Manager Teresa Driver, Assistant Stage Manager Hilary Frame, Technical Director Wes Smith, Charge Artist/Props Master Morgan Major-Pfendler and Production Assistant Kate Prosser.

As we’re reminded in “Return to Sender,” we’re all Americans in this hemisphere, north and south. And most importantly we are all humans – beyond the headlines and the political points there is living, loving, laughing, lamenting humanity. We are at our best as a species when we remember that. Thank you to all involved in this incredible, timely, compassionate work.

“Return to Sender,” sponsored by Ensworth School, continues through Oct. 27 at Nashville Children’s Theatre. In addition to performances for school audiences there are public performances Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. (There is no performance this Sunday [Oct. 13].) Additionally, there will be a 7 p.m. show on Friday, Oct. 18 with a post-show panel discussion n partnership with Vanderbilt’s Center for Latin American Studies, that will include representatives the center and from Conexión Americas, a local advocate for the immigrant community.  Tickets are $17 for youth and $23 for adults. For tickets call 615-252-4675 or visit NashvilleCT.org. Ticket fees apply and group rates are available.