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Evans Donnell, a once and future critic

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An Appreciation: Tennessee Playwrights Studio Reveals Humanity Beyond Headlines In ‘That Woman’ Presentations

July 19, 2022 by Evans Donnell

Photo by Beth Gwinn

Sixty years ago politicians’ private lives were basically off-limits as far as most of the press was concerned. The 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was a handsome, charismatic figure with a beautiful and cultured wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and two adorable children named Caroline and John. Their family image, molded and preserved by Mrs. Kennedy and others, and that of his short-lived administration, would soon be simply referenced using the name of JFK’s favorite musical — “Camelot” — in the aftermath of his Nov. 22, 1963, assassination.

Sixty years ago Betty Friedan was putting the finishing touches to a manuscript that became the best-selling 1963 book “The Feminine Mystique,” arguably launching what later became known as the “second wave” of American feminism. One of the quotes from that book is as follows: “The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own.”

Such creative work was on powerful, persuasive display in June during performances of “That Woman: The Monologue Show” and “That Woman: The Dance Show” at Darkhorse Theater and (for the monologue show only) The East Room courtesy of Tennessee Playwrights Studio and co-producer Angela Gimlin. Several of Nashville’s finest creatives conceptualized, wrote, produced, directed, designed, stage managed, crafted and performed pieces that reach beyond decades of headlines, books and broadcast documentaries regarding President Kennedy’s extramarital affairs for the humanity, and individuality, of the women either revealed or alleged to have been involved with him as well as his wife of 10 years.

I didn’t have the privilege of seeing the shows in person, but TPS made video recordings of the monologue show in both venues and the dance show at Darkhorse. That allowed me to watch, and enjoy, some wonderful performances, where the words became a “Spoon River Anthology” of selected women in JFK’s life, and the dances became vibrant expressions of 20th Century events and lives that have fascinated many over the past six decades.

That Woman: The Monologue Show

Darkhorse Theater Cast (Photo by Rick Malkin)
The East Room Cast (Photo by Rick Malkin)

In the monologue show (skillfully overseen by director Stephanie Houghton, founder of Nashville’s Gadabout Theater Company) the artisans working with director and cast included Rachel Agee (Script Editor), Renee Brank (Stage Manager), Bethany Dinkel (Costumer), Kristen DuBois (Lighting Designer), Alexis LaVon (Sound Designer), and Lauren Wilson (Graphic Designer).  

All this show’s performances represented the characters in their complex and complicated humanity: There were no impersonations, just evocations. Most of those performing had written their words from researching the people their characters were based on, but even those who hadn’t written the words played their parts with great commitment to emotional truth. 

Conveying each character as they sat or stood onstage obviously isn’t possible here, but some lines from the monologues may give readers a taste of what was so realistically conveyed to the audience. Those lines are accompanied by the names of those who wrote and brought the characters to life:

Inga Arvad: “Listening is truly a dying art. The need to be heard often outweighs the desire to understand. I know this to be true. I lived my life listening more than I talked.” {written by April Hardcastle-Miles; performed during the run by her and Silva Riganelli}

Ellen Rometsch: “Take it to the grave. That’s what I’ll do. There is no reason for you to ring my phone or knock on my door. I’ll never talk. What’s past is past and it will stay that way.” {written by Mary McCallum; performed during the run by her and Audrey Venable}

Blaze Starr: “Loving powerful men might have been part of my life, but it wasn’t my life. It wasn’t who I am. I was art. I was fantasy. I was furs and satin and sequins. I was boobs and booze and flashes of red hair.” {written and performed by Angela Gimlin}

Mimi Alford: “I said this in my memoir, and I will say it to you: ‘I am Mimi Alford, and I do not regret what I did. I was young and swept away and I can’t change that fact….This book represents a private story, but one that happens to have a public face. And I do not want the public face of this story — the one where I will be remembered solely as a presidential plaything – to define me.'” {written and performed by Molly Breen}

Priscilla “Fiddle” Wear: “I’m no fool. I knew I was never going to be his wife or advisor but that’s not how power works, is it? Those aren’t the only ways to influence history.” {written by Nettie Kraft; performed during the run by Ibby Cizmar and Karla Dansereau}

Jill “Faddle” Cowan: “We were close. I cared for him deeply. I accepted him as a human. How do you help a president through depression? You listen. You encourage. And eventually…he helps himself.” {written by Alicia Haymer and performed by Sofia Hernández Morales}

Marilyn Monroe: “I’ve always been comfortable in my own skin, regardless of what anybody says. They say plenty, naturally. They think it too. You’re thinking it right now.” {written and performed by Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva}

Mary Pinchot Meyer: “I just wanted to help. I wanted to be in the room. I longed to be in the know. I dreaded being another boring, stupid housewife. I am smart and thoughtful and kind.” {written and performed by Dianne DeWald}

Judith Exner: “You don’t have to like me, you don’t have to approve of me. But when you make your judgment, you have to know the truth about me.” {written and performed by Elizabeth Turner}

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: “I am a passionate woman, my dear. I’m more passionate than anyone will ever know. In fact, I am sometimes overcome by my ability to feel despite my best efforts not to. Perhaps that’s why I appreciate art so much. And history. It’s safe to feel passionate about these things.” {written by Ang-Madeline Johnson; performed during the run by her and Madison Gunn}.

As the cast took their bows following the 90-minute show Helen Reddy’s clarion call “I Am Woman” accompanied the cheers and applause. How appropriate: “That Woman: The Monologue Show” had indeed roared.

That Woman: The Dance Show

In the dance show, choreographers included Molly Breen, Caitlin Del Casino, Brandon Johnson, Thea Jones, Cornell Kennedy, Jodie Mowrey (who also served as Director of Choreography), Schuyler Phoenix, Rachel Simons, Brittany Stewart, and Emma Williams. Breen directed the show, working alongside such creatives as Caitlin Del Casino (Costumer), Kristen DuBois (Lighting Designer), Alexis LaVon (Sound/Projection Designer), Shannon J. Spencer (Stage Manager), and Lauren Wilson (Graphic Designer).

It featured a wide array of classic and modern movements with an equally broad range of musical accompaniment highlighted by contributions from such Nashville talents as Noah Rice, Mickey Rose, Jen Bostick, Melanie Bresnan, Heidi Burson, David Curtis and Jonell Mosser.

The dancers were a very diverse group of performers that included Breen as Marlene Dietrich, Caitlin Del Casino as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Thea Jones as Ellen Rometsch, Jodie Mowrey as Mary Pinchot Meyer, Schuyler Phoenix as Blaze Starr, Rachel Simons as Inga Arvad, Nikki Staggs as Tempest Storm, Brittany Stewart at Judith Exner, Autumn Wegner as Marilyn Monroe, Emma Williams as Inga Arvad, Brandon Johnson, Preston Weaver and Shawn Whitsell as JFK/ensemble with Jim Manning as Joseph Kennedy/J. Edgar Hoover.

So many different experience levels for the performers, so many different dance and music styles, different moods shifting not just from section to section but often beat to beat — among several highlights there was the tragic grace of Emma Williams’ “Marilyn,” the satirical silliness of the “Hoover Interlude” sequences from Jodie Mowrey and Jim Manning, the sweeping tumult of Williams’ “November 22, 1963,” complete with projections of Walter Cronkite’s dramatic assassination coverage, and last, but certainly not least, the power of Breen’s affirmative coda, “You Know Who You Are.”

Filmmakers like to speak of their work as collaborative, but of course they’re not the only ones whose outputs are the labor of many hands. What astonishes (but given the talent level doesn’t surprise) is “That Woman: The Dance Show” was seamlessly woven together in terms of the choreography and performances. There was no “dip” in either quality or energy throughout the 100-minute, two-act piece. It was moving, entertaining, thrilling, stunning and beautiful to watch.

A Thankful Wish

If you didn’t see these shows in their inaugural productions here’s hoping these two creative, thought-provoking, emotionally complex, entertaining shows will return to the stage soon. How lucky we are to have so many gifted artists and artisans in our community giving us works such as these.

And Some Extras…

Some photos from the monologue show:

Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin
Photo by Rick Malkin

A taste of the movement in “That Woman — The Dance Show” is available through the video below that was shot to preview the piece online:

Some pictures from the dance show:

Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Photo by Beth Gwinn
Logo courtesy Tennessee Playwrights Studio

Filed Under: Arts, Dance, Features, Reviews, Theater

Nashville Playwright Cynthia C. Harris’ ‘The Calling Is In The Body’ Among 2022 Actors Bridge Ensemble Selections

November 19, 2021 by Staff Reports

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Actors Bridge Ensemble (ABE) has today announced its 2022 Season which will include THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES by Eve Ensler, TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS by Nia Vardalos based on the bestselling book by Cheryl Strayed, ACT LIKE A GRRRL 2022 and the world premiere of THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY by Nashville’s Cynthia C. Harris, plus their monthly storytelling series, FIRST TIME STORIES.

The professional troupe’s COVID Safety Protocols have allowed ABE to return to in-person programming while caring first and foremost for the well-being of actors, designers and audiences, according to a press release. Consultation with medical advisors has given the company confidence that it can proceed with producing plays again in 2022.

“Our last in-person production was THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES at City Winery in February 2020. It feels fitting that our return is with this Actors Bridge classic, which Nashville keeps saying they still love to hear,” says Vali Forrister, ABE Producing Artistic Director. “We first produced THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES in 2000. While it’s not as controversial as it used to be, it continues to inspire and change people’s lives when they experience it.”

The proceeds from THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES will help support Act Like a GRRRL and offer teenage girls in financial need the tools to find their voices, speak their truths and develop the confidence to stand up for themselves and their beliefs.

TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS was slated to be part of ABE’s 2020 season that was canceled due to COVID-19. Variety calls it a “theatrical hug for turbulent times” – exactly what Nashville needs right now.

Forrister will return to the stage for the first time in seven years (since ABE’s production of THE NETHER) to play the role of “Sugar.” Founding board member and program committee chair Pierre Johnson explains, “Vali spends so much time teaching, producing and administrating for Actors Bridge that she rarely gets time to be onstage. We think it is important for our students to see her in action.

“I remember the first time I saw her perform. It was in TALLEY’S FOLLY (by Lanford Wilson, which ABE presented in its 1996-97 season). I had been studying Meisner for a while, but it was in seeing Vali act that I finally understood what the technique was really all about. Some moments are burned in your memory. That’s one for me.”

ACT LIKE A GRRRL will perform at the end of June as the GRRRLS do every summer. ABE will wrap up its 2022 Season with the World Premiere of Cynthia Harris’ new play THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY which was initially sparked by a conversation between Cynthia and Vali exactly seven years ago.

“With this season, we are continuing to dig deep into the power of stories to make us feel less alone and help us feel more deeply known,” says Vali. “Our mission is to tell the stories Nashville needs to hear.

“Right now, those are stories of hope and belonging.”

Actors Bridge is both a professional theater company and Nashville’s longest-running acting school. It trains actors in the Meisner Technique and supplements that training with other courses. Beginning in March 2022, ABE will partner with the René Millan Acting Studio to provide classes in the Suzuki Method and Acting for the Camera.

Actors Bridge Ensemble 2022 Season

First Time Stories
Third Friday of the month, 6-8 p.m.

Dec 17
Jan 21
Feb 18
Mar 18
Apr 15
May 20

Venue: Actors Bridge Studio (4610 Charlotte Ave) Tickets: $5
Ticket Link: https://bit.ly/FTS-12-19-21

First kiss, first heartbreak, first bike ride, first time you broke the rules. The firsts in our
lives form compelling and touching moments of real-life theater. And, we all have an endless
supply. Now in its 10th year, FIRST TIME STORIES is a great way to meet new people, connect across shared experiences and radical differences. You may come in knowing no one, but you will leave with a room full of friends. That’s the power of stories.

THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES
by Eve Ensler
A benefit for Act Like a GRRRL

Director: Vali Forrister

Date: Wednesday, Feb 9 at 7 p.m.
Venue: City Winery Nashville (609 Lafayette St) Tickets: $25-40

Ticket link: https://bit.ly/TheVaginaMonologues2-9-22

Twenty years ago Actors Bridge Ensemble was the first to bring THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES to town in what has become known as a “very high-profile annual communal event in Nashville ” (Nashville Scene). The play introduces a wildly divergent gathering of female-identifying voices including a six-year-old girl, a 70-something New Yorker, a vagina workshop participant, a woman who witnesses the birth of her granddaughter, a Bosnian survivor of rape, and a feminist, happy to have found a man who “liked to look at it.” All proceeds benefit Act Like a GRRRL, a writing and performance program that inspires teenage girls to find their voice and speak their truths on stage and in life.

Presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Based on the Book by Cheryl Strayed Adapted for the Stage by Nia Vardalos
Co-Conceived by Marshall Heyman, Thomas Kail, and Nia Vardalos

Director: Leah Lowe

Dates: April 1-3 and 6-10, 2022 Venue: Actors Bridge Studio Tickets: $25-30
Ticket Link: https://bit.ly/ABE-TBT

Based on the best-selling book by Cheryl Strayed (author of WILD), TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS follows the relationships between an anonymous advice columnist named Sugar and the many real-life readers who pour out their hearts to her. Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) adapts Strayed’s book into an enrapturing and uplifting play rich with humor, insight, and compassion. TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS is about reaching when you’re stuck, recovering when you’re broken, and finding the courage to ask the questions that are hardest to answer. Contains adult content.

Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.

Act Like a GRRRL 2022 By the GRRRLS

Director: Vali Forrister

Dates: June 24-25 Tickets: $10-15

Celebrating our 18th year, Act Like a GRRRL is a devised theater piece created by a group of teenage girls who come together to tell the stories of their lives. Join us for wit, wisdom and inspiration from the cusp of adulthood.

About Act Like a GRRRL:
Created and developed by Vali Forrister in 2004, Act Like a GRRRL (ALAG) is an autobiographical
writing and performance program that empowers teenage girls to write about their lives, and
transform their thoughts into monologues, dances, and songs for public performance. As GRRRLS find their voice and speak their truths on stage, they develop the self-confidence and leadership skills to live more empowered lives. Participants report a significant increase in self-respect, academic excellence, improved relationships with family / friends, intolerance for bullying and hope for the future. Now accepting applications for ALAG 2022. Click here to learn more.

THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY
by Cynthia C. Harris

Director: Cynthia C. Harris

Dates: July 2022 (exact dates and venue to be announced in the spring) Tickets: $25-30

THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY is an exploration of memory, purpose, community and environment. Local playwright Cynthia Harris (HOW TO CATCH A FLYING WOMAN) again combines her passion for art and public health, as she explores a foundational relationship with early local HIV educator and radical trouble maker, the late and beloved Deidre Williams. THE CALLING IS IN THE BODY is part of Ms. Harris’ forthcoming THE MAGNOLIA TRILOGY. Ms. Harris is a member of our Directors Inclusion Initiative.

Filed Under: Arts, Theater

Theater Preview: Pipeline-Collective Joins With NECAT For Live Theatrical Event That Offers 12 Hours ‘Outside Of Here’

September 22, 2021 by Evans Donnell

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Imagine a live theatrical broadcast/online experience that offers 32 of Nashville’s finest actors with a “Groundhog Day“-like twist on the COVID age. Pipeline-Collective Producing Artistic Directors David Ian Lee and Karen Sternberg have imagined such an event and it becomes reality on Saturday, Oct. 2 from 10 AM Central to 10 PM Central on NECAT (Comcast channel 9, ATT U-verse channel 100), Nashville’s Education, Community and Arts Television Network, as well as live streams.

“What we are attempting to achieve through this world-premiere work by Claudia Barnett is unlike anything else that’s being produced at a national level,” Lee recently emailed Stage Critic as he, Sternberg, Lee’s co-director Melinda Sewak, and rest of their “Outside Of Here” creative team prepared for the unique and ambitious offering. “It will be a straight 12-hour performance, with Karen on set throughout. In that time, she’ll perform the same two-person scene with dozens of scene partners.

“Claudia has written a piece designed to be replayed as a time loop, so each viewer’s experience will be different. An earlier viewing will be different from a viewing late in the day, and someone who sticks around for multiple iterations of the scene will appreciate the subtleties and the overall arc of the piece,” Lee explained. “This has been a logistical puzzle to assemble at every level – we’ve been developing the play since the spring, we’re working in a new medium (television and livestream), we’re bringing together 32 performers, we’re assembling an agile technical team, and we’re doing it all while implementing stringent Covid safety protocols. Because of the livestream, the piece can be viewed from anywhere with wifi!”

In addition to the Nashville broadcast viewers can access the livestream from anywhere through Pipeline-Collective’s Facebook page or NECAT’s livestream. The performance is free to watch though donations will be shared among the artists working on the piece. Click here to support the “Outside Of Here” artists.

Joining Sternberg in the cast are Rebekah Alexander, Matthew Benenson Cruz, Rona Carter, Joel Diggs, Rosemary Fossee, Galen Fott, Diego Gomez, Denice Hicks, Josh Inocalla, Jonah Jackson, Josh Kiev, Ang Madaline-Johnson, Leslie Marberry, Mary McCallum, Kate McGunagle, Nat McIntyre, René Millán, Sabrina Moore, Beth Anne Musiker, Gerold Oliver, Eric Pasto-Crosby, Eve Petty, Taryn Pray, Natalie Rankin, Elliott Robinson, J.R. Robles (also the show’s technical director), Jordan Scott, Tamiko Robinson Steele, Shawn Whitsell, Garris Wimmer, and Sarah Zanotti. NECAT’s technical team consists of Samantha Burns, Alex Keenum, and Will Ybarra; Phillip Franck is production design consultant; Eric Franzen is costume designer; Eli Van Sickel is sound designer; production support is provided by Alex Drinnen and David Johnson; Sejal Mehta, M.D. is COVID Protocols Consultant and Lee is the production’s certified COVID compliance officer.

Those working on it said inspiration for “Outside Of Here” came not only from life in the COVID era but from such pre-pandemic works as the 1993 Bill Murray hit film mentioned earlier; Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame,” with its characters apparently trapped at world’s end (and which includes the line “Outside of here it’s death” from which the play’s title is drawn); and the masterful absurdist repetitions of Eugène Ionesco’s “The Bald Soprano.”

The project also gave Pipeline-Collective a chance to build on relationships and virtual storytelling techniques developed in The Salon, its new works program. “We moved The Salon online from the beginning (of the pandemic) and focused on local and national community-building with playwrights, directors, and actors,” Sternberg said in a press release. “It’s this community of more than 300 people that inspires us, that pushes us creatively, and that provides us more support than we can ever return. Being able to realize this massive yet safe project with dozens of local performers and technicians after so much time physically apart is deeply gratifying. And working with Claudia Barnett, who’s one of the most poetic playwrights we know, has been the perfect fit for this project.”

Part of that emphasis on safety means no live audience at the NECAT studios. It also means the show’s fully vaccinated actors won’t share the same physical space until performance day. “That’s part of the magic, the unpredictable element. That’s where planning and inspiration collide and create something compelling,” Sternberg noted.

Pipeline-Collective has kept up with the latest safety guidelines issued by the CDC, Metro Nashville, and the performing artists’ unions such as SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity Association. In addition to everyone working on “Outside of Here” being fully vaccinated, every person in the building will be masked for the duration of the performance unless they’re on camera.

“Outside Of Here” is produced in collaboration with Cameron McCasland, who serves as the Director of Content and Member Relations for NECAT. “We’re so thrilled to partner with Cameron on this project,” said Sternberg. “He has an unwavering enthusiasm for unorthodox work, and we’re eager to branch out beyond conventional theatrical spaces. The PEG Studio at NECAT is literally the only place where we could make what we’re trying to make. We consider ourselves so fortunate to have found such a great creative partner.”

“Innovation is key to the work we do,” Lee concluded. “We believe in theatrical magic on a shoestring budget, and ‘Outside Of Here’ is stretching us in many ways. We’re a theatre company. We’ve never produced something that’s one-part theatre, one-part endurance art, one-part multicamera live television event. This is going to be wild.”

https://www.pipeline-collective.com/support-the-artists

Filed Under: Arts, Theater, TV

August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ With Kamal Angelo Bolden & Brian Anthony Wilson Kicks Off 2021 Summer Shakespeare Festival

August 9, 2021 by Evans Donnell

The Nashville cast of August Wilson’s “Jitney” (Photo by Michael Gomez www.gomezphotography.com)

Nashville, Tenn. – August Wilson’s “Jitney” opens Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s 2021 Summer Shakespeare Thursday with two well-known TV and film actors leading an accomplished cast, an award-winning and highly regarded director and a five-time Grammy winner providing original music.

Local Black-owned theater company Kennie Playhouse Theatre is collaborating with Nashville Shakes to produce the show, which runs Aug. 12-22 at oneC1TY in Nashville, and Sept. 16-17 at Williamson County Performing Arts Center at Academy Park in Franklin, Tenn.

The cast of “Jitney” – as the production’s press release notes, “an unflinching look into the stories and struggles of Black life in 1970’s Pittsburgh through the lens of a group of tight-knit, independent cab, or jitney, drivers” – includes Emmy-nominated Kamal Angelo Bolden of TV’s “The Resident”, “Chicago Fire”, and “Rosewood” playing Booster and Brian Anthony Wilson, a prolific TV and film actor widely known for his role on TV’s “The Wire”, playing the jitney station owner, Becker. The play will also feature Kyra Davis as Rena and Nashville-based professional actors Gerold Oliver, Clark Harris, Pierre Johnson, Elliot Winston Robinson, and Jarvis Bynum. Kenny Dozier, Artistic Director of Kennie Playhouse Theatre plays the role of Turnbo. Rashad Rayford and Ethan Jones will join the cast as Booster and Shealy respectively in Franklin. Fisk University instructor Persephone Felder Fentress completes the team as the stage manager.

Directing “Jitney” is the award-winning, veteran director Chuck Smith. He is a 30-year Resident Director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, a Resident Director at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe in Sarasota, Fl., and a founding member of the Chicago Theatre Company. Smith has numerous directing credits across the nation and has won several awards over the decades including a Chicago Emmy and the African American Arts Alliance’s Lifetime Legacy Award.

Five-time Grammy Award-winning bassist Victor Wooten recently joined the creative team. Wooten, also a songwriter and record producer who was ranked among the Top 10 Bassists of All Time by Rolling Stone Magazine, will compose original music for the show.

The creative team of “Jitney” also includes local set designer Shane Lowry, who is building the versatile set for both shows at the Summer Shakespeare Festival (their production of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” runs Aug. 26-Sept. 12 at oneC1ty and Sept. 18-19 at the Williamson County Performing Arts Center), costumes are designed by Hazel Robinson, lights by Janet Berka, props by Pixie Convertino, and fights choreographed by David Wilkerson.

“Jitney” and “Twelfth Night” mark the summer festival’s return after a one-year hiatus because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The festival has protocols in place to protect cast, crew and patrons during performances. NSF last presented a lovely production of “The Tempest” in 2019. Nashville Shakespeare also produced two wonderful educational films for students earlier this year adapted from “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

Summer Shakespeare Festival is free, but donations of $10 or more are strongly encouraged for the continued operation of the esteemed nonprofit professional company that began in 1988 with a TheateRevolution production of “As You Like It” in Centennial Park. Patrons can bring their own blanket or chairs, purchase reserved “Noble” seating for $40 or buy $100 VIP Royal Packages, which include reserved parking, comfortable reserved seating, and dinner catered by Bacon & Caviar Gourmet Catering.

Go to ticketsnashville.com to purchase those seats/packages. “Jitney” is rated MA for mature audiences. The Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s programs are funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission, Metro Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Filed Under: Arts, Theater

Theater Review: The Loving Grace of Good Art in Nashville Rep’s Relevant ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’

February 16, 2020 by Evans Donnell

Karen Sternberg as Blanche (photo for Nashville Repertory Theatre by Michael Scott Evans)

“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

Eric D. Pasto-Crosby as Stanley and Karen Sternberg as Blanche (photo for Nashville Repertory Theatre by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

Karen Sternberg as Blanche, Eric D. Pasto-Crosby as Stanley and Tamiko Robinson Steele as Stella (photo for Nashville Repertory Theatre by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

James Crawford as Mitch and Karen Sternberg as Blanche (photo for Nashville Repertory Theatre by Michael Scott Evans)

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 as Stanley (photo for Nashville Repertory Theatre by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

Brooks Bennett as the Young Collector and Karen Sternberg as Blanche (photo for Nashville Repertory Theatre by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

Tamiko Robinson Steele as Stella and Eric D. Pasto-Crosby as Stanley (photo for Nashville Repertory Theatre by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

Filed Under: Arts, Reviews, Theater

Theater Review: A Handsome ‘My Fair Lady’ Revival Tour

February 6, 2020 by Evans Donnell

Shereen Ahmed as Eliza Doolittle (on stairs) and Company in The Lincoln Center Theater tour production of Lerner & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” (Photo by Joan Marcus)

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).

Kevin Pariseau as Colonel Pickering, Laird Mackintosh as Professor Henry Higgins and Shereen Ahmed as Eliza Doolittle in The Lincoln Center Theater tour production of Lerner & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” (Photo by Joan Marcus)

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.

Adam Grupper as Alfred P. Doolittle and Company in The Lincoln Center Theater tour production of Lerner & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” (Photo by Joan Marcus)

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.”

JoAnna Rhinehart as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Sam Simahk as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Shereen Ahmed as Eliza Doolittle, Kevin Pariseau as Colonel Pickering and Leslie Alexander as Mrs. Higgins in The Lincoln Center Theater tour production of Lerner & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady” (Photo by Joan Marcus)

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:

Filed Under: Arts, Reviews, Theater

Theater Review: The ‘Ravaged Wasteland’ of Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s Intriguing ‘Macbeth’

January 23, 2020 by Evans Donnell

Mariah Parris as Lady Macbeth and Sam Ashdown as Macbeth (Photo by Rick Malkin)

“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.

Sam Ashdown as Macbeth and Jordan Gleaves as Banquo (Photo by Rick Malkin)

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.

Elyse Dawson as Macduff and Mariah Parris as Lady Macbeth with Ensemble (Photo by Rick Malkin)

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.

Sam Ashdown as Macbeth (Photo by Rick Malkin)

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 as Lady Macbeth (Photo by Rick Malkin)

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.

The Witches (Delaney Keith, Natalie Rankin, Kit Bulla) face Macbeth (Photo by Rick Malkin)

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.

Brian Russell as Duncan with Ensemble (Photo by Rick Malkin)

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.

Filed Under: Arts, Reviews, Theater

#HAM4HAM Nashville Digital Lottery For Dec. 31-Jan. 19 TPAC ‘Hamilton’ Run Begins This Sunday: 40 $10 Tickets Per Show

December 28, 2019 by Staff Reports

The “Hamilton” national tour company (photo by Joan Marcus)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Producer Jeffrey Seller and Tennessee Performing Arts Center announce a digital lottery for “Hamilton” tickets will begin with the show’s first performance on Dec. 31 in Nashville at TPAC’s Jackson Hall.

Forty (40) tickets will be sold for every performance for $10 each. The digital lottery will open at 11 a.m. on Dec. 29 for tickets to the Tuesday, Dec. 31 performance. Subsequent digital lotteries will begin two days prior to each performance.

Regular-price tickets for “Hamilton” went on sale to the general public in November. Patrons are advised to check official channels and TPAC.org for late release seats which may become available at short notice.

How to Enter

• Use the official app for “Hamilton,” now available for all iOS and Android devices in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store (http://hamiltonmusical.com/app).

• You can also visit http://hamiltonmusical.com/lottery to register once the lottery begins for Nashville.

• The lottery will open at 11 a.m. two days prior to the performance date and will close for entry at 9 a.m. the day prior to the performance.

• Winner and non-winner notifications will be sent between Noon and 4 p.m. the day prior to the performance via email and SMS (if mobile number is provided).

• No purchase or payment necessary to enter or participate.

• Each winning entrant may purchase up to two (2) tickets.

• Only one entry per person. Repeat entries and disposable email addresses will be discarded.

• Tickets must be purchased online with a credit card by 4 p.m. the day prior to the performance using the purchase link and code in a customized notification email. Tickets not claimed by 4 p.m. the day prior to the performance are forfeited.

• Lottery tickets may be picked up at Will Call beginning two (2) hours prior to the performance with a valid photo ID. Lottery tickets void if resold.

• All times listed are in central time zone.

Additional Rules

Patrons must be 18 years or older and have a valid, non-expired photo ID that matches the name used to enter. Tickets are non-transferable. Ticket limits and prices displayed are at the sole discretion of the show and are subject to change without notice.

Lottery prices are not valid on prior purchases. Lottery ticket offer cannot be combined with any other offers or promotions. All sales final – no refunds or exchanges. Lottery may be revoked or modified at any time without notice. No purchase necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not improve the chances of winning.

ABOUT THE “HAMILTON” THEATRICAL PHENOMENON

“Hamilton” is the story of America then told by America now.  Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway, “Hamilton” has taken the story of American founding father Alexander Hamilton and created a revolutionary moment in theatre—a musical that has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education.

With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, “Hamilton” is based on Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography. It has won Tony®, Grammy®, and Olivier Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors.

The “Hamilton” creative team previously collaborated on the 2008 Tony Award ®-Winning Best Musical “In The Heights.”

“Hamilton” features scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Howell Binkley, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, hair and wig design by Charles G. LaPointe, casting by Telsey + Company, Bethany Knox, CSA, and General Management by Baseline Theatrical.

The musical is produced by Jeffrey Seller, Sander Jacobs, Jill Furman and The Public Theater.

The “Hamilton” Original Broadway Cast Recording is available everywhere nationwide.  The Hamilton recording received a 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album.

For more information, visit www.HamiltonMusical.com and follow “Hamilton” on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

“Hamilton”
Dec. 31, 2019 – Jan. 19, 2020
TPAC’s Jackson Hall
505 Deaderick St.

http://stagecritic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HAM_SF_Montage.mp4

Filed Under: Arts, Theater

Theater Review: God Bless You, Merry Nashville Rep! ‘A Christmas Carol’ For Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

December 7, 2019 by Evans Donnell

Brian Russell as Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” (Photo by Michael Scott Evans)

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.)

Mallory Mundy, Joy Pointe and Shawn Knight in “A Christmas Carol” (Photo by Michael Scott Evans)

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.”

The cast of “A Christmas Carol” (Photo by Michael Scott Evans)

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 19th 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.

Joy Pointe as the Ghost of Christmas Past in “A Christmas Carol” (Photo by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

Brian Russell as Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” (Photo by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

The cast of “A Christmas Carol” (Photo by Michael Scott Evans)

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.

Filed Under: Arts, Reviews, Theater

Theater Review: NCT’s ‘Auntie Claus’ Is a Glittering Gift

December 1, 2019 by Evans Donnell

Megan Murphy Chambers as Auntie Claus and Rebecca Keeshin as Sophie (Photo by Reed Hummell)

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.

Abe Reybold as Harold and Megan Murphy Chambers as Auntie Claus (Photo by Reed Hummell)

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.

The cast of “Auntie Claus” (Photo by Reed Hummell)

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.

Rebecca Keeshin as Sophie (Photo by Reed Hummell)

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).

The cast of “Auntie Claus” (Photo by Reed Hummell)

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!

The cast of “Auntie Claus” (photo by Reed Hummell

“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.

Filed Under: Arts, Reviews, Theater

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