Jaclyn Lisenby Brown

The 'Pump Boys' sell high octane on Highway 57 in Grand Ole Opry country and the 'Dinettes', Prudie and Rhetta Cupp, run the Double Cupp diner next door. Together they fashion an evening of country, rhythm and blues and rockabilly songs that received unanimous raves on and off-Broadway and a 1982 Tony nomination for best musical. Touching and hilarious stories told with  guitars, piano, bass and, yes, kitchen utensils.

Theater's power to transform and transport is astonishing and the capability of artists to create a sense of time and place, with words and music and theatrical wizardry to lend a tangible feeling to the experience can leave you breathless. Who'd have ever thought that such thrilling artistry, the very magic of make believe, could be so vividly expressed, so awesomely felt in two hours spent in a backwoods Southern church on a Saturday night in 1938? But that's exactly what happens in Smoke on the Mountain, Connie Ray and Alan Bailey's evocative, down-home musical that lovingly takes its audiences back home again in ways not even Thomas Wolfe may ever have imagined.

Shows are opening (Carolyn German unveils her latest, Go From Here, and Nashville Ballet revives Carmina Burana, both this weekend), shows are closing (your last chance to catch The Taffetas at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre before they go the way of The Plaids is this weekend) and The Miss Firecracker Contest is back onstage at Donelson's Larry Keeton Theatre for the second of three weekends. Obviously, the 2016 theater season continues to reveal itself at a breakneck pace, giving audiences a veritable buffet of offerings from which to choose.

Shows are opening, shows are closing and Fiddler on the Roof is back onstage for Actors Pointe Theatre Company while Tom Sawyer takes a bow at Springhouse Theatre in Smyrna! Obviously, the 2016 theater season continues to reveal itself at a breakneck pace, giving audiences a veritable buffet of offerings from which to choose.

There's nothing quite so entertaining - and nothing goes down more easily after a trip to the groaning board at Nashville's iconic Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre - than a musical revue that is sure to whisk you away to yesterday. Not the day before today, necessarily, but 'yesterday' as in a sentimental journey back to a time when life was somehow more innocent and somehow less complicated than what we experience in the day-to-day of 2016.

Shows are opening, shows are closing and the newly reimagined national tour of The Phantom of the Opera continues its run at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center this weekend. Theater in Tennessee continues its fast-paced run through 2016 with a number of new openings this week, thanks to Bongo After Hours Theatre, Nashville Rep, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, Circle Players and more - and Cumberland County Playhouse, Arts Center of Cannon County, Street Theatre Company, Lakewood Theatre Company and ACT 1 continue runs of their latest shows - to give you even more opportunities to celebrate the magic of live theater in the Volunteer State! And on Monday night, The Chicago Talking Machine Company premieres its first Nashville show at the Centennial Black Box Theatre.

It's another busy weekend of new shows opening and many others continuing to delight audiences, with ACT 1's Dog Sees God and Street Theatre Company's Dogfight both opening tonight, while two shows that opened yesterday will continue to treat audiences to some especially wonderful music. Plus, there's a whole slate of shows being performed at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse, a revival of Osborne & Epplers' Southern Fried Nuptials down in Woodbury at the Arts Center of Cannon County, and John Chaffin's Cliffhanger enters its final weekend at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. Go to the theater, young man (and woman) and let yourself be transported to a whole new world of magic and enchantment!

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening around us that it's difficult to keep track of it all. Thus, we are happy to present a new feature: The Nashville Theater Calendar, which is a comprehensive listing of theatrical openings,that will be updated each week, for the 2015/16 season.

The weekend is upon us, which means you have just a few hours to figure out a game plan so you don't miss out on all the fun that's happening all around you. We've got the goods on theatrical events this weekend, to save wear and tear on your brain, and we can offer some sound advice: Just do as we say and everything will be fine. Resistance is futile.

There always seems to be so much to do in Nashville, from a creative and theatrical standpoint, we're often asked for recommendations of what's not to be missed on our calendar. Well, have no fear, gentle readers, we're at your service, at the ready to tell you of the shows you really should see this week and in the coming weeks…

Of course, Nashville's Iroquois Steeplechase is Saturday (and despite weather forecasts to the contrary, chances are that means it's going to be raining), so when it comes time to dry off, we suggest you head to the theater, where there's all sorts of good stuff onstage.

Just in time for Mother's Day, Fabisch and her Faby Baby Productions LLC bring their rollicking – and oh-so-entertaining – revue, Motherhood the Musical, to TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre. Featuring dynamic direction by Kim Nygren and starring a quartet of winning singer/actresses, it's a superbly performed and staged show that pulls back the curtain on what moms talk about when the husbands, kids and in-laws (and gay BFFs) are away. It's heartwarming, laugh-out-loud funny and oftentimes remarkably sentimental without being mawkish or maudlin.

Today, the spotlight shines on Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva, Sue Fabisch, Jaclyn Lisenby Brown and Corrie Miller, the cast of director Kim Nygren's ensemble for Motherhood the Musical, opening tonight at TPAC's Andrew Johnson Theatre. Fabisch created the show, so let's hope she's happy with the way things are going…

Looking for something fun to do in Nashville this week? We have done the necessary legwork - we're all about saving you time and helping you make informed decisions about how to spend your entertainment dollar, after all - and we are delighted to present you with our newest edition of Critic's Choice, filled chock-a-block with all sorts of fun stuff…enough to keep you off the streets and entertained until our Friday offerings come your way!

We assume you are aware that the Kentucky Derby is this Saturday and that the Iroquois Steeplechase runs the following weekend in Nashville, so we have you covered with suggestions for non-equestrian events. Now, get out there and have some fun, y'all! And while you're at it, you'll be doing some good for the community by supporting the arts - and artists - in the Volunteer State!

Looking for something fun to do in Nashville this week? Have no fear, gentle BWW Nashville readers, our team of writers have done the necessary legwork - we're all about saving you time and helping you make informed decisions about how to spend your entertainment dollar, after all - and we are delighted to present you with our newest edition of our official Critic's Choice column, filled to the veritable brim with suggestions for great stuff going on in these parts. Now, get out there and have some fun, y'all!

In a town where everyone from your next-door neighbor to your favorite barista - from your dental hygienist to your manicurist, your seatmate on the bus, your friendly neighborhood bartender and maybe even the guy who does your taxes - is a songwriter, you'll find that there's never a shortage of opinions on the topic of favorite songs. Ask a cross-section of Nashville theater-types what their favorite love song is from the annals of musical theater and you're going to get a barrage of answers.

The world premiere of a brand-spanking new musical with Broadway in its sights, a relatively young but awe-inspiring theater company and a sparkling, witty new play about Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald led the list of Tennessee's outstanding theatrical achievements in 2012 that was revealed Sunday night at Midwinter's First Night. Photographer Rick Malkin was on hand to capture the evening's highlights with his camera.

The Nutty Professor's Marissa McGowan, Caroline or Change's Dalton Tilghman and Kirk-Burgess Productions' debut production of Mysterious Skin claimed top honors Sunday night as winners of the BWW Nashville Theatre Awards were announced.