BWW's Top Nashville Theatre Stories of 2012

BroadwayWorld brings you the Best of Nashville in the year 2012. Check out the Top Theatre Stories from each month during in the year 2012. We look forward to another exciting year of theatre in 2013!

January

First Night's Top 11 of 2011 Winners Announced at Midwinter's First Night Event

Playwright Nate Eppler, Mas Nashville's FIVE, the Boiler Room Theatre, Lipscomb University's Hairspray, ACT 1's American Buffalo and the national touring company of Memphis, the Musical were the top w... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Nashville Shakespeare Festival's JULIUS CAESAR Is Startling and Stunning

With taut, focused direction by Beki Baker and what is arguably the finest cast of actors to be assembled on a Nashville stage in recent memory, Nashville Shakespeare Festival heats winter up to a fev... (read more...)

Photo Coverage: Midwinter's First Night 2012

With a capacity crowd of 200 people on hand at The Keeton Theatre, First Night founder and executive producer Jeffrey Ellis, who covers theater, opera and dance throughout Tennessee for BroadwayWorld.... (read more...)

February

BWW Reviews: Logan's Fresh, Inventive Take On An American Classic Elevates THE MIRACLE WORKER

When Patty Duke played the role of Helen Keller in the Broadway premiere of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker, she was ten years old, and when Madeleine Hall took the stage of the Franklin Theatre o... (read more...)

Woodbury's Arts Center of Cannon County Readies CAMELOT For Run Opening March 9

The Arts Center of Cannon County in Woodbury invites theater-goers to "rediscover the grandeur of one of history's greatest love stories" via Lerner and Loewe's timeless musical Camelot-starring John ... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: XANADU Rolls Onstage for Fun Run at Boiler Room Theatre

It might not be great art, but Xanadu-the new musical onstage through March 3 at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre-sure is great fun! Pure, unadulterated escapism, Xanadu is laugh-out-loud funny, thanks ... (read more...)

March

BWW Interviews: Onstage at The Barn: Memories From the First 45 Years with Dietz Osborne

Now owned by the second-generation Chaffins-John and Janie, who were recognized among Nashville's Top Entrepreneurs of 2012 by Business Leader Magazine-The Barn has touched the lives of many, both ons... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Belmont's HAIRSPRAY is a Shiny, Sparkling Musical Theater Triumph

This spring's sparkling, stellar production of Hairspray-the musical tale of one Tracy Turnblad, a "stout" girl who loves to dance and loves people no matter their shape, size, color or way of life-is... (read more...)

Haiti-born Nashville Actor Max Desir Takes Historic Approach to Role in TITANIC THE MUSICAL

Nashville actor Max Désir didn't expect to have such a personal connection to the character he would be playing in Circle Playears' upcoming revival of Titanic the Musical, when he was cast in the sho... (read more...)

April

THE NUTTY PROFESSOR Musical to Premiere this Summer

Nashville and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) will host the world premiere of "The Nutty Professor" Musical this Summer. Directed by Jerry Lewis, the show is a new musical comedy based on ... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Roxy Regional Theatre's SPRING AWAKENING Couldn't Be More Timely For Tennessee Audiences

It's rather ironic that this week-a week in which members of the Tennessee State Senate considered a bill that would outlaw such "gateway sexual activities" as hand-holding and kissing among the state... (read more...)

Actress/activist Park Overall Announces Run for Republican-held Senate Seat in Tennessee

You can now add Senate candidate to actress and activist Park Overall's resume, as the Greeneville, Tennessee, native announced today that she has filed qualifying papers to see the Democratic Party's... (read more...)

May

BWW Reviews: How'd They Do That? Circle Players Delivers Fresh Take on HAIRSPRAY

Luckily (for me and for you, the rest of the audience who may or may not have seen the show in any of its multiple onstage incarnations), director Patrick Kramer, choreographer Kate Adams-Johnson and ... (read more...)

Baum and Chambers Lead BRT's NEXT TO NORMAL to Artistic Heights, Both Expected and Unexpected

In fact, in the retrospect afforded me by twelve hours, I have to admit that the production's most revelatory performance is delivered by Mike Baum, as the long-suffering and beleaguered Dan Goodman, ... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: EMERGENCE Shows Off Artistic Collaboration At Its Very Best

Let's face it: You have to give Paul Vasterling, the grand poobah (as both artistic director and CEO of Nashville Ballet, what other title suits him best?) of all things musical/dancical/theatrical in... (read more...)

June

SOPHIE SALVESON: How One Very Remarkable Young Woman Has Become 'Nashville's Daughter'

On Thursday, March 1, Sophia Salveson-at 19, a college student (at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago) and an aspiring actress-suffered a massive stroke that left her with little to no movemen... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: UNDER THE STREETLAMP Commands The Stage in Style at Nashville's Polk Theatre

Oozing charm and brimming over with sex appeal and an overabundance of stage presence, Under the Streetlamp-the quartet (Michael Ingersoll, Michael Cunio, Shonn Wiley and Christopher Kale Jones) that ... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: 'Nashville's Own' Kristin Chenoweth Sings Her Way Into the Heart of All of Her Fans

Kristin Chenoweth was in Nashville last night, performing her critically acclaimed concert act just for me-oh, sure, there were another 2,000 or so people in the audience, as well, who thought she was... (read more...)

July

BWW Reviews: Ginger Rogers Dances Onto the Stage Via BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS at CCP

McGovern creatively opens and closes the musical with an image that evokes all the glitter and glamor of old Hollywood: the presentation of the Academy Awards in 1941, the year that Ginger Rogers beat... (read more...)

STAGE TUBE: Behind the Scenes of Boiler Room Theatre's PIPPIN

Boiler Room Theatre presents an imaginative take on the Stephen Schwartz/Bob Fosse extravaganza, Pippin, running through July 28th in the historic Factory at Franklin. NPT Arts Break goes behind the s... (read more...)

MUSIC CITY CONFIDENTIAL #6: All The News from Onstage, Offstage, Backstage and Beyond

We've been doing our part to prepare ye the way, watching the action onstage, taking some furtive peeks backstage, listening to all the offstage gossip and venturing beyond the confines of the theater... (read more...)

August

Melinda Doolittle Leads Cast of Studio Tenn's Season-Opening SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE

Nashville's own American Idol finalist-and Belmont Unviersity almuna-Melinda Doolittle leads a cast of powerhouse vocalists in Smokey Joe's Café, Studio Tenn's first musical production of its 2012-201... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: MYSTERIOUS SKIN Debuts at Darkhorse Theater for 4-Performance Run

Kirk-Burgess Productions makes an auspicious debut on the Nashville theatrical scene with a solid production of Prince Gomolvilas' play Mysterious Skin, based on the Scott Heim novel of the same name,... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Circle Players Opens its 2012-13 Season with Stylish AIDA

Featuring a triumvirate of capable, confident and consummately talented actors-LaToya Gardner, Kevin Mead and Lisa Graham-in the show's leading roles, it is a beautifully sung, interestingly staged an... (read more...)

September

BWW Reviews: Logan's Concept Makes SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE More Than Just a Revue

Thanks to the sparkling, imaginative Studio Tenn revival of Smokey Joe's Café-the Tony Award-nominated musical revue that collects some 39 (although a couple were cut, so we'll place the number at 37 ... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Keeton Theatre's LEGALLY BLONDE Is As Good As It Gets

Legally Blonde, the Musical is as tuneful and entertaining as any musical could ever hope to be, and while the story seems lighthearted and fun, there's a definite message to be found in Heather Hach'... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL Is More Than Just Nostalgic Fun At The Roxy

Starring Amanda Morgan, Lital Abrahamson and Broadway veteran Bailey Hanks in the roles originated by Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Parton herself in the 1980 film, 9 to 5: The Musical provides the perf... (read more...)

October

BWW Reviews: INTO THE DARKNESS Proves Halloween and Horror Can Be Charming and Funny

Write this down in your journals, post it on your Facebook, tweet it to your tens of followers, theaterati: Kevin Thornton and Enoch Porch are ridiculously talented! And there's no better way to celeb... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Timeless ANYTHING GOES Is 'Musical Theater for the Ages'

If I were to die very soon, there's no doubt that I would go to heaven, because Rachel York and the all-singing/all-dancing company of Anything Goes took me and a couple of thousand other people up to... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Circle Players and TSU Theatre's THE COLOR PURPLE Inspires and Enthralls

Under the clear and focused direction of Tim Larson and Clay Hillwig, who heretofore separately have provided Nashville audiences with a number of impressive theatrical adventures, this evocation of T... (read more...)

November

BWW Reviews: Street Theatre Company's MISS SAIGON IN CONCERT: Superb and Moving

There's no life-sized helicopter landing on the stage during Street Theatre Company's concert mounting of Miss Saigon, The Engineer doesn't take the stage while humping the top of a Cadillac car, nor ... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: WHITE CHRISTMAS: Nostalgic, Sentimental, Romantic AND an Irving Berlin Score

You would have to be some sort of modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge-mean and spiteful, unfeeling and cold-not to be totally captivated by Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the exuberant stage musical based o... (read more...)

BWW Reviews: Belmont University Musical Theatre's FOOTLOOSE is Exuberant and Exhilarating

Directed with sharp focus by David Shamburger and featuring the expert musical direction of Jo Lynn Burks and the terrific, dance club-infused choreography of Emily Tello Speck, BUMT's Footloose seems... (read more...)

December

Matriarch of Chaffin Family, of Barn Dinner Theatre Fame, Dies in Nashville

Edna Lou Neblett Chaffin-perhaps better known to members of Nashville's theater community as "Puny"-one-half of the couple who created The Barn Dinner Theatre that ultimately became Chaffin's Barn Din... (read more...)

Nashville Ballet Receives NEA Grant to Support New Contemporary Dance Work

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman announced recently that Nashville Ballet is one of 832 non-profit organizations nationwide-and only one of two organizations in Tennessee... (read more...)

Matt Chiorini Directs MACBETH To Open 2013 For Nashville Shakespeare Festival

Matt Chiorini directs Macbeth-one of the bard's best-known political tragedies-to kick off 2013 for Nashville Shakespeare Festival at Belmont University's Troutt Theater January 10-27. Eric D. Pasto-... (read more...)

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