Boiler Room Theatre Celebrates The Holiday Season With Pair of Shows

Boiler Room Theatre celebrates the upcoming holiday season with not one, but two productions sure to delight audiences–the beloved children's classic A Year With Frog and Toad and Christopher Durang's loopy comedy Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge.

The productions will both be performed through the holiday season, running from November 24 through December 23. It is all happens at the theatre's iconic namesake venue in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six.

Opening on November 24, A Year With Frog and Toad is a musical for the entire family, based on Arnold Lobel's well-loved characters. Conceived by Mr. Lobel's daughter, Adrianne, A Year With Frog and Toad remains true to the spirit of the original tales as it follows two great friends, the cheerful and popular Frog (played by Flynt Foster) and the rather grumpy Toad (Sondra Morton) through four fun-filled seasons. Waking from hibernation in the spring, they proceed to plant gardens, swim, rake leaves and go sledding, learning life lessons along the way, including a most important one about friendship and rejoicing in the attributes that make each of us different and special. Lisa Gillespie, Josh Lowery and Vicki White round out the cast of lovable creatures, directed by Dan McGeachy.

A Year With Frog and Toad will be performed at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 24, Tuesday, November 27 and Friday, December 14. Matinees will be performed at 2 p.m. on select Saturdays (December 1, 8, 16 and 22) and Sundays (November 25, December 2 and December 15).

Opening on November 30, Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge is a playful, cracked look at the perennial Dickens Christmas classic about mean Ebenezer Scrooge and his discovering the true meaning of Christmas through the visitation of Three Ghosts. In Durang's giddy version, the Ghost's magic is off, and Scrooge (Phil Perry) and the Ghost (Piper Jones) keep showing up at Bob Cratchit's house way too early, where Mrs. Bob Cratchit (played by Lisa Gillespie) –a long-suffering saint in the Dickens tale– is in a state of fury, hating her life and planning on getting drunk and jumping off the London Bridge.Corbin Green directs the cast, which also includes Brad Oxnam, Jamey Green, Bryce Conner, Josh Lowery, Taylor Green, Russell Qualls, Addison McFarland and Hayden Gill.

Evening performances of Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge will be held at 8 p.m. on select Fridays (November 30, December 7 and December 21), Saturdays (December 1, 8, 15 and 22), Tuesdays (December 4, 11 and 18) and on Thursday, December 20. There will also be a matinee performance on Sunday, December 9.

Ticket prices for Friday and Saturday evening performances are $27 for adults, $25 for seniors (age 60 and up) and students (age 13 through college with valid ID), and $21 for children ages 3 through 12. Matinee prices are $2 less respectively. All Tuesday shows are two-for-one ($27 for two tickets; no other discounts apply). Tickets for the Thursday, December 20 performance will be at the bargain price of $17. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Boiler Room Theatre at (615) 794-7744 or ordered online at www.boilerroomtheatre.com.

Jeffrey Ellis is a Nashville-based writer, editor and critic, who's been covering the performing arts in Tennessee for more than 25 years. He is the recipient of the Tennessee Theatre Association's Distinguished Service Award for his coverage of theatre in the Volunteer State and was the founding editor/publisher of Stages, the Tennessee Onstage Monthly. He is a past fellow of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center and is the founder/executive producer of The First Night Honors, held during Labor Day Weekend, which honor oustanding theater artists in Tennessee in recognition of their lifetime achievements and includes The First Night Star Awards and the Most Promising Actors. Midwinter's First Night, held the first Sunday in January after New Year's Day, honors outstanding productions and performances throughout the state. Further, Ellis directed the Nashville premiere of La Cage Aux Folles, The Last Night of Ballyhoo and An American Daughter, as well as award-winning productions of Damn Yankees, Company, Gypsy and The Rocky Horror Show, with Ellis honored by The Tennessean as best director of a musical for both Company and Rocky Horror.

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