Ann Cole News

Summer in Tennessee sizzles as Cumberland County Playhouse turns up the heat with its production of Kander and Ebb's Chicago, opening July 21 in an all-new staging that brings the 1920s roaring back. Chicago features music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb (the team behind Cabaret, Steel Pier and The Scottsboro Boys). In this video, get to know the Men of Chicago!

Summer in Tennessee sizzles as Cumberland County Playhouse turns up the heat with its production of Kander and Ebb's Chicago, opening July 21 in an all-new staging that brings the 1920s roaring back. Chicago features music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb (the team behind Cabaret, Steel Pier and The Scottsboro Boys).

Now that CCP's trio of actress playing the urchins - Leila Nelson, Joann Coleman and Ali Gritz - have been given the chance to put their own unique spins on their roles, we dragged them away from rehearsals (or was it a performance?) to give us their take on the whole Little Shop experience in Crossville.

Bread and Puppet Theater presents 'The Return of Ulysses' and 'Decapitalization Circus' : two separate performances presented in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts as part of the Cyclorama Residency Series. Performances, Art Exhibit, and Cheap Art Sale close January 30.

Bread and Puppet Theater presents 'The Return of Ulysses' and 'Decapitalization Circus' : two separate performances presented in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts as part of the Cyclorama Residency Series. Performances, Art Exhibit, and Cheap Art Sale run from January 24 through January 30. All held in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA), 539 Tremont St., South End, Boston. Wheelchair accessible. Tickets for the performances available for purchase [cash or check only] in the Cyclorama one hour before each performance. For advance tickets, log onto www.breadandpuppet.org or call 866-811-4111 (toll free). For detailed information regarding the week's events, call the BCA's Bread and Puppet Theater information line at 617-800-9539 or log onto www.bcaonline.org.

Ten versatile and talented Nashville area men took on roles in musical theater that other actors would love to play, proving once again that country music isn't the only genre that makes this Music City USA. Musical theater is alive and well in Tennessee and with the plethora of talent to be found on Volunteer State stages, actors can display their tremendous range while singing and dancing. These men comprise the list of the ten best performances by actors in musicals in 2010...

Not all of the Top Ten Lists announced at Winter's First Night on Sunday, January 9, were serious, high-toned salutes to all that is special and spectacular about live theater in Nashville. Sure, most of them were heartfelt and memorable, but some were (how shall I put this?) off-kilter, tongue-in-cheek and just plain fun. And not all the lists were limited to only ten entries; in fact, some had many more than that. But, for your reading pleasure, we present them to you without any real explanation. You'll have to figure that all out for yourself!

Amid threatening weather forecasts and a winter storm bearing down on the South, more than 150 hardy souls gathered to celebrate live theatre in Nashville and Middle Tennessee with the presentation of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville Theatre Awards and First Night's Top Ten of Twenty-Ten on Sunday night, January 9. Street Theatre Company's new venue at 1933 Elm Hill Pike was the setting for the event that featured performances by Joann Coleman, Ben Van Diepen, Ann Street Kavanaugh, Laura Matula, Michael Kitts and Bakari Jamal King.

Despite portentous warnings of an approaching snowmageddon across the South, more than 150 members of the Nashville and Middle Tennessee theater community gathered at Street Theatre Company in Nashville Sunday night, January 9, for the announcement of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville Theatre Award winners and the presentation of First Night's Top Ten of Twenty-Ten.

The individuals and productions that made 2010 such a memorable year in Nashville theater will be recognized Sunday night, January 9, with the presentation of the BroadwayWorld.com Nashville Theatre Awards and the unveiling of First Night's Top 10 of 2010. Street Theatre Company, located at 1933 Elm Hill Pike in Nashville, will provide the setting for the event, which is hosted by Jeffrey Ellis, the executive producer of the First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, who covers Nashville theater for the world's largest theater website.

Bread and Puppet Theater presents 'The Return of Ulysses' and 'Decapitalization Circus' : two separate performances presented in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts as part of the Cyclorama Residency Series. Performances, Art Exhibit, and Cheap Art Sale run from January 24 through January 30. All held in the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA), 539 Tremont St., South End, Boston. Wheelchair accessible. Tickets for the performances available for purchase [cash or check only] in the Cyclorama one hour before each performance. For advance tickets, log onto www.breadandpuppet.org or call 866-811-4111 (toll free). For detailed information regarding the week's events, call the BCA's Bread and Puppet Theater information line at 617-800-9539 or log onto www.bcaonline.org.

All actors may audition for ...before I wake... @ 5 p.m. and/or RENT at 6 p.m., but can NOT be cast in both shows. We encourage actors of all ethnicities to audition.

All actors may audition for ...before I wake... @ 5 p.m. and/or RENT at 6 p.m., but can NOT be cast in both shows. We encourage actors of all ethnicities to audition.

With a trio of powerful leading performances from Ben Van Diepen, Ciaran McCarthy and Laura Matula, the Boiler Room Theatre production of Jonathan Larson's Pultizer Prize-winning Rent may well be the finest interpretation of the groundbreaking musical we've ever seen. Certainly, we've never seen a more passionate or more engaging mounting of Rent and the cast assembled by director Corbin Green deserve every accolade possible for the obviously heartfelt rendering they give Larson's work.

A cast of more than 125 performers took to the stage of the Troutt Theatre at Belmont University to fete the eight members of the 2010 Class of First Night Honorees in a production that featured the best of the best of Nashville theater and included a surprise appearance by Joseph Mahowald, winner of a 1989 First Night Award, now playing the role of Franklin Hart Jr. in the national tour of 9 to 5: The Musical, which opened in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, September 21.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

As Nashville's summer theater season continues to heat up, anticipation continues to grow for September's First Night Nashville Theatre Honors, the revival of the Music City theater gala that will benefit Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and sponsored by Macy's and BroadwayWorld.com. Set for Sunday, September 19, at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre, First Night 2010 will honor eight individuals for their sustained and continued commitment to theater in Nashville.

With the strains of 'Auld Lang Syne' mere moments away, minds are apt to be caught up in reflection, remembering the year now ending as a new one awaits just over the horizon. Certainly that's what I've been doing lately, looking back over the past year in Nashville theatre as I pencil in dates in my new 2010 (Here's a question to ponder: Is it 'two thousand ten' or 'twenty ten'...think about it and get back to me) calendar for the shows set to open in the months ahead.

Green has long been heralded as one of the region's finest music directors, while Ditty has gained a justifiably stellar reputation as one of the best choreographers around. With this production, which exemplifies the term 'all-singing, all-dancing,' it's apropos then that the two would share the directing credit. Obviously, from the first notes of the overture to the final tormented moments of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, the shared vision of the two men is vividly portrayed and stunningly realized. The work, widely considered the first 'rock opera,' is movingly exhilarating, taking audiences on a veritable rollercoaster ride of emotional highs and lows.