Joshua Waldrep News

Directors and producers in the Nashville region are seeking actors for upcoming productions of August: Osage County, Nunsense, The Last Five Years, Heathers the Musical, Smoke/Spirit and The Music Man. We've gathered the details together here to make your planning easier. So now you have no excuse!

Circle Players will kick-off its 2015-2016 season with the regional premiere of the Bradley Moore-directed rock musical American Idiot, running in August at Tennessee State University's Performing Arts Center.

No matter how well you know a show - how easily you can recall plot points or parrot dialogue - it's sometime good to revisit a musical even if you've seen it countless times. Oftentimes it rekindles your love for a show or, hell, it just reminds you how much fun you have every time you see a new revival. So, kudos to director Josh Waldrep and his merry band of mischief makers who bring The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee to the stage to conclude Circle Players' 65th season.

It's the official kick-off to summer, what with the Memorial Day Weekend upon us already - seriously, where did the time go? - and while we're certain your calendar is filled with cookouts, fireworks (we don't save all the sparklers for July 4th do we?) and swimming (if it warms up enough here in frosty Tennessee, where it's in the 50s as I type). But being the theatrical fanatic that we (using either the editorial "we" or the royal "we"…just take your pick) are, we would like to humbly suggest you make your way to the theater in the next few days to get some artistic inspiration.

With so many new productions bowing this week (hence, the Friday 5 on Thursday), the spotlight shines first on Austin Olive and Amie Lara from the cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, directed by the talented Joshua Waldrep, and opening tonight at Pearl Cohn Comprehensive High School. It's the last production of the 2014-15 - that's the 65th year - season of Circle Players, the oldest community theatre troupe in Middle Tennessee.

It's been a busy spring in Tennessee and as we head into summer, you can rest assured that things are only going to get busier - and more interesting. Our advice? Hydrate yourself (drink plenty of water before heading out), dress comfortably (but tasteful) and head out for a night at the theater. You'll be inspired, entertained and possibly even transported to some far-away world of wonder and imagination. 

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.

Celebrating its 65th season, Nashville's Circle Players is Middle Tennessee's oldest community theater organization and I can think of no better way to celebrate that milestone than with the company's current show, the Tim Larson-directed version of Ragtime, the musical adaptation of the acclaimed E.L. Doctorow novel.

Inspired by all the seasonal festivities that abound, we asked people in the theater community to share their favorite things to see onstage during the run-up to Christmas…

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.

Carol Irvin, who has been a mainstay at Crossville's Cumberland County Playhouse for more than 20 years, is the latest recipient of The First Night Robe,presented on Saturday, November 17, prior to curtain of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Earlier in the same week, Bralyn Stokes received the robe at Rhubarb Theater's Birds in Church, and Michael Holder and Josh Waldrep claimed it at Street Theatre Company's Miss Saigon in Concert.

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 is "The Morning of the Dragon" the flag-waving, people's army spectacle you might have come to expect from bigger, grander productions of the musical that ran on Broadway for more than 4,000 performances and played the nation's theaters and concert halls while on tour.

Continuing the sold-out success of their In Concert series, Street Theatre Company presents the beautiful musical, Miss Saigon in Concert for one weekend only in November. A classic love story is brought up-to-date in one of the most stunning theatrical spectacles of all time. In Miss Saigon, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (the creators of LES MISÉRABLES), along with Richard Maltby, Jr., bring Puccini's Madame Butterfly to the modern world in a moving testament to the human spirit and a scathing indictment of the tragedies of war.

Continuing the sold-out success of their In Concert series, Street Theatre Company presents the beautiful musical, Miss Saigon in Concert for one weekend only in November. A classic love story is brought up-to-date in one of the most stunning theatrical spectacles of all time. In Miss Saigon, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg (the creators of LES MISÉRABLES), along with Richard Maltby, Jr., bring Puccini's Madame Butterfly to the modern world in a moving testament to the human spirit and a scathing indictment of the tragedies of war.

Circle Players, one of the first resident companies at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, makes a triumphant return to that cultural edifice in downtown Nashville to mount its latest revival of Titanic the Musical just in time to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking in the frigid waters of the north Atlantic.

Led by an ensemble that includes the always superb Michael Holder in the titular role of Tommy, the "deaf, dumb and blind kid" who becomes a "pinball wizard," setting off widespread public acclaim and becoming a cause celebre in the process, Tommy in Concert also features the inspired pairing of Holly Shepherd and Ben Van Diepen as Mrs. Walker and Captain Walker. Despite the age difference of the two actors-not to mention their youthfulness in relation to Holder's casting as their onstage son-Shepherd and Van Diepen are believably cast as young lovers who marry in the early days of World War II only to find that first blush of romantic dreaminess devolve into the nightmarish consequences that set the show's plot in motion.

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.

More to the point, Ragtime in Concert at Street Theatre Company is not to be missed. It is an awe-inspiring night of theater, staged with confidence and a practiced eye for what works visually by Cathy Street and Jane Kelley (who also conducts the 30-some member ensemble) and featuring the always significant contributions of music director Rollie Mains, this production obviously emphasizes the extraordinary musical score that, without danger of exaggeration, should be included in the pantheon of musical theater's greatest accomplishments. I defy you to hear the title tune, 'New Music,' and 'Wheels of a Dream' (or any number of other songs from the score, to be honest) and not to find your heart soaring - they are finely crafted works of art.

In short, Chicago is the best production ever presented by The Keeton Theatre. In fact, it's one of the finest versions of the tuneful musical we've ever seen on any stage, from any production company - and trust me, we've seen a bunch of 'em, ranging from Broadway and national touring companies to mountings from academic theaters, professional regional theaters and community playhouses.