Nashville Theater Reviews

BWW Reviews: Eden Espinosa Charms Nashville Audiences...Cabaret Style

Come to the Cabaret…The Absinthe Cabaret, that is. Saturday night was the inaugural event of the newly formed Absinthe Cabaret in Franklin, TN. Executive Producer, Carolan Trbovich lined up a fantastic first event, with Broadway star Eden Espinosa headlining, and theatre and stage musician Johnny Rodgers hosting. Eden is best known for her roles as Elphaba in Wicked, for playing Maureen in the final cast of RENT on Broadway, and for originating the role of Brooklyn in the musical Brooklyn. Johnny Rodgers has toured with Liza Minnelli and appeared on Broadway with her during her show, Liza's at the Palace. (more...)

BWW Reviews: 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL Will Have You Dancing In Your Seat

The Cumberland County Playhouse production of 9 to 5: The Musical brings hilarity and joy to the stage and leaves you dancing along in your seat. But no worries about bothering your seat neighbor; chances are good they are seat-dancing right along with you. (more...)

BWW Reviews: THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER at The Wesley Arena Theatre Through 5/11

The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later is an eye opening look at the continued effects of the horrible murder of Matthew Shepard and the ways in which his death has helped shape social changes in the United States. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Cumberland County Playhouse Presents LES MISERABLES

Heartbreak, injustice, death, redemption, faith, determination, love, and a host of other human experiences are all there for you in Les Miserables. But all you truly need to remember to grasp the theme of the show is in the last song. 'To love another person is to see the face of God.' (more...)

BWW Reviews: Pendzick and Sells Shine in Cumberland County Playhouse's THE MIRACLE WORKER

The Cumberland County Playhouse production of The Miracle Worker shares the story of Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan with honesty and simplicity with stars Lindy Pendzick and Emma Rhea Sells. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Newman, Candilora Give Stunning Performances in Keeton Theatre's GYPSY

With Ginger Newman's bravura performance as Mama Rose setting the standard-along with a stunning portrayal by Christina Candilora as a young Gypsy Rose Lee-The Larry Keeton Theatre's production of Gypsy, the Broadway fable about stage mothers and their beleaguered children, has a lot to recommend it to theater-goers. Newman and Candilora are given strong support from Terry McLemore, Stella London, Cade Smith, Virginia Richardson and the trio of wizened strippers who urge the young Louise to "get a gimmick" (Jane Schnelle, Monykah Tyson and Emily Ann Cowart). (more...)

BWW Reviews: AMERICAN IDIOT Rocks Nashville

On March 5-7, the electrifying cast of American Idiot took the stage at TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall. The musical, which was inspired, written, and created by Billie Joe and Green Day, is a satisfying change from the typical Broadway show. (more...)

BWW Reviews: CATCH ME IF YOU CAN Lands At TPAC With High-Flying Style

Can you just imagine the things Frank Abagnale Jr. could do if he were an enterprising teenager in the 21st Century? The charming, conniving and cunning young man would likely rule the world. (more...)

BWW Reviews: CCP's JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT One of 2012's Best

Tall, blond and handsome-and looking for all the world like some sort of biblical superhero-Colin Cahill may be the ideal Joseph, given the sumptuous and fast paced production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat at Cumberland County Playhouse. Cahill charms and entertains as Jacob's favorite son, surrounded by what seems like a cast of thousands, bringing Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical to life with enough energy to power every household along the Cumberland Plateau. (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 far removed from the silly musical theater oddity that debuted on Broadway in 1998, another example of producers seeking to capitalize on a film's success by transferring it to the stage. (more...)

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 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. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Rhubarb Celebrates Its 10th Season With Revival of BIRDS IN CHURCH

There are some lovely moments to be found in Birds in Church, the latest production from Nashville's Rhubarb Theatre-a refashioning of the company's first production almost ten years ago, both of which feature vignettes selected from among playwright and former priest Joe Pintauro's Metropolitan Operas. There are lovely moments, to be certain, along with some that are almost riotously funny, genuinely moving and clearly provocative. (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 on the classic holiday film that many hold dear and now onstage at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall through Sunday, November 18. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Feehely's Exquisite OUTSIDE PARADISE Given World Premiere by Actors Bridge and Belmont

Thanks to the exquisitely crafted and wonderfully creative Outside Paradise, a new play written by Bill Feehely and given an opulent world premiere production from Actors Bridge Ensemble, the story of these two tragic figures is brought to life onstage. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Trio of Leading Ladies Provide the Heart for Keeton Theatre's SWEET CHARITY

Despite terrific performances by the show's three leading ladies, The Larry Keeton Theatre's production of Sweet Charity, that 1966 musical theater oddity that spawned two of pop music's favorite showtunes-"If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "Hey, Big Spender"-lacks the polish and pizzazz expected from a theatre company known for its top-flight musical revivals. (more...)

PETER PAN Continues At Woodbury's Arts Center of Cannon County Through 11/17

Karen Lewis directs Peter Pan-based upon Sir James M. Barrie's 1904 play about the boy who refuses to grow up-is onstage in Woodbury through November 17, the latest in Arts Center of Cannon County's 2012 Stagedoor Series. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Mason and Ashley Shine In Lipscomb Theatre's Sparkling PAJAMA GAME

The Pajama Game's abbreviated run (just four public performances in four days) means that time's a-wasting to get your tickets for the remaining two shows tonight and tomorrow afternoon. So get to it! You'll be glad you did. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Roxy's ROCKY HORROR SHOW May Be My Very Favorite Ever

...The best production I've seen in these here parts is the one that's currently onstage at The Roxy Regional Theatre, starring Matt Varelia as Frank N. Furter, Ryan Bowie as Riff-Raff, and Rob Rodems and Kaitlin Doughty as Brad Majors (asshole!) and Janet Weiss (slut!) that's just about as good as it gets. (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 The Color Purple is made all the more appealing by its trio of leading ladies. (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 the heavenly gates with their spectacular opening night performance of "Blow, Gabriel, Blow." (more...)

BWW Reviews: Chaffin's Barn's SPREADING IT AROUND is Less Filling, Tastes Great

Lisa Marie Wright's impeccable timing and on-target comic performance-not to mention her cantilevered breastworks-are reason enough to book your favorite table at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre for Spreading It Around, a formulaic comedy about seniors spending their kids' inheritances that actually packs in a lot of laughs while pulling a minimum of punches in its two hours onstage. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Street Theatre Company Misfires With Anachronistic THE DESPERATE HOURS

Despite the taut direction of Ryan Williams, particularly sinister underscoring by Rollie Mains and a compelling, bravura performance by Luke Hatmaker as the ringleader of a group of prison escapees, Street Theatre Company's The Desperate Hours is a rare misfire from the company and the creative team charged with bringing it to the stage. (more...)

BWW Reviews: 35 Years After Its Broadway Debut, THE SHADOW BOX Still Engages

Director David McGinnis and his cast of nine actors bring Michael Cristofer's Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box to life in a solid and straightforward production that kicks off ACT 1's 2012-13 season at Nashville's Darkhorse Theater. (more...)

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 celebrate the festive Halloween season than with these two-and their gorgeous and versatile cohort/partner-in-theatrical crime Jennifer Richmond-in a performance of Into the Darkness: A Vampire Musical, now onstage at Chaffin's Backstage at the Barn through October 27. (more...)

BWW Reviews: ABC's Banking On NASHVILLE To Bring On The Nielsen Glory

Now, ABC is banking on Music City, putting big bucks behind the promotion and the production of Nashville, the soapy new television series written by Academy Award winner Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise) that debuted last night, right after the Emmy Award-winning comedy juggernaut that is Modern Family. (more...)