Nashville Theater Reviews

Star-studded INTO THE WOODS Tour Comes to Nashville for Eight-Performance Run at TPAC
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 24, 2023

Truth be told, this may be the most impressive assemblage of talent we’ve ever encountered on the Jackson Hall stage in our 30-some years of reviewing Broadway at TPAC. Seriously....

HERE YOU COME AGAIN Stars Tricia Paoluccio In a Stunning Tribute to Dolly Parton's Down-Home Spirit
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 18, 2023

For years – for decades, really – I have advocated that Music City tourism would benefit from a sit-down production of a country music-themed musical, one that would appeal to a wide range of aficionados and would showcase the musical library of a beloved figure in the pantheon of Nashville music. F...

Nashville Rep Closes Out 2022-23 Season With Rousing Production of Tesori's VIOLET
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 17, 2023

With noteworthy performances across the board, Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production of Violet – with a lovely, haunting and emotional score by Jeanine Tesori and a sometimes meandering, oftentimes difficult to follow, libretto by Brian Crawley, based upon Doris Betts’ short story “The Ugliest Pi...

Colorful, Campy and With All The Fun The Law Will Allow, DISNEY'S ALADDIN Thrills Nashville Audiences
by Jeffrey Ellis - May 05, 2023

Colorful and campy, fast-paced and royally entertaining – and about as much fun as current Tennessee laws may allow (our state legislature’s supermajority, however, might be clutching their pearls and wailing about “who’ll protect the children?” even as the youngsters surrounding me on opening night...

Roxy Regional Theatre's Timeless Revival of SPRING AWAKENING Arrives Just When Tennessee Audiences Need It
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 19, 2023

We’ve been thinking about that 2012 legislation as we prepared to see Roxy Regional Theatre's 2023 production of Spring Awakening, the Tony Award-winning musical by Duncan Sheik and Stephen Sater, which is based on the play of the same name written in the late 19th century by playwright Frank Wedeki...

At Nashville Children's Theatre, Self-Expression Shines, Sparking Young Imaginations in HIP HOP CINDERELLA
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 18, 2023

Among attributes audience members have come to expect from a Nashville Children’s Theatre production – fired by significant amounts of imagination and enough creativity to empower the minds of every youngster who has ever been introduced to the transformative power of live theater by the artists of ...

Actors Bridge Ensemble's World Premiere Production of Alicia Haymer's HEAVY
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 15, 2023

When the history of live theater performance in Nashville, post-pandemic, is written sometime in the future, it’s highly likely there will be a chapter dedicated to and inspired by the significance of the artistry of Alicia Haymer, the actor/director/playwright who grew up in Nashville and whose imp...

Review: Outstanding Performances Highlight MTSU Theatre's All-Too-Brief Run of Kander and Ebb's Timeless CABARET
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 09, 2023

To be certain, Cabaret (in every iteration I have ever seen), represents the awesome power of live theater to challenge preconceived notions while creating a world audiences can only visit when in the thrall of a talented cast of actors inspired to indulge in fantasy while maintaining an earthbound ...

Review: 'Stylish, Sophisticated and Uproariously Fun' PRIDE AND PREJUDICE At Lipscomb University Theatre
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 08, 2023

Confidently directed by Beki Baker, in a stylish and rather sophisticated production led by two of Lipscomb Theatre’s finest – Victoria Griffin as Lizzy Bennet and Bryce Dunn as Mr. Darcy – Pride and Prejudice is clearly one of the most entertaining and quite joyful productions we’ve seen since the ...

Review: Superb Performances Highlight Nashville Repertory Theatre's THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 02, 2023

The power of theater to transform lives and to transport audiences to worlds perhaps unknown to them is no more profoundly felt than in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the play by Simon Stephens based upon the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon. Now concluding its run at the An...

Review: Belmont University Musical Theatre's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Showcases Students' Immense Talents
by Jeffrey Ellis - April 01, 2023

Can you recall way, way back to 1991 when the Disney animated film version of Beauty and the Beast was first released? Well, even if you can’t, I certainly can remember how every theater aficionado I knew was exulting about the wondrous work and how it should be made into a live stage musical. In fa...

Review: Presented in the Perfect Setting, Studio Tenn's SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN Will Revive Your Spirit
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 29, 2023

It was in Fall 1995 that I first was introduced to the gospel singing Sanders Family of “up near Siler City, North Carolina,” in a production of Smoke on the Mountain at Nashville's venerable Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. In 2023, the family returns again, as if by magic or perhaps accompanied by f...

BWW Review: Street Theater Company's ORDINARY DAYS Ushers In New Barbershop Theatre Residency in Extraordinary Ways
by Jeffrey Ellis - March 27, 2023

Street Theatre Company makes its long awaited and eagerly anticipated debut as a resident company at Nashville’s Barbershop Theatre with its thoroughly entertaining production of Ordinary Days, the sung-through 2008-2009 work with music and lyrics by Adam Gwon....

Review: BUMT's Sparkling and Sophisticated THE WORLD GOES 'ROUND Is Gone Too Soon
by Jeffrey Ellis - February 22, 2023

Sometimes, even imperceptibly and when you least expect it, you may find yourself in search of something that helps to take you away from the rigors of the real world, to transport you to a long-dreamed-of land of fantasy which exists in your heart of hearts. Perhaps that journey is spurred on by a ...

Review: The Queens of SIX The Musical Enchant Their Nashville Audience On Opening Night
by Jeffrey Ellis - February 22, 2023

Make no mistake about it: SIX, the Tony Award-winning musical about six women historically tethered to one another by a common – but not “a commoner” – ex-husband, is raucously funny one moment, remarkably heartfelt the next, with plenty of history punctuating the moments in between. SIX, the high-s...

Review: Nostalgic and Warm MARVELOUS WONDERETTES May Be the Cure For What Ails You
by Jeffrey Ellis - November 16, 2022

There’s really nothing better for what ails you – particularly on a cold, wet and dreary Sunday afternoon – than a stroll down memory lane, thanks to a tuneful trip to the 1950s and ‘60s with The Marvelous Wonderettes, a nostalgic and enormously entertaining musical revue by Roger Bean....

Review: HADESTOWN 'Mesmerizes and Captivates' During Weeklong Stand at Nashville's TPAC
by Jeffrey Ellis - November 02, 2022

Mesmerizing and captivating are just two of the words that might best describe Hadestown, the Tony Award-winning best musical of the truncated 2019-20 Broadway season, which is now commanding ovations of rapturous applause from adoring fans at Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center during an e...

Review: Lauren Shouse's Sublime Direction of THE CAKE Provides Much Food for Thought
by Jeffrey Ellis - October 28, 2022

Lauren Shouse’s directorial resume is quite the impressive one and over the years she’s helmed productions for Nashville Repertory Theatre that have been justifiably acclaimed both by audiences and critics alike. But despite the notoriety that seems to always accompany a “Lauren Shouse-directed prod...

Review: Belmont University Musical Theatre's Inspiring and Astonishing SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM
by Jeffrey Ellis - October 09, 2022

Since his death in 2021, Stephen Sondheim and his canon of work have justifiably been on the hearts and minds of theater people from around the world, with revivals, retrospectives and remembrances filling the calendars of an amazing range of companies paying homage to the master of contemporary mus...

Review: Watershed Public Theatre's 'Nostalgic and Sentimental' LITTLE WOMEN THE MUSICAL
by Jeffrey Ellis - October 08, 2022

With a stellar cast under the direction of Cammy Harris, Watershed Public Theatre’s version of Little Women The Musical ends its two-weekend run at Columbia State Community College’s Cherry Theatre on Sunday, October 9, with an endearing production that proves once more the timelessness of Alcott’s ...

Review: Studio Tenn Collaborates with TPAC for 2022-23 Season Opener of AIDA IN CONCERT at Polk Theatre
by Jeffrey Ellis - October 01, 2022

Studio Tenn – the Franklin-based professional theater company – launches its 2022-23 season in collaboration with Tennessee Performing Arts Center for a concert staging of Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida, playing for just two nights at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theatre September 30 and October 1. Under th...

Review: Roxy Regional Theatre's 2022 Revival of INTO THE WOODS May Mark Another Turning Point For The Company
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 30, 2022

In 2010, the Clarksville-based Roxy Regional Theatre staged a production of Stephen Sondheim and James LaPine’s “exquisitely off-kilter and melodiously rapturous musical Into the Woods” which remains firmly ensconced in my memory for its many attributes, not the least of which were the actors (Sarah...

Review: PRETTY WOMAN THE MUSICAL Plays Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center Through Sunday, 10/02
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 28, 2022

Pretty Woman The Musical – the latest offering in the 2022-23 Broadway at TPAC Series – is one of those shows that almost defies explanation and proves even more difficult to review. (Case in point: I’ve rewritten that sentence 758 times in the past 22 hours and it’s still not “singing,” is it?) Pre...

Review: Nashville Story Garden's U.S. Premiere of Lucy Kirkwood's THE WELKIN Will Have Audiences Talking
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 24, 2022

Nothing engages the theaterati in Nashville and the surrounding provinces as the production of an eagerly anticipated new play no one’s done before in these parts, but about which we’ve read glowing reviews. The very promise of something new to energize the cultural zeitgeist – particularly under th...

Review: Nashville Repertory Theatre's 38th Season Opens With RENT At TPAC'S Polk Theatre Through 9/25
by Jeffrey Ellis - September 21, 2022

Thanks to the rousing performances of director Micah-Shane Brewer’s talented company who have brought the show to vivid life for Nashville audiences, Rent provides a noteworthy opening to the company’s 38th season. Performed with commitment and sharp focus by a cast of young performers, this revival...