Andrew Johns News

They're dishing up some tasty Rumors at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre - along with the bountiful buffet of Southern delicacies - while at Donelson's The Larry Keeton Theatre, the last two performances of Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest are served up this weekend, and the national touring company of Mamma Mia! winds up its weeklong stand at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall. And the intrepid Nashville Repertory Theatre Professional Interns present their very own production of Gruesome Playground Injuries.

Magical Music for Life Foundation is thrilled to present its 5th annual TUNES IN TIMES SQUARE benefit concert Sunday, May 1, 2016 on Broadway between 42nd & 43rd Streets in Times Square. The goal of the concert is to raise financial support to produce a new original album of songs for water safety applicable to children with and without specials needs, awareness of our music, and funds to perform our musical written especially for children with autism and other special needs. The event will be a continuous sing-a-thon, where talented children and groups from six states will come together to share the same stage with over 70 Broadway performers from most of the current shows and many past shows. Online and at the event there will be many exciting items in the auction & raffle, including tickets to Broadway shows / other events often with backstage tours and/or signed memorabilia, travel, dining, unique & autographed items, etc. Highlights of the Day will probably include the following: •10:00 Opening •'Two Little Snowflakes' and 'A Day in the Life of a Child: a Musical Revue' songs •11:20 'We Are the World' Broadway performers •12:00 Broadway performers (adult & child actors) • 2:00 Special Dance performance with NCDA • 'The Adventures of Zak' songs • 4:30 Broadway performers (adult & child actors)and preview of coming Broadway show •Til 5:00 Auction of tickets for Broadway and other NYC shows and events, backstage tours,autographed items, etc. •Til 5:00 Raffle prizes •All Day Performances by the Magical Music Singing groups •All Day Performances by talented children and groups from six states •6:00 Closing SOME OF THE BROADWAY & OTHER PERFORMERS: Amada Anderson - Spotlight on Cabaret and The Tramp Major Attaway - Aladdin Noah Baird - Matilda Annie Baltic - Mary Poppins Gaby Bradbury - Annie Adriana Braganza - The King and I Amaya Braganza - The King and I Zach Brod - Freckleface Casey Butler - Finding Neverland: The Musical Christian Michael Camporin - Finding Neverland and Matilda Grace Capeless - The Lion King Lynn Masako Cheng - The King and I Adam Christoferson - singer Olivia Chun - The King and I Casey Erin Clark - Les Miserables Hana Colley - The King and I Ben Cook - Tuck Lilyana Cornell - Les Miserables Samantha Cutler - Billy Elliot Alex Dreier - Finding Neverland, Assembled Parties, and Billy Elliot Peyton Ella - NBC The Sound of Music Live and Little Princess Avery Oliver Espiritu - The King and I Bonale Fambrini - The King and I Sophia Genusa - Matilda and Dr. Zhivago Akira Golz - Matilda Abigail Dylan Harrison - Ruthless, The Musical James Ignacio - The King and I K'Lynn Jackman - The Lion King Andrew Johnson - Kinky Boots Darius Kaleb - Motown the Musical, A Raisin in the Sun, and Delores & Jermaine Jim Kaplan - The King and I Jake Katzman - Kinky Boots Tari Kelly - Something's Rotten, Anything Goes, and Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas Christie Kim - The King and I Ethan Khusidman - School of Rock, Chaplin, and Soul Doctor Corey Mach - Hands on a Hardbody, Godspell, and Footloose: The Musical Tony Marin - The King and I Jibreel Mawry - Motown, the Musical Jack McCarthy - Finding Neverland Dante Melucci - The School of Rock: The Musical Jenny Mollett - The Color Purple Sydney Morton - American Psycho, Flashdance, Motown the Musical, Evita, and Memphis Angeli Negron - Les Miserables Sawyer Nunes - Finding Neverland and Matilda the Musical Shannon O'Boyle - Once Tyrah Syke Odoms - Annie and The Lion King Madeleine Pace - Once Luca Padovan - The School of Rock: The Musical Gabriella Palminteri - Blue Bloods Anthony Pierini - Big Fish, Les Miserables, and Mary Poppins Gabby Pizzolo - Fun Home Ellie Poon - A Christmas Story the Musical Sam Poon - The King and I, MacBeth, and Les Miserables William Poon - The King and I & Beauty and the Beast Rachel Resheff - Fish in the Dark, The People in the Picture, Shrek the Musical, and Billy Elliot Christopher Paul Richards - Finding Neverland Taylor Richardson - Smokefall, Annie, A Most Violent Year, and Jack of the Red Hearts Julianna Rigoglioso - Sound of Music, Far from Heaven, Mary Poppins, and Table 58 Kitana Goyena Rojanatavorn - The King and I Sofia Roma Rubino - School of Rock: The Musical and Matilda: The Musical Isabella Russo - School of Rock: The Musical Sadie Seelert - Mary Poppins and A Little Princess Julian Silva - The Lion King and Les Miserables Eli Tokash - Finding Neverland Nicky Torchia - The King and I Joshua Turchin - Christmas Story Jeremy Villas - Kinky Boots Ashton Woerz - Pippin and Priscilla Queen of the Desert Rocco Wu - The King and I Timothy Yang - The King and I ... a preview of a new Broadway show

The cast and creative team of Charing Cross Theatre's TITANIC have gathered for the first day of rehearsals and prepare to board for the launch of the musical at the start of Thom Southerland's first season as Artistic Director. Check out a look at the group below!

Nashville Repertory Theatre is proud to announce its 2016-17 season, which includes a brilliant and powerful musical, a hysterically chaotic comedy, the regional premiere of a play from Nashville Rep's Ingram New Works Project, and a great American classic.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

Nashville Repertory Theatre will launch its 2016-17 season with Jason Robert Brown's contemporary musical The Last Five Years and will feature the regional debut of Doug Wright's Posterity, a play about Henrik Ibsen that was developed in the company's Ingram New Works program and which premiered off-Broadway in 2015.

Imagine if Picasso and Einstein had actually met: That's the premise for comedian-turned-playwright Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which opens this Today, April 22, at Brentwood's Towne Centre Theatre.

Shows are opening (Carolyn German unveils her latest, Go From Here, and Nashville Ballet revives Carmina Burana, both this weekend), shows are closing (your last chance to catch The Taffetas at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre before they go the way of The Plaids is this weekend) and The Miss Firecracker Contest is back onstage at Donelson's Larry Keeton Theatre for the second of three weekends. Obviously, the 2016 theater season continues to reveal itself at a breakneck pace, giving audiences a veritable buffet of offerings from which to choose.

Final casting is announced today for the return of the multi award-winning production of the Broadway musical TITANIC, first seen at Southwark Playhouse, which is coming back to London with director Thom Southerland once again at the helm.

Imagine if Picasso and Einstein had actually met: That's the premise for comedian-turned-playwright Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which opens this Friday, April 22, at Brentwood's Towne Centre Theatre.

2015 First Night Honoree Martha Wilkinson - the winner of nine First Night Awards for outstanding lead actress in a musical - leads the Nashville Repertory Theatre cast of the Oscar- and Tony Award-winning Chicago, running March 19-April 16 at the Andrew Johnson Theater at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

In his Houston Symphony debut, guest conductor Lucas Waldin leads the orchestra in Disney in Concert: A Tale as Old as Time, an evening of magical storytelling of timeless classics at 7:30 p.m. tonight, April 15.

Shows are opening, shows are closing and Fiddler on the Roof is back onstage for Actors Pointe Theatre Company while Tom Sawyer takes a bow at Springhouse Theatre in Smyrna! Obviously, the 2016 theater season continues to reveal itself at a breakneck pace, giving audiences a veritable buffet of offerings from which to choose.

In his Houston Symphony debut, guest conductor Lucas Waldin will lead the orchestra in Disney in Concert: A Tale as Old as Time, an evening of magical storytelling of timeless classics at 7:30 p.m. April 15.

When you're talking about dance and dancers in Nashville, one name immediately rises to the top of the list: Billy Ditty. No matter the genre, no matter the venue, no matter the project, he exemplifies dance in Music City for many people.

Chicago is one of my favorite cities on the planet, so it goes that Chicago, the Tony Award- and Oscar-winning musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, is also one of my favorite stage musicals. Brash, sassy, laugh-out-loud funny at one moment, and heart-tuggingly and sweetly sentimental at the next - with a musical score that's memorable and pitch-perfect in the skillful way it tells the story of wannabe vaudeville superstars Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly - Chicago has been a part of the musical theater vernacular for almost 40 years.

Nashville Repertory Theatre is proud to produce the award-winning, Broadway hit CHICAGO, the murderous musical depicting the balance between power, notoriety, and getting your way. CHICAGO will run tonight, March 19, through April 16, 2016 in Johnson Theater at Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

2015 First Night Honoree Martha Wilkinson - the winner of nine First Night Awards for outstanding lead actress in a musical - leads the Nashville Repertory Theatre cast of the Oscar- and Tony Award-winning Chicago, running tonight, March 19, through April 16 at the Andrew Johnson Theater at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Nashville Repertory Theatre's unveils its production of the Kander and Ebb classic Chicago this weekend, as Music City is transformed into the Windy City - well, the Andrew Johnson Theatre at TPAC will be, at least - for a three week run of the show that asks the musical question "What price fame?"

Shows are opening, shows are closing and the newly reimagined national tour of The Phantom of the Opera continues its run at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center this weekend. Theater in Tennessee continues its fast-paced run through 2016 with a number of new openings this week, thanks to Bongo After Hours Theatre, Nashville Rep, Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, Circle Players and more - and Cumberland County Playhouse, Arts Center of Cannon County, Street Theatre Company, Lakewood Theatre Company and ACT 1 continue runs of their latest shows - to give you even more opportunities to celebrate the magic of live theater in the Volunteer State! And on Monday night, The Chicago Talking Machine Company premieres its first Nashville show at the Centennial Black Box Theatre.