Alan Smith News

Set in 1976, Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie deftly blends wistful nostalgia with tinges of regret that always tend to surface when you're faced with a high school reunion. And smoking pot; smoking pot makes anything seem more complex and redolent with hidden meaning and deeper regret than when you're thinking about them straight. I say this from personal experience. I did not, however, inhale.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the theater once again, we welcome you to the debut installment of Music City Confidential, all the news that's fit to print (or not-depending on your perspective) from Nashville's ever-growing, ever-fascinating (okay, so we obviously don't have enough to occupy ourselves) live theater industry (we're trying that out-does it work? Let us know, theaterati!) Here amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you'll find all the stories that don't quite fit elsewhere, some of 'em kind of gossipy, some of 'em stone-cold serious, some of 'em just lists of names you need to know. You'll also find photos from our new "Intermission@" series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae-the veritable flotsam and jetsam-from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE by Ralph Pape tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

Oscar Productions presents The Last Five Years, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Peter Berube, with music direction by Lauren Fraley. One preview performance plays tonight, June 7th at 7:15pm and the show runs Saturday, June 16th, 17th, 22nd, and 23rd at 5:30pm. All performances are presented as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, are thrilled to announce in this, their 21st season, the world premiere of THAT GOOD NIGHT, written by Andrew Dolan (The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King) and directed by Scott Alan Smith (Lady). THAT GOOD NIGHT opens tonight, Friday, June 1 at 8pm and runs through Saturday, July 21 at the Historic Lankershim Arts Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood, CA.

In tonight's season finale of ABC's PRIVATE PRACTICE entitled 'Gone, Baby, Gone', when Amelia goes into labor, the Seaside doctors - even those she pushed away - come to her side as she faces the hardest decision of her life.

Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

SAY GOODNIGHT, GRACIE by Ralph Pape tells the story of life, dreams, high school reunions and Devil Dogs. It is New York City, 1976, and we meet five members of the first Television Generation: Jerry, a struggling actor, his girlfriend Ginny, a secretary, Steve, a prankish would-be poet and television writer, Bobby, a musician who has been scraping by with dates in small clubs in suburban New Jersey, and his girlfriend, Catherine, a beautiful and rather kinky airline stewardess.

Oscar Productions presents The Last Five Years, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, directed by Peter Berube, with music direction by Lauren Fraley. One preview performance plays June 7th at 7:15pm and the show runs Saturday, June 16th, 17th, 22nd, and 23rd at 5:30pm. All performances are presented as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

THE ROAD THEATRE COMPANY and Taylor Gilbert, Founder/Artistic Director together with Sam Anderson, Artistic Director, have announced in this, their 21st season, the world premiere of THAT GOOD NIGHT, written by Andrew Dolan (The Many Mistresses of Martin Luther King) and directed by Scott Alan Smith (Lady).

From the same writing team that created Frankly, My Dear-Duke Ernsburger and Virginia Cate-comes the latest comedy opening at Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre: Elvis Has Left the Building. Running through March 18, the comedy is directed by Martha Wilkinson, artistic director of the company that is celebrating its 45th season of bringing theater to Nashville audiences.

Try as they might, director Martha Wilkinson and her talented ensemble of actors just can't breathe enough life into a thin, tepid script to make it work onstage for audiences eager to be entertained. Virginia Cate and Duke Ernsberger's Elvis Has Left The Building is pleasant enough, with a promising premise, yet it falls flat despite the best efforts of the cast and crew putting forth the new production at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre.

From the same writing team that created Frankly, My Dear-Duke Ernsburger and Virginia Cate-comes the latest comedy opening at Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre: Elvis Has Left the Building. Running February 16-March 18, the comedy is directed by Martha Wilkinson, artistic director of the company that is celebrating its 45th season of bringing theater to Nashville audiences.

From the same writing team that created Frankly, My Dear-Duke Ernsburger and Virginia Cate-comes the latest comedy opening at Nashville's Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre: Elvis Has Left the Building. Running February 16-March 18, the comedy is directed by Martha Wilkinson, artistic director of the company that is celebrating its 45th season of bringing theater to Nashville audiences.

The Pasadena Symphony welcomes GRAMMY-nominated Peter Boyer as its Composer in Residence for the 2012-2013 season, and has commissioned his Symphony No. 1 to premiere in its landmark 85th anniversary season.

Dominant as ever in the concert hall this winter, Christine Brewer - styled "the ideal modern Wagnerian soprano" by the Los Angeles Times - joins the San Francisco Symphony and guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen for three concert performances of excerpts from Gotterdammerung, the closing chapter of Wagner's monumental Ring cycle (Dec 8-10). Following her recent account of the German composer's Wesendonck Lieder with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, "a performance that was a model of vocal allure and musical intelligence" (South Florida Classical Review), Brewer reprises the work - coupled with Beethoven's "Ah! perfido" - with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Ward Stare (Jan 20 & 21). She returns to Beethoven for four performances of the Missa solemnis with the Boston Symphony led by Kurt Masur, first at the orchestra's Boston home (Feb 23-25) and then at New York's Carnegie Hall (March 6). Early in the new year, the "superlative Strauss singer" (New York Times) assays the great late Romantic's Four Last Songs with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson (Jan 13 & 14).

Dominant as ever in the concert hall this winter, Christine Brewer - styled "the ideal modern Wagnerian soprano" by the Los Angeles Times - joins the San Francisco Symphony and guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen for three concert performances of excerpts from Gotterdammerung, the closing chapter of Wagner's monumental Ring cycle (Dec 8-10). Following her recent account of the German composer's Wesendonck Lieder with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, "a performance that was a model of vocal allure and musical intelligence" (South Florida Classical Review), Brewer reprises the work - coupled with Beethoven's "Ah! perfido" - with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Ward Stare (Jan 20 & 21). She returns to Beethoven for four performances of the Missa solemnis with the Boston Symphony led by Kurt Masur, first at the orchestra's Boston home (Feb 23-25) and then at New York's Carnegie Hall (March 6). Early in the new year, the "superlative Strauss singer" (New York Times) assays the great late Romantic's Four Last Songs with the St. Louis Symphony under David Robertson (Jan 13 & 14).

The Hartt Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band on Friday, December 9, at 7:30 PM, in Lincoln Theater, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford.

The Hartt Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band on Friday, December 9, at 7:30 PM, in Lincoln Theater, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford.