‘The Book of Mormon’ is now well-ensconced in a third U.S. tour—this one non-AEA— that took to the road in 2022. That tour is currently making a stop for eight performances at the Tennessee Theatre through November 16.
Review: ‘The Harvest’ at Clarence Brown Theatre’s Lab Theatre — Seeking Stability During Times of Change
Faith can be a safe haven for many of us, providing answers to life’s tough questions and a community to lean on. But just as often as it offers such answers, it can provoke just as many questions. This questioning is at the heart of Samuel D. Hunter’s 2016 play ‘The Harvest’, where a young man wrestles with the death of his father, his broken family, his faith, and his sexuality. ‘The Harvest’ runs through Nov. 9 at the Clarence Brown Theatre Lab Theatre.
Review: Demirjian, Fung, and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Deliver a Magical Evening
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra concerts this past weekend, as programmed by Maestro Aram Demirjian and delivered by the orchestra, featured a brilliant take on Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto by the young dynamic cellist Zlatomir Fung. The orchestra players were in the spotlight for the 1947 concert hall version of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka and its dramatic orchestral storytelling. And, the opener, Meilina Tsui’s Floridian Symphony, was a delightfully vibrant and atmospheric new work that calls on orchestral instruments and their players to explore and artistically replicate the natural sounds of a rural Florida environment and its world of insects, birds, and other animals.
Review: CBT’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’
Although there is peril in describing the current attention devoted to English novelist Jane Austen as a mania, that seems like an almost unavoidable conclusion. From the popularity of Jane Austen Regency Balls, Jane Austen Festivals in the UK and the U.S., not to mention a plethora of film and television projects in addition to the literature itself, the author’s fanbase is arguably second only to The Bard in the 21st Century. The fact that 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Ms. Austen’s birth has only added fuel to the fire of that attention.
Review: National Tour of ‘Les Misérables’ — Showstopping Relevance in the 21st Century
A current National Tour of ‘Les Misérables’ is making an 8-performance stop in Knoxville through August 3 at the Tennessee Theatre. Read the review.
A Glimpse Ahead: 2025-26 Knoxville Music and Theatre Season
Waiting anxiously in the wings for its entrance cue, the 2025-26 season of theatre and music is yet another one packed with classics and new works—gems of both history and the latest efforts of playwrights, composers, and authors. Subscriptions to…
Review: ‘Harvey’ at TKD — Chasing the White Rabbit
Maybe some of you have that one friend that no one else seems to understand. No matter how many introductions you make to a variety of different people, your other friends just don’t seem to “get” this person. That’s the case with poor Elwood P. Dowd and his dear friend that no one seems to see. Director Jill Stapleton Bergeron introduces us to this unlucky friend in TKD’s production of Mary Chase’s 1953 play Harvey that keeps both actors and audiences on their toes and at their wit’s end.
Review: Ari Aster’s ‘Eddington’ and his desperate call for decency
With his latest film, ‘Eddington’, Ari Aster borrows more culture critic tendencies. Joaquin Phoenix once again plays a man—this time much less afraid of himself and others—who is married to a woman (Emma Stone) who is both intertwined in a sexless marriage with him and on her spiritual journey of destiny. Yet in Eddington, Phoenix’s character is a much stronger encapsulation of the modern American psyche.
Review: Knoxville Opera Offers A Timely ‘Stuck Elevator’
It would be next to impossible to find a more timely subject matter for an opera libretto than Stuck Elevator, Knoxville Opera’s latest production that had four performances this past weekend at the Old City Performing Arts Center. With music by Byron Au Yong and a libretto by Aaron Jafferis, the one-act opera, first performed in 2013, deals both tragically and poignantly with the immigrant experience that confronts us—immigrant or not—on a daily basis in 2025.
Review: KSO Wraps Chamber Classics Series with Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ & Baroque Inspirations
The Knoxville Symphony Orchestra wrapped up its 2024-25 Chamber Classics season at the Bijou Theatre on Sunday in rather spectacular fashion. The concert was sold out, proving not only that Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is intensely popular with audiences, but also that the series itself is attractive to those who gravitate to a Sunday afternoon performance in the intimate acoustic environment of the Bijou. Gratifying, too, is the fact that the series uses its own orchestra members as soloists, something that often leads to truly compelling performances from musicians getting a turn in the spotlight.