The summer season is a great time to see a show. Middle Tennessee offers many wonderful community theatre opportunities. Check back throughout the summer as new shows are added each month. Please note that all of these productions may not be suitable for all ages. Some of these options would be a great date night choice! Make sure you check the play description at the linked site before planning to take the kids.
Live Summer Theatre in Nashville
The Franklin Theatre (Map)
May 17-28, 2023 Studio Tenn : Here You Come Again
Written by Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre, and Tricia Paoluccio; Featuring Songs Written or Recorded by Dolly Parton (And Others).
A rollicking and touching new musical about a has-been- who-never-was comedian, and his unusual relationship with his long time idol — Dolly Parton. The show is a celebration of Dolly’s music, and the profound and funny things she has to say to us all, about life, love, and how to pull yourself up by your bootstraps during the toughest of times – even if your bootstraps don’t have rhinestones!
Tickets are $55 – 90. Dates/Times/Tickets at this link.
Hendersonville Performing Arts Center (Map)
June 2 – 17, 2023 The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (PG-13)
HPAC is excited to present this musical comedy, rated PG-13! This show includes a chance to go on stage and compete against the spellers! Volunteer before the show for your chance.
June 2 – June 17, 2023
Tickets $19-22 Dates/Times/Tickets at this link.
The Center for the Arts Murfreesboro (Map)
June 9 – 25, 2023 Shrek
Based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film, Shrek The Musical is a Tony Award-winning fairy tale adventure, featuring all new songs from Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie; Caroline, or Change) and a sidesplitting book by David Lindsay-Abaire. Shrek brings all the beloved characters you know from the film to life on stage and proves there’s more to the story than meets the ears.
“Once upon a time, there was a little ogre named Shrek….” And thus begins the tale of an unlikely hero who finds himself on a life-changing journey alongside a wisecracking Donkey and a feisty princess who resists her rescue. Throw in a short-tempered bad guy, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you’ve got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there’s one on hand… and his name is Shrek.
Irreverently fun for the whole family, Shrek The Musical proves that beauty is truly in the eye of the ogre. Rated PG
June 9-25, 2023
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays at 2:00pm
Tickets $20-22 Dates/Times/Tickets at this link.
Audience of One @ The Capitol Theatre (Map)
June 22- 25, 2023 The Music Man Jr
Based on Meredith Willson’s six-time-Tony-Award-winning musical comedy, The Music Man JR. features some of musical theatre’s most iconic songs and a story filled with wit, warmth and good old-fashioned romance. The Music Man JR. is family entertainment at its best — a bold, brassy show that will have the whole town atwitter!
Master showman Harold Hill is in town and he’s got “seventy-six trombones” in tow. Can upright, uptight Marian, the town librarian, resist his powerful allure? The story follows fast-talking traveling salesman, Harold Hill, as he cons the people of River City, Iowa, into buying instruments and uniforms for a boys’ band he vows to organize. The catch? He doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef. His plans to skip town with the cash are foiled when he falls for Marian, whose belief in Harold’s power just might help him succeed in the end in spite of himself.
June 22-25, 2023
Tickets – $17 – 19 Dates/Times/Tickets at this link.
July 20 – 30, 2023 The Little Mermaid
Based on one of Hans Christian Andersen’s most beloved stories and the classic animated film, Disney’s The Little Mermaid is a hauntingly beautiful love story for the ages.
With music by eight-time Academy Award winner, Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater and a compelling book by Doug Wright, this fishy fable will capture your heart with its irresistible songs, including “Under the Sea,” “Kiss the Girl” and “Part of Your World.”
Ariel, King Triton’s youngest daughter, wishes to pursue the human Prince Eric in the world above, bargaining with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to trade her tail for legs. But the bargain is not what it seems, and Ariel needs the help of her colorful friends, Flounder the fish, Scuttle the seagull and Sebastian the crab to restore order under the sea.
July 20 – 30, 2023
Tickets – $17 – 19 Dates/Times/Tickets at this link.
Into the Woods @ TPAC Jackson Hall (Map)May 23 – 28, 2023
Here’s a reason to be happy ever after…
Direct from Broadway, the critically acclaimed and much beloved production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony®-winning triumph is coming to Nashville with its Broadway stars to boot. Into the Woods features Montego Glover as The Witch, Stephanie J. Block as The Baker’s Wife, Sebastian Arcelus as The Baker, and Gavin Creel as Cinderella’s Prince/Wolf – all reprising their Broadway roles – in a production called “radiant” (Variety), “enchanting” (The Wall Street Journal), and “a priceless revival with a perfect cast” (The Washington Post). Directed by Lear deBessonet (Hercules), this theatrical event honors Sondheim’s legendary memory and his Broadway masterpiece like never before.
May 23-28, 2023
Tickets – $48 – 155 Dates/Times/Tickets at this link.
Cabaret– Pull Tight Theatre (Map) June 9 – June 24, 2023
Welcome to the Kit Kat Club, where the MC assures that you will forget all your troubles. But can you really? Cabaret explores the dark, heady, tumultuous atmosphere of 1931 Berlin as Germany slowly yields to the Third Reich and its citizens try desperately to hold onto life as they know it. Cabaret won eight Tonys in its original 1966 run, and another four for its 1998 revival. The classic score includes “Willkommen,” “Cabaret,” and “Maybe This Time.” For mature audiences only.
June 9 -24, 2023
Tickets – $18 – 22 Dates/Times/Tickets at this link.
