Crossville, Tennessee native and stage and recording star Mandy Barnett performs a hometown
benefit concert for the Cumberland County Playhouse (CCP) on Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 8:00 PM. Tickets go on sale for CCP season members and contributors August 15 and to the general public August 22. Crossville’s old-time soda fountain, family drug store and traditional Main Street visiting center, Mitchell’s Drug Store, sponsors the concert, so proceeds fully benefit the Playhouse. Also helping is the City of Crossville, Golf Capital of Tennessee, and PBS-TV “channel 22” WCTE, Cookeville.
As a teenager, and again in 2009 and this summer, Mandy has starred as country music legend Patsy Cline in the musical production “Always, Patsy Cline” at Nashville’s celebrated Ryman Auditorium, to rave reviews and sold-out houses. An uncompromising singer whose style is rooted in the classic country of Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, and Brenda Lee, Barnett’s keen interpretive sense enables her to delve into a song, study the intricacies of its emotional content, and render a powerful performance through her full-bodied voice. Her torchy delivery on her contemporary yet retro-sounding country and pop-tinged material harkens back to the likes of all-time great female singers and timeless sounds.
Mandy tours regularly in concert and is a frequent guest on the Grand Ole Opry. She has released critically applauded albums, including her debut “Mandy Barnett,” “I’ve Got a Right to Cry” produced by Owen Bradley, and her Christmas album “Winter Wonderland.” Mandy has also been featured on movie soundtracks. Rounder Records will again release “Winter Wonderland” for Christmas 2011.
Mandy’s new album “Sweet Dreams” on the Opry Music label features her renditions of songs previously recorded by Patsy Cline. Along with the hits, Mandy offers stunning versions of Irving Berlin’s pop standard “Always” and the Mel Tillis-penned “Strange.” Reviewers of “Sweet Dreams” have heralded Mandy’s talents as “one of the most beautiful ‘classic country’ female voices of all time. She has total control of her voice and sings effortlessly. Barnett is a true master of her craft.”
This benefit concert for the Playhouse was actually Mandy’s own idea. “At Mandy’s behest, her booking agent, Brandon Mauldin at Conway Entertainment Group, called and said she wanted to help when she heard in early summer that the Playhouse is facing serious financial challenges,” said CCP’s Jim Crabtree. “Mandy performed in several musicals with us before she moved to Nashville, and did some of her first headliner concerts here. We’re proud and grateful she’s coming home to help.”
Despite a strong tradition of over 80% earned revenue, the nonprofit Playhouse’s long-range, post-recession need —underwriting its unsubsidized facility costs, building fund-raising and marketing staff, rebuilding endowment, retiring mortgage debt–is great. CCP must raise over $500,000 before its 50thAnniversary in 2015. The immediate crisis is improving with strong summer attendance and over a thousand contributors to “The Show Must Go On” campaign led by the Board of Directors. But the future is a great challenge. Mandy’s concert will help lead that effort.
A limited number of Special Benefit Tickets, at $100 per seat, are partly tax deductible and include a pre-show backstage visit and photo of Mandy with your party. $50 benefit tickets include a group photo with the artist. General reserved seats are $25 for “Mandy Barnett: A Benefit for the Cumberland County Playhouse” and go on sale to Playhouse season members and contributors on Monday, August 15, and to the general public on Monday, August 22.
Tickets and information for Mandy Barnett in concert on October 22, and all Playhouse theater productions including Oklahoma!, Chicago, and Smoke on the Mountain, are available atwww.ccplayhouse.com and 931.484.5000. You can get tickets for all CCP shows and concerts, PAART concerts at Crossville’s Palace Theater, plus events by DCI, CAC and Southern stars Symphonic Brass by visiting us online at www.ccplayhouse.com or calling 931.484.5000 for reservations. Currently at the Playhouse are R & H’s classic Oklahoma sponsored by Comfort Suites, Holiday Inn Express, and Hampton Inn, through September 2; the “hotcha” musical Chicago, rated PG-13, and sponsored by Crossville, Inc, through October 7; and the beloved Smoke on the Mountain, back for its 18th season, sponsored by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, through October 29.
