News / Press

Get ready to be spooked and entertained this October at The Franklin Theatre’s annual FEAR FEST! We’ve transformed our historic theater into a haunted wonderland, complete with eerie decorations and a spine-chilling atmosphere fit for all ages.

Indulge in a Month of Movie Magic:

• Classic Favorites: Relive your favorite Halloween movies on the big screen. From the bewitching charm of “Hocus Pocus” to the hilarious antics of “The Addams Family,” we’ve got something for everyone.
• Spine-Chilling Thrillers: If you’re looking for a real scare, don’t miss our selection of horror classics. Get ready to jump out of your seat with “Scream” and “The Shining.”

A Spooky Experience You Won’t Forget:

• Haunted Theater Ambiance: Immerse yourself in the Halloween spirit with our specially designed theater decor. From cobwebs and skeletons to eerie lighting, every detail is designed to create a truly chilling experience.
• Unforgettable Memories: Join us for a month of spooky fun and create lasting memories with friends and family.

Don’t Miss Out!

Grab your TICKETS now and experience the magic of FEAR FEST at The Franklin Theatre. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the Halloween season in beautiful downtown Franklin!

Main Street came alive with electrifying energy last week as The Franklin Theatre hosted “The Franklin Theatre Sings the Music of Taylor Swift.” This extraordinary event was a testament to the enduring power of Swift’s songwriting and the incredible talent within our local music and acting communities.

The iconic Franklin Theatre provided the perfect backdrop for this musical journey through Taylor Swift’s discography. The intimate atmosphere of our 300 seat venue, coupled with the grandeur of its historic architecture, created an enchanting ambiance for the evening. From the moment the house lights dimmed, it was clear that this was going to be a night to remember for all in attendance.

A talented house band, comprised of Nashville’s finest musicians, laid the foundation for a stellar lineup of performances. The evening’s performers brought a diverse range of vocal styles and interpretations to Swift’s beloved songs. American Idol alum and star of The Bold Type Katie Stevens, Brian Logan Dales of The Summer Set, and Broadway’s Allison Bailey, among others, captivated the audience with their powerful vocals and charismatic stage presence. Each artist brought their unique perspective to the familiar lyrics, breathing new life into classic hits and introducing fresh takes on lesser-known gems.

As the night unfolded, the audience was treated to a chronological exploration of Swift’s career, with two songs from each album being showcased. From the youthful optimism of her self-titled debut to the raw vulnerability of “Red,” and the bold experimentation of “Reputation” to the introspective depth of “Lover,” every era was represented. The carefully curated setlist allowed fans to relive cherished memories and discover new facets of one of their favorite artist’s work.

Several highlights of the night included a powerful rendition of Swift’s first single, “Tim McGraw”, a stunning and harmonious duet of folklore’s “exile” originally featuring Bon Iver, and the forever iconic heartbreak anthem, “All Too Well.” The performers who tackled these monumental songs delivered breathtaking renditions that left the audience spellbound.

“The Franklin Theatre Sings the Music of Taylor Swift” was more than just a concert; it was a celebration of music, artistry, and community. It showcased the incredible talent that resides here in Franklin, Tennessee and reaffirmed the city’s status as a music hub. Discover what shows are making their way to Main Street in the near future: LINK

Concert performance for release of Evolution, nine-time GRAMMY® award winner Sheryl Crow’s 11^th full- length studio album, will take place on March 23rd at The Franklin Theatre; Concert to be filmed and televised nationally on PBS

Sheryl Crow and The Franklin Theatre today announced that the nine-time GRAMMY® Award-winner and 2023 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee will celebrate the release of her 11th full-length studio album, Evolution, at The Franklin Theatre on March 23^rd, 2024 with a special concert event.

Tickets are available to Franklin Theatre Loyalty Club members today, with public on-sale this Friday (3/8) at 11 a.m. via The Franklin Theatre’s website: Tickets HERE

The concert will be filmed and broadcast to a national audience on PBS later in the year, marking the first in a series of special events at the Franklin Theatre.

The new album, which features nine new songs, was produced by Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Maroon 5, Keith Urban, Gary Clark Jr) and John Shanks (the track “Do It Again”) will be released via The Valory Music Co. on March 29^th. Evolution is available for pre-order HERE. The album’s stunning title track featuring guitarist Tom Morello is out now. Listen HERE and check out the lyric video HERE. A deluxe version of the album includes the bonus track “Digging In The Dirt,” a classic Peter Gabriel song, with backing vocals by Gabriel himself, available this Friday, March 8^th.

Evolution is Sheryl Crow at her most authentically human self. “This music and these lyrics came from sitting in the quiet and writing from a deep soul place,” she explains. “I said I’d never make another record, thought there was no point to it. But this music comes from my soul, and I hope whoever hears this record can feel that.”

NEW SINGLE “WAITING FOR YOU” WITH HARMONY VOCALS BY LUCIUS OUT NOW. ARTIST TO EMBARK ON TOUR OF NASHVILLE IN MAY

Grammy-and Oscar-winner T Bone Burnett will release his first solo album in nearly 20 years, The Other Side, April 19 on Verve Forecast. The album’s lead single, “Waiting For You,” with Lucius on harmony vocals, is out today. Watch the visualizer HERE and preorder the album HERE.

Burnett will also play his first full-length concerts in two decades, embarking on a tour of Nashville that begins at the Franklin Theatre on May 3, continues at The Blue Room at Third Man Records on May 9, and concludes at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater on May 10. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 1 at 9am CST, and information can be found HERE.

The Other Side is a return to Burnett’s roots as a singer and songwriter, delving deeply into the myriad genres of American Music. The 12-song collection is centered on a love story, following the journey of a couple that may no longer be of this plane. Co-produced by Colin Linden, Mike Piersante and

Burnett, the album features longtime friends Rosanne Cash and early bandmate Steven Soles, newer artists Lucius and Weyes Blood, and trusted musical companions including Dennis Crouch, Stuart Duncan, Jay Bellerose, and Rory Hoffman.

A deeply personal work, The Other Side features some of the richest vocals and most direct songs of the artist’s long career.

Following his dystopic The Invisible Light series, The Other Side reflects a new outlook and approach Burnett didn’t even know he was seeking. While the album includes some songs Burnett had tinkered with before, the bulk of the record materialized in a sudden burst of writing after he finally allowed himself to buy some new guitars. “Every time I picked one up, a song would pour out of it,” he recalls of this near-magical spark of creativity. “There were all these songs in these guitars. And they just came out over a three-week period.”

When Burnett was making his new record, he was thinking a lot about “you.”

“I was reading a news story that some shocking percentage of number one hit songs had the word you in the title,” he says, and started contemplating who all those “yous” are and what it means when an artist puts them in a song. He realized that for many years, when he worked on his own solo albums as a singer-songwriter—in between acclaimed stints of coaxing the best work out of a wildly diverse set of artists as a producer or curating ideal soundtracks for an equally disparate group of films and series—he had been “tough” on listeners.

“I view the purpose of art as creating conscience, so I was constantly appealing to people’s consciences,” he says of a solo career that stretches back to the mid- ‘70s, “but I realized when a songwriter uses the word you, he is, of course, in the world of conscience, but he’s also in the world of people’s dreams. And when you enter into people’s dreams, you have to be very careful with them.”

This return to form fits seamlessly in the contemporary cultural landscape shaped so heavily by Burnett’s career in the arts. Working on The Other Side, he sought to care for himself as an artist in the same manner he has helped shepherd so many others in the studio and ended up finding himself in the process.

Full casting has been revealed for the Nashville premiere of ONLY HOPE: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO A WALK TO REMEMBER, which plays the historic Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee, from Thursday, April 25th, through Sunday, April 28th, 2024.

Joining the cast will be CONNOR BARR as Clay Gephardt, BOURKE FLOYD (Dawson’s Creek, RENT) as Worth Carter, TANIA JOY as Cynthia Carter, DANI KUCERA as Tracy Sparks, ROBERT MANNIS as Reverend Sullivan, CASSADEE POPE (The Voice Season 3 winner) as Belinda Foreman, and RICHAUN STEWART as Eric Janzen.

They join original cast members BRIAN LOGAN DALES (frontman of pop-punk band The Summer Set) and JANEL PARRISH (Pretty Little Liars, To All The Boys I Loved Before) as Landon and Jamie, respectively.

Based on the beloved novel by Nicholas Sparks and unforgettable Warner Bros. film (starring Mandy Moore and Shane West), and featuring songs from and inspired by the film’s iconic soundtrack, the unofficial stage show tells the moving story of too-cool-for-school Landon Carter and devout Jamie Sullivan, two teenagers from different social circles whose lives intersect unexpectedly in the small town of Beaufort, South Carolina. Just as their unlikely friendship becomes something more, Landon learns Jamie has leukemia, but before she goes, she’ll leave a lasting impact on his heart, teaching him everything about life, hope, and the long journey ahead.

With adaptation by JORDAN ROSS SCHINDLER (co-creator of Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical) and music direction and arrangements by ELMO ZAPP, Only Hope evokes nostalgia from the novel and film, while reminding us of the profound impact love and faith can have on our lives.

Don’t miss this opportunity to experience one of Nicholas Sparks’ most cherished stories live on stage!

Get Tickets!

In honor of April being National Volunteer Month, Jeff Miller of Millbrook Farms has graciously gifted a handful of NOOK volunteers tickets to the Deborah Allen concert at the Franklin Theatre. The performance is scheduled for the evening of Saturday, April 15th, at 8:00 p.m.

NOOK, which stands for Needs of Our Kids, is a local organization that partners with schools in our community to eliminate barriers to education for kids in crisis. Their mission is to support school staff in the Franklin Special School District and the schools of Williamson County as they work to ensure that all students enter the classroom ready to learn and succeed by achieving their highest potential.

Don’t miss your chance to enjoy this spectacular event! Come experience world-class entertainment in this celebrated venue, and purchase your tickets HERE.

The Franklin Theatre is excited to announce a re-launch of its movie offerings with a new curated, themed movie-going experience in collaboration with Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory and founder of the highly successful Movie Gang series at the Theatre.

Movie offerings fall into four distinct themes: Sci Fi Sundays, Rock & Roll Mondays, Throwback Thursday Comedy Nights, and Family Forever Matinee Saturdays. Tickets are already on sale for the series kick off on Thursday, April 6^th with Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore.

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 7^th for the following showings:

• Big – Saturday, April 29^th
• Talladega Nights – Thursday, May 11^th
• A Star Is Born – Monday, May 22^nd
• La Bamba – Monday, May 29^th
• Walk The Line – Thursday, June 5^th
• Bohemian Rhapsody – Monday, June 12^th
• The Martian – Sunday, July 2^nd

“We’re so happy to present a movie series for everyone,” said Eric Dilts, Managing Director of The Franklin Theatre. “Seeing a film on the big screen in our historic theatre is an unmatched experience. As our community continues to grow, these showings offer more opportunities for The Franklin Theatre to be a gathering in beautiful Downtown Franklin, Tennessee.”

This new series gives movie fans the chance to watch their favorite shows on the big screen again in a beautiful, art-deco inspired auditorium. Themed lighting and decorations, concessions and drink specials, and coordinated pre-show music will make these showings a more immersive experience than a typical night at the movies.

Opening in 1937 with the film Night Must Fall, starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell, The Franklin Theatre has been a home for movies in Franklin’s Historic Downtown since its beginning. Even through its renovation and reopening, movies have remained a key focal point in The Franklin Theatre’s programming efforts.

“Movies at The Franklin Theatre are a pastime we love and stand by,” added Chad Gilbert. “With this new series, we’re creating a more intentional home for movie lovers in Franklin and Middle Tennessee.”

For ticket information, visit www.franklintheatre.com/movies or call 615-538-2076.

The film, set on the Natchez Trace, follows the events surrounding the death of the famed American explorer & will feature Q & A with Director & Actor

A story of the allegedly unresolved 1809 demise of a national hero, Mysterious Circumstance, directed by Clark Richey, sheds light on Meriwether Lewis’s death by gunshot on the Natchez Trace, an isolated frontier road connecting Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi. The film explores if the famed explorer committed suicide as history reports or was his end far more sinister?

In the film, entangled versions of Lewis’s tragic ending at a remote Tennessee inn are imagined by his friend Alexander Wilson (Billy Slaughter, Mindhunter) during a tense encounter with Priscilla Grinder (Gousset, The Card Counter) – the only witness to Lewis’s final night alive. The historical thriller brings together an award-winning cast and crew that includes Schneider (The Dukes of Hazzard), Sonny Marinelli (Entourage) and Evan Williams (Versailles) as Lewis.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to premiere Mysterious Circumstance, at the historic Franklin Theatre,” said Eric Dilts, Managing Director of The Franklin Theatre. “Set just southwest of Franklin, this film is an opportunity for us to shine a light on the rich, and sometimes complicated, history of Middle Tennessee.”

In addition to the screening of Mysterious Circumstance, the evening will include brief remarks before the film and a Q & A with writer & director Clark Richey and Amye Gousset, lead actress & producer immediately following.

Tickets and more information can be found at www.franklintheatre.com/mysterious-circumstance/. Tickets are also available by calling 615-538-2076, or visiting the box office at 419 Main Street, Franklin, TN.

The concert, written by Franklin, TN residents Douglas Waterbury-Tieman and Annabelle Fox, will feature veterans of the stage and screen.

The Franklin Theatre will play host to a concert version of JOHNNY & THE DEVIL’S BOX, a Broadway-bound bluegrass musical, on September 16^th, 2022.

Written by Franklin, TN local and Belmont University graduate Douglas Waterbury-Tieman, and boasting a creative team of Broadway veterans, including Scott Wasserman (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Great Comet) and Jennifer Jancuska (Hamilton), JOHNNY & THE DEVIL’S BOX tells the story of a boastful fiddle player who attracts the attention of the Devil in his aim to prove his skills.

“Johnny & The Devil’s Box is an exciting and unique opportunity for The Franklin Theatre to present world-class performing arts experiences to our community,” said Eric Dilts, Managing Director of The Franklin Theatre. “Audiences will love its lively, bluegrass score, conceived right here in the heart of Middle Tennessee. We are honored to be part of the development history of this highly praised new musical theatre work and look forward to watching this musical become a hit in Tennessee and beyond.”

“We have such a history with the Franklin Theatre, having performed there many times over the years with Studio Tenn,” said Waterbury-Tieman. “Now to be able to bring our original music to the stage with such an incredible cast of guest artists is an incredible honor. We can’t wait to watch the audience tap their feet to the fiddle in our very favorite theatre.”

The musical’s journey began locally at Belmont University where Waterbury-Tieman conceived of the work, along the way presenting a 29-Hour reading with Studio Tenn. Momentum quickly gained for the show until plans for a production at the Tony Award Winning Goodspeed Opera House were put on hold due to the pandemic’s shut down of Broadway. The Franklin Theatre’s engagement is an opportunity to present a distinct concert interpretation of the show for audiences prior to its full production Regional Premiere this November at the Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, TN.

The Franklin Theatre concert will feature Waterbury-Tieman alongside his wife Annabelle Fox (No Strings Off Broadway Revival), Matthew Carlton (The Doyle and Debbie Show, Nash Rep’s Ragtime), Rachel Potter (X-Factor; Broadway’s Addams Family, Evita), A.J. Smith (The Kelly Clarkson Show), Jake Speck (Broadway’s Jersey Boys; Nashville), with more to be announced. The supporting band will feature Zach and Maggie White, Laura Ray and Ben Jones, with Matt Logan serving as Consulting Producer.

Tickets can be found at www.franklintheatre.com/johnny-devils-box. Tickets are also available by calling 615-538-2076, or visiting the box office at 419 Main Street, Franklin, TN.

Fan favorites, like White Christmas and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,

return to The Historic Franklin Theatre and go on sale this Friday.

We are excited to announce Republic Bank as the presenting sponsor for its holiday movie screenings throughout December. As part of their month-long “Christmas in July” promotion, all holiday movies will go on sale Friday, July 22 at 11:00 AM.

“Holiday movies at The Franklin Theatre have become a staple for many families in middle Tennessee,” said The Franklin Theatre’s Managing Director, Eric Dilts. “Our 2022 lineup is sure to excite all audiences with the beloved classics and fan-favorites. These holiday screenings often sell out, so everyone is encouraged to make their holiday viewing plans now if they can. Also, as a corporate partner that is helping keep this tradition alive, we’re thrilled to have Republic Bank work with us this year to bring these cherished movies to our historic theatre”.

“Republic Bank, for over 40 years, has really strived to be a community partner in all the markets that we serve. The Franklin Theatre, to us, is a treasure here. Not only for the historical aspect, but for the entertainment value that it brings,” said Chad Hart, Tennessee Market President for Republic Bank. “It’s become a time-honored tradition for many families in Williamson County to enjoy some of the holiday shows, and we’re excited to be part of it this year.”

As an added benefit, patrons that purchase any “Christmas in July” movie or live show will be entered to win a Franklin Theatre prize package that includes Franklin Theatre Merchandise, concessions and (non-holiday) movie vouchers, and a $100 Franklin Theatre gift card.

The “Christmas in July” movie lineup will include:

• THE LAST HOLIDAY; December 6^th, 2022
• ELF; December 10^th, 2022
• THIS CHRISTMAS; December 12^th, 2022        
• A CHRISTMAS STORY; December 13^th, 2022
• NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION; December 18^th & 19^th, 2022
• HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS; December 19^th, 2022
• IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE; December 20^th, 22^nd, & 23^rd, 2022
• THE POLAR EXPRESS; December 21^st & 22^nd, 2022
• WHITE CHRISTMAS; December 22^nd, 2022

Additional showings may be added throughout the season.  Complete dates, showtimes and tickets can be found at https://www.franklintheatre.com/christmas-in-july/.