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Cumberland County Playhouse welcomes ‘Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers’ down South

The cast and creatives of "The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers" include, from left, Bill Frey (as patriarch Lyle Lashley), Britt Hancock (Pastor Phil), playwright Lori Fischer (Junie Lashley), director Bryce McDonald, Weslie Webster (Lashley Lee Lashley) and music director Ron Murphy.
The cast and creatives of "The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers" include, from left, Bill Frey (as patriarch Lyle Lashley), Britt Hancock (Pastor Phil), playwright Lori Fischer (Junie Lashley), director Bryce McDonald, Weslie Webster (Lashley Lee Lashley) and music director Ron Murphy. The cast and creatives of "The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers" include, from left, Bill Frey (as patriarch Lyle Lashley), Britt Hancock (Pastor Phil), playwright Lori Fischer (Junie Lashley), director Bryce McDonald, Weslie Webster (Lashley Lee Lashley) and music director Ron Murphy.

By Staff Report 3 min read

If you go

› What: “The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers.”› When: April 1-May 28 (various showtimes).› Where: Cumberland County Playhouse, 200 Tennessee Ave., Crossville, Tenn.› Admission: $25 adults, $23 seniors, $20 military and groups, $12 students.› Phone: 931-484-5000.› Website: www.ccplayhouse.com.› Note: Rated PG.

About the playwright

In addition to “The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers,” Lori Fischer’s stage projects include “Is This Heaven, Evan,” “Petie, “The Water Knows My Name,” “The Burning,” “Thoughts of Rome” and the critically acclaimed musical “Barbara’s Blue Kitchen,” which played off-Broadway in 2006.Her film credits include the short film “Dottie’s Thanksgiving Pickle,” starring Olympia Dukakis, and the feature film “Chasing Taste,” the feature comedy award winner at the 2013 Burbank International Film Festival.Her book of children’s stories is titled “Babbaganoosh, the Big Silly Goose.”

“The Sparkley Clean Funeral Singers,” a new musical comedy from Lori Fischer and Don Chaffer, will make its Southern debut with a two-month run at Cumberland County Playhouse. Fischer even has a starring role in the Crossville, Tenn., production, which opens Friday, April 1.

CCP producing director Bryce McDonald will direct the show, which had its world premiere at the Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, N.Y., in 2013.

“Lori has been working nonstop on rewrites for our new production,” says McDonald. “This new version is even funnier – and more touching – than the original and is literally tailor-made for our wonderful cast.”