Musical comedy Toe Roaster presents guys’ views on life, love and world peace

Release Date: 4/6/2005. Expired: 4/30/2005

Toe Roaster, an original musical comedy about three everyday guys sitting around a campfire, comes to the stage of The Renaissance Center in Dickson for a single show April 30.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. performance are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $6 for children under 13.

Written by Bryan Kennedy, Toe Roaster features three of Nashville’s top songwriters playing normal guys who share songs, insights, views on life and a few jokes during an evening around a campfire.

Modern-day cowboys of sorts, they fight to reconcile in their own minds the struggle between their own priorities and today’s ills. Laced with humor and music, Hamlet, Chuck and Big Daddy spend time telling tall tales, reminiscing and philosophizing. They deal with everything from how to ultimately please a woman, why everyone seems to be “up at Wal-Marts,” cell phones, swimming with sea creatures and, finally, world peace.

Kennedy wrote Toe Roaster out of a desire to share his personal experiences sitting around a campfire. He first performed around a fake campfire while opening for Garth Brooks in 1996 and ’97. Kennedy has written six songs that appeared on Brooks’ albums, including the number-one hits Beaches of Cheyenne and American Honky Tonk Bar Association.

Kennedy plays Chuck, a man with personality plus. He rides a motorcycle, dates too many women at once and produces a laugh a minute. He’s always up for a good time and is always ready to spin a tall tale. The other members of the Toe Roaster clan have a hard time taking him seriously, yet cannot seem to get enough of him. He’s the clown of the bunch and also the one that will make you think about how good you really have it in life.

Wynn Varble portrays Hamlet, the show opener. He is a very original character having been the first to come up with various clichés, he claims. He’s a man with simple pleasures and a humorous outlook on life. He keeps Chuck in check and has been his best friend for life. They have sat around hundreds of Toe Roasters over the years and have explored life to its fullest. Hamlet is married and, although he loves his wife, he finds it difficult to deal with the interruption she presents by calling his cell phone during the Toe Roasters.

Several of Varble’s songs featured in Toe Roaster also can be heard on the records of national recordings artists such as Brad Paisley and Brooks. Varble’s biggest writing credit to date is Have You Forgotten, which he wrote with Daryl Worley and topped the country charts for seven weeks. His songs also include cuts recorded by Leanne Womack and Montgomery Gentry.

Troy Jones plays Big Daddy, a newcomer to the Toe Roaster. A tractor mechanic who just happens across Hamlet and Chuck at their Toe Roaster, Big Daddy finds his place among the other two quickly. Introverted, yet funny, Big Daddy explains the reason he is called Big Daddy is because his real name, John Don John, is too confusing to people. Despite his relative quietness, Big Daddy reveals some unexpected skeletons in his closet as the night wears on, which makes for hilarious commentary.

Jones has been a successful songwriter for more than 10 years. He has written many songs as a staff writer for Polygram/Universal and currently writes for Carnival Music. He wrote The Shade Comes Free With the Tree, recorded recently by Joe Nichols. The only cast member who doesn’t live in Nashville, Jones resides in Alabama with his wife and family.

“I haven’t laughed that hard since the sneak preview of Smokey and the Bandit,” said singer/songwriter/actor/producer Jerry Reed. “I have seen the play twice and both times I see the people laid out in the aisle laughing. This play is special, truly special.”

“Toe Roaster is funny, it’s full of heart and the music is the best you’re going to hear till Bryan and Wynn and Troy write some more,” said Don Reid of The Statler Brothers. “These guys are terrific actors, great songwriters and just ugly enough to be believable.”

“It is hilarious and entertaining. Don’t wait for the book,” said Garth Brooks. “Toe Roaster is as real as it gets. But, if you know Bryan, you wouldn’t expect anything different.”

For more information on the performance of Toe Roaster at The Renaissance Center, call (615)740-5600, or visit www.toeroaster.com. To purchase tickets, call (615)740-5570.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.

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