This week: The “Pancakes” kitchen closes at the Alliance, “Smart People” opens at True Colors, and “Company” and “In the Heights” are just ahead. Pictured, from left: Joe Knezevich, Danielle Deadwyler, Neal A. Ghant and Julee Cerda as Harvard intellectuals in “Smart People.” Photo by Corey Reese.
Recommended
Pancakes, Pancakes! CLOSES SUNDAY. A world premiere, with original music, inspired by the Eric Carle picture book. Adapted by Kenneth Lin (Alliance Theatre’s Warrior Class, said Saïd), original songs by Atlanta playwright / composer Phillip DePoy (Edward Foote). $15; $8 age 6-17; under 5 free. 10 + 11:45 a.m. today-Friday; 11 a.m., 1 p.m. + 3:30 p.m. Saturday; and 1 + 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Staged by the Alliance Theatre in conjunction with the High Museum of Art exhibit I See a Story: The Art of Eric Carle. Hertz Stage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
[READ: MORE ABOUT CARLE, HIS ART AND HIS ‘PANCAKES!’]
Openings
Smart People. OPENS JULY 12 | THROUGH AUG. 7. The quest for love, achievement and identity is universal, but what role does race play in the story of our lives? That’s the question playwright Lydia Diamond (Stick Fly) poses here in the heads, hearts and minds of four Harvard intellectuals on the eve of Obama’s first election. The True Colors Theatre Company cast: Julee Cerda, Danielle Deadwyler, Neal A. Ghant and Joe Knezevich. Contains adult language and content. $10-$50. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Southwest Arts Center, 915 New Hope Road SW. Details, tickets HERE or at 877.725.8849.
Last chance
The Taming of the Shrew. CLOSES SUNDAY. Matt Nitchie is Petruchio and Dani Herd is Katherina in this famous battle of the sexes. It wraps its run at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse with this delicious caveat: “Contains graphic Elizabethan poetry of a lascivious nature performed by professional actors whose job it is to make it clear.” Consider yourself warned, or encouraged. Full pub menu and bar. $18-$35. 7:30 tonight-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299, Ext. 0.
Still playing
Charlotte’s Web. THROUGH JULY 31. Best friends Wilbur and Charlotte, a pig and a spider, tell truths about life, death and hard choices in this staging based on the E.B. White children’s book. At Serenbe Playhouse, where the action unfolds outdoors, real animals keep you company, and a cast of six plays live folk music. $10-$20. 11 a.m. Friday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. The Animal Village at Serenbe, 10950 Hutchesons Ferry Road in Chattahoochee Hills. Details, directions, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
The Little Pirate Mermaid. THROUGH JULY 17. The mermaid princess-turned-pirate sails back into the Center for Puppetry Arts in this adaptation directed by artistic director Jon Ludwig. Look for rod, marionette, shadow and black-light puppets. For ages 4+. $20.50. At 10 + 11 a.m. Tuesday-Friday; 11 a.m., noon and 1, 2, 3 + 4 p.m. Saturday; and 1, 2, 3 + 4 p.m. Sunday. 1404 Spring St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
Next week
Almost Heaven: John Denver’s America. JULY 14-30. Georgia Ensemble Theatre reprises this popular title in concert form under the stars at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Hear “Rocky Mountain High,” “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Annie’s Song,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” etc. General admission lawn seating is $15; reserved table seating is $30. You bring blankets, coolers and food, if you wish (no glass or alcohol allowed). Catered meals can be pre-ordered from Talk of the Town. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.641.1260.
‘da Kink in My Hair. JULY 15-AUG. 28. “If you want to know a black woman, you touch her hair,” says Novelette (Terry Burrell), as she digs into the tresses and stresses of her clients. On this day in her salon, customers converge to prep for dates, jobs and upkeep but leave with uplifted souls and lightened hearts. A musical written by Trey Anthony and directed by Thomas W. Jones II, with musical direction by the great S. Renee Clark. The cast includes Minka Wiltz, Jeanette Illidge and Maiesha McQueen, among others. $25 + up. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. At Horizon Theatre, 1083 Austin Ave. NE at Euclid Avenue. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450.
Kiss Me, Kate. JULY 15-AUG. 7. If you don’t know Cole Porter, you should. His last and best is a musical comedy that goes backstage and onstage with a show on the road in its pre-Broadway tryout. The show-within-a-show is Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. This tuneful battle of the sexes includes such Porter classics as “So in Love,” “Too Darn Hot,” “Wunderbar,” “From This Moment On” and “Another Op’nin’ Another Show.” Kate won five 1949 Tony awards, including best musical. $15-$30. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. At Stage Door Players, 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.396.1726.
Coming soon
Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival. AUG. 1-2. Four shows get their first audiences in this inaugural event, modeled after the long-running New York Musical Theatre Festival and taking place at two venues — Synchronicity Theatre, 1545 Peachtree St. NE, and Actor’s Express, 887 W. Marietta St. The schedule: Underground, a slave story told through song, at noon Aug. 1 (Synchronicity); The Yellow Wallpaper, based on the experiences of 1890s feminist author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, at 8 p.m. Aug. 1 (Actor’s Express); The Fine Art of Forgetting, a story of family and memory told with magic realism, at noon Aug. 2 (Synchronicity); and What’s Past, in which a pair of siblings wonder what they’d do if they could remember all the things they never knew they forgot, at 8 p.m. Aug. 2 (Actor’s Express). Get passes and single tickets ($27.50-$80) online HERE or by calling Actor’s Express at 404.607.7469. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
[READ: FEST TICKETS, MUSICALS + MORE]
Company. PREVIEWS JULY 27-29 | OPENS JULY 30. Actor’s Express opens its 29th season promising a “modern makeover” of this 1971 Tony Award-winning Stephen Sondheim classic. Robert, who’s turning 35, is single and living in New York City. He confronts his perpetual bachelorhood — surrounded by his married, meddling friends — in a series of funny-sad-awkward vignettes. The cast (Libby Whittemore, Jill Hames, Jessica Miesel, Daniel Burns, Craig Waldrip, among others) and the score (“The Ladies Who Lunch,” “Another Hundred People” and “Being Alive,” among them) easily make this a best bet. $28 + up (previews are cheaper, opening night more expensive). Through Aug. 7. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. 887 W. Marietta St. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
In the Heights. JULY 21-AUG. 28. Expect this to be a hot, hot ticket. The Aurora Theatre / Theatrical Outfit team behind last season’s Memphis, reunites for this 2007 Tony Award-winning best musical by an up-and-comer named Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). It’s set in NYC’s Washington Heights, a place where Usnavi’s corner bodega serves coffee light and sweet, the windows are always open and the breeze carries a sense of change. Season subscriptions are $95-$171) on sale now; single seats are $30-$65. At 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Also at 10 a.m. ($20 + up) Aug. 10 + 17. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking in city of Lawrenceville deck at 153 E. Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. (The show also runs Sept. 8-18 at the Rialto Center for the Arts in downtown Atlanta, 80 Forsyth St. NW).
