Encore Atlanta

Children inhabit a world of possibility and imagination, where they can be and do anything. As they grow up and are faced with everyday realities and concerns, it’s very hard to hold on to that world. The fictional boy Peter Pan, however, has found a way to never grow up. Perhaps that’s why the story of how he enchants the Darling children,  introduces them to Neverland and his gang of ageless “lost boys,” and fights the tyrannical Captain Jack Hook has captivated audiences for more than 100 years.

This threesixtyº production of J.M. Barrie’s classic story aims to create an environment that is every bit as magical as the tale that unfolds beneath its tented parameters. Utilizing the same computer-generated imagery (CGI) that movie audiences have seen animate Pixar films and special effects in movies such as Avatar and the Harry Potter series, the Peter Pan set is made up of 3-D images projected to create a 360-degree stage set that is the first of its kind. Inside the threesixtyº Theatre, 12 projectors create the illusion of a virtual world, filling the interior of the 1,300-seat tent with more than 15,000 square feet of high-resolution video and creating a panoramic set that’s three times the size of an IMAX theater screen.

“The set designer, William Dudley, came up with the idea,” says co-producer Robert Butters. “He saw the inside of the tent and said, ‘Wow, that would be amazing — to be able to create 360-degree computer generated imagery that takes you on this flight, but doesn’t overwhelm the story.’”

Thanks to Dudley’s inspired idea, when Peter Pan flies with Wendy to Neverland, the audience flies with them over 400 square miles of virtual London and beyond. Not surprisingly, this is Butters’ favorite moment in the show, because “When you see that first flight, you really do hear audible gasps.”

But, he is quick to point out, this production isn’t all about fancy special effects. The producers wanted to create a theater environment in which to tell great stories. And this stage production is very faithful to the world of J.M. Barrie’s original play, which is more bittersweet and complex than the Disney animated film or subsequent Broadway musical.

“Our Tinker Bell is fairly feisty,” Butters says. “[And], it’s a fairly sad story about Peter. Everybody else grows up, but he doesn’t. It’s about growing up, it’s about adolescence, it’s about all the things that we deal with each day. Adults really do come out feeling like they have seen something that moves them.”

And, he says with a laugh, children do too. “I have four young kids, and I have a three-year-old who now won’t wear a shirt because he’s seen Peter Pan and [wants to] act like Jack Hook,” Butters says. “He understands the story. [He] connects to it because it has such great imagery. Even though the show for that age person is slightly longer than they’d ever sit through, they sit mesmerized because there’s something going on at all times.”

The Atlanta engagement of Peter Pan marks its East Coast premiere, and only its third stop on a national tour. It originally premiered last year to sold-out crowds in London’s Kensington Garden, the literal birthplace of Peter Pan (where Barrie got his inspiration for the story), and is here fresh from engagements in San Francisco and Orange County, Calif. It takes 14 days to erect the tented stage and prepare the theater for performances. Throughout the run of the show, backstage “Inside Neverland” tours will offer audiences a look at the work that went into creating the world’s first 360-degree CGI theater set.

Butters says they’re excited to bring the show to Atlanta, which has a “great culture” with a growing reputation for supporting theater, especially tented attractions.

“Also, because of where we are adjacent to the World of Coke, I think we really will appeal to people who haven’t gone to a more traditional theater before,” Butters adds. “There hasn’t been anything like this in that environment, we’re in a great location, [and] we feel honored to be there.”

Peter Pan plays from Jan. 21-March 20 adjacent to the World of Coca-Cola by Centennial Olympic Park. For more information, visit peterpantheshow.com.

Children inhabit a world of possibility and imagination, where they can be and do anything. As they grow up and are faced with everyday realities and concerns, it’s very hard to hold on to that world. The fictional boy Peter Pan, however, has found a way to never grow up. Perhaps that’s why the story of how he enchants the Darling children,  introduces them to Neverland and his gang of ageless “lost boys,” and fights the tyrannical Captain Jack Hook has captivated audiences for more than 100 years.

This threesixtyº production of J.M. Barrie’s classic story aims to create an environment that is every bit as magical as the tale that unfolds beneath its tented parameters. Utilizing the same computer-generated imagery (CGI) that movie audiences have seen animate Pixar films and special effects in movies such as Avatar and the Harry Potter series, the Peter Pan set is made up of 3-D images projected to create a 360-degree stage set that is the first of its kind. Inside the threesixtyº Theatre, 12 projectors create the illusion of a virtual world, filling the interior of the 1,300-seat tent with more than 15,000 square feet of high-resolution video and creating a panoramic set that’s three times the size of an IMAX theater screen.

“The set designer, William Dudley, came up with the idea,” says co-producer Robert Butters. “He saw the inside of the tent and said, ‘Wow, that would be amazing — to be able to create 360-degree computer generated imagery that takes you on this flight, but doesn’t overwhelm the story.’”

Thanks to Dudley’s inspired idea, when Peter Pan flies with Wendy to Neverland, the audience flies with them over 400 square miles of virtual London and beyond. Not surprisingly, this is Butters’ favorite moment in the show, because “When you see that first flight, you really do hear audible gasps.”

But, he is quick to point out, this production isn’t all about fancy special effects. The producers wanted to create a theater environment in which to tell great stories. And this stage production is very faithful to the world of J.M. Barrie’s original play, which is more bittersweet and complex than the Disney animated film or subsequent Broadway musical.

“Our Tinker Bell is fairly feisty,” Butters says. “[And], it’s a fairly sad story about Peter. Everybody else grows up, but he doesn’t. It’s about growing up, it’s about adolescence, it’s about all the things that we deal with each day. Adults really do come out feeling like they have seen something that moves them.”

And, he says with a laugh, children do too. “I have four young kids, and I have a three-year-old who now won’t wear a shirt because he’s seen Peter Pan and [wants to] act like Jack Hook,” Butters says. “He understands the story. [He] connects to it because it has such great imagery. Even though the show for that age person is slightly longer than they’d ever sit through, they sit mesmerized because there’s something going on at all times.”

The Atlanta engagement of Peter Pan marks its East Coast premiere, and only its third stop on a national tour. It originally premiered last year to sold-out crowds in London’s Kensington Garden, the literal birthplace of Peter Pan (where Barrie got his inspiration for the story), and is here fresh from engagements in San Francisco and Orange County, Calif. It takes 14 days to erect the tented stage and prepare the theater for performances. Throughout the run of the show, backstage “Inside Neverland” tours will offer audiences a look at the work that went into creating the world’s first 360-degree CGI theater set.

Butters says they’re excited to bring the show to Atlanta, which has a “great culture” with a growing reputation for supporting theater, especially tented attractions.

“Also, because of where we are adjacent to the World of Coke, I think we really will appeal to people who haven’t gone to a more traditional theater before,” Butters adds. “There hasn’t been anything like this in that environment, we’re in a great location, [and] we feel honored to be there.”

Peter Pan plays from Jan. 21-March 20 adjacent to the World of Coca-Cola by Centennial Olympic Park. For more information, visit peterpantheshow.com.

Jeff Whitty doesn’t ever, ever want to create a musical on Broadway.

That’s good news for theater audiences in Atlanta, and the reason that Whitty, the Tony Award-winning book writer of Avenue Q, can be found night and day at the Alliance Theatre. He’s part of an all-star team there to incubate the world premiere musical Bring It On, about the high-stakes world of competitive cheerleading.

Team members are some of the most acclaimed young creators in the world of musical theater today. Collectively, they own three Tony Awards, three Tony nominations, a bucketful of Drama Desk Awards/nominations and a Pulitzer. In addition to Avenue Q, they’re the men and women behind Next to Normal, In the Heights, American Idiot, High Fidelity and Everyday Rapture – almost all musicals with a brain, a heart and a contemporary sound.

For Bring It On: The Musical, Whitty is writing the libretto. The music is by Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights). The lyrics are by Miranda and Amanda Green (daughter of Phyllis Newman and the great Adolph Green). Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights, 9 to 5) directs and choreographs the piece, which reportedly hits its own heights with cheerleading competitors often tossed toward the rafters. Producer Mike Isaacson of Fox Theatricals calls it a “hip-hoppy dancing ballet that never stops.”

Bring It On runs Jan. 15 to Feb. 20 at the Midtown playhouse. It’s a blending of the original 2000 film and the four direct-to-video sequels it spawned (along with a cult following). The Alliance run is the creators’ chance to see in 3-D what they’ve crafted. Then comes six to eight months on the road, during which Blankenbuehler and Co. can tinker, tighten and improve as they see fit. Will Bring It On eventually play Broadway? It might, but that isn’t necessarily the end goal for this project.

What we’re seeing with this team is no less than the future of the American musical, which is at a crossroads. Broadway has become more and more expensive. These economics have for some time had backers playing it safe. They generally want big names, big stars, familiar titles and proven track records — not necessarily the things that promote high artistry. That’s where places like the Alliance, and the Berkeley Repertory and La Jolla Playhouse, both in California, come in.

“There is a culture war on Broadway right now between art and entertainment,” producer Isaacson says. “The last instant overnight hit was, I think, The Producers.” And that was in 2001.

Both the longest-running Broadway shows of all time and the highest-grossing current shows prove Isaacson’s point — the art vs. entertainment battle and the birthing processes.

The Phantom of the Opera is more spectacle that art, and an import. Les Misérables is a tad more art than spectacle but also an import. Chicago, built for Broadway, blends the two. Then you have A Chorus Line, a crowd-pleasing, artistic Tony and Pulitzer juggernaut, and the revival of Oh, Calcutta! A Chorus Line began as an experiment at Joe Papp’s Public Theater and became the first show ever developed through workshops, now a common practice. Oh, Calcutta!, well, is Oh, Calcutta!, its purpose nakedly obvious.

Today’s top-selling shows, according to recent figures from Playbill Online, continue this schizophrenia. The Merchant of Venice, with Al Pacino, is a summertime transfer from the Public Theatre and Central Park. Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the high-flying extravaganza from Julie Taymor (The Lion King), Bono and the Edge, is wholly commercial. Wicked tried out in San Francisco before moving to Broadway, and Jersey Boys was polished at the La Jolla Playhouse near San Diego. The just-closed Scottsboro Boys, the last musical by Kander and Ebb, about the infamous “Scottsboro” case of the 1930s, in which a group of African-American teenagers were unjustly accused of attacking two white women, began at off-Broadway’s Vineyard Theatre and sat down at Minnesota’s storied Guthrie Theatre before landing on Broadway.

The key in every case, says Bring It On’s Kitt, is finding something that “needs to be a musical,” whether is comes from literature, Hollywood or is original. “No bells and whistles can save a show that doesn’t work.”

At a roundtable discussion at the Alliance, his creative collaborators voiced their agreement:

• “Musicals should be entertaining,” lyricist Green says, “but should also be intelligent, with a brain and a heart.”

• “Part of the American musical theater is heading toward big spectacles that, for me, are not satisfying,” says Whitty. “I think what audiences want to see is people relating to each other.”
• Isaacson insists, “You have to really fight for a musical today.”

Regardless of the end result, Bring It On gives Atlanta a chance to see what this rare collection of talented human beings can do. As Alliance Theatre Jennings Hertz, Jr. Artistic Director Susan V. Booth so rightly says, it’s “a chemistry project of talent that is a once-in-a-generation event.”

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Kathy Janich is an Atlanta theater artist and freelance writer. After years in daily newspapers, she’s found a joyous second career as an artistic associate at Atlanta’s Synchronicity Theatre. Visit  synchrotheatre.com.

With the release of the seventh Harry Potter movie, VisitBritain has prepared a list tours for visitors who want to follow in the footsteps of the teenage wizard:

• Carry On Tours - This tour offers a four-night adventure that begins in Oxford to see where the great hall and library scenes were filmed. Tourists then travel to Yorkshire to catch the Hogwarts Express, followed by a trip to Hogwarts. The tour is approximately $800 a person.
• Off To London – A two-day tour of Harry Potter locations includes visits to the village of Lacock, Oxford University’s Christ Church College, Gloucester Cathedral, Stonehenge, Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath.
• HP Fan Trips – In summer of 2011, fans will take a steam train along the same route the Hogwarts Express takes, a coach tour of London locations used in the film and partake in an exclusive “Hogwarts-style” banquet at Edinburgh Castle.
• London Walks - Visitors with only a Sunday afternoon to spare can take this walking tour, which visits more than 20 locations that appear in the movies. The walks are $15 a person and leave from Westminster or Bank tube stations.

The Fox Theatre presents their fifth-annual “Larry, Carols and Mo!,” a free Christmas carol sing-along and showing of the film Elf. Beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 13, there will be caroling in the Fox’s arcade, photos with Santa and hot apple cider. The sing-along, which starts at 7 p.m., will be led by organist Larry-Douglas Embury and joined by the Gwinnett Young Singers, the Fox Theatre Rising Stars and emcee Joe Gransden. The movie will show at 7:30 p.m., and an organ concert will finish the evening.

Tickets are available at the Fox Theatre Box Office or at ticketmaster.com. The Fox also will be accepting donations for Toys-For-Tots and the Atlanta Community Food Bank, so come bearing unused toys and cans of food.

1. Create a budget and stick to it. Decide what your total limit is, and then use that number to decide how much you can spend on everyone on your list.

2. Shop online for bargains. With a little research, you can find store items for as much to 40 percent off online.

3. Go to craft fairs and holiday markets. You may be able to get 2-for-1 deals and special concessions if you bargain with individual artists or craftsmen.

4. Have a potluck. Ask everyone on your guest list to prepare a particular food or drink. Then, gather at one house for the meal. Or, create a progressive dinner by traveling from house to house for each course.

5. Draw names out of a hat. Rather than worry about getting presents for every niece, nephew and cousin, put all the names in a hat and divvy up the present-buying responsibility among the adults in your family, so each person is only responsible for one present.

6. Make decorations with your family. Popcorn garlands, glittery pine cones and homemade wreaths not only are economical, they’re fun and easy crafts kids will enjoy helping you with. For ideas, go to crafts.kaboose.com or marthastewart.com.

7. Skype call relatives. If you go to Skype.com, start a profile and download the software, you can call anyone else on Skype for free from your computer. Mobile versions for your cell phone also are available. And if you have a webcam, that means your out-of-town relatives will be able to see as well as hear you.

Don’t worry about crunching numbers during the holidays — Fernbank Museum and Callanwolde Fine Arts Center are partnering up this season to present two programs for one low price. Learn more about the world’s many cultures at Fernbank’s Winter Wonderland: Celebrations & Traditions Around the World, a programmed exhibition showcasing decorated trees, dance performances, storytelling and more. Then, head over to Callanwolde’s Christmas at Callanwolde, where the Gothic-Tudor mansion has been elaborately decorated for the holidays by Atlanta’s top interior designers. Displays and events like a gingerbread village and an ice carving competition are also a part of the program. From Dec. 1-12, experience both attractions for a special package rate of $30 for adults, $25 for students and seniors, and $22 for children ages 12 and younger. — Penn Hansa

AtlantaPlanIt.com, a service of Public Broadcasting Atlanta, is leading a campaign to educate Atlantans about the region’s arts and cultural offerings. Over 40 organizations have signed up to help.

Arts organizations face a number of challenges that have created the need for such a partnership, including weak pubic funding for the arts and a decrease in local media coverage.

The campaign, which will launch in January 2011, will leverage the existing individual marketing efforts without diminishing each organization’s unique message. AtlantaPlanIt.com is expecting to feature offerings from more than 400 arts groups. They also will help broker discounted (or donated) ad space from media outlets interested in partnering in the launch of this collaborative campaign.

For more information or to participate in the campaign, please contact Nicole Jones at PBA at njones@pba.org or (404) 733-0945.

Amy Sedaris – actress, comedian, author, and … crafter?

Sedaris, who studied and performed with Chicago’s Second City and appeared in film, television and stage productions, demonstrates that crafting is a “pleasurable and constructive leisure activity” in her new tongue-in-cheek book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. Anyone with some spare time can undertake simple, popular craft projects like crab-claw roach clips, tinfoil balls and crepe-paper moccasins.

The funny lady will be appearing at the Atlanta History Center on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. Tickets, which include an autographed copy of Simple Times, are $35 for members and $40 for nonmembers.

To RSVP, please call (404) 814-4150 or visit their website.

Amy Sedaris – actress, comedian, author, and … crafter?

Sedaris, who studied and performed with Chicago’s Second City and appeared in film, television and stage productions, demonstrates that crafting is a “pleasurable and constructive leisure activity” in her new tongue-in-cheek book, Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. Anyone with some spare time can undertake simple, popular craft projects like crab-claw roach clips, tinfoil balls and crepe-paper moccasins.

The funny lady will be appearing at the Atlanta History Center on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. Tickets, which include an autographed copy of Simple Times, are $35 for members and $40 for nonmembers.

To RSVP, please call (404) 814-4150 or visit their website.