musicnotesAre you into nightlife? Beginning Friday, the Woodruff Arts Center in Midtown has another option for you.

It’s called “Soundstage” and envisioned as a cabaret space with full bar service and tapas. It will feature music, improv and spoken word performances, and be open the first Friday of every month. The entertainment comes compliments of the Alliance Theatre and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which are partnering to create the pop-up space.

You don’t have to have a ticket to the symphony or theater to visit Soundstage (although discounts are offered). The space is open 5 p.m. to midnight; the entertainment begins at 8 p.m. You’ll find it on the same level as Symphony Hall and the Alliance mainstage in what’s usually called the Center Space; it  fronts Peachtree Street. (Note: Parking in the neighborhood runs from $4 at meters to $12 for the attached, covered deck.)

This Friday, you’ll hear the ASO musicians of the Peachtree String Quartet and witness the shenanigans of improv performers from Dad’s Garage Theatre Company.

The first Soundstage coincides with the inaugural First Fridays With the ASO concert, a happy-hour series that begins at 6:30 p.m. Music director Robert Spano leads the orchestra in Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and guest pianist Stephen Hough plays Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Tickets ($25) are available HERE or at 404.733.5000.

Soundstage visitors can get a $5 discount on a ticket to either of two Alliance performances: By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, a comedy by Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage on the mainstage; or Warrior Class, a political thriller by Kenneth Lin, a past winner of the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition in the Hertz Stage. (Use the promo code SOUNDSTAGE5 online or at the box office.) Tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.

About Kathy Janich

Kathy Janich is a longtime arts journalist who has been seeing, working in or writing about the performing arts for most of her life. She's a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, Americans for the Arts and the National Arts Marketing Project. Full disclosure: She’s also an artistic associate at Synchronicity Theatre.

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