Looking for something cultural to do this weekend and beyond? Our select list of recommendations includes Horton Foote’s “Dividing the Estate” at Theatrical Outfit, with a who’s who of Atlanta actors including, from left, Tess Malis Kincaid, Caroline Freedlund, Mark Kincaid and Jessica Miesel. Photo by Adam Shumaker.
OPENING THIS WEEKEND
Annie. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH APRIL 20. The little orphan who never stops singing and dancing sets up shop at Atlanta Lyric Theatre. The 1977 musical has proven its mettle with stagings and revivals all over the country. The Lyric version features Kevin Harry (Javert in Aurora Theatre’s award-winning Les Miserables) as Daddy Warbucks. $25-$50. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Additional show at 2 p.m. April 19. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre at the Cobb Country Civic Center complex, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.377.9948. Ticket discount at PoshDealz.com.
Dividing the Estate. PREVIEWS TONIGHT-FRIDAY | OPENS SATURDAY. Matriarch Stella Gordon is determined not to divide her 100-year-old Texas estate, despite her family’s looming financial crises. Her three children, however, have other ideas. Theatrical Outfit stages Horton Foote’s dark comedy with a stellar 13-member cast featuring the husband-and-wife teams of Mary Lynn Owen (as Stella) and Rob Cleveland, and Tess Malis Kincaid and Mark Kincaid, along with Elizabeth Wells Berkes, S. Renee Clark, Danielle Deadwyler, Caroline Freedlund, Marianne Hammock, Bart Hansard, Jessica Miesel, Maria Rodriguez-Sager and Scott Warren. Tom Key directs. $20-$50. Through April 20. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 & 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Balzer Theater at Herren’s, 84 Luckie St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 1.877.725.8849. Ticket discounts (April 3-11) at PoshDealz.com.
Macbeth. OPENS TONIGHT | THROUGH MAY 4. Witches. Prophecy. Greed. Desire for power. A wife’s yearnings. Which one seals the fate of Macbeth and his country? Journey to Scotland via the New American Shakespeare Tavern, with Jacob York as the tragic hero and Veronika Duerr as his diabolical Lady. $15-$36. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299. (Pictured: York and Duerr)
Maurice Hines Is Tappin’ Thru Life. IN PREVIEWS | OPENS APRIL 9. The lifelong performer and Tony Award nominee (Sophisticated Ladies, Uptown … It’s Hot!) narrates his own story in this musical, which also pays tribute to his Tony Award-winning brother, Gregory, and singers from Frank Sinatra to Lena Horne. The show also features the all-female, nine-piece Diva Orchestra. A co-production of the Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and the Cleveland Play House. Through May 4. $30-$75. Opening night curtain is 8 p.m. Otherwise: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 & 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Alliance Theatre mainstage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. Discounted tickets and dinner-show packages (previews only) at PoshDealz.com.
CLOSING THIS WEEKEND
1001 Nights: A Love Story About Loving Stories. CLOSES SUNDAY. Using only her imagination — and her Broadway voice — a princess saves a kingdom from an evil decree. Genies, jesters, 40 thieves and other fantastical creations come to life in this inventive staging of an early hit by Tony Award winner Robert Lopez (Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon). A co-production of New York’s Flying Carpet Theatre Company and the Center for Puppetry Arts. The hand-and-rod, rod and shadow puppets used were designed by the Center’s Jason von Hinezmeyer and built in Atlanta. $16.50; under 2 free. 10 a.m. & noon today; 10 a.m. & 8 p.m. Friday; 3 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 & 5 p.m. Sunday. 1404 Spring St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown. CLOSES SUNDAY. Regional premiere. Aurora Theatre stages this 2009 musical about a high school grad who has everything a teenager wants: brains, a boyfriend, functional parents and an acceptance letter to the college of her choice. Her bags are packed, and she’s ready to take off, but something is holding her back. This staging is a chance to see work by the young New York composing team of Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk. The critics: “What ultimately makes Samantha Brown worth seeing, aside from many catchy songs, is the cast” (Jim Farmer, ArtsATL.com); “A fresh, interesting take on a coming-of-age story” (Kenny Norton, Atlanta Theater Fans). $25-$35. 8 tonight-Friday; 2:30 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 128 East Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, attached, covered parking in city of Lawrenceville deck at 153 Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
THIS WEEKEND ONLY
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: First Fridays. FRIDAY ONLY. The ASO invites you to skip traffic and get a classical jump on the weekend. The bar opens early and a shorter program with no intermission means you’ll be out the door by 7:45 or so. Principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles leads the ASO in Brahms’ Symphony No. 4. $25. 6:30 p.m. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. SATURDAY-SUNDAY. Principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor, an ASO favorite, join the orchestra and chorus for an all-Brahms program featuring Symphony No. 4, Gesang der Parzen, Schicksalslied and Alto Rhapsody. $24-$75. 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
NOW PLAYING
The Best Game. THROUGH APRIL 13. A highly driven NYU student takes a risky detour when she decides to seek out her long-lost father. A world premiere from Rising Sage Theatre (formerly 3 Hill Productions) and playwright Paris Crayton III , a Rising Sage co-founder. The cast: Isake Akanke and Gerard Catus (“Law & Order: SVU,” “The Wire”). $20 advance; $25 at the door. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Porter Sanford Performing Arts Center, 3181 Rainbow Drive, Decatur. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.500.SAGE (7243).
Elemeno Pea. THROUGH APRIL 13. A dark comedy set at summer’s end on Martha’s Vineyard, where the haves and have-nots are flying without a net. The cast: Cynthia D. Barker (Third Country), Adam Fristoe, Tony Guerrero, Cara Mantella and Tiffany Porter. Includes explicit language and adult situations. The critics: “Playwright Molly Smith Metzler’s script keeps things at a broad, sitcom-level pitch, and director Heidi Cline McKerley cranks it up to 11. … The show’s greatest strength is its cast” (Andrew Alexander, ArtsATL.com); “A juicy drama about truth and consequences” (Kenny Norton, Atlanta Theater Fans). At Horizon Theatre. $20-$30. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 & 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. 1083 Austin Ave. N.E. at Euclid Avenue. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450. For more on Horizon’s season, see this ENCORE FEATURE.
Maple and Vine. THROUGH APRIL 20. The “darkly playful” (The New York Times) story of a modern couple who’ve grown weary of their 21st-century lives and try to escape by joining a community of 1950s re-enactors. At Actor’s Express. The cast, led by Kate Donadio and Michael Sung-Ho, includes John Benzinger, Jeremy Harrison and Tiffany Morgan. The critics: “The lighter and less serious, the better” (Bert Osborne, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Through April 20. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. 887 W. Marietta St. in the King Plow Arts Center. Details, tickets (buy online and save) HERE or at 404.607.SHOW. Ticket discounts through April 6 at PoshDealz.com. (Pictured: Donadio, left, and Morgan. Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus.)
Miracle on South Division Street. THROUGH APRIL 13. Regional premiere. Stage Door Players takes on this comedy/drama about a Buffalo, N.Y., family led by its matriarch, who runs a soup kitchen and tends to the family heirloom, a 20-foot shrine commemorating the day in 1942 when the Blessed Virgin Mary materialized in her father’s barber shop. The cast features the mother-son duo of Susan Shalhoub Larkin and Tony Larkin, who’ve never been on a professional stage together before, as well as Kara Cantrell and Kelly Criss. $22-$27. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Details HERE. For tickets, call 770.396.1726.
LOOKING AHEAD
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. APRIL 10-11, 13. Principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles leads a program featuring Metamorphosen and the Oboe Concerto by Strauss, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. ASO principal oboist Elizabeth Koch Tiscione solos on the concerto. $24-$75. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
Blackberry Winter. APRIL 12-19. Out of Hand Theater presents a workshop production of this new play about Alzheimer’s disease. The script is by Atlanta-bred, Los Angeles-based playwright Steve Yockey (Pluto, Wolves, Octopus, etc.) and features actor Carolyn Cook. The piece recounts one woman’s memories of caring for her aging mother and the challenging decisions they face. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Alzheimer’s Association. $15. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Horizon Theatre, 1083 Euclid Ave. N.E. at Austin Avenue. Details, tickets HERE.
Stephen Mills’ Hamlet. APRIL 11-13. Atlanta Ballet dances a modern production of the Shakespeare masterpiece, set to music by Philip Glass and played live by the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. $20-$120. 8 p.m. Friday; 2 & 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.892.3302. (Photo by Charle McCullers)
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Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, working in or covering the performing arts for most of her life. Full disclosure: She’s affiliated with Theatrical Outfit mentioned above. Please email: kathy@encoreatlanta.com.
