What to do, what to see? Your choices are abundant, from the closing weekend of “Wit” at Aurora Theatre, to the Alliance’s timely and ongoing “Disgraced,” to “Moxie” at Theatrical Outfit with Tony Larkin and Carolyn Cook.
Recommended
Disgraced. THROUGH FEB. 14. Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for drama, a Tony Award nominee for best play, this season’s most-produced American play and soon to be an HBO movie. American playwright Ayad Akhtar tells the story of a lawyer who’s rapidly moving up the corporate ladder while distancing himself from his Muslim roots. When he and his wife host a dinner party, friendly conversation turns dangerous. Post-show conversations follow most performances. Note: Contains profanity, extreme violence and adult themes. For ages 17 and up. $20-$95. 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, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. For more, see this ENCORE FEATURE.
[VIDEO: PLAYWRIGHT AYAD AKHTAR DISCUSSES HIS WORK]
Moxie. EXTENDED THROUGH FEB. 28. This world premiere is a big deal. The script, by Atlanta playwrights Lane Carlock and Brian Kurlander, was developed in part in the first year of the Alliance Theatre’s Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab. The story: A Marine in Afghanistan connects with his son by crafting a handmade book. As the unfinished book travels the world, it picks up more stories and a mystical force. At Theatrical Outfit. $20-$55. 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 678.528.1500. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. THROUGH FEB. 28. Kevin Harry is the reason to see Actor’s Express‘ version of this dark musical, often considered Stephen Sondheim’s masterwork. Harry (AE’s Murder Ballad, Aurora’s Les Miserables) plays the wronged barber bent on revenge as well as the role can be played, seriously, with a baritone made of iron-fisted velvet. Deborah Bowman (Serenbe’s A Streetcar Named Desire) is his Mrs. Lovett, a scheming partner in crime and the making of meat pies. $21-$40. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Selling out, so plan ahead. At the King Plow Arts Center, 887 West Marietta St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.607.7469. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
[COLUMN: 10 MUST-SEES FOR YOUR THEATERGOING CALENDAR]
Wit. CLOSES SUNDAY. If only it could run forever or at least much longer. Atlanta actor Mary Lynn Owen kills (sorry!) in this Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Atlanta educator Margaret Edson. Owen, it seems, was born to play the exacting and brilliant English professor dying of ovarian cancer and learning how to live along the way. $30-$50. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 128 East Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking in city deck at 153 East Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222. Meet Owen in this ENCORE SNAPSHOT.
[VIDEO: WIT INSIGHTS FROM PLAYWRIGHT MARGARET EDSON]
Special event
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. THROUGH FEB. 17. The biggest film festival in metro Atlanta — and the largest Jewish film festival in the United States — presents a mix of features, documentaries and shorts screening variously at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, GTC Merchants Walk in Marietta, Lefont Sandy Springs, Regal Atlantic Station, Regal Avalon in Alpharetta, SCADshow (formerly the 14th Street Playhouse in Midtown), UA Tara Cinemas and Symphony Hall at the Woodruff Arts Center. This weekend’s lineup includes the coming-of-age comedy Time to Say Goodbye, in which a German boy (played by Maximilian Ehrenreich) faces the aftermath of losing his family — and a slice of his manhood. It screens at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lefont Sandy Springs. $9-$13 for individual films, $18 for special events via the AJFF website or the box office at 678.701.6104. Phone orders include a $2.50 fee. Details, daily schedules and more HERE.
Opening this weekend
Moulin Rouge: The Ballet. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH FEB. 13. Atlanta Ballet invites you into bohemian Paris, the spiritual birthplace of the squealing, skirt-flipping cancan and the most famous cabaret in history. Experience a tale of young love and rising stardom in this story ballet choreographed by Jorden Morris. $20-$127. 8 p.m. Friday and Feb. 11-13; 2 p.m. this Saturday-Sunday. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.892.3303. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
This weekend only
ASO: New Work. TONIGHT + SATURDAY. Atlanta Symphony concertmaster David Coucheron is featured on Brahms’ Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Opus 77, an Everest of the repertoire. Also scheduled: the world premiere of an ASO commission titled A Thousand Words, by Atlanta composer and ASO double-bassist Michael Kurth, plus Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks. Music director Robert Spano conducts. $20-$79. 8 nightly. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733,5000.
The Missing Generation. THROUGH SATURDAY. 7 Stages brings San Francisco’s Sean Dorsey Dance to town with this new work that explores the contemporary impact of AIDS’ darkest days. The piece was created over two years via oral history interviews with survivors in six U.S. cities, including Atlanta. $22.50. 8 tonight-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. 1105 Euclid Ave. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.523.7647.
Now playing
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. THROUGH SUNDAY. Broadway in Atlanta presents the musical fairy tale about a girl who likes to read and the monstrous creature to whom she’s attracted. The Alan Menken-Howard Ashman-Tim Rice score, augmented a bit from the 1991 feature film, features “Be Our Guest,” “Something There,” “Human Again” and the title song. $30-$125. 7:30 tonight-Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 1 + 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. Details HERE. Tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499. For more, see this ENCORE FEATURE on the actor who plays Cogsworth, the grandfather clock.
I and You. THROUGH FEB. 21. None of Decatur-bred, San Francisco-based playwright Lauren Gunderson’s considerable works has achieved the acclaim of this two-character drama about teenage classmates and the strange, transcendent connection between them. Winner of the 2014 Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association new-play award. Gunderson recently earned a Dramatists Guild honor, as well. $20. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Harvel Lab, Aurora Theatre, 128 East Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking in city deck at 153 East Crogan St. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222.
I Hate Hamlet. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH FEB. 21. Stage Door Players presents Paul Rudnick’s comedy about a successful TV actor who relocates to New York only to see his career bottom out — until he has a chance to play Hamlet onstage. The catch: He hates Hamlet. Cast: Robin Bloodworth, Dan Ford and Gina Rickicki, among others. $15-$30. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Details HERE, tickets HERE or at 770.396.1726.
Space! THROUGH MARCH 10. An out-of-this-world adventure in which five rocking space aliens present scientific facts about planets, stars, meteors and more with the help of 15 original songs, Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo. Written and directed by the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Jon Ludwig. Told with rod, shadow and black-light puppetry. For age 4 and up. $10.25 members; $20.50 nonmembers. 10 + 11:30 a.m. Tuesday-Friday; noon + 2 p.m. Saturday; and 1 + 3 p.m. Sunday. 1404 Spring St. N.W. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
The Toxic Avenger. THROUGH MARCH 13. Horizon Theatre presents off-Broadway’s 2008-09 Outer Critics Circle Award-winning rock musical. It’s based on the 1984 superhero horror comedy movie and features Nick Arapoglou — who’s been away from the stage too long — as its hero. Also in the cast: Leslie Bellair, Julissa Sabino and Michael Stiggers. $25 and up. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. At Austin and Euclid avenues in Little Five Points/Inman Park. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450. (Pictured: Arapoglou and Sabino)
Next week
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. FEB. 10-14. The 58-year-old company makes its annual Valentine’s week visit to the Fox Theatre with two works by artistic director Robert Battle among its repertoire, including a world premiere. All audiences will see the “Revelations,” the company’s signature piece. All audiences (except 8 p.m. Friday) will see either the world premiere of Battle’s “Awakening” or his Holocaust-themed “No Longer Silent.” $21.50-$66.50. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 3 p.m. Sunday. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. Details HERE. Tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499. For more on Ailey and Battle, see this ENCORE FEATURE.
American Buffalo. PREVIEWS FEB. 9-11 | OPENS FEB. 12. Three small-time criminals pull off one big-time heist in this award-winning drama that put playwright David Mamet on the map. The True Colors Theatre Company cast: Neal A. Ghant (Race, the Alliance’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), G. Valmont Thomas and Garrett Gray. Adult language; for age 15 and up. $15-$60. Through March 6. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Additional shows at 8 p.m. Feb. 9 and 11 a.m. Feb. 17. Southwest Arts Center, 915 New Hope Road. Details HERE. Tickets HERE or at 877.725.8849 (Ticket Alternative).
A Valentine’s Romance. FRIDAY-SUNDAY. The Atlanta Symphony goes pops with guest artists John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molasky. He’s a jazz guitarist, singer and bandleader, she’s a vocalist with a slew of Broadway credits, and they’re married. Expect to hear tunes from Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra, the Gershwins, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Lennon and McCartney. Single tickets $16.20-$43.74; deals available. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
