Our top picks are “Company” at Actor’s Express and the national tour of “If/Then” at the Fox Theatre. Also, if you want to see Serenbe Playhouse’s “Miss Saigon” before the helicopter flies away, tonight is your last chance. The rest of closing weekend is sold out. Pictured: Jessica Miesel as Amy (“Getting Married Today,” with Dan Ford, left) in “Company.” Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus.
Recommended
Company. THROUGH SEPT. 11. Actor’s Express opens its 29th season with this 1971 Tony Award-winning Stephen Sondheim hit. Robert (Lowrey Brown) is a single New Yorker about to turn 35. He confronts his bachelorhood in a series of funny-sad-awkward vignettes with his meddling married friends. The ensemble is strong, with nimble movement and powerhouse vocals, and especially good work from Dan Ford (Paul), Jill Hames (Susan), and Jessica Miesel (Amy). The score alone (“The Ladies Who Lunch,” “Another Hundred People,” “Marry Me a Little,” “Being Alive,” among others) easily makes this a best bet. $28 + up. 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.
[VIDEO: SCENES FROM ACTOR’S EXPRESS’ ”COMPANY”]
If/Then. AUG. 9-14. This original American musical simultaneously follows one New York woman’s two possible life paths — wife or career woman — asking us to consider the lives we lead and the lives we might have led. In this first national tour, Jackie Burns plays the role created for Tony Award winner Idina Menzel. From Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning team behind Next to Normal. Contains strong language, mature themes. Note: The Fox Theatre is now screening all patrons with metal detectors; allow yourself extra time (30 minutes is suggested). $30-$75. Presented by Broadway in Atlanta at the Fox, 660 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499. Meet lyricist Brian Yorkey in this ENCORE FEATURE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQI9RS_FF8g
Openings
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). THROUGH SEPT. 4. If you like your Shakespeare in mass quantities and performed tongue-in-check, this three-person wind sprint at the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse is for you. Othello goes hip-hop, Titus Andronicus becomes a cooking show, and all the history plays are performed as a football game. You get the idea. The cast: Jeremiah Parker Hobbs, Adam King and Vinnie Mascola. The tavern part of the name means food and drink are served. $15-$39. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. NE. Directions and parking HERE. Tickets, details HERE or at 404.874.5299.
Last chance
Charlotte’s Web. CLOSES SUNDAY. 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.
Miss Saigon. TONIGHT ONLY. Serenbe Playhouse puts its imprint on the 1991 musical drama from the Les Miserables team. Think Puccini’s Madama Butterfly set in the Vietnam War era, where a GI named Chris falls in love with a Vietnamese barmaid named Kim. Serenbe’s outdoor staging includes a genuine Huey helicopter during the climactic fall of Saigon scene. Performed rain or shine in the Wild Flower Meadow. Recommended for ages 15+. $35. Tickets available for 8 tonight only. The rest of closing weekend is sold out. You’ll find Serenbe at 10950 Hutchesons Ferry Road, Chattahoochee Hills. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110.
Still playing
‘da Kink in My Hair. THROUGH 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, customers converge to prep for dates, jobs and upkeep but leave with lightened hearts and souls. Thomas W. Jones II directs a cast that includes Minka Wiltz, Jeanette Illidge and Maiesha McQueen. $25 + up. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. Horizon Theatre, 1083 Austin Ave. NE at Euclid Avenue. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450.
Dispossessed. THROUGH AUG. 28. World premiere. Atlanta playwright Karen Wurl’s romantic comic-fantasy is one of two plays in the 2016 Essential Theatre Festival (running in repertory with Derek Dixon’s When Things Are Lost). Dispossessed visits a Yiddish theater company in 1920s New York, where a young actress trying to decide between two suitors and a career is confronted with the living embodiment of the character she’s playing — a bride possessed by the spirit of a dead lover. $20 + $25; fest passes available. Performances: 8 tonight-Friday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Also at 8 p.m. Aug. 16, 20, 23 + 26; and 2 p.m. Aug. 21 + 28. West End Performing Arts Center, 945 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. S.W. Details, tickets HERE.
[READ: A CHAT WITH PLAYWRIGHT KAREN WURL]
In the Heights. THROUGH AUG. 28. Aurora Theatre and Theatrical Outfit team to stage this 2007 Tony Award-winning best musical, the first Broadway show written by Hamilton auteur Lin-Manuel Miranda. We’re in NYC’s Washington Heights, where the corner bodega serves coffee light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze feels like change. $30-$65. 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. 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 Outfit leg of the run is Sept. 8-18 at the Rialto Center for the Arts in downtown Atlanta). Discount tickets for both runs at PoshDealz.com.
When Things Are Lost. THROUGH AUG. 27. Derek Dixon’s world premiere comic drama about friendship, loss, understanding and forgiveness continues its 2016 Essential Theatre Festival run (in repertory with Karen Wurl’s Dispossessed). In Lost, a man goes on a dream quest to figure out what happened to his best friend, who seems to have disappeared. Adult themes and situations. Amber Bradshaw directs. The cast: Barrett Doyle, Anthony Goolsby, Jill Perry, Gina Rickicki, Chelsea Steverson, Kerwin Thompson, Alex Towers and Alex Van. $20 + $25; fest passes available. Performances: 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Also at 8 p.m. Aug. 18-19, 22, 25 + 27; and 7 p.m. Aug. 21. West End Performing Arts Center, 945 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. S.W. Details, tickets HERE.
[READ: MORE ON PLAYWRIGHT DEREK DIXON HERE]
Next week
The Prom. IN PREVIEWS AUG. 18 | OPENS SEPT. 7. This world premiere musical comedy — yes, comedy — comes to the Alliance Theatre from director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw and team, and, barring disaster, is Broadway bound. It tells the story of a high-school prom canceled when officials learn one student plans to bring her girlfriend. A band of aging Broadway stars catches wind and invades the girl’s small town, hoping to help and stir up a little positive press. The cast is led by Tony winner Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone). $20-$65. Through Sept. 25. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; and 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Alliance mainstage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
