Happy Labor Day weekend … and beyond. “The Prom” (led by Beth Leavel, center) is in full swing at the Alliance Theatre. Other top picks: “Company” (Actor’s Express) and the National Puppet Slam at the Center for Puppetry Arts. “The Prom” photo by Greg Mooney.
Recommended
Company. THROUGH SEPT. 11. Only nine performances left in the first show of Actor’s Express‘ 29th season. This 1971 Tony Award-winning Stephen Sondheim hit, which changed the Broadway landscape forever, features a single New Yorker turning 35 and confronting bachelorhood in a series of funny-sad-awkward vignettes with his meddling married friends. The ensemble is strong, with nimble movement and powerhouse vocals. $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 AE’S ”COMPANY”]
The Prom. THROUGH SEPT. 25. World premiere. This brand-new, Broadway-bound American musical comedy didn’t open officially until Wednesday, but the buzz from preview audiences is extremely positive. Director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw’s last Alliance Theatre effort (Tuck Everlasting) closed quickly on Broadway, but his record (The Drowsy Chaperone, Aladdin, The Book of Mormon, Something Rotten!) speaks for itself. This show tells the story of a young lesbian couple, a canceled high-school prom and a group of aging Broadway celebs who drop in to … help. Tony Award winner Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone) leads the cast. $20-$65. 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.
[VIDEO: THE “PROM” CAST REHEARSES “YOU HAPPENED”]
This weekend only
National Puppet Slam. FRIDAY-SUNDAY. A big deal. The best in short-form puppet theater comes to the Center for Puppetry Arts from all over the country. Eight pieces — some beautiful, some ingenious and some hilarious — take over the mainstage for three nights. Age 18+ only. $18 nonmembers; $13 center members. 1404 Spring St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
[A CLOSER LOOK AT THE 8-SHOW LINEUP]
Last chance
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). CLOSES SUNDAY. If you like your Shakespeare in mass quantities and performed at a breakneck pace, this three-person wind sprint is for you. Othello goes hip-hop, Titus Andronicus gets a cooking show and the history plays become a football game. All 37 plays in the bard’s canon are covered, plus 157 sonnets. The Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse cast: Jeremiah Parker Hobbs, Adam King and Vinnie Mascola. Pub food and drink available. $15-$39. 7:30 p.m. tonight-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. NE. Directions and parking HERE. Tickets, details HERE or at 404.874.5299.
Still playing
Old MacDonald’s Farm. THROUGH SEPT. 11. A Theater for the Very Young production at the Center for Puppetry Arts (best for ages 2+). This interactive show takes place during a day in the life of a farm, with more than a dozen animal puppets and two farmhand-puppeteers. $20.50. 10 + 11:30 a.m. Thursday-Friday; 11 a.m., 1 + 3 p.m. Saturday; and 1 + 3 p.m. Sunday. 1404 Spring St. NW. Details, tickets HERE.
Next week
Art. SEPT. 8-11. Part of Serenbe Playhouse‘s Intimate Indoors series. The venue makes the case for seeing this 1998 Tony Award-winning three-hander by Yasmina Reza. Art and friendship collide when one among a trio of pals purchases an all-white canvas. Serenbe, which normally performs outdoors in Chattahoochee Hills, tucks this second show of its indoor series into the Atlanta Contemporary in West Midtown. The cast: Adam Fristoe, Daniel Parvis and Daviorr Snipes. $25. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. 535 Means St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110.
cloth {field}. SEPT. 7-11. Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Robert Spano and glo Atlanta dance-maker Lauri Stallings collaborate for a third time, combining new music with contemporary dance. This time they expand cloth, first written by Spano for glo in 2014. $25; $50 special reserved, plus fees. 8:35 nightly. Goodson Yard Factory Space at the Goat Farm Arts Center, 1200 Foster St. in West Midtown. Details HERE. Tickets HERE.
In the Heights. PREVIEWS SEPT. 8-9 | OPENS SEPT. 10. This Theatrical Outfit/Aurora Theatre co-production moves intown to Georgia State’s Rialto Center for the Arts. The 2007 Tony Award-winning musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda is set in New York City’s Washington Heights, where the corner bodega serves coffee light and sweet, the windows are always open and change is in the air. Through Sept. 18. $20-$50. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8-9, 14, 16 + 18; 2:30 p.m. Sept. 10-11; 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 + 17. The Rialto is at 80 Forsyth St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.528.1500. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
The Threepenny Opera. SEPT. 9-25. A raw musical about power, sex and the evil things one must do to stay alive in a corrupt world. The score includes the iconic “Mack the Knife” along with “Pirate Jenny” and “How to Survive.” Threepenny draws its inspiration from German expressionism cinema and dates to 1928, when playwright Bertolt Brecht (book and lyrics) and composer Kurt Weill were at their peak. Associate artistic director Michael Haverty directs this 38th season opener at 7 Stages. Expect live musicians and a dark, twisty tale. $22.50 + up. 8 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. 1105 Euclid Ave. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.523.7647.
Coming up
Singles in Agriculture. OPENS SEPT. 16. This 2015 comedy by Abby Rosebrock, a South Carolina-born, New York-based playwright/actor, is the first of five shows in Aurora Theatre‘s intimate, flexible Harvel Lab Series. Singles takes place in a Texas hotel room on the last night of an annual dating convention for single farmers. That’s where a pygmy-goat-loving Army widow pursues romance with a fundamentalist dairy farmer. New York critics called Singles “a triumph,” saying that “Rosebrock and her collaborators achieve a sexy, startling and ultimately uplifting piece of theater.” There is, in fact, a real dating service called Singles in Agriculture. Justin Anderson, Aurora’s associate artistic director, directs. The cast: Jeremy Aggers, Lauren Boyd and Vallea Woodbury. Through Oct. 9. $20-$30. 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. Free, covered, attached parking in city of Lawrenceville deck at 153 E. Crogan St. Details HERE or at 678.226.6222.
