“Anne Boleyn” (Synchronicity) and “Freed Spirits” (Horizon) open; “The Prom” (Alliance) closes; and “Threepenny Opera” (7 Stages) gets a reprieve. Pictured: Brian Hatch as Henry VIII and Brooke Owens as Anne Boleyn. Hatch doubles as King James I. Photo by Daniel Parvis.
** Indicates an Encore Atlanta fall season best bet
Recommended
** The Prom. CLOSES SUNDAY. World premiere. This brand-new Broadway-bound American musical comedy tells the story of a 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) and Broadway regulars Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Moran and Christopher Sieber top the cast. $20-$65. 7:30 tonight; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Alliance Theatre mainstage, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
[READ: WHO IS BETH LEAVEL & WHY IS SHE SO FUNNY?]
The Threepenny Opera. EXTENDED THROUGH OCT. 2. “Mack the Knife,” anyone? This extension is good news because Threepenny began with a brief two-week run. 7 Stages‘ Michael Haverty and Bryan Mercer put their spin on the raw musical about power, sex and the evil things done to stay alive in a corrupt world. Threepenny is inspired by German expressionist cinema and dates to 1928, when playwright Bertolt Brecht (book & lyrics) and composer Kurt Weill were at their peak. 8 p.m. Thursday-Sunday. 1105 Euclid Ave. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.523.7647.
Ugly Lies the Bone. THROUGH OCT. 9. This 2015 drama by Lindsey Ferrentino, which just won a prestigious Kesselring Prize, chronicles one soldier’s journey for physical and emotional healing after a traumatic injury in Afghanistan. It opens the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage season. Ferrentino is a two-time Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition finalist (look for her Moonlight on the Bayou in February). The cast: Hugh Adams, Julie Jesneck, Megan McFarland, Wendy Melkonian and Lee Osorio. Recommended for age 15+. $15 and up. 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. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
[MORE ON THE KESSELRING PRIZE FOR PLAYWRIGHTS]
Openings
** Anne Boleyn. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH OCT. 16. Regional premiere. Synchronicity Theatre calls this a “fresh, tantalizing take on a familiar tale of romance, betrayal and political intrigue.” Devout as she is ambitious, Anne deftly navigates courtly love, lust and lies in this revisionist history. Keeping her head is a different matter. Richard Garner directs. Brooke Owens is Anne Boleyn, Brian Hatch doubles as Henry VIII and James I. With Allen Edwards (Thomas Cromwell), Timothy Harland (George Villiers), Doyle Reynolds (Robert Cecil), Brittany L. Smith (Lady Rochford) and Kerwin Thompson (Cardinal Wolsey). $15-$50. Through Oct. 16. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. Synchronicity Theatre at Peachtree Pointe, 1545 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.484.8636.
** Freed Spirits. OPENS FRIDAY | THROUGH OCT. 30. A world premiere by Atlanta-based playwright Daryl Lisa Fazio. A freak tornado cuts through Atlanta’s historic Oakland Cemetery, exposing buried clues and evoking eerie sightings. Tour guide Susan McKinley (Suehyla El-Attar) and survivalist M.J. Bell (Bryn Striepe) lead a geeky spirit photographer and a retired pathologist on a ghost hunt. The Horizon Theatre cast includes Jimmica Collins, Marguerite Hannah, Jonathan Horne and Spencer Miller. $25 and up. Through Oct. 30. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 5 p.m. Sunday. 1083 Austin Ave. NE (at Euclid Avenue). Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450.
This weekend only
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. THURSDAY + SATURDAY. Music Director Robert Spano leads the opening weekend of the Classical Series with pianist Garrick Ohlsson performing Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto. Also planned: Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 and John Adams’ Tromba lontana, part of the ASO’s celebration of Adams’ 70th birthday. $20-$89. 8 nightly. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
The Subject. SATURDAY ONLY. Atlanta’s Found Stages Theatre Company offers a staged reading in conjunction with similar readings at theaters and universities around the world. The event is meant to increase awareness of sexual assault, reduce the violence and peacefully protest lenient rape sentences. Nichole Palmietto directs a cast featuring Rob Cleveland, Devon Hales, Emily Kleypas, Brian Kurlander, Jessica Meisel, Mary Lynn Owen, Diany Rodriguez and Daviorr Snipes. 4 p.m. Free. A private home in Grant Park. Seating is limited. To reserve a spot, email: foundstagestheatre@gmail.com.
Still running
Ghost the Musical. THROUGH OCT. 2. Southeastern premiere. Georgia Ensemble Theatre stages a reimagined version of the show that played Broadway briefly in 2012. You’re more likely to remember the 1990 movie with Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and the Oscar-winning Whoopi Goldberg. Chase Peacock (most recently Chris in Serenbe Playhouse’s Miss Saigon) is Sam, with Kylie Brown (GET’s Hello, Dolly! as Molly). $30 + up. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday; plus 4 p.m. Sept. 24 + Oct. 1. GET performs at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.641.1260. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Singles in Agriculture. THROUGH OCT. 9. 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 Harvel Lab Series. Singles happens in a Texas hotel room on the last night of an annual dating convention for single farmers. That’s where a goat-loving Army widow pursues romance with a fundamentalist dairy farmer. New York critics called Singles “a triumph” and “a sexy, startling and ultimately uplifting piece of theater.” There is, in fact, a real dating service called Singles in Agriculture. $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, tickets HERE or at 678.226.6222.
Next week
The Sleepy Hollow Experience. OPENS SEPT. 29 | THROUGH NOV. 6. Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, the Headless Horseman and friends return to Serenbe Playhouse for a fourth season of ghoulishly good fun amid the trees and shadows. Note: This is a traveling performance without seating, although chairs can be provided by request through the box office. $20-$30. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday + Sunday; 8 + 10:30 p.m. Friday; 8 + 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15. (No late shows currently scheduled for Oct. 1, 8, 22 or 29.)The Horseman’s Meadow at Serenbe, 10950 Hutchesons Ferry Road, Chattahoochee Hills. Details, tickets HERE or at 770.463.1110. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Women in Jeopardy. OPENS SEPT. 29 | THROUGH OCT. 23. Southeastern premiere. Aurora Theatre brings Wendy MacLeod’s flirtatious comedy to its larger space. The 2015 piece follows the happenings of two middle-aged women who trade their wineglasses for spyglasses. Cast includes Caroline Arapoglou, Andrew Benator, Lala Cochran, Drea Lewis, Kerrie Seymour and Justin Walker. Think of it as Thelma & Louise meets The First Wives Club. $20-$55. 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets for 10 a.m. show Oct. 19 start at $16. 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.
