This week’s best: “The Color Purple” at the Fox Theatre through Sunday; the Alliance Theatre’s ongoing “Hand to God”; and especially “Project Dawn” at Horizon. The agile “Project Dawn” company (pictured, from left) is Brooke Owens, Lane Carlock, Maria Rodriguez-Sager, Marianne Fraulo, Christy Clark, Bobbi Lynne Scott and Carolyn Cook. Photo by Greg Mooney.
** Indicates an Encore Atlanta fall/winter season top pick. See them all HERE.
Recommended
The Color Purple. THROUGH SUNDAY. The musical that began at the Alliance Theatre and played Broadway in 2005 and 2015 returns home. This telling, from visionary director John Doyle, won the 2016 Tony Award for best musical revival. Atlanta is the second city on this brand-new national tour. The Color Purple, based on the Alice Walker novel, covers 40 years in the life of Celie, her family and friends in rural Georgia. $30-$150. 7:30 tonight; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 + 8 p.m. Saturday; 1 + 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Broadway in Atlanta at the Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499.
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Dogs of Rwanda. THROUGH NOV. 18. A National New Play Network rolling world premiere from Out of Hand Theater. Sean Christopher Lewis’ drama begins in 1994 and ends in 2014. Its only character is a 16-year-old boy on a mission trip who stumbles into the nation’s ongoing genocide. Twenty years later, a letter arrives from a boy he tried to save. Performed by Out of Hand’s Adam Fristoe in living rooms and other intimate spaces in metro Atlanta and beyond. Note: The venue address for the performance you choose will be emailed 24 hours before the show. $30. Upcoming performances (mostly Friday-Saturday nights) are in the Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, All Saints Episcopal Church on West Peachtree Street, East Atlanta, Inman Park, Lake Claire, Marietta, Tifton and St. Simons Island. Details, tickets HERE. Want to host a performance? Details at PoshDealz.com.
** Hand to God. THROUGH NOV. 12. The Alliance Theatre stages Robert Askins’ irreverent Tony-nominated puppet comedy, last season’s favorite play at American regional theaters. Hand to God details a puppet ministry that goes very, very wrong and explores the fragile nature of faith, morality and the ties that bind us. The New York Times called it “darkly delightful.” Note: Recommended for age 16+ (strong language, sexual situations). $20-$42. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Performed at Dad’s Garage Theatre Company (the Alliance’s home is under renovation), 569 Ezzard St. SE. Parking info HERE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
[ALLIANCE, DAD’S SAY TIME IS RIGHT FOR CHEEKY PUPPET COMEDY]
** Project Dawn. CLOSES SUNDAY. At Horizon Theatre. Well worth seeing. This provocative fact-based drama shows both sides of the judicial system as it depicts a program that rehabilitates sex workers instead of punishing them. Seven actors double as victims/participants and court staff, all doing excellent work. Artistic director Lisa Adler leads a cast of familiar Atlanta faces (Lane Carlock, Carolyn Cook, Marianne Fraulo, Maria Rodriguez-Sager, Bobbi Lynne Scott) and some that will be familiar soon: Brooke Owens, a Suzi Bass Award nominee for Synchronicity’s Anne Boleyn, and Christy Clark, Horizon’s Blackberry Daze). This National New Play Network rolling world premiere was written by Karen Hartman, who based her script on a groundbreaking Philadelphia court. 8 tonight-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. 1083 Austin Ave. at Euclid Avenue. $25 and up. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450.
Opening this week
** Morningside. OPENS TONIGHT. A world premiere at Georgia Ensemble Theatre from Atlanta playwright Topher Payne (Greetings Friend Your Kind Assistance Is Required, The Only Light in Reno, Perfect Arrangement, Angry Fags). The comedy takes place on a sunny spring afternoon in Atlanta’s Morningside neighborhood when nine women with secrets are thrown together at a baby shower — with a case of champagne. The cast: Lala Cochran, Kelly Criss, Kate Donadio, Keena Redding Hunt, Shelly McCook, Ellen McQueen, Stacy Melich, Gina Rickicki and Ann Wilson. $29-$53 plus fees. Through Nov. 12. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Also at 4 p.m. Nov. 4 + 11. Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. Details HERE, tickets HERE or at 770.641.1260. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Closing this week
Macbeth. THROUGH SATURDAY. At the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. One fateful evening, three weird sisters greet Macbeth and Banquo with visions of what could be. Is it their magic or Macbeth’s (and his wife’s) hunger for power that sets in motion some of the most murderous events in Scottish history? With Matt Nitchie as Macbeth and Dani Herd as Lady Macbeth. Pub menu and libations available. $22-$45. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 99 Peachtree St. NE (across from Emory University Hospital Midtown). Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299. Discount gift cards at PoshDealz.com.
This weekend only
Ms. Lisa Fischer and Grand Baton. SATURDAY ONLY. The Grammy-winning soul, jazz, rock, pop, folk and classical vocalist (“How Can I Ease the Pain”) and her band perform a gumbo of progressive rock, psychedelic soul, African, Middle Eastern, Caribbean rhythms and classical influences at Georgia State’s Rialto Center for the Arts. Fischer’s “glamorous-girl-next-door quality makes fans all over the world think she’s their own secret discovery,” says Broadway World. $41 and up. 8 p.m; pre-show talk at 7 p.m. The Rialto is at 80 Forsyth St. NW. Free (validated) parking in the 100 Peachtree Deck on Fairlie Street. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.413.9849.
Opera With an Edge. SUNDAY ONLY. The Atlanta Opera’s mainstage season preview features moments from Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Bizet’s Carmen and Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Each piece in the 75-minute program will be sung in its original language with English supertitles. $8; subscribers free. Reservations required. 3 p.m. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.881.8885.
For Halloween
Dangerous Women. THROUGH MONDAY. A world premiere from the Weird Sisters Theatre Project. Half haunted house, half new works festival, it’s an immersive horror experience inspired by the crimes of women in history and legend. Directed by Rachel Frawley, Pam Joyce, Ibi Owolabi, Tiffany Porter and Rebekah Suellau and featuring the work of more than 35 artists. This show completes the first season of Weird Sisters’ new producing team. $15 plus fees. 8 tonight-Friday and Sunday-Monday; 8 + 11:30 p.m. Saturday. Windmill Arts Center, 2823 Church St., East Point. Details HERE. Tickets HERE.
The Ghastly Dreadfuls. CLOSES SATURDAY. A Center for Puppetry Arts reprise for the 18-and-up crowd. This spooktacular musical, which salutes the season of ghosts and goblins, was written by artistic director Jon Ludwig and puppeteer Jason Hines. The ghoulish cast once again includes Scott DePoy, Reay Kaplan Maxwell and Spencer Stephens. They go back to the grave after Saturday’s curtain. $24. 8 tonight-Saturday. 1404 Spring St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.873.3391.
The Rocky Horror Show. THROUGH NOV. 5. Out Front Theatre Company starts its second season with a reimagined Rocky Horror, perhaps the most popular cult musical ever. “Rocky Horror was edgy and groundbreaking in the ’70s,” says director Matthew Busch. “The biggest challenge we faced in staging it in 2017 was the question ‘What makes this story need to be told again?’ We purposefully ‘gender-bent’ the transsexual aliens to continue the dialogue regarding gender and sexual identity.” $15-$25. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. Out Front is at 999 Brady Ave. Details, tickets HERE.
The Sleepy Hollow Experience. THROUGH NOV. 5. Serenbe Playhouse (Serenboo?) reprises its annual event with a new adaptation by artistic director Brian Clowdus and a family performance at 2 p.m. Sunday (pumpkin patch, harvest games, popcorn, hot cider and a chance to meet the actors before the show and at intermission. Grounds open at 1 p.m.) This year’s cast: Jennifer Alice Acker and Brandon Partrick as Storytellers, Blake Burgess as Brom Bones, Erin Burnett as Katrina Van Tassel and Chris Mayers as Ichabod Crane. Note: This is a traveling performance without seating, but chairs can be requested through the box office. $15-$40. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 8 + 10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 8 p.m. Sunday. Performed in 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.
Ongoing
Crossing Delancey. THROUGH NOV. 25. The Alliance Theatre stages the romantic comedy that inspired the 1988 movie of the same name. Bubbie (Mary Lynn Owen) is an 80-year-old Jewish grandmother determined to see granddaughter Izzy marry the right man. Izzy has eyes only for an author (Daniel Thomas May); Bubbie zeroes in on Sam the pickle man (Andrew Benator). Who will prevail? $10-$70. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2:30 + 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 + 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Performed at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, 5342 Tilly Mill Road (part of the Alliance’s 2017/18 on-the-road season, made necessary by renovations at its Midtown home). Tickets, details HERE or at 404.733.5000.
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The World Goes ‘Round. THROUGH NOV. 5. Atlanta Lyric Theatre dips into the Kander-and-Ebb songbook with this musical revue built around five people who find themselves careering through the worlds of love, babies and coffee. The tunes come from the three-time Tony Award-winning team’s stage work (70, Girls, 70; The Act; Cabaret; Chicago; Flora the Red Menace; The Happy Time; Kiss of the Spider Woman; The Rink; Woman of the Year; and Zorba) and the movies Funny Lady and New York, New York. $33-$58. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Additional show at 2 p.m. Nov. 4. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre at the Cobb Civic Center, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. Details, tickets HERE.
Next week
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. NOV. 2 + 4. German conductor Jun Märkl leads a program comprising Falla’s El amor brujo ballet, R. Strauss’ Burleske and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4, with Colombian-born soprano Catalina Cuervo and French pianist Bertrand Chamayou as guest artists. $22-$97. 8 nightly. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
The Flying Dutchman. NOV. 4-12. The Atlanta Opera continues its season with Wagner’s telling of a bit of nautical folklore. It recounts the love affair between a maiden and the cursed captain of a phantom ship. Directed by Tomer Zvulun, the opera’s general & artistic director, with Arthur Fagen conducting. Bass-baritone Wayne Tigges sings the title role, soprano Melody Moore sings Senta and tenor Jay Hunter Morris sings Erik, a role he recently performed with the Metropolitan and Washington National operas. Times vary. $35-$131 in advance. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.881.8885.
