“Hamilton” is still here (see ticket lottery details below), Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre opens a world premiere, and both top this week’s curated BEST BETS column. See, too, what’s happening at Horizon Theatre, the Make Mom Proud Project and the Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse. Next week: 2 openings, and the ASO returns. Pictured, from left: Allan Edwards, Carolyn Cook, Jasmine Thomas, Cristian Gonzalez and Cynthia D. Barker in Horizon’s “Citizens Market.” Photo by Greg Mooney.
** INDICATES AN ENCORE ATLANTA SPRING/SUMMER SEASON TOP PICK.
Recommended
** Hamilton. THROUGH JUNE 10. This musical lives up to its pedigree — 11 Tony awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s game-changing, genre-mixing masterpiece tells the story of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton — and the young nation he adopts — from his impoverished island boyhood to his infamous death. American history never sounded better than it does with Miranda’s award-winning score, which blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway sounds. It’s no hyperbole when producers claim that “Hamilton is the story of America then, as told by America now.” With a multicultural cast no less. $80-$625 (if you can find a ticket). Limited seats remain and producers have announced a #Ham4Ham digital lottery for 40 orchestra seats ($10) for each performance. Download the phone app HERE or register online HERE. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 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 in Midtown. Details, tickets HERE or at 855.285.8499. Good luck! To get an official program, go to PoshDealz.com.
[MORE: WHO KNEW OUR FOUNDING FATHERS COULD BE THIS COOL?]
The Vertical. OPENS FRIDAY. A world premiere from Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre danced outdoors beneath the stars at Deer Hollow at Serenbe. This exciting, year-old company features the choreography and footwork of Christian Clark, Heath Gill, Tara Lee, Rachel Van Buskirk and John Welker, all former Atlanta Ballet stalwarts and much of the buzz behind Wabi Sabi, a contemporary, site-specific dance initiative under John McFall, then Atlanta Ballet’s artistic director. $50 opening night. Otherwise $30; $15 students. Through June 3. 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday (June 2 performance sold out). Deer Hollow is at 8715 Atlanta Newnan Road in Palmetto. Details, tickets HERE.
Still running
As You Like It. THROUGH JUNE 10. Shakespeare Tavern Playhouse once again takes you into the bard’s enchanted woods where Rosalind (Sarah Newby Halicks) disguises herself as a man and Orlando (Chris Hecke) fills the trees with love notes praising her beauty and virtue. When all the world’s a stage, can the course of love ever run true? Also in the cast are Tavern regulars J. Tony Brown, O’Neil Delapenha, Nicholas Faircloth, Vinnie Mascola, Matt Nitchie and Mary Ruth Ralston. Pub menu and libations available. $21-$42. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 6:30 p.m. Sunday. 499 Peachtree St. NE (parking suggested in the Emory University Hospital Midtown deck across the street). Details, tickets HERE or at 404.874.5299, Ext. 0.
Citizens Market. THROUGH JUNE 24. A Southeastern premiere at Horizon Theatre. This dramatic rom-com from New York-based playwright/actor Cori Thomas follows a hopeful group of immigrants who form an unlikely family and work to master the ups and downs of language, love and staying afloat in their new world. The first-rate cast: Cynthia D. Barker, Carolyn Cook, Allan Edwards, Cristian Gonzalez and Jasmine Thomas. Horizon co-artistic director Jeff Adler directs. Suggested for older teens and up (mature language and situations). $25-$45 (will increase based on demand). 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 3 + 8:30 p.m. Saturday (no matinee June 3); 5 p.m. Sunday. 1083 Austin Ave. at Euclid Avenue NE. Parking is free, with limitations. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.584.7450.
Last chance
Measure 4 Measure. CLOSES SUNDAY. The Make Mom Proud Project describes its take on Shakespeare’s tragicomedy as “a sort of feminist protest piece, an anti-sexual-assault one-act, updated slightly to fit with the cultural zeitgeist (#MeToo, #TimesUp).” It sets Angelo, one of the bard’s nastiest villains, before a jury of audience members and shows how crimes like his are still common today. This newish company with attitude warrants a look. Jacob McKee directs a cast comprising Gabi Anderson, Jasmine Renee Ellis, Adam King, Stephen Ruffin, April Singley, Rachel Wansker and Jake West. $15. 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday. The Blackbox at the 4048, 4048 Flowers Road, Doraville. Details, tickets HERE.
Next week
** 110 in the Shade. IN PREVIEWS MAY 31 | OPENS JUNE 2. Theatrical Outfit. It’s July 4th, 1936, in Three Point, Texas, where an unrelenting heat wave has the locals praying for rain. Lizzie Curry (Ayana Reed) daydreams away fears of becoming a spinster; her wit, intelligence and homemaking skills, it seems, don’t seem to portend a romantic future. When a charismatic rainmaker named Starbuck (Jeremy Wood) sweeps into town promising more than just atmospheric relief, Lizzie’s world becomes larger than she imagined possible. The 1964 musical by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (The Fantasticks, I Do! I Do!) was revived on Broadway in 2007. Also in the cast, such notable Atlanta singer-actors as Lowrey Brown, Galen Crawley, Devon Hales, Eugene H. Russell IV, LaParee Young. Artistic director Tom Key directs, with musical direction by S. Renee Clark. $20.50-$51. Through July 24. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Balzer Theater at Herren’s, 84 Luckie St. NW. Details, tickets HERE or at 678.528.1500. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Nikolaj Znaider Plays Tchaikovsky. MAY 31-JUNE 2. The Danish-born conductor and violinist joins the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Cristian Măcelaru for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto (Znaider replaces Hilary Hahn, who’s having her second child). Also on the program: Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1. $22-$108. 8 p.m. Thursday + Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.733.5000.
**The Taming. OPENS JUNE 1. At Synchronicity Theatre. A modern political farce inspired by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. When a conservative senatorial aide, a liberal political activist and a sparkly beauty queen find themselves locked in a hotel room during the Miss America pageant, their political passions just might prove that they’re revolutionary geniuses. The script is from Decatur-born, San Francisco-based writer Lauren Gunderson, the most-frequently-produced playwright in America this season. The Taming, critics say, “spanks America’s sound-bite politics with the switch of actual history and proves Shakespeare’s point that true debate is … hot.” The cast: Caroline Arapoglou, Jimmica Collins and Kelly Criss. Atlanta theater artist Suehyla El-Attar directs. $23-$41. Through June 24. 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday. Synchronicity is in Midtown’s One Peachtree Pointe building, 1545 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE or 404.484.8636.
Coming up
** Sweeney Todd. OPENS JUNE 9. The Atlanta Opera. Many experts consider Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street to be Stephen Sondheim’s greatest achievement, one balanced on the precipice between musical theater and American opera. The Grand Guignol revenge story follows Todd, a barber who returns to London after many years away to settle some scores. Mrs. Lovett, purveyor of the worst pies in town, becomes his co-conspirator. Baritone Michael Mayes sings Todd. Mezzo-soprano Maria Zifchak sings Mrs. Lovett. God, that’s good! $35-$131. 8 p.m. June 9 + 15; 7:30 p.m. June 12; 3 p.m. June 17. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway, Atlanta. Details, tickets HERE or at 404.881.8885. Discount tickets at PoshDealz.com.
Winnie-the-Pooh. OPENS JUNE 7. The Alliance Theatre opens its 50th anniversary season with a family musical based on A.A. Milne’s Pooh books. Journey through the Hundred Acre Wood with Winnie, Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Owl as one adventure turns into another, and another. The lesson: Friendship is the greatest gift and simplicity a virtue beyond measure. The cast includes such familiar Atlanta actors as Isake Akanke (Synchronicity’s Eclipsed), Grant Chapman (Actor’s Express’ Angels in America), Maria Rodriguez-Sager (Theatrical Outfit’s Christmas at Pemberley) and Joe Sykes (Angels in America), and child actors Caleb Baumann, CJ Cooper and Mabel Tyler. $15; $10 ages 6-17; $5 ages 3-5; age 2 and under free. Through July 8. 10 + 11:45 a.m. Tuesday-Friday; 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. + 3:30 p.m. Saturday; and 3 p.m. Sunday. No shows: 10 a.m. June 7-8; 10:30 a.m. June 9; July 4. Rich Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. NE. Details, tickets HERE. Note: The High Museum of Art runs the exhibition Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic at the same time. It runs June 3-Sept. 2. High details, tickets HERE. For either the musical or the exhibit, call 404.733.5000.
