Judging from the bios on the website, this cast is going to be first rate. Members have danced with Ailey II, appeared in Broadway shows, as well as in the Broadway “Memphis” cast, and have performed at Carnegie Hall and with Cirque du Soleil.

Story by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change), Tony Award-winning original score by David Bryan (Bon Jovi) and Joe DiPietro, direction by Christopher Ashley (Xanadu) and choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys).

“Memphis” runs Jan. 31-Feb. 5 at The Fox Theatre.

Jasmine Guy, Geoffrey Darnell Williams, and Keith Randolph Smith. Photo: Greg Moody

The Alliance Theatre is bustin loose and banging heads in “God of Carnage.” A rip, roarin’ drag-out fight ensues between couples who try to act civilly after the Raleigh’s son knocks out two teeth and disfigures the son of the Novaks.

Within this 90-minute play, writer Yasmina Reza takes the Novaks and the Raleighs on a roller coaster wave of emotions, and the cast’s fine actors bring the audience right along with them.

Keith Randolph Smith is hilarious as Michael Novak, who goes from sedate, adoring, obedient husband and son to cynical, unruly lout.

This production has so much going for it–a great script and wonderful acting–but the vomit scene is too much like a Linda Blair cartoon with volcano-erupting vomit. Nonetheless, the cast and script are great. This is a definite go-see-it.

Winner of the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play, “God of Carnage” runs through Feb. 4 at the Alliance Theatre.

Directed by Kent Gash, “God of Carnage” features Jasmine Guy, Crystal Fox, and Geoffrey Darnell Williams.

In “Feet First in the Water with a Baby in My Teeth,” Gogerty paints a clear picture of her life as a new mom. Her arm becomes a baby, her baby a butterball turkey, and a step stool becomes a whining toddler who refuses to put on his pants. I see it before my very eyes.

Her writing rings true to life, and she has worked out the moments of the script so that she hits the mark each time. The problem is the mark is off base.

Gogerty tends to emote and push her acting. It’s over the top and not true to life. It appears as if she has mapped out each moment in her script to be carefully acted. She knows how she wants her acting to appear. She pretends to be excited. She pretends to be angry. She pretends to be scared. She asks a question to the audience and pretends not to hear the one person who answers quite loudly.

Gogerty may have lived the script in real life. She doesn’t live it on stage. She acts it on stage. If she could actually scold her child rather than pretend to get mad him, she’d have us with her. You want to be with her, in her world, because her script is novel, funny and interesting.

From the name of her play to the moniker of her son “Turk”—the butterball turkey baby who weighed 10 pounds at birth—Gogerty is a writer through and through.

Naysayers will no doubt write me and defend Gogerty. They’ll say it’s hard to capture an audience in a one-woman show and that her acting is meant to be lively. But truth is truth. That is what makes her script so good. She writes with the kind of deep truth we experience that people pretend not to see–the truth about the pains of raising a baby and not going as far as we would have liked to in our careers.

I believe the stories Gogerty tells no matter how far out they seem. I believe her story about her great-grandmother who worked in the kitchen of a steamboat on the Mississippi River. When a fire struck the boat, even though she was a 16-year-old mother who couldn’t swim, she grabbed her baby, jumped feet first into the water, and dog-paddled a half mile to shore, clutching her baby in her teeth by the diaper. Whether Gogerty’s stories are true, I believe in them because her writing is so descriptive and lively.

Great scripts for one-woman shows are hard to find. And when a great, comedic actress finds this one, it’s going to be one hell of a show.

Synchronicity Theatre presents “Feet First in the Water with a Baby in My Teeth,” written and performed by Megan Gogerty and directed by Alexis Chamow, through Dec. 18 at the Balzer Theater at Herren’s.

Forget Santa Claus. “Billy Elliot” is coming to town!

Tickets go on sale Sunday for the Tony Award-winning musical that knocked me to my feet and toes dancing when the cast performed at The Tony Awards.

The show won not two, not three, no not even six Tony Awards. It took home ten Tony Awards!

Billy Elliot the Musical is the celebration of one boy’s journey to make his dreams come true. Set in a small town, the story follows Billy as he stumbles out of the boxing ring and into ballet class, discovering a surprising talent that inspires his family and his whole community, and changes his life forever.

The music is by Sir Elton John and book and lyrics are by Lee Hall. The production features original direction by Stephen Daldry, choreography by Peter Darling, scenic design by Ian MacNeil, associate direction by Julian Webber, costume design by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting design by Rick Fisher and sound design by Paul Arditti. Musical supervision and orchestrations are by Martin Koch.  Touring production direction by Justin Martin and choreography Kathryn Dunn. The show was originally produced by Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions.

The production has been awarded 81 national and international awards including ten Tony Awards, Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle.

The performance schedule for Billy Elliot the Musical at The Fox Theatre is:

Tuesday, March 13                       8 p.m.

Wednesday, March 14                  8 p.m.

Thursday, March 15                      8 p.m.

Friday, March 16                          8 p.m.

Saturday, March 17                      2 p.m., 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 18                        1 pm., 6:30 p.m.

The production has been awarded 81 national and international awards including ten Tony Awards, Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle.

Prices start at $28. Tickets can be purchased through authorized ticket sellers at the Fox Theatre Box Office, Ticketmaster outlets, online atwww.broadwayinatlanta.com or by phone at 1-800-982-2787.  Orders for groups of 15 or more may be placed by calling 404-881-2000.

Additional information about Billy Elliot the Musical is available at www.BillyElliotTour.com.

Tiffany Morgan and Kate Donadio; Photo: Synchronicity Theatre

Prudes and prigs beware. ”In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)” may make you blush.

In this production, Synchronicity Theatre certainly lives up to its moniker “smart, gutsy, bold, theatre.”

To all those people who think theater is boring or for stuffed shirts, watch this.

The time is the Victorian era and the location is upstate New York. Electricity is rare in any home, and the Givings are thrilled they have a new electric lamp. But there is one more electrical device, stolen away in the doctor’s office where he sees patients, which is giving quite a few thrills: an electric vibrator.

Inside the home of Dr. and Mrs. Givings, just off the living room in the next room, patients diagnosed with “hysteria” are treated with the newest medical device, the electric vibrator.  Long before Stepford wives, married women in the Victorian age were brought to see a doctor by their husbands for displaying either too little or too much emotion for being hysterical. Forbidden to walk outside alone without a man, married women were to stay home all day while their husbands worked or socialized at a private club.

Mrs. Givings (Kate Donadio), who has no idea what is going on in the next room, is subject to overhearing the shrieks, sighs and moans through the living room door.  She sneaks in one day while her husband is out and examines the vibrator, which looks similar to a small blow drier with a tip that whirls around, kind of like the nose of a small plane missing its propeller. When patient Mrs. Sabrina Daldry (Tiffany Morgan) arrives while the doctor is away, Mrs. Givings beseeches her to show her how the vibrator is used.  The vibrator experience marks the first time either women have felt such sensations.

The doctor’s first male patient to be treated with the vibrator, Leo Irving (Tony Larkin), a romantic artist arrives to seek treatment for depression to overcome heartache. He becomes enamored with the Givings’s black nursemaid, Elizabeth (Xiomara Yanique), who is the only one of the ladies to understand what all the moaning and sighing could mean. In high society, women were constantly under social constrains, even during sex between a married couple.

This  is a well-acted show and features a standout performance by Kate Donadio, who channels  Katherine Hepburn’s flirtatious ways in a cheeky scene with Mr. Daldry (Doyle Reynolds).

“In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play” by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Rachel May, produced by Synchronicity Theatre, runs through Nov. 19 at Horizon Theatre. Tickets are available at Synchronicity Theatre.

Cast:

Dr. Givings-Brian Kurlander

Annie-Daryl Lisa Fazio

Travis Smith and Bethany Anne Lind; Photo: Bill DeLoach

Georgia Shakespeare keeps getting better and better. Not that it wasn’t good, but the past two shows I’ve seen there have been outstanding, and “The Glass Menagerie “ is no exception. Thanks, greatly, to two outstanding actors Mary Lynn Ownen, who plays Amanda Wingfield, and Joe Knezevich, who plays her son, Tom.

Knezevich, is fast becoming my factor actor in this town. I’ve seen him in a number of shows in the past couple of years, and he is always a standout. He’s different from one show to the next. He steps out of his own shoes and becomes someone totally different. And while you might think that’s what acting is—you’d be totally right—far too many actors in this town don’t do it. Not only does he change from role to role, he changes within the role he’s playing. One moment he’s a lout, the next moment he’s charming, the next, a raving maniac. Not at all unlike Owen. While I don’t remember seeing her in other shows, she is a consummate actress. She does the unexpected—charming her son one moment and raging at him the next. In one standout screaming match between the two of them, it was so real I wanted to stop it.

Now I’m going to be picky here and tell you about a few of the flaws.

Laura Wingfiled (Bethany Anne Lind), Tom’s “crippled” sister, holds the story together as the poor, lost, sweet soul who can’t do anything all day but play the gramophone and play with her miniature glass animals. Lind’s acting is believable as Laura but predictable and one dimensional. Laura has worn  a leg brace since she was a child. Although Laura is more crippled in mind than body, Lind forgets that she is supposed to have some difficulty walking. Lind misses the mark sometimes. For example, when her “gentleman caller” Jim O’Connor (Travis Smith), accidentally breaks the unicorn she adores most in her collection of horses, she is barely saddened.

There is one flaw that I hope Georgia Shakespeare fixes: On opening night when Jim picked up a newspaper, there were only large sheets of flimsy paper with no print on it. The rest of the scene was so real that the surprise of seeing no print took me and my companion right out of the scene and put us inside a theater wondering why there was no print on the newspaper.

Here is why you have to see this show: Mary Lynn Owen and Joe Knezevich. Every time I see Knezevich in anything he is outstanding. I’ve seen Jessica Tandy play Amanda on Broadway. Ms. Owen, your performance was no less than hers.

Kat Conley has created a simple set that reeks of shattered dreams against a backdrop of shattered shards of glass.

“The Glass Menagerie” runs through Oct. 30 at Georgia Shakespeare.

In this North American tour company, staged like the Broadway version, we get to see two dynamite performances by Amanda Jane Cooper (who plays the role of Glinda) and Dee Roscioli (who plays the role of Elphaba). Glinda is a spoiled, rich girl who dresses fashionably, smiles just right and flips her blonde curls to get attention. Elphaba is concerned with treating people and animals fairly, and fumes at injustice. When she juts her arms straight out in front of her, claws her hands, and cackles, she reincarnates Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West. There’s not a superstar that I can think of that could have done better than these two, including the incomparable Kristien Chenowith, who originated the role of Glinda on Broadway.

Roscioli, who reprises her Broadway role as Elphaba, radiates passion in her acting and singing. She commands explosions of applause wrapped in woo-hoos and hollers from the audience when she sings “Defying Gravity,” “As Long As You’re Mine” and the hilarious “What is this Feeling (Loathing)?,” a song about two totally opposite roommates (she and Glinda) who hate each other. Her performance made me weep.

“Wicked” takes you to Oz before Dorothy enters the picture. Glinda, a popular, perky blond school girl, attends boarding school with Elphaba, a determined, green-skinned girl who is ostracized by her family and peers. The two hate each other when they meet but a close friendship forms. They travel to Emerald City to apprentice with the Wizard to learn to cast spells.

The show is spellbinding. Even my sister – who hates theater, especially musicals – loved this show. The music, set, costumes and acting bring fantasy to life. Monkeys sprout huge wings and fly, Glinda floats above Oz inside a bubble, Elphaba blasts off into space with her broom.

Wicked was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and took home three of them. The original Wicked Broadway cast recording ranked among iTunes’ Top 10 Soundtrack Albums. Composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. “Entertainment Weekly” called “Wicked” the “Best Musical of the Decade,” and the character of Elphaba ranked on the magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Past 20 Years.

Dee Roscioli ranks on my list of the 100 Greatest Musical Performers in the past 50 years.

Come to the Fox two hours in advance of any performance to enter the Fox lottery drawing for the chance to win orchestra seats for $25 for that day’s show. “Wicked” is based on the book “Wicked: The Life and Time of the Wicked Witch of the West” (1995)  by Gregory Maguire.

“Wicked” runs through October 9 at the Fox Theatre.

Music and Lyrics, Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell,” “Pippin”). Book, Winnie Holzman. Directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello.

Cast: Justin Brill, Stefanie Brown, Collin Hanlon, Paul Slade Smith, Todd Anderson, Lauren Boyd, Megan Campanille, Catherine Charlebols, Antonette Cohen, Rick Desloge, Melanie Field, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Timothy A. Fitz-Gerald, Dominic Giudici, Napoleon W. Gladney, Brenda Hamilton, Kevin Jordan, Kelly Lafarga, Renée Lawless-Orsini, Philip Dean Lightstone, Marissa Lupp, Michael Mahany, Sterling Masters, Alli McGinnis, Kevin McMahon, Mark Myars, Christopher Russo, Adéa Michelle Sessoms, Carla Stickler, Brandon Tyler, Shanna VanDerwerker, Nicky Venditti, Mikey Winslow, Alma Cuervo, Mark Jacoby.

The Baker (Mark Price) and his wife (Courtney Balan) Photo: Greg Mooney

You won’t miss Broadway with the Alliance Theatre’s production of “Into the Woods.” It doesn’t get much better than this.

This production is a rare gem: a great story filled with wonderful music, an outstanding cast, and terrific scenery that brings the audience inside a fairy tale world with leaves raining down upon them and actors performing in the aisles.

“Into the Woods” is a mix of bubble, bubble, toil and trouble, the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales and life after “and they lived happily ever after.” But it’s not child’s play. It’s a look at life, greed and those who never get enough to be satisfied. A prince who finds his perfect princess has an affair with a married woman; chubby Little Red Riding Hood (Diany Rodriguez) gorges on so many sweet breads she makes herself sick; and Beanstalk Jack steals so much gold that his greed brings down the entire village. No one is exempt from the troubles this causes them all, including the Narrator (Walter Hudson ) a droll character reminiscent of the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.”

Don’t think this is a silly takeoff on a fairy tale. It’s a lively story with fun characters who try to solve problems in amusing ways–a mother hoping to win her daughters a prince saws off part of their feet.

The 1987 original Broadway Production of “Into the Woods” won three Tony Awards: Best Original Score, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, and was nominated for seven others including Best Musical. In the Alliance’s production, both Courtney Balan (who plays the Baker’s Wife and created the role of Hatchet Face in “Cry Baby” on Broadway) and  Diany Rodriguez ( who plays Little Red Riding Hood) are standout performers. A magnetic Balan brings a dozen different sides to her one character.

A fantastic  orchestra is composed entirely of students.

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Lapine
Scenic Design by
Todd Rosenthal

Courtney Balan…………………………………………………………………………….Baker’s Wife
Courtenay Collins……………………………………………………………………….Jack’s Mother
Chandra Currelley………………………………………………………….Cinderella’s Stepmother
Jill Ginsberg…………………………………………………………….. Cinderella
Walter Hudson…………………………………………………………….Narrator/Mysterious Man
Jeanette Illidge………………………………………………………………… Florinda/Snow White
Amber Iman……………………………………………………………….. Lucinda/Sleeping Beauty
Jamie Wood Katz………………………………………………………… Rapunzel/Dance Captain
Barbara Marineau……………………………………………. Cinderella’s Mother/Granny/Giant
Jeff McKerley……………………………………………………………………… Steward
Brandon O’Dell…………………………………………………………………….Cinderella’s Father
Mark Price…………………………………………………………………………. Baker
Angela Robinson…………………………………………………………………………………..Witch
Diany Rodriguez………………………………………………………………..Little Red Ridinghood
Hayden Tee………………………………………………………………….Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince
Jeremy Wood………………………………………………………………. Jack
Corey James Wright………………………………………………………………. Rapunzel’s Prince

The Into the Woods Orchestra
Conducted by Helen Gregory

Violin
Kelly Compton
Woodward Academy
Dumarkus Davis
Homeschooled by Bridgette Davis

Viola
William Anderson
New Creation
Christian Academy
Moira Church
Kennesaw Mountain High
Richard Lee
Peachtree Ridge High
Darius Green
Lovejoy High

Cello
James Dickey
North Gwinnett High
John Tang
Johns Creek High

Bass
Kristoffer Caine
Fine Arts Magnet Program
at Mount Zion High
Geoffrey Solomon
Druid Hills High

Flute
Emily Mikan
Lakeside High
Aidan Rogers
Chamblee High
Lauren Rosenblatt
Parkview High
Emma D’Agostino
Norcross High

Clarinet
Morgan Klein
Sequoyah High
Carly Weikle
Northgate High

Keyboard
Dawn Andrews
Norcross High
Alex Claussen
Norcross High
Stephanie Tan
Starr’s Mill High

“Into the Woods” runs through Oct. 2 at the Alliance Theatre.

Ann Marie Gideon, Sarah Blackman and Elizabeth Lanier. Photo by Drake Simons.

Having witnessed three women in their twenties buying marijuana from unknown sources at a New York City park and drink liquor from their diaphragms, it is easy to believe that women that age would get plastered on booze and drugs, have sex with strangers and ruin the wedding dress of a bride the night before her wedding.

Lesley Headland’s play “Bachelorette” shows what mean, “cool” girls from high school are like 10 years after graduating.

Regan (Sarah Blackman), a bridesmaid for her high school friend Becky who is getting married tomorrow, has invited two friends from their high school days to stay with her in a posh hotel suite, since Becky probably won’t be in until the morning.

After a night of partying on the town, Gena (Ann Marie Gideon) and Katie (Elizabeth Lanier), both attractive and dressed in short, revealing outfits, stumble into the suite already wasted. After Katie kicks off her red do-me, high-heeled, peep-toe pumps and the two down bottles of Becky’s champagne and snort lines of cocaine, the women talk about the dos and don’ts of giving a blow job. A stylish, stunning beauty dressed like Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Regan enters. None of them can believe that Becky is marrying a wealthy hedge fund manager! And Becky is a “fatty!”

Two other guests of Regan’s enter, men she has just met that night. Jeff (Bryan Brendle) and Joe (Barrett Doyle) have brought marijuana, and Jeff is determined to get Regan into bed.

The story may sound Jerry Springer like, but it is believable and captivating. Unfortunately, the acting is not.

Pinch ‘N’ Ouch Theatre, just in its second year, is producing edgy works that could attract young, hip crowds to the theater. Pinch ‘N’ Ouch aspires to follow the teachings of Sanford “Sandy” Meisner, one of the most widely respected acting teachers of all time. Meisner used to say an actor doesn’t say “ouch” until he feels the pinch. He meant an actor doesn’t say a line until he feels the impetus to do so, and he must give himself a strong internal reason to do so. But on the third night of production, the actors’ responses seemed canned rather than internal.

However, there were moments when truth was present, and the tension between the performers was palpable. When Jeff lays Regan on the couch on her back, straddles her, looks her in the eyes, slips his hand under her dress, he taunts her.

“Want  to feel that. . . That. . . Right. . .There.”

Regan finally TRUTHFULLY reacts. And so do I—get me a washcloth, quick!

“Bachelotte” by Leslye Headland, directed by Grant McGowen and featuring Jessica De Maria, runs through Sept. 18 at 7 Stages Backstage.

Based on the short stories of journalist Damon Runyon, the story takes place in New York City and revolves around gamblers, drinkers and the women who try to reform them.

Selected as a winner for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play later was made into a film starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Vivian Blaine. Many of the shows songs became standards, including “Luck Be a Lady,” “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before.”

This touring company comes from Dallas Summer Musicals and is produced by Big League Productions Inc. from New York City.

“Guys and Dolls” will play the Fox through Aug. 21.

Directed by Gordon Greenberg and choreogrpahed by Patti Colombo. Cast: Ben Crawford, Steve Rosen, Erin Davie, Megan Sikora, Garth Kravitz, Jan Neuberger, Michael Scott, Jamie Ross, Brendan Averett and Glenn Rainey.