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.

Think “Stomp” with martial arts, gymnastics and halftime show-like marching bands.

“Blast!” features 35 brass and percussion players performing classical, blues, jazz, rock ‘n roll, and techno-pop music.

Tickets for evening and matinee shows are available at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

One Ring Zero releases “The Recipe Project,” featuring essays, interviews, and recipes from David Chang, Chris Cosentino, Mario Batali, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Michael Symon, Mark Kurlansky, and many more. The recipes have been set to music and sung WORD FOR WORD in the musical style suggested by the chef!

Tickets for the party are $35, and includes mint juleps (made by master mixologist and cocktail historian Dave Wondrich), beer (good beer, that is, from the Brooklyn Brewery), and samplings of many of the dishes in the book (including Mario Batali’s Spaghetti with Sweet 100 tomatoes, Tom Colicchio’s Creamless Creamed Corn, Colson Patiserrie’s Speculoos and Financiers, Andrea Reusing’s Pickled Pumpkin, and even some delicious sausages and charcuterie, courtesy of The Meat Hook. Oh yeah, there will also be a performance by One Ring Zero, with guests including Claudia Gonson (of The Magnetic Fields), Allyssa Lamb (of Las Rubias Del Norte), Mark Kurlasnky (an awesome writer of such books as Cod and Salt), Kara Zuaro (another awesome writer of such books as I Like Food, Food Taste Good), Michael Harlan Turkell (an amazing food photographer and writer and radio host), and more.

The party will be held Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at The Brooklyn Kitchen, 100 Frost Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Get your tickets here.

If fifty million Frenchmen can’t be wrong, then nearly 55 million views on YouTube must make Project Trio all right.

Actually, far more than all right.

The most innovative band I have heard in the past 20 years, Project Trio will be playing at the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech this Friday.

Classically trained composers-performers Greg Pattillo (flute), Eric Stephenson (cello), and Peter Seymour (bass)  combine jazz, classical, hip-hop, rock, folk and bluegrass to create original songs and arrange pieces by Mingus, Monk, Duke, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Jethro Tull and Guns n’Roses.

In 2007, Patillo put on YouTube a video of him playing flute mixing jazz and beatbox that instantly went viral.

There are plenty of YouTube videos of the band, but the video above is my favorite, even though Seymour is not in it. I love the sounds of the subway and the tile wall behind them, which has such a Keith Haring flavor to it. (I find that ironic since Haring used to get busted for drawing on subway ad spaces where there were no ads.)

Seymour, however, no less of a musician, has performed alongside Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove and Bobby McFerrin and serves as a regular sub with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New World Symphony.

Pattillo has been lauded by The New York Times as “the best person in the world at what he does.”

Seymour was once named Downbeat Magazine’s “Best jazz Soloist.”

Project Trio will play two free concerts Friday at noon and 5 p.m. in the amphitheater to the right of the Ferst Center for the Arts at Georgia Tech, weather permitting.

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.

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.

Sounding like a mix between the 70s band Stray Cats and music from the swing era and Broadway, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will perform songs from its newest album “How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway,” along with BBVD classics, including “Go Daddy-O,” “You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby),” and “Mr. Pinstripe Suit.”

Playing together for 16 years, the band was featured in the indie film “Swingers” and has appeared numerous times on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brian” and “Live with Regis & Kelly.” BBVD appeared multiple times as the Carson Daly show’s house band, and wrote, performed and recorded the show’s theme song.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy with the ASO, Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 to $35 and are available online at atlantasymphony.org, or by calling (404) 733-5000.

If you have not yet seen her on “America’s Got Talent,” “Oprah,” “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” her solo concert debut on the recent PBS special “Dream With Me In Concert,” you have probably seen, read or heard about her somewhere. And with good reason. She is outstanding!

A prodigy who sounds more like a grown woman than a child, Evancho began singing at age 7 when she watched “Phantom of the Opera” starring Sarah Brightman. Evancho competed in a talent competition at 8 and came in second to a 20-year-old opera singer. Although at age 10 she came in second on “America’s Got Talent,” she got to sing a duet with her inspiration, Sarah Bightman.

This Friday, Evancho will perform selections from her new album, “Dream With Me,” which includes classical arias, pop classics and show tunes. The album has already gone gold.

Although I’m not an opera fan, her operatic performance in the video above is riveting.

Jackie Evancho and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform Friday, Aug. 5 at 8 p.m. at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

Nick Arapoglou as Princeton and Mary Nye Bennett as Kate Monster; Photo: Horizon Theatre

It’s not like I loved three-time Tony Award-winner “Avenue Q” the first time I saw it less than a year ago when the national touring company came to town. But I wanted to see what Horizon Theatre would do with it and how it would differ.

Everyone in this show is stupendous, and Horizon’s production is outstanding. It was so great I want to shout to everyone, “Go see this play!” If you don’t like plays, you’ll love this one. If you don’t like musicals, you’ll love this one. If you don’t like comedy, you’ll laugh your ass off.  If you don’t like four-letter words, you’ll get over it fast.  And if you like plays, musicals and comedy, what the hell are you waiting for?

Next to “The Marriage of Bette and Boo,” it is probably my favorite show I’ve seen at Horizon, and I have liked a lot of its shows.

“Avenue Q” is about life, my life and your life. Face it, at times it sucks. And situations are funny. People are funny. But really, it sucks being you, and it sucks being me.

“Avenue Q” opens on Manhattan’s lower east side on Avenue Q. Princeton (Nick Arapoglou), who has just arrived in New York to begin his first job after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in English, spots a for rent sign on Avenue Q. He meets the superintendent, Gary Coleman (Spencer G. Stephens), the has-been  “whatyoutalkinabout” child actor who reports he has been broke ever since his parents stole all his money when he was 15.

Princeton has moved to Manhattan to start work immediately. However, just after getting his new apartment, he gets a phone call from someone at the company where he is to begin work and is informed that the company was acquired and his new position has been eliminated. He starts to sing, “It sucks to me.” Pretty soon, nearly everyone on Avenue Q comes forward, divulges his or her problems, and sings why it sucks to be them.

OK, Princeton is a puppet. Most of the his new friends on Avenue Q are puppets. His new girlfriend, Kate Monster (Mary Nye Bennett) is a blue monster puppet. (Their differences spawn the song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist.) The puppets are controlled by people whose faces and bodies are shown  center-stage moving, acting and singing along in full view. The puppets are all charming and the cast members are so truthful in their acting that no matter how outrageous their characters become they are believable.

There are so many cute scenes and funny scenes with hilarious characters: There’s the lascivious, bluesy singer Lucy (Jill Hames) who seduces Princeton; there’s the Bad Idea Bears (Jeff McKerley and Hames),who plead to Princeton and Kate Monster to get drunk and have sex; and there’s Trekkie monster, the  male monster puppet who explains to teacher Kate Monster that the “Internet is for Porn.”

I wrote a review of the performance by the national touring company for “Avenue Q” about a year ago, and you can see that here. You’ll hear more of the story line, but all you really need to know is that Horizon’s production is hilarious.

Directed by Heidi Cline McKerley, “Avenue Q” runs at Horizon Theatre through July 3.

The cast includes Leslie W. Bellair, J.C. Long and Matt Nitchie.

I love you for bringing Stephen King to your Taste of the Alliance Season tonight. His memoir “On Writing” sits on my night stand, and I can’t wait to see the new musical that he and John Mellencamp wrote!

I love you for bringing “Into the Woods” to the theater. It’s a show I have been wanting to see for years.

I love you for showing me a scene from the 2009 Tony Award-winning play “God of Carnage.” The scene and the acting we saw tonight were captivating.

I love you for hiring great Atlanta actors like Joe Knezevich, who performed wonderfully in a scene about an English blue’s musician in “I Just Stopped By to See the Man.” I would have thought Joe was actually from the UK had I not looked him up online and found that he is a local actor. He was such a wacky and animated Brit, I could swear I’ve seen that musician before!

I love you for daring to bring “The Wizard of Oz” to the stage. Who would dare to compete with Judy Garland? Not I. But if I had a voice like 14-year-old Paige McCauley, I would. She sounded nothing like Garland, but boy, McCauley had an ethereal, soulful voice and sang “Over the Rainbow” with her own unique emphasis on words and sounds. I was taken aback. Yeah, I would dare to bring her to my stage too.

I love you for bringing Tovah Feldshuh to reprise the role she played in New York in the longest-running one-woman show “Golda’s Balcony.” I love it when you bring great New York talent to Atlanta.

I think it is super cool that you are bringing Fred Willard to join the cast of The Second City when it performs “Sex and the Second City.”

I also love you for what you’ve done in the past: premiering “Bring it On: The Musical” — I will be shocked if it is not nominated for a Tony — and for premiering “Come Fly With Me.” They were two of the best shows I have ever seen at the Alliance. “Come Fly With Me” was one of the best shows I’ve seen anywhere.

I am so looking forward to your shows this season!

Thank you, Susan Booth.