If you have been thinking about returning to the Alliance Theatre to see a show this season, get your tickets fast. The 2012-2013 season is packed with music, drama, comedy and three world premieres.
Kicking off the season will be the world premier of Pearl Cleage’s “What I Learned in Paris,” directed by Susan V. Booth. An Atlanta love story, on stage starting Sept. 5 – 30, that takes you back to the city during 1973. Filled with bell bottoms and Stevie Wonder, this tale involves passion and politics in the best city in the South. The main character finds out that sometimes you need to leave what you know to find what you need.
The world premier of “Apples and Oranges” will be shown on the Hertz Stage Oct. 5 – 28. Based on the book by Marie Brenner, Atlanta’s own Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winner, Alfred Uhry takes the text from page to stage under the direction of Lynne Meadow. It is a story two siblings who have never seen eye-to-eye. But when one asks for help, it leads them down a path of discovery and experiences of family love.
“Next to Normal” is a gripping musical about a family that is struggling with mental illness. Written by Brian Yorkey, music by Tom Kitt and directed by Scott Schwartz, this Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning rock musical comes to the Alliance Oct. 17 – Nov. 11. The show is filled with music, humor and tests your knowledge of what a suburban family really is.
After the usual Christmas Carol that takes over every theater in town, comes “Good People.” A play set in Boston’s notorious Southie neighborhood. It focuses on Margie Walsh who just lost her job, she is left with a few decisions to make. On stage from Jan. 16 – Feb. 10 2013. This Tony Award nominated show was written by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Susan V. Booth.
Mike Lew is the 2013 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Award winner and his play, “Bike America,” will be holding its world premiere on the Hertz Stage Feb. 1 – 24, 2013. A dark comedy about a young woman who is lost in the world and decides to bike from Boston, Mass. to Santa Barbara, Calif. This show is perfectly pitched with the lengths that millennials will go to obtain what seems out of reach.
“The Whipping Man,” written by Matthew Lopez and directed by Alexander Greenfield, is an American drama that portrays the end of the civil war. In 1865 in Virginia, a Jewish Confederate soldier comes home to his family’s former slaves. During a shared Passover celebration the secrets are revealed as the world around them is changing. This show will be on the Hertz Stage from March 8 – April 7, 2013.
The musical version of the familiar story of “Zorro” comes to the Alliance stage April 3 – May 5, 2013. Written by Stephen Clark and Helen Emundson and music by Gipsy Kings and John Cameron, the American adaptation of the masked hero who loves beautiful women is a fun, extravaganza of a show.
For further information on the Alliance Theatre’s 2012-2013 season, visit www.alliancetheatre.org.
