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Tuesday, February 12, 2008
‘Raisin’ run-up — and Audra requests
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You’ll be reading more about ABC’s Feb. 25 broadcast of “A Raisin in the Sun,” directed by Atlanta’s Kenny Leon, in the coming days. But fans of Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald (who won Tony Awards for the Broadway production of “Raisin”) will want to know about the following:
Rashad plays Big Mama, opposite James Earl Jones’ Big Daddy, in Broadway’s historic African-American production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” which begins previews tonight and opens March 6. Leon was supposed to direct “Cat” but dropped out because of creative differences.
McDonald, looking glamorous at Monday night’s screening of “Raisin” at Symphony Hall, would have made a great Maggie the Cat, don’t you think?
Anyway, McDonald is giving a concert at Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center for the Arts on March 30. (ferstcenter.gatech.edu, 404-894-9600)
What would you like to hear Audra sing? Any requests?
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Theater community all about politics
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This past weekend, just a few days after Super Tuesday, I caught Dad’s Garage’s “Poker Night at the White House,” by Chicago Neo-Futurist Sean Benjamin. The raucous satire of presidential incompetent Warren G. Harding, which I’ll be reviewing in Friday’s paper, is an indicator of how the Atlanta theater community is engaging in election-year politics.
Another case in point is the Horizon Theatre production of Keith Reddin’s “The Missionary Position,” which opens Friday. Reddin is the author of “Frame 312,” which Alliance director Susan V. Booth produced early on in her tenure. “Frame 312” was about the effect of the JFK assassination on a former Life magazine secretary — and the American psyche. “Missionary Position” imagines a tug-of-war between a conservative presidential candidate’s top fund-raiser and a Christian activist.
Speaking of politics, I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the reading of Josh Tobiessen’s “Election Day” at the Alliance last week. I’ve heard that “Election Day,” a finalist for the Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition, is a keeper. Maybe some smart Atlanta theater will put the topical comedy in a fall slot.
As for the Kendeda competition, I can’t say enough good things about Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “In the Red and Brown Water” - and Tina Landau’s first-rate direction. The sexy, evocative play relocates the Yoruban love triangle of Oya, Shango and Ogun to the Louisiana bayou. “In the Red and Brown Water” may not be perfect in every way. But it’s a remarkable achievement for the 27-year-old playwright and, quite simply, the best show in Atlanta at the moment.
Tickets: Alliancetheatre.org, 404-733-5000.
