By Wendell Brock

For the AJC

A ballroom-dance sensation born at Elton John’s 50th birthday party. A ’70s rock opera that celebrates peace, love and long beautiful hair. And the revival of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim masterpiece about the gangs of Hell’s Kitchen, directed by one of its writers.

That would be, respectively, “Burn the Floor,” “Hair” and “West Side Story,” all part of Broadway Across America-Atlanta’s 2010-11 Fox Theatre season, announced Wednesday. Rounding out the five-show list are the recent Apollo Theater revival of “Dreamgirls” and “Shrek the Musical.” Subscription packages are on sale (BroadwayAcross
America.com, 1-800-278-4447), and single tickets are generally available from six to eight weeks before each show.

In case you are wondering about that John connection, “Burn the Floor” (March 22-27, 2011) began as a mini-spectacle created for the pop star’s 1997 birthday bash, and was later expanded into a Broadway show.

“Hair,” the hallucinatory anthem to the hippie movement, won the 2009 Tony Award for best revival of a musical (May 17-22, 2011), while last year’s revival of “West Side Story” featured Spanish translations by “In the Heights” composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (Jan. 25-30).

This production of “Dreamgirls,” molded from the steamy tale of Diana Ross and the Supremes and made into the 2006 movie, has not been seen on Broadway. But the Harlem theater’s treatment is going out on tour and opens the Broadway Across America fall season at the Fox (Oct. 12-17). “Shrek,” the twisted fairy tale from DreamWorks, runs April 26-May 1, 2011.

Stephanie Parker, the Atlanta-based Broadway Across America vice president who programs the season, jokes that the list has “the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for its many classics.

She also says an effort has been made to keep down ticket prices. A five-show package begins at $80 (vs. $92 last year), and there’s a $10 discount for buying it before April 23.

Season specials are Nickelodeon’s “Storytime Live!” (June 11-13) and “The Phantom of the Opera” (June 30-July 25). Parker says the current “Phantom” tour will close in the fall. This could be your last chance to see the crashing chandelier for a while.