If everything old can be new again, maybe everything deemed square long ago can be hip for the first time.
What other conclusion to draw from the announcement that Roswell’s Georgia Ensemble Theatre will open its 2013-14 season with the jukebox musical “Almost Heaven: John Denver’s America” — this following on the heels of the early April release of the album “The Music Is You: A Tribute to John Denver?”
The tribute album features artists including My Morning Jacket, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Dave Matthews and Train updating ultra-familiar Denver tunes for a new generation.
“Almost Heaven: John Denver’s America” does much the same. The musical features 29 “rediscovered and reinvented” Denver songs, according to Georgia Ensemble, including “Rocky Mountain High,” “Annie’s Song” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.”
While the tribute album is new, “Almost Heaven” played for nearly two years in Denver starting in 2002 and had an off-Broadway run in 2005.
Reviews by New York critics, not the types you’d expect to embrace Denver’s granola-sweet songbook, were mixed.
The New York Times called it “a pale imitation of a biographical musical.” But Variety termed “Almost Heaven” “an excellent tribute to an artist who remains great at making people feel good.”
Denver, who perished in a 1997 plane crash, was well aware that his songs evoked such mixed feelings. “I’m not Bob Dylan. I don’t write songs like that,” he said in a 1975 interview. “But I think 25 years from now people will be singing my songs even if they don’t remember who wrote them.”
Here’s the rundown of Georgia Ensemble’s 21st season:
- Sept. 5-22: "Almost Heaven: John Denver's America," written and adapted by Peter Glazer
- Nov. 7-24: "Deathtrap," the Ira Levin thriller
- Jan. 9-26, 2014: "The Only Light in Reno," a world premiere comedy by Atlantan Topher Payne about the Nevada filming of "The Misfits" with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift
- Feb. 27-March 16, 2014: "The Great Gatsby," the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic adapted by Simon Levy
- April 10-27, 2014: "Camelot," the Lerner-Loewe musical
Subscriptions (with early-bird pricing through May 17): 770-641-1260.
Meanwhile, Georgia Ensemble's current season closer, "Hello, Dolly!" continues through April 28. Information: www.get.org.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Symphony plans free concerts, balanced budget next year
Last week’s announcement by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra that it will resume free concerts at Piedmont Park was a burst of positive news from an institution steadying itself after thorny contract negotiations that included a musician lockout before the season started.
In case you missed the news, the ASO and the Piedmont Park Conservancy will present a “Performance on the Promenade” series on May 17 and 23.
The 7:30 p.m. concerts are free but tickets (general admission seating) will be required. Tickets for May 17's performance will available at 10 a.m. May 3 via atlantasymphony.org. May 23 tickets will be available at 10 a.m. May 10. Information: aso.org/piedmontpark.
The Piedmont concerts were launched in 1976, but concerns about protecting the park during a protracted drought caused them to move to other sites in 2008 and 2009, after which the series stopped because of a lack of funding.
Bigger fiscal concerns — annual deficits that were adding to an accumulated debt approaching $20 million — are what caused ASO management to insist upon pay and benefit cuts from its musicians.
Orchestra president and CEO Stanley E. Romanstein said those concessions have helped the bottom line but that he still expects the orchestra to finish the fiscal year ending May 31 with a “modest” deficit, in part because of lagging ticket sales that he characterized as “not unique to the ASO.”
“It’s been a reasonably productive year for us all the way around,” Romanstein told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We won’t realize all the benefits from the new contract and all the expense reductions we’ve done until next year. But we’re going to post a balanced budget next year and we’re in the process of developing that [plan] right now.”
JAZZ
Callanwolde announces some hot dates
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center has just released its “Jazz on the Lawn” lineup, and fans of the music will want to add these dates to their calendars:
- June 14: Ike Stubblefield and Friends. Jazz with a distinct R&B influence
- June 28: Serenata Band. Latin jazz by a seven-piece unit
- July 12: Scott Glazer's Mojo Dojo. Bluesy, Southern soul spin on jazz
- July 26: Ted Howe Trio with Karla Harris: Jazzy take on James Bond movie music
- Aug. 9: Madoca & Company: Fusion
Shows begin at 7:30 p.m. $15 in advance, $20 door. It's a picnic atmosphere, so don't forget blankets and snacks. And if it rains, the concerts move inside. 980 Briarcliff Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-872-5338, www.callanwolde.org. -- ROSALIND BENTLEY
VISUAL ART
Two photographers focus on childhood
The Arnika Dawkins Photographic Fine Art Gallery holds a 6-8 p.m. Friday opening reception for New York photographer Builder Levy and his show, "Platinum, Gold, Silver Photographs," and Los Angeles photographer Aline Smithson and her's, "Spring Fever." Builder has documented the lives of children from around the world, while Smithson has tried to get at what it means to be a little girl and the road to womanhood. Free. 4600 Cascade Road, Atlanta. 404-333-0312, www.adawkinsgallery.com. -- ROSALIND BENTLEY
THEATER
Dad’s Garage temporarily moving to 7 Stages
Dad's Garage Theatre Company has announced that it has to depart its long-time Inman Park home, in a complex that is being redeveloped. The improv-loving troupe will take up temporary quarters at 7 Stages in Little Five Points in August. Dad's plans to launch a capital campaign for a permanent home. Keep up at www.dadsgarage.com.
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