The recession’s smudgy fingerprints were easy to identify across Atlanta’s cultural landscape last year, from Atlanta Opera’s trimmed schedule to the canceling of Big Apple Circus’ annual tour visit, from theater troupes specializing in small-cast productions to attractions affording fewer new temptations. As the new year dawns, though, you can sense the start of a recovery across Atlanta’s arts, entertainment and attractions scene.
Twyla Tharp’s ‘The Princess and the Goblin’
Even as she approaches the 50th year of her illustrious career in 2015, Tharp continues to surprise. When Atlanta Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet co-commissioned a world premiere, the thoroughly modern choreographer came up with this dance based on Scottish author George MacDonald’s 19th century children’s tale “The Princess and the Goblin,” set to the Romantic music of Franz Schubert.
The premiere, which taps aspiring talents from the Atlanta Ballet’s Centre for Dance Education, is the first time Tharp has used youngsters in a full-length ballet. The ballet will be performed Feb. 10-19 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
Info: 1-800-982-2787, www.ticketmaster.com, www.atlantaballet.com
Close encounters at Georgia Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta
Georgia Aquarium is always a study in motion, but things should really get jumping starting Jan. 12 when the downtown attraction opens “Frogs — A Chorus of Colors.” In this exhibit organized by Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland in Allenwood, Pa., guests will get up close with these complex amphibians, from the long-nosed horned frog to the poisonous dart frog, and learn about their biology and evolution, the pivotal role they play in our ecosystem and the peril they face in a changing environment.
Meanwhile, neck-craning visitors to Zoo Atlanta will have the chance to get closer than ever to Earth’s tallest land mammals as the Grant Park attraction opens a giraffe feeding deck in spring. Guests will stroll up a (wheelchair-accessible) ramp to a terrace where they will be able to feed the long-legged animals romaine lettuce, a diet staple. It’s the second interactive opportunity at Zoo Atlanta, which in 2009 debuted “Boundless Budgies: A Parakeet Adventure.”
Info: 404-581-4000, www .georgiaaquarium.org; 404-624-9453, www.zooatlanta.org
Off the Edge at Rialto Center for the Arts
“A swarm of ideas, energy, activity” is how gloATL’s Lauri Stallings described the cutting-edge contemporary dance experience she’s curating for Georgia State University’s downtown arts center and its partner Kennesaw State University.
The weeklong dance summit, involving local, national and international choreographers and dancers, will be capped Jan. 27-28 with two unique ticketed programs on the Rialto stage featuring artists from Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Gallim Dance, Keigwin + Company, Zoe/Juniper and Bodytraffic. The celebration offers many free aspects too, including a series of artist-to-artist exchanges, performance-based works by nine Atlanta artists in Woodruff Park, a conversation series, a weeklong residency with Israeli modern dance master Rina Schenfeld, youth outreach initiatives and an art exhibition.
Info: 404-413-9849, www.rialtocenter.org
Fernbank Museum of Natural History's 20th anniversary
The museum’s birthday isn’t until fall, with plans for a big bash expected to be announced early in the year. But Fernbank plans to make 2012 one extended celebration, with some 20 weekends of special programming marking its 20th anniversary, beginning with the Pirates & Princesses Weekend on Jan. 21-22.
A series of big exhibits kicks off Feb. 4 with the U.S. debut of “Wildlife Rescue,” recounting stories of animal rescues from around the globe, including some success stories of restoring endangered species. Opening Jan. 2, the related Imax film “Born to Be Wild” documents efforts to rescue orphaned orangutans and elephants in Borneo rainforests.
Info: 404-929-6300, fernbankmuseum.org
High Museum of Art takes a swing at golf
Georgia is home to the Masters Golf Tournament and legendary linksman Bobby Jones. And, starting Feb. 4, it will boast the first substantial art survey on the subject organized by an American museum. “The Art of Golf” will feature 90 works — paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture — by artists as diverse as Rembrandt, Norman Rockwell and Andy Warhol.
The focal point will be Charles Lees’ iconic 1847 painting “The Golfers,” a panoramic image of a foursome playing at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St. Andrews surrounded by some 50 well-dressed onlookers, each a portrait of personality. On loan from exhibit co-organizer National Galleries of Scotland, it will journey to the United States for the first time. Fittingly, the exhibition will feature a special section on Atlanta-born Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones Jr. (1902-1971).
Info: 404-733-4444, www.high.org
Geyser Towers opening at Stone Mountain Park
Those tubing down Snow Mountain right about now can be excused if it’s the furthest thing from their minds, but soon enough Atlanta’s unrelenting summer heat and humidity will be back. Stone Mountain Park, though, promises some relief with this under-construction option for getting wet.
Just how damp they want to get, from being kissed by a fine mist to reveling in an outright soaking, will be up to visitors to Geyser Towers, expected to open March 31, the start of spring break for many metro school systems. Still, there will be some surprises from the multiple sources of liquid refreshment spraying in this two-story playground of suspended net bridges and tunnels and open-air platforms connected by climbing towers. The roughly $1 million addition targets ages 6 through 12 but is designed to allow parents who are game to share in the wet wildness.
Info: 770-498-5690, www.snowmountainpark.com
‘Ghost Brothers of Darkland County’ at Alliance Theatre
This world premiere musical from the unlikely pairing of Stephen King and John Mellencamp spins the story of two brothers and a young girl killed in a tragic accident that, through the decades, became Indiana legend. One man witnessed the tragedy, and the ghosts from that fateful night continue to haunt his family.
A dozen years in the making, the play, now set in small-town Mississippi in 1957, stars Broadway favorite and Marietta native Shuler Hensley and Tony nominee Emily Skinner. Alliance artistic director Susan V. Booth directs, and album producer T Bone Burnett provides the music direction. The run is April 4-May 3.
Info: 404-733-5000, www.alliancetheatre.org/ghostbrothers
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s new moves
Always respectful of tradition, the Ailey troupe arrives for its annual Fox Theatre tour stop at a crossroads of change. Ailey legend Judith Jamison has retired as artistic director, and her successor, choreographer Robert Battle, is piloting his first tour.
The five programs, Feb. 16-19, bring some fresh moves along with the classic closer, the Ailey-choreographed “Revelations.” Rennie Harris’ recent world premiere, “Home” — commemorating World AIDS Day and in memory of Ailey, who died of the disease in 1989 — “builds off the choreographer’s deep knowledge of hip-hop dancing (especially house) to create a piece that is both propulsive and moody,” The New York Times’ review said. Other highlights will include Battle’s “Takademe” (1999) and Paul Taylor’s “Arden Court” (1981).
Info: 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com
Legoland Discovery Center opening at Phipps Plaza
It may not snap together mentally with the same ease as Legos do, this notion of building a family attraction at a high-end mall. But Atlantans love their malls, and coming in April to the ritzy Buckhead shopping destination is a $12 million interactive and educational indoor experience ideal for families with children ages 3 to 10 who could use a two- to three-hour diversion.
Located next to the movie multiplex on Phipps’ third floor, Legoland Discovery Center will include a 4-D cinema, Lego rides, exhibits and classes from a master builder. Will there be an attached store selling everything Lego under the sun? Hey, it is in a mall, right?
Info: www.simon.com (search: Phipps Plaza)
Atlanta Opera performs ‘The Golden Ticket’
The title might not ring a bell, but hang on. In this comic opera, a young boy named Charlie finds a “golden ticket” admitting him into Willy Wonka’s top-secret chocolate factory, where he encounters chocolate rivers, inflating blueberries, magic elevators and other delights familiar from the classic children’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and the groovy ’70s Gene Wilder movie.
This tuneful adaptation, March 3-11 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, premiered at Opera Theater of St. Louis in 2010. Daniel Okulitch, who originated the role, will reprise Willy Wonka, and composer Peter Ash will conduct.
Info: 404-881-8885, www.atlantaopera.org
Cirque du Soleil presents ‘Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour’ and ‘Totem’
Cirque’s gravity-defying acrobatics and the moves of the moonwalking master join in a touring extravaganza that made its world premiere in Montreal in October and hits Philips Arena on June 29-30, one of two productions the Canadian troupe will bring to Atlanta this year.
Reviews from a December tour stop in Las Vegas were mixed. “’Immortal’ combines songs, videos and voice-overs from the singer with Cirque’s signature theatrics and acrobatics to dizzying effect,” Entertainment Weekly raved. “Filled with Vegas cheese, oddly chosen MJ spoken word interludes, ill-advised song-and-dance combos ... the production never feels like it ever gets going,” the Los Angeles Times dissed.
Meanwhile, Cirque also will raise its big top here for a new evolution-themed show, “Totem,” which commands a stage evoking a giant turtle. Reviewing a December stop in San Francisco, the San Jose Mercury News called the tour created by avant-garde theater vet Robert Lepage “one of the most magical Cirque du Soleil productions in years.” Atlanta dates and location are to be announced.
Info: 1-800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com, www.cirquedusoleil.com/michaeljackson; www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/totem/default.aspx
Donald Runnicles’ grand farewell with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
Concluding an 11-year partnership with music director Robert Spano, the ASO and the ASO Chorus, principal guest conductor Runnicles will get quite a send-off. Jan. 19-22, he will lead the ASO in Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony and will be joined by violinist James Ehnes for Britten’s Violin Concerto. Then on Jan. 26 and 28, he will complete his tenure by leading the orchestra and chorus in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection.”
Runnicles has moved his base to Europe, where he leads Berlin’s Deutsche Oper as well as Glasgow’s BBC Scottish Orchestra, but the ASO hopes the well-regarded Scotsman will return as a guest conductor.
Info: 404-733-5000, www.atlantasymphony.org
