Send This Story
After Hours: Artful Relaxation
The arts season is gearing up, and there's a lot going on.
by Ralph McGill Jr.
October 23, 2007
It's a brand new season with a brisk, new attitude – time to say goodbye to vegging out by
the pool or working on your Starbucks tan and start participating in and experiencing the arts in
Atlanta. And this year the choices are extraordinary.
The arts season is well on its way here in the ATL. At the High Museum, they are serving up a
double whammy of crowd-pleasing favorites – the Old Masters and the Impressionists, and how the
earlier masters affected the Impressionists and their own personal styles. The exhibit, Inspiring
Expressionism, is a blockbuster show featuring 86 masterworks by Titian, Rubens, Monet, Degas and
more.
Beauchamp Carr, the longtime executive vice president of the Woodruff Arts Center, is
especially enthusiastic about all the offerings at the center this season. "In my nearly three
decades with the Woodruff Arts Center, I have never seen such a leap in quality seemingly across
the board."
Also opening concurrently with the Inspiring Expressionism exhibit, is a yearlong exhibit of
ancient art from the Louvre in Paris. All part of "Louvre Atlanta" – a year of loaned masterpieces
from the famed museum, "the ancient art is borrowed from the famed Parisian museum and includes
statues from ancient Egypt, near eastern civilizations and Greco Roman art, much of which was
gathered by Napoleon. One notable piece is a monumental slab from Egypt, over ten feet long, which
has never left Paris since Bonaparte brought it to Paris in 1805," Carr said.
If "The Play is the Thing" for you, then Alliance Theatre has a whole year full of exciting
new offerings for all tastes. After decades of going back and forth looking for an equilibrium
between avant garde experiments, classical plays and new plays of national importance, the Alliance
has found its formula for success and an entire year of offerings, what they call 365 days, 365
plays."Our season kicked off with a world premiere. The Women of Brewster Place (taken from the
novel by Gloria Naylor) was the most anticipated new musical of 2007," says Alliance Theatre
Artistic Director Susan Booth. Not all the buzz at the Woodruff is about the Louvre coming here and
the Impressionist masters. The Alliance responds by popping the cork on a sparkling French
offering: Jacques Brel is Alive and Living In Paris. It broke box office records during its initial
off-Broadway production and played to sold-out houses for more than four years. The recent
off-Broadway revival similarly packed in audience members who came back three, four and in some
cases, ten times. "We are not kidding," Moore added.
"The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has developed a repertoire that allows them to offer the
popular classics that so many love and still provide the musical public with the innovation it
demands." Beauchamp Carr added. "A highlight that has become an Atlanta tradition is Christmas at
the ASO. Created by Robert Shaw, this choral work presents the traditional holiday music, performed
by the symphony and chorus in conjunction with local vocal groups." Performed throughout December,
Christmas at the ASO has become a tough ticket to get, so early reservations are recommended.
Of course not all arts alternatives are found within the hallowed halls of the Woodruff. A
world of artistic possibilities exists out there, often with newer and fresher perspectives. A
charge of creating a coalition of organizations to present alternative art with spirit and
conviction has been given to AtlantaPerforms.com. Simply log on or dial 404.588.9890 to find what's
happening at places like Dad's Garage and the Academy Theater.
So what are you waiting for? Get the arts in your life. As Joseph Bankoff, the head of the
Woodruff Arts Center, said, "We've improved the product of our offerings every year. This is the
good stuff."
