City: Atlanta, GA

Category: Shopping

Telephone: (404) 733-5000

Address: 1280 Peachtree St. NE

Description: The Alliance’s status as a company of national importance was only enhanced when the Alfred Uhry (an Atlantan by birth) play Last Night at Ballyhoo won a Tony in 1996. Like his Driving Miss Daisy, Last Night premiered in Atlanta at this Broadway-type theater in the heart of Midtown. More recently, Elton John’s Elaborate Lives, a retelling of the classic story of Aida, was premiered at the Alliance before it was retitled and taken to Broadway. The theater was also one of only three U.S. theaters chosen by playwright Tony Kushner to mount productions of his Tony Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. It also launched three Tony-Award-winning hits to Broadway: Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, part-time Atlanta resident Elton John’s Aida, and Alfred Uhry’s The Last Night of Ballyhoo. It also originated the national tour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, also a Tony winner. The Alliance Theatre Company is a nonprofit professional company that produces mainstage, studio, and children’s productions. The company has historically been a vanguard for theatrical productions with world premieres including Tennessee Williams’s Tiger Tale and Ed Gracyk’s Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Seasons typically include contemporary plays, classic dramas, and musicals. Past productions included A Question of Mercy by David Rabe, The Colored Museum by George C. Wolfe, Medea by Euripides, Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon, and Jon Marans’s Old Wicked Songs. In addition, Alliance Theatre artists bring performing art into metro Atlanta’s schools throughout the year. Season-ticket holders save 45 percent off the single-ticket price. A generous ticket exchange program exists, which means you might be able to pick up a last-minute exchanged ticket. There isn’t a bad seat in the house, so take whatever is available. Call (404) 733-4600 for details.