Author: Jim Farmer

Even when he has gigs lined up in other cities for the rest of the year, Tony Award-winning actor Shuler Hensley never hesitates to come home to Atlanta for the local awards show that bears his name. Now in their fifth year, the Shuler Hensley Awards, taking place April 18 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, celebrate…

Envisioned as the world’s first flamenco musical, “Zorro” has taken its own deliberate path to U.S. soil. Director Christopher Renshaw’s “Americanized” take on his 2008 West End production could use more polish, but this new version at the Alliance Theatre, running through May 5, is enjoyable and full of spectacle. The hero Zorro was introduced in…

“The Baltimore Waltz,” the comedy-drama credited with putting playwright Paula Vogel on the map, is getting a rare staging by the Fern Theatre, a new local company. But despite a noble effort, it proves here to be less fresh and emphatic than it might have seemed a few decades ago. Running through March 16 in 7 Stages…

The great Melba Moore makes a rare Atlanta appearance in the gospel comedy “Good God A’Mighty!,” but even her presence can’t save this off-balance production. Running through February 24 at the 14th Street Playhouse, “Good God A’Mighty!” is a musical comedy that ultimately is light on both songs and humor. Moore plays Reen L’Dimp, the choir director…

Looking for ways to be financially creative, five Atlanta theater companies are banding together to try to raise money collectively as part of the new Atlanta Intown Theatre Partnership. Made up of Horizon Theatre, Actor’s Express, 7 Stages, the New American Shakespeare Tavern and Theatrical Outfit, the partnership has a goal of helping to keep the city’s…

When Shuler Hensley comes down the stairs of the administrative offices of Manhattan’s City Center, it’s hard not to notice this tall, affable man with a Southerner’s outreached hand. For those who’ve followed the Tony Award-winning Marietta native over the years, it’s virtually impossible not to notice, too, all he has accomplished in the last…

At Friday night’s opening-curtain speech, Chris Manos, producer of Theater of the Stars, summed up his new version of “The Producers” perfectly well. “This is a musical comedy, an old school musical comedy,” he told the crowd. Those looking for something new and edgy might not cotton to it, but those willing to take this…

For the most part, Brenda Bynum is retired from working in the theater. Unless, that is, a role comes along that whets her appetite again. One did in 2011, with “August, Osage County” at the Alliance Theater, and now she has found another. The veteran Atlanta actress is appearing in “Good People,” running through February…