MUSIC
The Tedeschi Trucks Band comes to the Fox Theatre for a two-night stand Friday and Saturday for shows that will spotlight their four-part I Am The Moon album series that was inspired by the ancient story of Layla and Majnun. Derek Trucks is considered by many to be the greatest living guitarist, and Susan Tedeschi is an acclaimed blues-flavored vocalist and guitarist. The group, which has several Atlanta-based members, has quickly risen to the top of the “jam band” genre. Tickets start at $29.
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Joe Gransden and His Big Band warms up for an important New York City gig with a show at Eddie’s Attic on Sunday at 6 p.m. The trumpeter and vocalist is scheduled to perform a week later at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Dizzy’s Club. A native of New York, Gransden has become a mainstay of the Atlanta jazz scene and has Clint Eastwood as one of his biggest fans. He regularly plays private events for Eastwood at the Tehema Golf Club in Carmel, California. Tickets for Sunday’s show are $27.50
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Banks comes to the Tabernacle on Tuesday as part of a tour to promote her new Serpentina album. Her music has been described as dark R&B, with influences from Lauryn Hill and Fiona Apple. A California native, Banks posted a song on SoundCloud, where it was discovered by a BBC Radio disc jockey and that led to her first professional recordings and her debut album, Goddess.
ART+DESIGN
Former NBA All Star Joe Barry Carroll retired from basketball in 1991. He’s been many things since — philanthropist, author, wealth advisor — but take a trip to Hammonds House Museum this weekend and you’ll experience him as an artist. In his solo exhibit My View From Seven Feet he muses on “the mythical qualities that some want to assign to a person standing seven feet tall.” Curator for this exhibit is Leatrice Ellzy Wright, executive director of the museum from 2019-2021. Opening reception Friday 6-8:30 p.m. Through September 18.
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If you studied art in college and wonder what happened to your professors, the juried exhibition opening this weekend at the ever-eclectic eyedrum Gallery may give you some answers. It’s also an opportunity for art educators to exhibit their work, often a requirement for promotion and tenure. The show will feature art created by faculty from Georgia’s colleges and universities, among them Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, Augusta University, Clark Atlanta University, Brenau and Mercer. Professors of Art: Georgia is juried by retired professor Marling de Cuellar and features work by more than 30 art educators. Opening reception Saturday 7-10 p.m. Through August 13.
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Several basketball courts in the city have been revitalized with murals, thanks to Aurelious Cooper’s project Art in the Paint. Now you can see them all of them at once – at least photographs of them. The upcoming An Impactful Brush exhibit includes aerial view photographs of these beautifully restored courts. The show includes additional work by various local artists. Opening Friday, 6-8 p.m. West End Performing Arts Center.
THEATER
Irish author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers penned the award-winning tale The Incredible Book Eating Boy in 2006, about a kid who develops an odd taste for the written word . . . literally. The Alliance Theatre’s musical world premiere based of this short story, as directed by True Colors Theatre Company Artistic Director Jamil Jude, has begun previews on its Hertz Stage. The family-friendly show features a book by playwright Madhuri Shekar, music by Christian Magby and lyrics by Christian Albright. It’s being presented in conjunction with the High Museum of Art’s Oliver Jeffers: 15 Years of Picturing Books exhibition. The exhibit continues through August 7, the musical through August 14.
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It’s taken a long time for Mean Girls, the 2018 Broadway hit musical based on Tina Fey’s story, to make it to Atlanta. The national tour launched back in September 2019, and of course Covid had something to do with turning the schedule topsy turvy, shutting down the production for four months in 2020. Finally, after hitting markets bigger and smaller, Broadway in Atlanta presents the show at the Fox Theatre on July 19. When it played in the Music City earlier this year, the Nashville Scene’s reviewer wrote, “Die-hard fans will be happy to know that Fey’s book preserves much of the film’s quick wit and meme-worthy lines. She wisely fast-forwards the action to 2019, working in some new gags about social media and technology. (One character tries to explain her aching insecurity by comparing herself to an iPhone without a case. ‘Like, I know I’m worth a lot, and I have a lot of good functions. But at any time I could just shatter.’)” In the current cast, the three “frenemies” in the high school clique the Plastics are played by actresses of color for the first time. Through July 24.
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City Springs Theatre Company’s production of West Side Story has a tough act to follow, notes ArtsATL critic Jim Farmer: Steven Spielberg’s lauded remake of the 1961 film version from last year. “It’s really not fair to compare [the show] to other takes, for this is certainly an ably executed staging,” Farmer writes. “Yet on its own it feels a bit subdued and suffers from a lack of chemistry between its leads.” Aspects that earned the reviewer’s praise: director Daniel Kutner’s production “moves quickly and efficiently;” Jeffrey Meek’s costumes “are spot-on;” choreographer Cindy Mora Reiser deftly moves a stage-full of characters; and leading man Ben Jacoby delivers a “charismatic, sturdy Tony.” Through July 24.
