Local options for entertainment almost beyond belief

Last weekend I metaphorically stood in the street overwhelmed by choices and trying to determine which way to turn.

My family ended up seeing “I am Not Your Negro” at the Douglass Theatre one night and the “Robert McDuffie Annual Community Concert” at Mercer University on the other. But to do so we had to turn our backs on a dozen other top-notch events, including the Macon Pops, Rockin’ Road to Dublin and Theatre Macon’s “The Constant Wife.”

The excellent news is that we are faced with similar tough decisions again this weekend.

While the Old Book Sale is the leading event this weekend (closing at 5 p.m. Sunday), there is plenty more to pull you in multiple directions. If you’ve not yet attended the movie series at the Grand Opera House, Friday night will bring the classic movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” (starring Gregory Peck). On Sunday, the Grand will host a touring company performing Agatha Christie’s classic who-dun-it, “Murder on the Nile.”

March will bring several other noteworthy events, some in support of good causes. Mercer pianist Ian Altman will present a benefit concert Sunday afternoon for Congregation Sha’Arey Israel in Mercer’s Fickling Hall. The 4 p.m. event will feature music by Beethoven, Liszt and others.

Several plays are beckoning to us: Warner Robins Little Theatre is finishing its run of the Southern classic “Steel Magnolias,” while soon opening in Forsyth is “The Crucible,” arguably one of the great plays of the 20th century. CenterStage for Christ in Perry is currently presenting “Mayhem at the Mark IV” to benefit the Methodist Home for Children and Youth.

A show that is on my must-see list is “The Temple Bombing” at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. Anyone who has seen “Driving Miss Daisy” has heard about the bombing at the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation in 1958, in retaliation for the rabbi’s activism for racial equality.

MERCER MUSICIANS TRIUMPHANT

Both the review and first-hand accounts say that the expeditionary force of musicians and singers who recently descended upon Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall took the celebrated concert space by storm.

The reviewer, one Jeffrey Williams, had all good things — interrupted only by wonderful things — to say about the performance, beginning with Mercer president William Underwood’s welcome to the large crowd and introduction of the Mercer Singers, Stanley Roberts and Carol Goff, followed by Amy Schwartz Moretti and the McDuffie String Ensemble.

The review mentions the performance “bringing the audience to their feet” and singles out for special praise “Lead Kindly Light,” Rutter’s “Requiem” and the “heavenly” “Pie Jesu,” highlighted by the “sheer radiance” of soloist Olivia McMillan. The evening is reported to have ended with a prolonged standing ovation.

What an experience for the students! Yet their magnificent achievement doesn’t amaze me. What is amazing is that some facet of this array of talent is available to us here in Macon almost every week of the year.

This story was originally published March 2, 2017 at 7:01 AM with the headline "Local options for entertainment almost beyond belief."