From kids’ productions to musicals, the midstate’s theater bonanza runs all summer

Our midstate theater groups boast an enviable reputation for presenting top-flight summer productions, but this year’s line-up promises to raise the bar.

One of the most exciting things about this summer’s bounty is that the shows are spread out, with the result that we’ll have theater options almost every weekend all summer long.

Already behind us is the kids’ production of “Aladdin” at Macon Little Theatre, but Theatre Macon’s production of “Driving Miss Daisy” at Mercer University’s Tattnall Square Center for the Arts continues through this weekend. Written by Atlanta native Alfred Uhry, this comedy simultaneously carries several profound messages.

While the Uhry work closes this weekend, two other productions are open or will open Friday night, and, amazingly, one of these is not a musical. The Perry Players Teen Theatre Lab is presenting “The Hummingbird Room” through Sunday. With terms like “dark secrets” and “corrosive” in the description, it sounds like powerful stuff.

On Friday, Warner Robins Little Theatre is opening “Peter and the Starcatcher,” said to be a musical variation on the Peter Pan theme. By the time that show closes, Theatre Macon will have opened its second show of the summer, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” (June 30). Before that show closes, MLT will open “Sweeney Todd” (July 14), which will be followed by the Backlot Players opening “Happy Days” (July 21) at Forsyth’s Rose Theater.

EXCITING FILM NEWS

While there’s clearly a summer’s worth of entertainment available on stage, there also are big events coming to the silver screen, with the Macon Film Festival set to run July 20-23. Headquartered at Travis Jean on Cherry Street, the multi-venue event will take place at the Cox Capitol Theatre, the Douglass Theatre, Theatre Macon and the Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Kicking off the 12th annual festival will be an “unprecedented experience,” the screening of a fulldome film, Diana Reichenbach’s “Stardancer’s Waltz” premiere, in the Mark Smith Planetarium at the Museum of Arts and Sciences.

The animated film is said to be inspired by Mike Mills’ and Robert McDuffie’s “Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra.” This event is predicted to be the beginning of an enduring partnership between the museum and the film festival.

This story was originally published June 21, 2017 at 1:32 PM with the headline "From kids’ productions to musicals, the midstate’s theater bonanza runs all summer."