Category: News

Clockwise from left: ‘The Little Mermaid,’ Trixie Mattel and ‘Out of Darkness: Two Remain.’ (Courtesy photos)

Between theater gigs, special events, comedy, opera and concerts, the spring is a hotbed of LGBTQ offerings.

One of the most-anticipated treats of the season is “Out of Darkness: Two Remain,” staged by Atlanta Opera and directed by the company’s innovative artistic director, Tomer Zvulun. Composer Jake Heggie’s and librettist Gene Scheer‘s opera, in two acts, deals with Holocaust survivors being visited by ghosts from their past. It’s based on true stories by survivors including gay German Jew Gad Beck. The work is being done in collaboration with Theatrical Outfit.

Openly gay comic, actor and YouTube sensation Randy Rainbow is bringing his patented sense of humor to town in April. His musical tribute to the first presidential debate in 2016 was seen by more than 25 million people in just two days, and his comedic videos are starting to pop up everywhere.

Looking for even more laughs? A night with Kathleen Madigan might be the cure. Over her lengthy career, she has been seen on every late night show imaginable, and her comedy show “Gone Madigan” has been seen on Showtime and Netflix. Also look for the queen of mean, funny lady (and gay fave) Lisa Lampanelli, visiting the city next weekend, and the improv madness of “Whose Line is it Anyway?” in May.
Groundbreaking gay artist Todrick Hall follows up a run in Broadway’s “Chicago” with his new “American: The Forbidden” world tour, making a stop at the Fox Theatre in May.

An evening of music, comedy and drag is promised at drag goddess Trixie Mattel’s Now With Moving Parts Tour, while the Atlanta Ballet’s “Bach to Broadway” is set to music by George Gershwin.

Out Front Theatre Company has a slew of events, including a production of the beloved “Sordid Lives” and a new show with “Sordid Lives” creator Del Shores titled “Six Characters in Search of a Play.” Other theater highlights include Serenbe Playhouse’s “The Little Mermaid” and Actor’s Express’ “The Color Purple.” As well, Aurora Theatre is taking its adorable version of the crowd-pleasing “Mamma Mia!” to the Ferst Center in June after it closes it current run.

Finally, the biggest ticket of the season looks to be the long awaited bow of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” the winner of several Tony Awards and a pop culture phenomenon. It comes to town via the Broadway in Atlanta series and looks to cause the stir here it has everywhere else.

Lisa Lampanelli
March 24
Center Stage Theatre

“The Little Mermaid”
March 28 – April 22
Serenbe Playhouse

“Out of Darkness: Two Remain”
April 5 – 15
Atlanta Opera
The Balzer Theatre at Herren’s

Randy Rainbow Live
April 12
The Buckhead Theatre

Kathleen Madigan: Boxed Wine and Bigfoot
April 13 – 14
The Buckhead Theatre

Trixie Mattel —Now With Moving Parts Tour
April 23
The Buckhead Theatre

“Sordid Lives”
May 3 – 20
Out Front Theatre

Todrick Hall American: The Forbidden Tour
May 6
Fox Theatre

Whose Line is it Anyway?
May 8
Tabernacle Atlanta

“Bach to Broadway”
May 11 – 13
Atlanta Ballet
Cobb Energy Centre

“Six Characters in Search of a Play”
May 20
Out Front Theatre

“Hamilton”
May 22 – June 10
Fox Theatre

“Mamma Mia!”
June 9 – 24
Ferst Center for the Arts

“The Color Purple”
June 16 – July 29
Actor’s Express

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ATLANTA, GA — Every driver in the Atlanta metro knows that the commutes are a nightmare, but you may not know that the traffic is among the worst not only in this country, but in the world. If you’re a driver in the United States, you’re probably intimately familiar with what traffic jams look like, or at least more so than the rest of the developed world. That’s because American drivers spend on average about 41 hours — roughly a whole work week — staring at someone else’s bumper because they’re stuck in traffic, according to a new report by the analytics company INRIX.

That horrid shared experience of inching along on the roadway and braking every few feet cost the United States more than $300 billion last year — an amount roughly the size of Singapore’s whole economy. Atlanta ranked fourth in the United States and tenth in the world for traffic congestion, with each driver spending on average 27 hours a week at peak periods tied up in traffic last year.

Atlanta drivers spent 10 percent of their time sitting in traffic; 17 percent of their time on the road is stuck, on average, on roads within the city. During the morning and evening commutes, area drivers spend 70 hours stuck in congestion on roads into and out of the city.

Massive congestion hurts the economy, too, INRIX said, because it leads to direct costs — wasted time and fuel — and indirect costs, meaning freight and business fees from idling vehicles that are later passed on to households through higher prices.

The average American driver lost more than $1,400 last year due to congestion, the analysis found.

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Three of the top five most congested cities on Earth are in America, the company found. Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles — where drivers spent on average 100 hours last year in traffic — ranked No. 1 in the world.
New York City ranked No. 2 with 91 hours and San Francisco ranked fifth worldwide with 79.

One note about Southern drivers. The study says drivers moved more quickly in the South. The top five fastest non-congested speeds during the peak period on highways were all in the South, with Florida having the highest uncongested average speeds in 2017. Drivers in Fort Myers moved the fastest at an average of 68 mph.

INRIX evaluated more than 1,300 cities in 38 countries to come up with its rankings.

Thailand had the highest average amount of time spent in peak congestion at 56 hours, followed by Indonesia at 51 hours, Columbia at 49 hours, and Venezuela at 42.

See how your city stacked up against the rest of the world here.

What’s your take on Atlanta’s traffic? Tell us in comments below.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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