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The convention that the “theatrical season” runs from fall to spring should probably be put to pasture, since so many playhouses fail to observe it. Even if you’re a traditionalist, when do you mark the end of Atlanta’s theatrical season? My best guess would be some time between the opening night of Dad’s Garage Theatre’s final main stage show, and the start of Georgia Shakespeare’s summer repertory. But do you place summer shows with the season that just ended, or the one that’s about to begin?

The playhouse with the highest success rate this year was the Alliance Theatre, which fully lived up to its 2007 Tony Award for Regional Theatre. Admittedly its lavish musicals – The Women of Brewster Place and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (plus the Alliance Children’s Theatre’s Seussical) featured more energy than surprises, although Ladies included a remarkably talented eight-person cast. Nevertheless, Doubt lived up to its reputation as a theatrical firecracker and the Hertz Stage presented one stupendous show after another: the suave revue Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris; the achingly lovely vision of Greek myth Eurydice; and the earthy family tale In the Red and Brown Water. The latter proved to be the fourth and best show so far from the theater’s Kendeda Graduate Playwriting Competition.

The Hertz also provided rental space to the year’s most memorable disaster, Curvy Widow starring Cybill Shepherd. The TV and movie star seemed unprepared – but not unlikeable – as she struggled with an inert monologue play about dating at a Certain Age. The show became something of a must-see train wreck not despite its faults, but because of them.

Freddie Ashley’s first season as artistic director of Actor’s Express began with a run of fresh, intriguing plays — dark play (stories for boys), The Last Five Years, Octopus and When Something Wonderful Ends — that nevertheless felt a bit detached and cool. Actor’s Express finally hit on all cylinders with Some Men, Kent Gash’s production of Terence McNally’s panoramic play about gay American history. I’m curious to see the company’s new production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Saddest departure: Mira Hirsch’s entirely respectable and admirable Jewish Theatre of the South staged its 13th and final season, with the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta shuttering the bold theatrical company in favor of the new Center Theatre’s more mainstream fare (which will include The Sound of Music and Brighton Beach Memoirs).

Promising arrivals: Haverty Marionettes staged its wildly creative debut production (under that name) of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, while Rabid Artists presented a highly satisfying, impeccably performed comedy, Crazy for the Dog. Let’s see more of these.

“Underperforming”: 7 Stages and PushPush Theatre produced fewer mainstage productions than usual over the past years, although the high standards of A Song for Coretta at the former and The God of Hell at the latter suggested that both companies still have plenty of creative brio.

Favorite shows: Drove (Dad’s Garage Theatre Alley Stage), Ceremonies in Dark Old Men (True Colors Theatre), Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Alliance Hertz Stage), Richard III (Georgia Shakespeare), MEDS (Out of Hand Theater), Duke Ellington’s Cat (Center for Puppetry Arts), The Missionary Position (Horizon Theatre), Eurydice (Alliance Hertz Stage), Some Men (Actor’s Express), Doubt (Alliance Theatre)

Pleasant surprises: Bach at Leipzig (Aurora Theatre), Season’s Greetings (Georgia Ensemble Theatre), Indulgences (Dad’s Garage Theatre), Blue Door (Theatre in the Square’s Alley Stage)

Disappointments: The Water Coolers: An Office Musical (Horizon Theatre), Colorado (Dad’s Garage Theatre), Hard Love (Jewish Theatre of the South), A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Theatre Gael), When Something Wonderful Ends (Actor’s Express), The Little Dog Laughed (Theatre in the Square’s Alley Stage)

Talents to watch: Ayesha Ngaujah from Angela’s Mixtape (Synchronicity Performance Group); Eric J. Little from Blue Door (Theatre in the Square’s Alley Stage)

Favorite musical numbers: Courtney Collins’ Edith Piaf-worthy “Ne Me Quitte Pas” in Jacques Brel (Alliance Hertz Stage); the eponymous feline crooning “Mood Indigo” in an alley in the Center for Puppetry Arts’ Duke Ellington’s Cat; Laurie Williamson’s impassioned, haunting “Solitude” at Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (Alliance Theatre); Don Finney (pictured) rising above cliche in a drag rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in Some Men (Actor’s Express). Two of my favorite theatrical moments from nearly a year ago were Matt Myers leading hilariously spirited versions of the Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Blinded by the Light” in Dad’s Garage Theatre’s Drove.

The Show I’m Most Sorry I Missed: Room Service at Theatre in the Square

I certainly cannot claim to have seen every production from the past season, so anyone who wants to praise other worthy shows or performers I may have overlooked, please do.

(Photo courtesy Actor’s Express)

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