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 The
Last Night of Ballyhoo
by Alfred Uhry
November 24 - December 16, 2006
Directed by Terry Veal
Winner of the Tony Award for
Best Play, as well as the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards, this
warm and thoughtful romantic comedy is set in 1939 at Christmastime in the
Atlanta home of a prominent Jewish family that has always celebrated Christmas
and does not observe any Jewish holidays.
Outside, “Gone With the Wind”
is having its world premiere, Hitler is invading Poland, but the biggest worry
for the ladies in the Freitag household is who will attend Ballyhoo, the social
event of the year for Southern Jewish young people. Between the opening strains
of Christmas carols and the closing prayer of Shabot Shalom, we see a family
tugged apart and mended back together as they squabble and deal with prejudices
within their family and their community. By play’s end, they are learning to
respect their differences and embrace their Jewish heritage.
Playwright Alfred Uhry,
author of the Pulitzer prize-winning “Driving Miss Daisy”, used his own
upbringing as the inspiration for his story that is peopled with family
eccentrics.
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