This weekend, The Legacy Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s unconventional musical, “Song & Dance” will continue its run.

The show, which opened last weekend as the southern premiere, boasts a dynamic cast of dancers and features theater owner, Bethany Hayes Smith, as the sole singer of the show.

“Song & Dance” is a unique musical theater experience. The show’s first act tells the story of Emma (Smith), a young English girl who comes to New York full of ambitions to be a hat designer and who learns about America, and about herself, in encounters with four American men. Her story is told entirely through song, and even more daring, Emma is the only character seen on stage. The other characters exist only in Smith’s ability to make audiences see them. Of the four men, it is Joe, a young man from Nebraska, with whom Emma really falls in love, but, new to New York and not ready to make a “commitment,” Joe abruptly ends the relationship.

Act two is the story of Joe’s subsequent life in New York, a journey that leads him to his own kind of maturity, to a realization of what he has lost in giving up Emma and to a determination to win her back. In contrast to Act one, Joe’s story is told entirely and eloquently through dance. Set to impassioned instrumental pieces and highlighted by an expressive lighting display, Joe’s story is supported by six additional dancers.

“Our goal is, at the end of the night, that audiences come away feeling like they have experienced everything they would when seeing a traditional Broadway musical,” Smith stated.

In a way then, “Song & Dance” tells a quintessential urban story: how one loses one’s innocence in a city like New York and how, having lost that innocence, one sometimes has to struggle to get back to human contact, real feelings and a sense of one’s self. It isn’t a conventional plot; it’s an emotional travelogue, one that brings tears of recognition from the audience.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer of such Broadway shows as “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita,” “Cats,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” and many more. He composed the film scores of “Gumshoe” and “The Odessa File.”
In 2004 he produced a film version of “The Phantom of the Opera” directed by Joel Schumacher.

He bought the Palace Theatre in 1983 and now owns seven London theaters including the Palace, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the London Palladium.

In December 2006 he received a Kennedy Center Honor, one of the highest awards for achievement in the arts in the United States. Other awards include seven Tonys, three Grammys, six Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, an International Emmy, the Praemium Imperiale and the Richard Rodgers award for Excellence in Musical Theatre.

He was knighted in 1992 and created an honorary life peer in 1997.

This production of “Song & Dance” features local residents including Smith and New York City resident Matthew Helton as Joe. Supporting dance roles include Dustin Lewis, Borris York, Laura Simpson, Lyndsey Clark, Sheena Cruce and Kathryn Wright.

“Song & Dance” will play at The Legacy Theatre in Tyrone, Ga. through May 6. Friday and Saturday shows will begin at 8 p.m. while Saturday and Sunday matinees will begin at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25. Tickets for seniors 60 and over and students 13 and over are $22 and tickets for children 12 and under are $12.

For tickets and information call 404-895-1473 or visit www.thelegacytheatre.org.