At The Club Toot Sweet on Bourbon Street at Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré

Take a book about a 1950s Bourbon Street strip joint; songs torchy and brassy; dirty jokes, Cajun jokes, old jokes, stupid jokes, older jokes and some even funny jokes. Mix’em all together and whaddya got? At The Club Toot Sweet on Bourbon Street which lovingly recreates the era with an all-too-knowing awareness that its end was in sight.

This portrait of a bygone time, with book and lyrics by Ricky Graham and David Cuthbert, whose father worked as a ventriloquist in these clubs, and music by Harry Mayronne, provides winning entertainment without the original’s sleaze factor while never glossing over how tough it must’ve been for all involved to make a living this way.

Echoing The Night They Raided Minsky’s without the stylized Fosse razzmatazz, Toot Sweet offers a steady stream of pulchritudinous beauties readily willing to shed nearly all of their wardrobe. A la Gypsy, each has a gimmick—one recites Shakespeare, one uses fans, another adds a touch of ballet. If I can’t remember each and every one (perhaps if they had been hunky guys, though a listing of musical numbers in the program might’ve helped), they were all delicious and I never tired of them.

Rounding out this archetypical cast of funny/sad/hopeful/desperate folks, is the sardonic emcee; the former-stripper-now-matronly cashier/seamstress; the barmaid from the 9th (or 7th) ward ; and the tougher-than-she-looks drag queen. It may all be a bit overdone, but ain’t dat N’awlins, dawlin’?

What makes this work, in addition to the fun songs, is the sense of authenticity with which Graham and Cuthbert endow their script and the loving, if at times warring, affection these characters have for one another as they battle the outside world’s forces that would shut their livelihood down.

Doing the directing honors, those pros Ricky Graham and Karen Hebert not surprisingly keep their show moving along with non-flagging momentum and, again not surprisingly, have cast Toot Sweet with top drawer talent.

Bob Edes’ M.C. Buddy Ray, all sweaty enthusiasm complete with bad toupee, has more zingers than Bette Midler’s Sophie and revels in the power that accrues to him even if he’s slyly aware of how second rate he is. As the club’s leading chanteuse, the multi-talented Jessie Terrebonne has grown into a commanding presence, while Amanda Zirkenbach is as sexily adorable as ever as the club’s leading striptease.

One might think that Yvette Hargis overplayed mother hen Miss B., but you shouldn’t have to look too far in this town to appreciate that rather than being a caricature, Hargis was little far from the real thing. Troi Bechet brought just the right shading to her barmaid to evoke a time when African-Americans were still "colored people" and delivered her big musical number with her customary aplomb. Though Sean Patterson may not have made the most convincing drag queen (though drag queens themselves may not have been as convincing back then as they are nowadays), the proper attitude was there and he revealed himself to be even butcher in a dress than in his boywear. Mark Burton, Roy Haylock, Susan Heflin and Holly Masson all added to the festivities.

Bill Walker’s set superbly recreated the tacky feel of Bourbon Street. Musical Director Jefferson Turner did likewise with his onstage band only, I suspect, made them sound better than the musicians of yesteryear. And Cecile Casey Covert and Haylock provided an endless parade of besequined, befeathered and bedazzling costumes.

In a perfect world, At The Club Toot Sweet would be running as long on Bourbon Street as Cats ran on Broadway. Maybe longer. Having originally played at Southern Rep in 1998, let’s hope we don’t have to wait another seven years until it returns again.

Seussical the Musical at Six Flags New Orleans

In the land of Manhattan, a faraway place Seussical the Musical flopped flat on its face

Michelle Marcotte & Michael Larche in Seussical the Musical

Except for Alone in the Universe—lovely—and one or two others

Steve Flaherty’s sound-alike, blahsical tunes smothered

All hope of a memorable, hummable score to adore.

With partner Lynn Ahrens, Flaherty’s book strove for Seuss’ one-of-a-kindsical, inventive lyricism

But only fitfully achieved his anything-can-happen voice that was oh-so-sui genericism.

Yet helmed by that local director who’s not very old

Brandt Blocker spun this dross into musical theater gold.

With jackersnap pace and imagination to spare

Young Mr. Brandt kept all his balls in the air Never permitting his spectators to wonder

What Seuss would’ve thunked of this dionysian blunder

Presiding o’er talent abounding, a-bursting, a-blooming,

Blocker had the audience at Six Flags happily a-swooning

With befuddled longing, Michelle Marcotte as Gertrude McFuzz

Delightfully learned the lesson to be who she wuz Whilst Michael Larche brought touching warmth to Horton the Elephant

Protecting Whoville’s Who’s with noble sentiment

As Mayzie LaBird, Sasha Masakowski was sassiness personified

Yet revealed a soft core–was she not so hard inside? Playing the spotlight-grabbing but concerned Mayor of Whoville was Randy Juneau He just keeps getting better and better, y’know.

Though Bryan Wagar didn’t have much of a character to play

He made the Cat in the Hat an engaging rapscalliony roué

And as the child Jojo, that talented tot David Bologna

Displayed elan and a fine set of lungs–what shall he be like when he gets a bit growner?

Gabrielle Porter’s voice soared as the Sour Kangaroo

But Keith Claverie was wasted as the Grinch—why wasn’t he given more to do?

Kudos to the effervescent Bird Girls of Dianna Duffy, Ashleigh Hoppe and Kallie Miller.

Hisses to the Wickersham Brothers Grau, Herbert & Thompson–I wanted to kill’er! I mean, ‘em!

The colorful costumes of Charlotte Lang brought birds, monkeys and Who’s to life with a bang

Choreography by Jauné Buisson gave off a frisson

And the swirling, starry, sometimes black lighting by Jonathan Foucheaux

Just made you gasp "Wow-oh-wee-woo-oh!"

So never mind Seussical’s shortcomings I say

Let’s hope Blocker & Co. shall return with it again some day.

(With apologies to Dr. Seuss and true poets everywhere.)

The Learned Ladies at NOCCA

Over at NOCCA, our city’s premier arts high school, another master poet was recently essayed. Proving that the Musical Theater Division is not the only one willing to tackle toughies (Side Show, Floyd Collins and the forthcoming Starmites), the Drama Division recently produced Moliere’s The Learned Ladies in a translation by Maya Slater that was as graceful as any by master translator Richard Wilbur.

Director Janet Shea wisely cut the play to a brisk 90 minutes and reset it in the Hamptons of 1927 thereby making it more accessible to modern audiences. Ladies features Trissotin who tries to pull the wool over three oh-so-fashionable yet oh-so-gullible ladies’ eyes and is to bad poetry what Tartuffe is to religious hypocrisy. Needless to say, he is eventually found out and love triumphs.

Shea’s staging was fairly straightforward though she occasionally deployed her company, forced, to some extent, by Kaity Jones’ beautiful but unnecessarily expansive set, over too wide a range. I also felt she broke the otherwise convincing naturalism by now and then having her actors declaim straight out into the auditorium, though that may be in keeping with traditional Moliere staging.

More importantly, Shea’s decades of acting, commemorated after Ladies’ final curtain with a celebratory program, enabled her to guide her young players to performances that were guileless, psychologically apt and never fussy. And she got every bit of laughter out of one of Moliere’s lesser efforts.

If the cast sometimes accentuated the script’s rhymes a bit too obviously or acted the words rather than the character, neither was fatal. Rather, they are to be commended for not only speaking the verse with intelligence, but making it seem as though it was their natural patois. In fact, it was so well done I often thought the actors were stepping on others’ lines when Moliere meant for them to jump in.

Among the leads (Maya Blount, Rachel Clark, Jeanne-Claire Koper, Andrew Miller, Taylor Shurte, and Daniel Troyano, effortlessly oily as Trissotin), all were fine; Maggie Perkins, pouty and chic as the "silly" sister, particularly so. Patrick Hunter, seemingly transformed from his Ambie Award-winning role in Floyd Collins, appeared a bit miscast as the lover Clitandre but managed to pull it off all the same.

It is a measure of the depth of this city’s talent that even the smaller roles were beautifully filled and I look forward to seeing again Sophie Brower, Brittany Holtsclaw, Sabrina Rivarde, Rachel Shuey and Caitlyn Watson as they graduate to meatier parts.

David Rigamer contributed a nice lighting design, while Mignon Charvet’s costumes were appropriate for the era. That they, along with Jones, are all NOCCA students makes their achievements all the more impressive. Led by faculty member Shea, this was a production that many a regional theater would kill for.

The Great(?) White Way

Dallas Roberts and Sam Shepard in A Number (Photo: Joan Marcus)

Unlike some recent stays in New York which did little to slake my hunger for worthy theatrical experiences, a visit in January provided enough memorable evenings to keep me satisfied at least until my next trip to the Big Apple. Interestingly, off-Broadway scored with three brilliant new dramatic offerings while Broadway struck out. Make of that what you will.

Playing at the New York Theater Workshop was Caryl (Cloud Nine, Top Girls) Churchill’s A Number. Churchill used a messed up family history to explore the issues that cloning raises. Or did she use the red hot topic of cloning to dissect the tortured bonds between a father and his son(s)? Either way, A Number made for a riveting drama that profoundly examined the vagaries of parenthood while illustrating one possible consequence cloning might lead to.

Legendary playwright and actor Sam Shepard starred as a tough love father who just wants his paternal due. As the taciturn Shepard unwillingly admitted that his son’s conception was in vitro, you could feel his heartbreaking pain in every etched crag of his face. Playing three very dissimilar siblings, Dallas Roberts masterfully differentiated each one’s personality and body language.

James Macdonald, who directed the world premiere, did a superb job of guiding his actors to clarity for this difficult text and staged it with a deceptive simplicity so that, after a long period of father and son sitting side by side on a couch, when Roberts finally stood up it was all the more powerful.

As much of a kick to see Shepard performing near where some of his early plays were done (LaMama, Café Cino), it was even kickier to see that this newly gentrified neighborhood can still be home to vital drama.

Across town at the Lucille Lortel Theater on Christopher Street, Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig trenchantly explored a relationship doomed to failure as a trim corporate yuppie fell for an overweight librarian. And uptown, John Patrick Shanley provided gripping theater with his best play to date. In Doubt, a nun tries to determine whether a priest at her school has molested a young boy. This Manhattan Theater Club production is moving to Broadway--don’t miss it.

On the other hand, unless you care to pay top dollar to see a middle-aged drag queen, you can easily pass on Dame Edna Back with a Vengeance! Lavender haired, raspy voiced and wearing a pink sequined, feathered dress, she’s at her best doing insult humor a la Don Rickles in drag.

But Edna might want to reconsider assuring her audience that she "wouldn’t want to insult you with a rehearsed show" since what we get instead is tired un-PC jokes directed at senior citizens, not very inventive wordplay (her gay son Kenny is a "homeopath"; "Flatbush makes me think of panty hose") and an endless sketch where she brought a wan young couple up from the audience to give them "marital counseling."

I’ll admit I may have been one of the few in the audience who wasn’t eating this up but, then again, I was also among the few whose idea of drag wasn’t formed back in the days of Milton Berle. Oh well, at least hunky chorus boy Gerrard Carter provided a luscious dose of eye candy. And what do I know? Dame Edna’s already healthy ego has been bolstered with an extension of her show at the Music Box Theater into June. Still, if Dame Edna (a.k.a. Barry Humphries) can make it to Broadway, there’s no reason our own wittier & prettier Bianca Del Rio shouldn’t see her name up there in lights some day as well.

Meanwhile, Michael Frayn’s Democracy at the Brooks Atkinson Theater was as soporific as his Tony Award-winning Copenhagen was exhilarating. And that’s my vote.

The Second Annual Ambie Awards at Le Chat Noir

On January 24, my co-theater editor Patrick Shannon and I presented the Second Annual Ambie Awards for excellence in dramatic arts. Le Chat Noir was packed with a fun and festive crowd of theater luminaries, their friends and family members. While we crowned a "Best" in 23 categories (see list below), there were no losers as all other nominees were deemed "Honorable Mention."

We also presented tongue-in-cheek Off-Kilter Awards in a bunch of categories. A list of selected designees is below as well.

Many thanks to all our presenters, particularly the Dashiki Divas (Gwendolyne Foxworth, Adella Gautier, Patricia McGuire-Hill and Carol Sutton). A huge round of applause to all our performers (Becky Allen, Emily Antrainer, Keith Claverie, Tony Fennelly, The Phister Sisters, Jessie Terrebonne, Jim Walpole, Amanda Zirkenbach and especially musical director Harry Mayronne) who gave of their talents so generously. And we couldn’t have put this on without the help of the lovely and gracious Barbara Motley and her wonderful staff (Su Gonczy, Jason Knobloch and Brian Johnston).

As we salute the best of the best who trod the boards in 2004, we are already enjoying the 2005 Season and look forward to many more fabulous shows this year!

Best Production of a Musical: Floyd Collins, NOCCA

Best Production of a Drama: King Hedley II, Anthony Bean Community Theater

Best Production of a Comedy: The Glass Mendacity, Krewe des Sept

Best Director of a Musical: Blake Coheley, Floyd Collins

Best Director of a Play (tie): Luis Q. Barroso, Something Cloudy, Something Clear; Anthony Bean, King Hedley II

Best Actor in a Musical (tie): Keith Claverie, Little Shop of Horrors; Hardy Weaver, Floyd Collins

Best Actress in a Musical: Emily Antrainer, Little Shop of Horrors

Best Actor in a Play: Wilbert L. Williams, Jr., King Hedley II

Best Actress in a Play: Gwendolyne Foxworth, King Hedley II

Best Supporting/Featured Actor in a Musical (tie): Patrick Hunter, Floyd Collins; Kenneth Thompson, Little Shop of Horrors

Best Supporting/Featured Actress in a Musical (tie): Martha "Dickie" Dufour, Damn Yankees; Sasha Masakowski, Floyd Collins

Best Supporting/Featured Actor in a Play: Gavin Mahlie, When Ya Smilin’

Best Supporting/Featured Actress in a Play: Maureen Brennan, The Glass Mendacity

Best Ensemble: Boobs! (Becky Allen, Maureen Brennan, Bob Edes, Jr., Ann Mahoney, Robert Thomas, Chris Wecklein)

Best Costume Design (tie): Roy Haylock, When Ya Smilin’; Charlotte Lang, Camelot

Best Lighting Design: Gary Solomon, Jr., Floyd Collins

Best Set Design (tie): Lyn F. Caliva, King Hedley II; Bill Walker, Grease

Best Hair Design/Wigs: Don & Linda Guillot, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Best Choreography: Jauné Buisson, Little Shop of Horrors

Best Fight Choreography: Robert Richardson, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940

Best Music Director: Ron Bermingham, Floyd Collins

Best Original Music Scoring (tie): Raelea Phillips, Baal; Ben Schenck, Kathy Randels & Sean LaRocca, Chekhov’s Wild Ride

Best Sound Design (tie): Katreequia Thompson & Kyle Jackson, The Ties That Bind; Jessie Tyson, The Shape of Things; Christopher Waltman, Get Flanagan

Selected Off-Kilter Awards:

Most Local References: When Ya Smilin’

Yat-ty-est Show: An Evening With Betsy: Voices from the Storm

Biggest Cast of a Straight Play Written Within the Last 100 Years: Get Flanagan

Best Ad-libs: Cast of The Glass Mendacity

The Was-This-Ever-Not-Camp? Award: The Bad Seed

Funniest Nazi Sight Gag since The Producers: Eating Raoul

Grace Under Pressure Award: Shirl Cieutat, 70, Girls, 70

Most Heavenly Angel: Michael Castrillo, Bar Angel

Best performance by an actor with only one stanza to sing: Eric Bond, Little Shop of Horrors

Best performance by an actor with less than three lines: Jai Hodge, As You Like It

Best performance by an actor who isn’t seen at all: Rendell Debose, Little Shop of Horrors

Fulfilling Potential Award, or We Spotted Him When He Just Had Three Lines: Jai Hodge, Baal

Mother/Daughter Bitch Fight of the Year: Madame De Sade

Best Performance by an Animal (Living): Celia’s lapdog, As You Like It

Best Performance by an Animal (Dead): Sylvia, The Goat

Will Do Anything for Her Art Award: Susan M. Grozier playing the bass sax, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine

Gender Bender Award: Ken Weatherup/Vee Plauche, Grease

Drag Tap Dancer of the Year: Julius Dietze, Eating Raoul

Nudity Where You’d Least Expect to See It Award: Tulane for King Arthur’s bath in Summer Lyric Theater’s Camelot and the Dept. of Theatre & Dance for Madame De Sade & Cymbeline

Bodies We Didn’t Need To See Exposed: Rusty Tenant and Bill Dykes, Sordid Lives

Best Onstage Realization of a Baseball Team (but would they do the shower scene from Take Me Out?): Damn Yankees

Best Self-Described Oreo Cookie (and fabulous singing voices, too): Gina Porter, Kallie Miller & Gabrielle Porter, Little Shop of Horrors

Best Demonstration that 50 is the New 30: Michael Chase-Creasy, Something Cloudy, Something Clear

The They-Got-Life-in-‘em-Yet Award: Entire cast of 70, Girls, 70 (except the too young Scott Sauber)

Prettiest Eyes (tie): Nicholas Brown, Squirrels (Blue-est); Brian A. Rosenberg, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine

Perkiest Pecs: Patrick Rickerfor, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Most Original Use of Blood: As dipping sauce for strawberries, Richard III

Set We’d Most Like to Move Into Award: Tru

Most Dangerous show in which to be a piece of pottery: The Goat

Cheesiest Set (but not inappropriately so): Eating Raoul

Most Authentic Set Award: Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Most Ramshackle Set: Brecht on Brecht

"Where do you think you are, The Phoenix?" Award: Julius Dietze and Jonathan Mares, Eating Raoul

Nice Little Touch Award: Jessica Cook, Tricia Vitrano, scene placards, Baal

Best lobby display, entire evening: An Evening With Betsy: Voices from the Storm

Best lobby display, post-show only: The Shape of Things

Most Lightning: The Glass Menagerie

Best Indoor Fireworks: The Mikado

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