The Year in Review I wish I could say that the 2019 theater season in New Orleans was exciting and provocative and rip-roaring and outrageous and edge-of-your-seaty and challenging and all sorts of other superlatives. But I can’t. Sure, there were many good shows as well as bad ones, some fantastic productions (which I’ll get to) and some stinkers (which I won’t, at … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards 2019 in Review
Trodding the Boards December 17, 2019
Period of Adjustment at Loyola’s Lower Depths Theatre through Dec. 21 Some people like to see things they’re familiar with; they’ll go to New York and get tickets to Phantom of the Opera or Chicago or Wicked. They’ll attend Romeo and Juliet rather than Troilus and Cressida (not that there’s much opportunity to see the latter). Similarly, here, audiences flock to … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards December 17, 2019
Trodding the Boards December 3, 2019
A Christmas Carol at Le Petit Theatre thru Dec. 23 [A Christmas Carol returns to Le Petit through Dec. 23. The following is my review from December 2018 of the original production. All of the actors mentioned below will be part of this year’s show.] Christmas arrived early at Le Petit this year with a smashing new production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. To be … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards December 3, 2019
Trodding the Boards November 19, 2019
Cabaret at The New Orleans Art Center through Nov. 24 If you haven’t seen Kander & Ebb’s Tony-winning musical Cabaret before (what, not even Liza’s Oscar-winning turn on celluloid?), get yourself over to the Bywater’s New Orleans Art Center on St. Claude for See ‘Em On Stage’s eminently watchable production, officially titled Cabaret (1998 Version), a nod to the … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards November 19, 2019
Wembley Arena! Carnegie Hall! NOLA at the Orpheum!
One night Bianca Del Rio was performing in storied Carnegie Hall. The next night she was in Pittsburgh at a venue with folding chairs. But rather than complaining, Roy Haylock, Bianca’s alter ego, said in a recent interview, “It keeps me real.” Recalling her sold-out evening on NYC’s 57th Street and 7th Avenue, Haylock stated “It’s insane on so many levels. Being a little … [Read more...] about Wembley Arena! Carnegie Hall! NOLA at the Orpheum!
Trodding the Boards October 22, 2019
The Sound of Music at Jefferson Performing Arts Center through Oct. 27 The Sound of Music??? “Been there, done that, seen the movie version,” you might respond. In these topsy-turvy times, however, a trip out to Metairie for JPAS’ highly satisfying revival of this enduring classic might be a welcome respite from the daily headlines. In case you’ve been in the desert … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards October 22, 2019
Trodding the Boards October 8, 2019
Gilded at the Marigny Opera House The Marigny Opera House fielded a full house for the recent world premiere of Gilded. That so many people would come out for a 45-minute song cycle on a Sunday evening following a Saints game was heartening indeed. With music by Tucker Fuller set to a text by Megan Levad, Gilded is inspired by the wandering lieder of the … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards October 8, 2019
Trodding the Boards August 27, 2019
5 Women Wearing the Same Dress at Playmakers Theater through Sept. 8 To the lesbians, gay men and straight folks who want to avoid the magnificent takeover of the French Quarter and environs known as Southern Decadence, I have something for you to do Labor Day weekend and the following one as well. To those local gay men who, after Decadence’s inundation of maleness, … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards August 27, 2019
Trodding the Boards August 13, 2019
100 Years of Women in Blues at Teatro Wego! through August 25 It only seems like a 100 years since Dorian Rush has graced our local stages. So it’s a treat to have her back in her new solo show 100 Years of Women in Blues which delivers just what it promises, a marvelous overview of the women who were the founders and torchbearers of this uniquely American art … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards August 13, 2019
Trodding the Boards July 30, 2019
Hamlet at Tulane’s Lupin Theater Seven years ago, I ended my appraisal of the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane’s (SFT) production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead with the observation “Patrick Bowen, son of Danny [Bowen, the play’s director] and currently a high school student, was very good as Hamlet in his scenes with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Might … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards July 30, 2019